Investigating Undergraduates' Perceptions of Digital Citizenship: A Survey from China

Digital citizenship is an essential component of technology education. This study aimed to provide evidence for digital citizenship education by exploring Chinese undergradutes' perceptions of digital citizenship. An online questionnaire survey on digital citizenship was carried out in universities of mainland China, and 227 students responded to the survey. Statistics implied that undergraduates ‘ perceptions of digital citizenship were generally rated as barely satisfactory. Compared with ethics and fluency in digital environment, Chinese undergraduates performed poorly on self-identity and online behavior in cyberspace. As to the group differences, our research implied that students' grade levels or disciplinary background showed no significant effect on their perceptions of digital citizenship, while female students had higher perceptions of ethics in the digital environments than that of male students. Based on the analysis, the paper suggests future work to improve undergraduates' digital citizenship perceptions and practices.