Our lives are increasingly paced by our use of electronic devices that allow us to access the digital world. This requires that the training of higher education students be transformed and adapted to the new needs of the information society.
In order to adequately train students for responsible digital citizenship, it is imperative to address this issue in the light of a proper understanding of the central role of digital in their lives. To achieve this, educational strategies must be put in place that can, firstly, encourage a reflective approach to the concrete uses that higher education students make of the devices that provide access to digital technology and, secondly, awaken a civic reflection on the ethical, social and political challenges of the widespread use of digital technology.
Training for responsible digital citizenship must be based on an empirical panorama that is able to inform stakeholders at different levels (teachers, educational advisors, professional staff, executives and management, etc.) of the state of the actual uses of digital technology by higher education students, both in learning contexts and in their lives in general. There is certainly no doubt that the use of electronic devices for digital access is having a significant and growing impact in the educational environment. Nevertheless, this important aspect of students' lives is not well integrated into the higher education curriculum and should not be read superficially and should not be based on impressions, agreed-upon formulas or the mere testimony of students, as this may be misperceived.
We therefore propose a rigorous and detailed examination of the actual use of these devices. Responsible digital citizenship also implies that students in higher education must have access to resources, both material and intellectual, in order to take control of their use of digital technology and to develop their autonomy in this respect. Students themselves are generally very interested in having the necessary tools for informed reflection on this central aspect of their lives, in addition to the technical knowledge to enable meaningful action on the various issues raised by digital technology. We propose to offer, based on the data collected on students' actual digital use, training in responsible digital citizenship in higher education that includes empowerment skills. We will develop empowering capacity building activities along two main lines: first, to offer awareness activities on issues related to digital ubiquity to foster meta-cognition and, second, to offer training workshops to develop practical skills for the safe, informed and responsible use of digital access devices.
