# Digital Citizenship: Staying Smart & Safe Online

> Higher Education · ibl.ai
> Source: https://ibl.ai/courses/higher-education/digcit101
> Last updated: 2026-11-14

*Your privacy, your footprint, your feed — on your terms.*

**A higher education course from ibl.ai (self-paced, About 1 hour, self-paced, free).** Stories, not lectures. Learn to guard your privacy, spot fake news and scams, own your digital footprint, and build online habits you actually feel good about. Self-paced, about an hour total.

- **Price:** Free
- **Format:** Self-paced, online
- **Time:** About 1 hour, self-paced
- **Pace:** 1 hour per week
- **Level:** Beginner
- **Language:** English
- **Subject:** Digital Citizenship

[Enroll](https://lms.ibl.ai/platform/highereducation/courses/course-v1:highereducation+DIGCIT101+self-paced)

## Course description

A self-paced digital citizenship course for middle schoolers. Six story-driven lessons on privacy, digital footprints, misinformation, scams, kindness online and screen-time balance — each one opening with a real situation, a question worth thinking about, and practical moves you can use today.

### About This Course

  
You have grown up online. You already know how to post, stream, game and group-chat. This course is about the part nobody teaches you: how to do all of that **smartly and safely**, so the internet works for you instead of the other way round.

  
Every lesson starts with a story about someone your age, asks you a question worth thinking about, and then shows you exactly what to do. No lectures. No scare tactics. Just the moves that actually protect you.

  
### What You Will Learn

  

    - **Protect your privacy** — passwords, permissions, settings, and what never to post.

    - **Own your digital footprint** — the trail you leave, who reads it later, and how to shape it.

    - **Spot misinformation** — a three-question check that works on fake news, deepfakes and edited clips.

    - **Beat scams and phishing** — the pattern every scam shares, and what to do if you fall for one.

    - **Be the person people want online** — handling drama, standing up for others, and keeping a healthy balance.

  

  
### How It Works

  
Three modules, six lessons, completely self-paced — start when you want, stop when you want, pick up where you left off. Each lesson takes about ten minutes.

  
Your grade comes from **Homework (30%)**, **Checkpoint Quizzes (30%)** and a **Final Exam (40%)**. You get two attempts at everything, and every question explains its answer afterwards.

  
### Who It Is For

  
Middle school students (roughly ages 11–14) and anyone who helps them — teachers, school counselors and families welcome. No prior knowledge needed. If you can use a phone, you are ready.

## Outline

### Start Here · Welcome

- 0.1 Welcome to Digital Citizenship

### Module 1 · Your Privacy and Your Digital Footprint

- 1.1 Guarding Your Privacy Online
- 1.2 The Trail You Leave Behind

### Module 2 · Spotting Misinformation and Scams

- 2.1 Is That Even True
- 2.2 Scams, Phishing and Online Tricks

### Module 3 · Healthy and Respectful Online Habits

- 3.1 Kindness in the Comments
- 3.2 Balance and Wellbeing Online

### Conclusion · Your Turn

- 4.1 Wrapping Up

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