Keywords

1 Introduction

Considering the tremendous transformation that COVID-19 has made in all aspects of life, digital citizenship practices have become a priority in daily life for most citizens around the globe who have Internet access. Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, people of different ages have been required to develop and use digital literacy practices to learn, stay informed, and connect with family, friends, and communities [10]. People have been forced to communicate and perform most of their life commitments online. This significant lifestyle shift has alerted governments to the necessity of empowering their citizens with the required digital competencies that enable them to communicate safely and effectively in the virtual world.

According to UNESCO [27], the COVID-19 lockdown obliged students of all levels in many parts of the world to utilize the Internet and digital tools as an essential part to continue their education remotely. Using social media and educational platforms was not optional; on the contrary, it became compulsory to proceed with the formal learning process in many countries. This experience revealed many issues related to students’ responsible use of the Internet. Some of these issues were concerned with the lack of digital literacy, and some were related to digital ethics like copywriting and safety. This big shift forced educational authorities and other governmental institutions to take the responsibility for ensuring that students are fully aware of the appropriate norms and responsible behavior needed while using technology and participating in digital life. Curran and Ribble [13] emphasized the critical role those educational institutions play in empowering their students with the required digital competencies to participate effectively in their societies and the entire digital community. Although the topic of digital citizenship (DC) had been discussed years before the pandemic, COVID-19 has raised awareness of this issue among educators and decision makers.

According to the Council of Europe [12], digital citizenship refers to “the ability to engage positively, critically and competently in the digital environment, drawing on the skills of effective communication and creation, to practice forms of social participation that are respectful of human rights and dignity through the responsible use of technology.” Alternatively, a digital citizen is someone who, through the development of a broad range of competencies, can “actively, positively, and responsibly engage in both on and offline communities, whether local, national, or global” [25]. According to Fingal [16], the International Society for Technology in Education identifies five main competencies of digital citizenship that students need to acquire to become digital citizens. Students must be inclusive, informed, balanced, engaged, and alert when using the Internet. Given these five competencies, educators need to be aware that their students.

  1. 1.

    Are open to hearing and respectfully recognizing multiple viewpoints and engaging with others online with respect and empathy.

  2. 2.

    Can evaluate the accuracy, perspective, and validity of digital media and social posts.

  3. 3.

    Use technology and digital channels for civic engagement, solve problems, and be a force for good in both physical and virtual communities.

  4. 4.

    Make informed decisions about how to prioritize their time and activities online and offline.

  5. 5.

    Are aware of their online actions (digital footprint and reputation) and know how to be safe and create safe spaces for others online [16].

Digital citizenship is recognized to be among the most researched topics in contemporary studies. Over the past decade, a large volume of literature has been published regarding DC in education [12, 22, 24]. These assorted studies cover all levels of education, starting from pre-school to the tertiary level. Many of these studies focus on k-12 students, curricula, and schoolteachers; however, the attention to DC in higher education is very new and limited, as Ahlquist [3] claimed. Moreover, the number of peer-reviewed studies regarding DC in higher education is also inadequate. In the Higher Education (HE) scope, several studies identify and measure undergraduate students’ perception and awareness of DC such as Abdulqawi [1], Alsamadi [7], Kara [18], Erdem and Kocyigit [15], Alrashed [6], and Naji [23].

As the concept of DC varies from one scholar to another, different tools and instruments have been used to measure DC among undergraduates. Since Mark Ribble is considered the pioneer in constructing the concept and components of DC, it is not surprising to find that most studies and scholars stand on the work of Ribble’s nine elements and adopt his framework of DC to build up their studies’ tools [17, 22]. However, Ribble’s framework of DC was proposed to students in the k-12 levels and not to university students. Therefore, there have been many attempts to develop new tools and scales to measure DC in the higher educational scope. These attempts appear in the work of Kim and Choi [20], Choi et al. [11], and Mahdi [21].

Overall, although there is a consensus among researchers that DC is important at all education levels, there is limited research exploring digital citizenship practices among university students. Besides, it appears from the previous review of the literature on DC in the HE domain that most of the studies focus on undergraduate students’ understanding and perception of DC. However, the actual practices of DC have not been given much attention in research.

2 Research Problem

In Oman, developing citizenship stands as one of the main targets of Oman’s national strategic plan, known as Vision 2040. Moreover, preparing the ‘good citizen’ is among the primary goals of Oman’s educational system [14]. Regarding DC, this concept started to emerge in the Omani context within the last five years of the previous decade. The topic of DC received attention from the Omani government due to the increased rate of incidents related to cybersecurity, security breaches, and cybercrimes. Accordingly, national campaigns were launched to promote citizens’ and residents’ awareness of digital safety and personal digital data protections. In addition, educational institutions launched similar campaigns for students and training courses for teachers. Although the main concern was digital safety, students at the school level gained more focus on these efforts. In the same vein, research regarding the perception of DC among students and teachers at the school level gained more attention compared with higher education levels. The available literature reveals that there is a lack of studies investigating DC practices among students in higher education institutions in Oman.

