How personal values and critical dispositions support digital citizenship development in higher education students.

The virtual environment's expansion and role in young people's lives accentuate the need for developing transversal competences such as digital citizenship. The process may be supported by personal resources like personal values and critical thinking dispositions. With this study on 536 young students' students aged 18 to 26 (M = 20.85, SD = 1.60), we analysed the relationship between two adjacent personal values, universalism and self-direction, and students' digital citizenship. Moreover, we examined the role of critical thinking dispositions, namely learning orientation, and cognitive integrity in supporting digital citizenship development. Following structural equation modelling (SEM) analyses, the results show that universalism and learning orientation significantly positively influence digital citizenship, whereas cognitive integrity has a negative effect. Further, personal values positively associate with critical thinking dispositions.

Evidence to the Need for a Unifying Framework: Critical Consciousness and Moral Education in Adolescents Facilitate Altruistic Behaviour in the Community.

BACKGROUND: Critical consciousness represents an emancipatory pedagogical process whose central goal is developing the necessary skills to identify and act in the direction of changing social limitations. An important kind of action that helps challenge social limitations is altruistic behaviour. Moreover, moral values could enhance the effect of critical consciousness on altruistic behaviour. METHOD: This study aims to provide some empirical support for the benefits of a unifying framework between moral education and critical consciousness by exploring the association between critical motivation and moral foundations, and the moderating role of groups' status (disadvantaged versus privileged) within this association. The present research explores the link between critical consciousness, altruistic behaviour, and the mediational role of moral foundations. The data was collected from participants studying in urban areas and disadvantaged rural areas. Hence, the socio-economic status of the individuals (disadvantaged groups versus privileged groups) is considered a moderator in this dynamic. The study sample comprised 1031 adolescents aged 13-19 (M = 16.51, SD = 1.54). RESULTS: The findings emphasise that fairness and care moral foundations mediate the relationship between critical motivation and altruistic behaviour, and the moderator role of group status. In conclusion, the poor development of critical motivation in disadvantaged groups influences moral values development and, ultimately, affects individual behaviour in the community.