If you’re a student, you need to take Google’s free Digital Citizenship course right now!

If you’re reading this, you’re a digital citizen. We all have in some ways become digital citizens. But unlike the laws that govern our cities, we are not properly aware of what it means to be a citizen of the digital world. And that puts us at a risk, particularly the younger generation.

Earlier today Google announced that it is introducing a free Digital Citizenship course primarily targeted towards schools and educators. But the fact of the matter is, we all could use this course! From spending limited time playing games in cyber cafes, we have now become so used to online activity that life without it feels abnormal. We are constantly using the Internet for communicating, sharing photos, finding locations, reading the news, watching videos, or digging up material for the latest assignment. While our lives have become unimaginable without the ease of Internet, it is also imperative that we understand how to use the cyberspace responsibly while keeping yourself safe from harm.

Titled ‘Digital Citizenship & Safety Course‘, it comes with 6 units in total, all of which include 2 lessons that will take less than 15 minutes of your time.

The first lesson is about internet safety, privacy settings for your online profiles, and a guide to setting secure passwords. The second lesson focus on safety measure on mobile devices and how to keep them secure from harmful downloads. We all use online sources to find content but it is very important to understand that not all sources on the internet are credible. And so, the third lesson is a crash course on identifying the credibility of online information sources.

The Internet is full of scammers and hackers looking for a loophole to exploit. Students tend to not pay attention to this and often download virus-filled files or click on phishing links. The fourth lesson gives a detailed guide on how to save yourself from phishing and online scams. The final unit is about how to manage your online reputation. With social media it has become very easy for people to bully others and malign their public image and in the last lesson you will be taught how to manage your sensitive information.

If you’re a new Internet user, we highly recommend you to take this course. It is also recommended that schools start teaching their students this free course in order to keep them safe from online harm.

Once you’ve taken the course let us know if you found it helpful.