"Beyond technology: Cultivating digital citizenship"

On July 7th I gave the opening plenary talk at #Etai (English Teachers Association of Israel)'s national conference in Jerusalem. Besides the fact that this was a true honour, doing this at home and in person was very significant to me!

The audience was absolutely amazing- asking thoughtful questions, sharing insights, and later continuing the conversation with me one-on-one. So many people came up throughout the day to say how much they enjoyed the talk! I was deeply moved by their kind and meaningful feedback, like: “A thoughtful and thought-provoking plenary.”

So what was my plenary about?

It revolved around a message I have been persistently spreading for some time: We must go beyond technology and shift the discourse towards developing key #literacies for a tech-infused world. This can only be achieved through the reimagination of education- which is long overdue and essential for preparing new generations of citizens to navigate our evolving, interconnected world. This is essential to prepare new generations for safe, efficient, thoughtful, and responsible navigation in an interconnected world rich with emerging technologies. Digital citizens identify possibilities and recognize responsibilities- and can does foster healthy online communities (ISTE, 2024)- where the human is at the center. Critical thinking becomes more important than ever in the workplace (World Economic Forum, 2025) and in daily life in general.

The reimagination of education is long overdue and has become urgent now with the advent of AI. A focus on pedagogy involves promoting a process-oriented approach rather than a product-centred one. In my plenary I provided many examples from my courses at Shaanan College - one of which is a designated one: "Digital Literacy" - and presented students' work that involved the use of AI and technology in general for meaningful purposes promoting learning within a Knowledge Building Community (Scardamalia and Bereiter, 2006). Additionally, I shared findings from a mini-research study she conducted in the Digital Literacy course, which reveal the importance of reflective processes for developing digital literacy.

Getting everything ready on stage for the talk

Thank you, Etai, for inviting me to share this message with our community of teachers here in Israel!

Three plenary speakers and ETAI management