In March 2020, because of COVID-19, the ministry of education in Oman announced the end of the school year for students from grades 1 to 12. On the other hand, higher education institutions continued their academic year and shifted to online distance learning. Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) administration decided that all courses would be delivered to students online. Students were compelled to use virtual platforms and communicate with their teachers and perform all study requirements online. This big shift has undoubtedly affected the way students communicate and interact within the virtual community. This study investigates the practices of digital citizenship among undergraduate students at Sultan Qaboos University during COVID-19. This paper seeks to address the following research questions:

  1. 1.

    What has been the level of practicing digital citizenship among Sultan Qaboos University undergraduates during the COVID-19 pandemic?

  2. 2.

    Does the level of practicing digital citizenship differ due to students’ gender, the field of study (humanities/sciences), or the year of study?

3 Methodology

This study adopted a quantitative approach to data collection by using a situational judgment test (SJT) to measure students’ levels of practicing digital citizenship. This type of method has the advantage of surveying many respondents. SQU students represent the research population. Established in 1986, SQU is the biggest national governmental university in Oman. It has nine colleges (four humanities and five sciences) and the Center for Preparatory Studies [26].

The study sample covered 320 undergraduate students who took an online university elective course (COMP1002: Our World in 4IR Era) at SQU in the Spring 2021 semester. The content of the elective course is related to digital transformation in the world and how it affects human life. Students from all colleges can register for this course. This was among the rationales for selecting this specific course to represent the study sample. The link of the SJT was sent to four sections of students during their online class on the Google Meet chat box. Out of 320 undergraduates who registered for the elective course, only 262 respondents were received (116 males and  146 females). Table 1 shows the distribution of the study sample by gender and field of study.

Table 1 The distribution of the study sample by gender, field of study, and study year
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3.1 Research Instrument

An online developed situational judgment test (SJT) was conducted to address distinct aspects of digital citizenship: digital identity, digital civic engagement, digital ethics, digital literacy, digital safety, and global digital communication. Twenty-six situations or scenarios representing the components of digital citizenship were presented to which the student responded according to a four-point scale. These situations were developed after reviewing educational literature related to digital citizenship in the context of higher education [11, 20, 23]. The test items were modified to suit the context of Oman. For each situation, a set of four options were presented to the students, who then chose the one which best reflected their behavior. Table 2 shows examples of two scenarios given to the students:

Table 2 Examples of two situations given to students in the study instrument
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3.2 Validity and Reliability of the Pilot Sample

Face Validity: The research instrument was validated by 13 experts from the Department of Psychology and Measurement, the Department of Information Studies, and other experts in information technology from outside the university. They were asked to provide their comments, modification, and suggestions on the given scenarios and situations in terms of their clarity, suitability, the given grades for each option, and any suggestions that they deemed appropriate in terms of addition or deletion. Out of 30 items, four items were deleted.

Structural Validity: The structural validity of the scale constructs was measured by calculating the correlation coefficient between the mean values of the items with the mean values of the dimension to which it belongs. All values were above 0.41, which indicates a good correlation. Additionally, the Pearson correlation coefficient between the mean value and the mean value of the six dimensions of the scale was calculated. All results were significant at 0.01 and ranged from 0.46 to 0.73. The research instrument was administered to 60 students to check the reliability of the questionnaire. Then, the internal consistency was calculated using the Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient, and the result was 0.73. This value indicated that this questionnaire was consistent and reliable to collect the needed data for this research.

4 Results and Discussion

4.1 Data Analysis

Data were checked for equality of variance, normality of distribution, and appropriateness to perform parametric tests. Figure 1 illustrates the statistical methods used to address each study question.

Fig. 1
A flowchart of research questions is divided into 1 and 2. The method used to answer question 1 is mean values and standard deviation. Question 2 is gender and type of study, and study year, which further flows to the T-test for independent samples and one-way Anova, respectively.

The statistical methods used to answer the research questions

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4.2 Level Categories

To identify the digital citizenship practices estimation-level categories, Table 3 shows these categories.

Table 3 Students’ level categories of practicing in digital citizenship
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4.3 Question 1 Results

What is the level of practicing digital citizenship among Sultan Qaboos University undergraduates? To answer this question, mean values and standard deviations have been calculated for all students’ responses. Table 4 shows these results.

Table 4 The level of practicing DC among SQU undergraduates
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Table 5 Independent sample t-test results due to gender variable
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The results in Table 4 show that the total mean of practicing DC is 2.71, which is categorized as the intermediate level. The results also show that the mean values of DC’s six dimensions range from intermediate to low levels (2.17 to 3.07). These results are in line with the results of Ke and Xu [19] and Al-Zahrani [9]. These results indicate that the practicing of digital citizenship among undergraduates is acceptable; however, it does not reach the advanced level. This result can be explained due to the weaknesses of the digital competencies related to practicing DC. It also indicates a gap in the perception of the digital citizenship concept. Students and universities tend to focus on technical skills only, rather than focusing on the practice of DC in classrooms. However, mastering technical skills is not necessarily sufficient to comprehend DC and enhance the level of practicing it [4]. Additionally, previous literature has revealed that university students’ perception of digital citizenship was moderate [7].

