Analysis of Demographic Variables and Digital Citizenship of Prospective Teachers in Distance Learning

Abstract

Digital citizenship has emerged as a crucial concept to be learnt in the digital environment of 21^st century. It becomes more critical for learners in open and distance education where they significantly reply to digital tools for communication, cooperation, personal and academic pursuits. The study examined undergraduate distance learners' perceptions on digital citizenship with respect to their demographic variables. A structured questionnaire was used to gather data from undergraduate distance learners using a quantitative research methodology. Both descriptive and inferential statistical methods were applied to the data analysis. The study was based on the digital citizenship framework of Ribble and Park (2022). The Population comprised of undergraduate students who were studying at Allama Iqbal Open University in district Muzaffarabad, AJK. The sample of this research study was 370 which was drawn using random sampling technique. The findings of the study revealed that distance learners’ practices are generally high and consistent, with strengths in communication, law, etiquette, commerce, rights, and security, areas such as digital literacy and access still need improvement. Most undergraduate distance learners exhibit good digital citizenship behaviors, such as polite online communication, responsible use of digital resources, and knowledge of privacy and security concerns. Nonetheless, several issues with digital ethics, information assessment, and cyber safety awareness were noted.