Creating a Positive Digital Plan

What type of footprint do you want to leave?

Maintaining a positive digital footprint?

1.  Pay attention to where I go.

“A digital footprint is the collection of all the traces you leave in electronic environments as you use or move through them. Some is content you actively volunteer—like your Facebook profile. Other material is passive—the cookies a site stores in your browser, the content your district collects about your use of their equipment, etc. All this data can be aggregated to build a profile of you and your behavior” (Kharbach, 2013)

2. Stay on top of things

Your digital footprint says a lot about you. "But why should I care," my students ask. Future employers, colleges, and recruiters are now Googling your online presence. "That's my personal life, it should be considered separate." Your profile and what you post paints a certain picture of you. What do you want them see? Consider the following infographic from KBSD.

3.  Create a solid online identity

In today's digital age, not having a digital presence at all could be seen as a red flag, similar to not having any credit background is problematic when applying for loans. When we make a payment on time, it positively affects our credit. Every time we go online we leave a digital footprint. "Having a solid digital identity is more important now than ever." (Taub, 2012)

4.  Pay attention to my privacy settings

Keep my personal accounts private and my professional ones public. "Change the privacy settings on your social networking sites so that only your Friends can see your information" (Educational Technology & Mobile Learning)

5.  Share helpful information, not banter.

Shirky (2008) suggests, "with an understanding of how transparency fosters connections and with a willingness to share our work and, to some extent, our personal lives. Sharing is the fundamental building block for building connections and networks."

6.  Acquire a domain name

"help control what people see when they search your name" (Taub, 2012).

7.  Apply the Golden RuleBe respectful online. Never post anything that could be hurtful or seen as an insult. "Never has this rule applied more than to how you speak to others online. What are you truly accomplishing by saying things behind the veil of a computer screen, that you would never say to someone in person? Treat others as you would like to be treated. Simply put, if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all" (Digital Media in the Classroom).

8. Google Myself

Make sure what is out there is really me, pay attention. "We can fully prepare students not just to be Googled well, but to be findable in good ways by people who share their passions for learning and who may well end up being lifelong teachers, mentors, or friends" (Richardson 2008).

9.  Think twice before posting

Never post anything you wouldn't say in real life or that you might find embarrassing later. "Always keep in mind that once information has been posted online, it can be almost impossible to remove because of archiving and file sharing. Even though you deactivate your accounts, the information may still be retrieved by others."(Educational Technology & Mobile Learning)

10.  Don't post personal information

Watch who you share your personal information with. "Do not disclose your personal address, phone number, passwords. Bank card numbers...etc even in private messages. There is always the possibility of somebody hacking into your account and finding them." (Educational Technology & Mobile Learning)

Resources

(2013). A Great Guide on Teaching Students about Digital Footprint ... Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/04/a-great-guide-on-teaching-students.html.

(2012). 4 things you need to know to help your students manage ... Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2012/10/4-things-you-need-to-know-to-help-your.html.

(2012). 10 Things Your Students Should Know About Their Digital ... Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://www.teachhub.com/10-things-your-students-should-know-about-their-digital-footprints.

(2012). 5 Key Things Needed To Improve Your Digital Identity - Forbes. Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/alextaub/2012/06/07/5-key-things-needed-to-improve-your-digital-identity/.

(2011). Digitally Speaking / Positive Digital Footprints - ASCD. Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr11/vol68/num07/Positive-Digital-Footprints.aspx.Richardson, W. (2008). Footprints in the digital age. Educational Leadership, 66(3). Retrieved fromwww.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/nov08/vol66/num03/Footprints-in-the-Digital-Age.aspx

Twitter for Professional Development

Tweets by @AlissaBlackburn

When I first started out on Twitter I spent my initial 6 months just lurking. I couldn't believe the content I was seeing. I found it overwhelming, but completely applicable. I started to follow people I met at conferences and people on specific chats. My bank of resources kept expanding. I finally took the leap to Tweet during a workshop I attended with Eric Sheninger, one very inspiring principal. I slowly became used to Tweeting and today find I would not know or be able to help as many educators had I not taken those first steps. The professional development I get from Twitter is essential to my continued growth. 

