The Hidden Curriculum of Digital Citizenship in Higher Education: A Conceptual Framework for Responsible Digital Participation

Abstract

Digital citizenship in higher education is generally addressed through courses, workshops, policies and digital skills programmes. This paper argues that there is another equally significant form of learning that arises from the university's usual digital  culture. Students learn the unwritten messages through lecturers' citation practices, peer interaction, data practices related to learning performance, communication expectations, academic integrity procedures, and patterns of online participation.  All of these experiences constitute a hidden curriculum in the field of digital citizenship. Drawing on relevant peer-reviewed research on digital citizenship, hidden curriculum, digital literacy, digital identity, privacy, academic practice, inequality, participation and higher education, the paper presents a conceptual model that explains how responsible digital participation is developed informally. The model identifies five channels: teacher modelling, peer norms and group culture, platforms and  digital systems, assessment and academic practices, and institutional culture and policy. These channels can strengthen or weaken five citizenship outcomes: information integrity; ethical action and academic honesty; privacy, safety, and well-being; respectful and inclusive participation; and civic voice and responsible contribution. The paper argues that universities cannot promote responsible digital citizenship solely through formal teaching; their ordinary digital practices must also reflect the values they wish to promote. The framework therefore shifts the focus away from seeing digital citizenship as merely a matter of individual students' responsible participation towards viewing it as a cultural and educational process that occurs throughout the university.