The "Digi-Civis" Project: Empowering Digital Citizenship Education in Schools
In an increasingly digital world, schools are not only responsible for academic learning but also for preparing young people to become responsible, informed, and ethical digital citizens.
Across Europe, teachers face a common challenge: how to address issues such as online safety, misinformation, digital ethics, and well-being in the classroom. While digital tools are now part of everyday learning, the pedagogical and ethical dimensions of digital life are often overlooked.
The “Digi-Civis – Empower European Digital Citizenship Education in Schools” project was created to fill this gap by providing teachers with concrete, ready-to-use resources and training materials to help them teach Digital Citizenship Education and all related topics, and help students understand their rights, responsibilities, and behaviours in the digital world.
The project focuses on three core objectives:
- Strengthening teachers’ competences in digital citizenship education through innovative and accessible training tools.
- Supporting schools in integrating digital citizenship into their curricula and daily practice.
- Promoting active citizenship and inclusion, helping students become critical thinkers and responsible digital participants.
As part of the project, numerous resources and materials have been produced to empower teachers and students to navigate digital environments safely, critically, and responsibly.
On the project website, it is possible to find:
A free, multilingual online eLearning course, introducing the foundations of digital citizenship across 10 modules that combine basic knowledge, new and existing resources, best practices, and expert insights. Topics include online safety, ethical communication, digital rights, critical evaluation of information, digital consumption, and well-being. It provides teachers with a cohesive set of materials, exercises, and self-assessments for effective digital citizenship education.
A collection of 40 ready-to-use lesson plans developed to support teachers in bringing digital citizenship topics to life in the classroom. Each sequence includes objectives, step-by-step activities, resources, additional materials, and assessment ideas that can be easily adapted to different age groups and contexts. The activities encourage critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity, helping students understand complex digital issues through experiential learning.
A flexible and interactive teaching tool with 30 engaging situational cards designed to help students reflect on real-life digital citizenship issues and dilemmas, from online safety and fake news to ethical communication and digital well-being. Each card presents a realistic scenario that can be used for debate, role-play, or problem-solving activities. The toolkit promotes empathy, critical reflection, and active participation, supporting both classroom and community-based learning.
Together, these three interconnected results work together as a complete learning pathway that can be used both online and offline, adapting to different educational settings and learners’ needs.
All these materials and results are available in English, Italian, French, Spanish, Romanian, and Latvian and accessible online or downloadable in PDF format.
Moreover, on the project website, there are in-depth articles on digital citizenship and related topics. Don't miss them!
