EDTECH 543: Positive Digital Reputation

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This activity was really interesting.  I found many different articles about how to maintain or fix your online reputation.  From my research I have come up with 10 major ideas (represented in the slideshow).

Considering the Digital Footprint

Thoughts about living in a world where digital footprints are almost unavoidable for most people.

The first time that I really considered the impact of the digital footprint was when I had posted a picture of my daughter on my facebook page and someone who was a friend of my wife had posted a comment that was crass and inappropriate. (My daughter was standing holding a playground equipment and the woman made a reference to “poll dancing”).  besides making my Poppa Bear blood boil, I had a realization that this footprint that I am creating, not only for my self, but for my daughters.  Their entire lives are online… is that right? One blog post said, “A staggering 92% of American babies have an online presence…”.  This is incredible.  The blog continues by making the effect of the massive footprint, “Children born today will have every aspect of their life recorded, uploaded, backed up, forwarded and publicized completely without their consent.”

Now as a father I want to protect my daughters, does that mean we move to the mountains, eliminate what we can and live in a cave?  Part of me thinks that would be refreshing, but not possible.  The reality is, the footprint is with us…so how are we going to live in order to maintain a positive footprint?  Are we going to build up our children to be responsible online, understanding the impact that their use of the web can make? We have to.  As the previous generations taught their children survival on the farms, or in the mountains, we must teach our children how to survive with their footprint.

What you discovered about your own digital footprint.

My footprint for the most part is pretty small.  I try to keep photos and information private.  I have also made it an important habit to limit how much information I share online.  Though I do have Facebook and Twitter, I try to utilize them for specific purposes.  Living overseas, Facebook has been so helpful to share with friends and family and visa-versa about life from across the world.  Twitter is strictly reserved for my professional development.  I try to not “cross contaminate” my private and personal lives between the two platforms.  That might sound archaic in a sense, but it’s a simple way for me to maintain my footprint.  

Final Thoughts

It’s interesting.  I saw this image come across my Facebook feed:

This is a picture of the bacteria on a hand that has been grown in a petri dish.  Now think for a minute… if this was a foot…

Our digital footprint, like the bacteria on our hands can be both positive and negative.  The question is how are you going to take care of yours?

References:

Blog Post-http://www.sileo.com/92-babies-are-online/

EDTECH 543: Twitter #’s

 

I have found in the past year the importance of Twitter as a resource and professional development tool.  Currently, these are the hashtags that I am following:

#whatisschool

#edtech

#techcoach

#tncohort

#asiaED

#edtechchat

 

The first tool that I learned about from the #tncohort is Sploder http://www.sploder.com/free-game-creator.php ).  Sploder is a website that allows you to create your own games.  These can be for fun or educational games that can be put together in an easy way.  I have since offered this as an option for my students to use in class on certain projects.  It is a great website for both students and teachers to use!

 

#asiaED offers many resources. One that I have found really valuable was an article titled “Strategies for Helping Students Motivate Themselves”.  This article covers 4 different qualities  (Autonomy, Competence, Relatedness, and Relevance) that are important to helping students have self motivation.  This article was challenging and enlightening as I related it back to my classroom.

 

On #whatisschool there was a post “Transforming the Way We Learn: 4 New Ways Kids Can Learn Minecraft”.  Within this post, the author describes how students can learn Java programming, build up their writing skills, enhance their reading and practicing digital citizenship through minecraft.  

 

Twitter: Just In Time!

Twitter is such a valuable resource, especially for Pro-D.  I have found a great amount of information on twitter that I have been able to use practically in my classroom, as well as being able to share in our professional development times at my school.  Twitter is a wealth of information especially for teachers, educators.  

EDTEDCH 543: Creative Expression

Using Piktochart I created a poster of the “Ingredients for a successful educator”.  At the top of the poster we see three separate categories, PLN, CoP, and Connectivism.

• PLN- I created a bubble of people, sharing information across different platforms.  The people are all of different profession and background which offers a diverse network of learning.  I gave each person in the image a phone/tablet type device to represent the power of the PLN over the internet and social networks.  Marianne Stenger writes in her article, “Where educators once had to rely on meetings, workshops and conferences that were held a couple of times a year at best, they now have a host of online tools and platforms that enable them to interact and collaborate with other teachers anywhere in the world virtually 24/7”  My representation of PLN embodies my definition, a group of people using social networking as an additional professional development resource.
• Connectivism- To me connectivism is best represented by a network icon.  Simple yet fully defining connectivism.  One post explains that connectivism gives people the abilities to share knowledge and information through the information boom that has come with the internet.  Justin Marquis  wrote, “Connectivism incorporates the additional dimension that learning happens more rapidly in a connected, information rich world through technological mediation.” (Marquis, 2011). This quote painted a clear picture of connectivism and how I wanted to represent it on my poster.  The network icon represents connection, but also the importance of the internet and the connections that offer the opportunity to explore connectivism.
• Community of Practice– Community of Practice is very similar to both connectivism and PLN, but the main difference is the “community” aspect. The Wenger-Trayner website defines community of practice as, “…groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly”(2015).  These are people that are here with you , who are working or living life with you.  From this community you find common interests and start to build from.  I chose this icon simply because it shows three people in proximity of each other, connected in a common way.

As the image travels down, the three separate colors come together into one measuring cup, adding up into a successful educator.  Without utilizing each of these theories and thought processes, modern teachers can be in danger of getting left behind..  There is an overwhelmingly large amount of information, and as a community or network education, (teachers and students) will greatly benefit from these activities.

Works Cited:

Marquis, Justin.  “Looking at Connectivism as a New Learning Theory.” Blog. Online Universities. 29 December 2011.

Stenger, Marianne. “Educators are Ditching Traditional Conferences for Blogs and Twitter.” informED. Open Colleges. Web, 6 July 2014.

Wenger-Trayner, E. &Wenger-Trayner, B. (2014). “Communities of Practice a brief introduction“. Wenger-Trayner. Retrieved from http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/