Digital Citizenship Symposium

Young people are growing up in a digital landscape that is changing faster than ever. New platforms, devices, forms of communication, and emerging technologies continually reshape the environments in which students learn, connect, create, and spend their time. As those environments evolve, students benefit from intentional and ongoing support from the adults and educators who help them make sense of both the opportunities and pitfalls of the technologies around them..

Helping young people navigate those experiences thoughtfully requires more than teaching them how to use digital tools—it means helping them develop the knowledge, habits, self-awareness, and reflective practices needed to engage with technology safely, responsibly, critically, and intentionally. Experiences with social media, smartphones, artificial intelligence, and other digital tools reinforce the importance of helping learners recognize potential risks, understand available safeguards, evaluate information and influences, and make informed choices about their own digital lives.

At the same time, these technologies will continue to play a notable part of how students learn, work, communicate, and participate in the world around them. Effective digital citizenship education therefore isn't about avoiding technology; it is about preparing students to use it with greater awareness, agency, and discernment.

Nebraska's approach to this work is informed by the Edvolve Framework for Digital Citizenship, which organizes learning around four interconnected areas: Digital Safety, Media & Information Literacy, Digital Well-Being, and Social Responsibility. Together, these areas provide educators and students with a structure for exploring what it means to navigate an evolving digital world thoughtfully and well.

The Nebraska Digital Citizenship Symposium is a statewide learning experience designed for middle and high school students and the educators who support them. Through timely learning, discussion, collaboration, and creation, participants explore issues that shape how they experience and engage with digital environments and consider how they can respond thoughtfully within their own schools and communities.

The goal extends beyond the symposium itself. Students are encouraged to take what they learn back to their local contexts, where they can help raise awareness, model responsible practices, contribute to conversations about technology, and serve as leaders and change agents among their peers. Educators participate alongside students, helping create the support and opportunities needed for that learning to continue after the event.

The symposium is made possible through collaboration among ESU 3, ESU 5, ESU 7, ESU 8, ESU 10, and ESU 13, which work together to provide regional opportunities connected through a shared statewide experience. This collaborative approach allows students and educators from communities across Nebraska to engage with common topics, resources, and learning while considering how those ideas can be applied locally.

The symposium is one part of a broader statewide commitment to digital citizenship. Additional resources aligned to the Edvolve Framework for Digital Citizenship are available through Nebraska SupportED to help educators, leaders, students, and families continue this work throughout the year.

The Nebraska Digital Citizenship Symposium brings middle and high school students and educators together in person at regional locations across the state for a shared day of learning focused on timely digital citizenship topics.

The specific theme and learning experiences evolve from year to year, but the symposium is designed to give students an active role in examining how technology influences their lives and considering how they can make informed, intentional choices in digital spaces.

Participating schools typically attend as teams of students accompanied by an educator or other school professional. Because the symposium is hosted regionally by participating Educational Service Units, schools may choose the location that best fits their needs.

Registration typically opens near the beginning of the school year. Current dates, locations, registration information, costs, and event details will be posted here as they become available.

The annual K–12 Digital Citizenship Contests invite Nebraska students to turn what they are learning about digital citizenship into original work that informs, inspires, and engages others.

Contest topics connect to the annual symposium theme and the four areas of the Edvolve Framework: Digital Safety, Media & Information Literacy, Digital Well-Being, and Social Responsibility.

Students may submit work individually or in groups of up to three. Entries should communicate a positive and constructive approach to digital citizenship and demonstrate students' own creativity and thinking.

Students may submit:

• Image or Poster Entries – Original visual work created digitally or by hand.
• Video or Public Service Announcement Entries – Original videos of no more than three minutes.

Entries must follow copyright and attribution requirements. When artificial intelligence is used as part of the creative process, students must follow the contest's current transparency and citation expectations, including documenting their use of AI when required.

Contest guidelines, submission links, deadlines, and the annual theme are updated each school year.

Students and educators are encouraged to review the contest guidelines and judging rubrics before beginning an entry.

Entries are evaluated with attention to:

• a positive and constructive digital citizenship message;
• creativity, originality, and effective communication;
• alignment to the contest theme or digital citizenship topics; and
• compliance with submission, copyright, attribution, and technical requirements.

Separate rubrics are available for Image/Poster and Video/Public Service Announcement entries so students can understand the expectations before submitting their work.

View Contest Guidelines View Contest Rubrics

Entries will be accepted through March 28, 2027, and contest winners will be announced in April 2027.