It is also apparent from Table 4 that the dimensions of global digital communication and digital literacy received the highest mean values, which are 3.07 and 3.06. This result indicates that the students are aware of the global digital society and the trending issues that dominate the virtual world. Being part of the digital society forces the members to be aware of international events and react to global trends, especially those that are concerned with social issues and disasters. In contrast, the dimensions of digital civic engagement and digital identity were the lowest, with mean values of 2.17 and 2.54, respectively. Students tend to avoid participating in political and civic issues. This result is supported by the findings of Kara [18], who indicated that students do not participate in online political activities due to discomfort, fear of future consequences, and pressure from society. Another explanation for this result is that the culture of universities’ policy regulations hinders students from participating in political issues [2].

4.4 Question 2 Results

Are there any statistically significant differences in the dimensions of digital citizenship practices due to student gender (male, female), the field of study (social sciences/applied science), and the year of study (1st year, 2nd year, 3rd year, 4th year, and more)?

4.4.1 Gender

The results in Table 5 demonstrate that there are statistically significant differences in practicing DC among Sultan Qaboos University undergraduates related to the gender variable. According to the total mean, females accomplished a better level of practicing DC compared to males. To be specific, the results also show that females got higher mean values than males in the following dimensions: digital identity, digital civic engagement, digital safety, and digital global communication. The same findings regarding gender differences are supported by Al-Omari [5], though they contradict the results of Alsamadi [7] and Alsulaihat and Al-Sarhan [8] which showed no significant differences between males and females. These contradictory results may be because females are more careful during online interactions regarding digital safety. This could further be related to the culture of the society where females should be more alert and careful when using social media and the Internet. Moreover, because of the COVID-19 lockdown, females usually spent more time on social media platforms. This allowed them to be aware of global and local issues that reach trends in social media and gave them the chance to communicate and engage more effectively.

4.4.2 Field of Study

As the data in Table 6 show, there are no significant differences due to the field of study variable regarding students’ level of practicing digital citizenship on the total mean. As students in both fields do not receive any courses related to digital citizenship, it is expected that no significant differences in the total scale would be observed. The only exception, as can be seen from the table, is for the dimension of digital ethics, where results indicated that students in applied science colleges have a better level of practicing digital ethics compared with students in social sciences colleges. These differences can be explained by the fact that students in applied science colleges are more exposed to using digital programs and issues related to copywriters and digital data protection.

Table 6 Independent sample t-test results due to field of study variable
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4.4.3 Study Year

One-way ANOVA tests were conducted to examine the impact of the year of study on students’ practices of digital citizenship. The data in Table 7 shows that there are no significant differences due to the year of study variable regarding students' level of practicing digital citizenship. This result can be explained by the fact that students in both fields do not receive any courses related to digital citizenship. Most programs and courses are directed at enhancing students’ competencies and skills in using computers and technological tools. However, digital citizenship, as Buchholz et al. [10] argue, requires more than technical knowledge. A digital citizen must confront complex ideas about how identities are constructed, and how dialogue is held online as citizens work toward equity and change. Moreover, it is important that during the development of study plans, the content of the curriculum be supportive of empowering students with digital citizenship competencies that qualify them to practice their roles as citizens in the digital society.

Table 7 One-way ANOVA results due to the year of study variable
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5 Conclusion

Although the talk about DC in education has proceeded with COVID-19, this pandemic has accelerated the importance of acquiring and practicing digital citizenship dimensions among students. This paper sheds light on the practices of digital citizenship among undergraduates of Sultan Qaboos University in the Sultanate of Oman during COVID-19. In this study, a situational judgment test was developed to investigate six dimensions of digital citizenship practices: digital identity, digital civic participation, digital information literacy, digital ethics, digital safety, and digital global communication. The results revealed that the level of practicing DC is at the intermediate level. However, there are some dimensions, digital identity, and digital civic engagement that need to be developed. Students need to be more engaged in social issues and more exposed to global matters during their study years. It is important to ensure that the students practice digital citizenship, not just be aware of it or just acquire technical skills. It is also recommended that teachers and academics be trained to become aware of this concept and how to employ it through classroom activities. Moreover, the content of the curriculum and the extra-curricular activities at the university need to be supportive of DC throughout the study years. Accordingly, the current study suggests an urgent necessity to include the dimensions of DC within the university’s programs and the content of its courses. It is also important to note that we cannot generalize the current results of the study to other institutions of higher education in Oman as the learning environments and the quality of curricula may differ from one institution to another. Finally, more studies using different qualitative approaches are needed to investigate the practices of digital citizenship practices among teachers and academics in both private and public higher education institutions. Lastly, this study suggests a content analysis study to assess the availability of DC dimensions in a sample of higher education curricula.