The Practices of Digital Citizenship Among Undergraduates at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman During COVID-19

Abstract

AbstractDigital citizenship (DC) has been an essential subject in educational research for the last few years. This study aimed at discovering the degree to which Omani undergraduate students practiced digital citizenship during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants were 262 undergraduate students (116 males and 164 females) who took an online university elective course at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) in Spring of 2021. The study adopted a quantitative approach to data collection to investigate students’ digital citizenship practices. An online situational judgment test was developed and conducted to address six dimensions of digital citizenship: digital identity, digital civic engagement, digital ethics, digital literacy, digital safety, and global digital communication. The findings show that the level of practicing digital citizenship dimensions ranged from intermediate to low. Additionally, the results show that the least practiced dimensions are digital civic engagement and digital identity. Further, the results indicated some gender differences in students’ practices of digital citizenship. Considering the results, more efforts are required from stakeholders to enhance the level of DC among undergraduates. The findings of the study are considered good indicators to be taken when designing and evaluating curricula at higher education institutions.