The hashtags I am following at the moment are:
#edtech

• PBS News Hour Video
• Try Snapping a Picture of Good Class Behavior

#edchat

• The Power of "I Don't Know"
• 8 Tips to Create a Twitter Driven School Culture

#caedchat

• The Marshmallow Challenge-would be a great first day ice breaker activity
• Resources to help you start your own class Twitter account

#mlearning

• Quickly turn physical post-it notes into digital ones

#engchat

• Inside the brain of a struggling reader-Cool infographic and examples

#makered

• 5 Ways to Bring Innovation into the Classroom
• 10 Examples & Non-Examples of Differentiated Instruction

Digital Footprint

I teach my students about positive digital footprints. We talk about how colleges and employers are now looking them up on their social media sites. Wow, it is definitely an eye opener for them. I ask them to think about the things on their Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram account. Then I ask them would a potential employer, college, or recruiter be happy with what they see on your social media page? Most of them say "No". I would agree; this is why I don't follow students.

I think somewhere down the line, after we have taught digital citizenship for quite a few years, the students I see will be more cognizant of what a positive digital footprint is and I will have less of a challenge in stressing this. For now, this is the first most of them have heard of it.

I Googled myself. My digital footprint consisted of my Twitter, Google+, YouTube, 2 Facebook pages, a Pinterest that wasn't mine, a Facebook that wasn't me, a LinkedIn that didn't go anywhere, and some background checks that weren't me.

My Twitter page was all professional and shows many of my hashtags to #iacue and #sbteachrs. The IACUE hashtag I post to is for Inland Area CUE (Computer Using Educators), I am Vice President of our board. The sbteachrs hashtag is one I created for San Bernardino teachers to follow. One of my Facebook pages is personal and blocked to only friends. This is the one I use to post pictures of the kids for my relatives to see. The other Facebook page shows only the EdTech group and all of the posts we are doing for EdTech 543. My YouTube page shows only positive videos I have created or the playlists I have put together. My Google+ page shows previous lessons I have done for classes I have had in the MET program. One of my presentations on creating Google Sites came up, but it was professional as well. The other sites which came up clearly weren't me. The background check sites, if you paid for them, might show I had a ticket for a California Stop almost ten years ago.

I use this Common Sense Media lesson for teaching Digital Footprints to my students and the following You Tube video. We have class discussions about all of it and it gets them thinking.

Creative Expression

I chose to continue the metaphor of plants to represent my creative expression explaining communities of practice, personal learning networks, and connectivism.

All of the plants in the video are from my front yard and backyard garden. Similar to how our own personal learning networks feed us, my plants are fed through external resources as well. They receive assistance from the sun, water, either via drip lines or gray water, and nutrients in the soil. I also feed them once a year at the beginning of the season. Using their personal learning network, the plants continue to grow, bloom, and bear fruit. The plants also give resources and support the surrounding environment. "A PLN involves an individual's topic-oriented goal, a set of practices & techniques aimed at attracting and organizing a variety of relevant content sources, selected for their value, to hep the owner accomplish a professional goal or personal interest" - D. Warlick

The plants are all connected via the drip lines and they all share the same soil; some plants are also connected to my house through the kitchen sink's gray water. The plant roots in the front yard are connected by one type of soil where the plant roots in the backyard are connected through a more fertile soil to help them grow and flourish. The plants are also connected to the environment benefitting all, they are, ".....comprised of two or more nodes linked in order to share resources" (Downes 2008). The birds, bees, and butterflies help to fertilize the flowers. The small critters eat the fruit and fertilize things in their own way elsewhere.

Similar to Communities of Practice, care has been taken not to plant an invasive species, such as mint, next to tomatoes. All of my plants have been placed in groups with common interests. My plants in the front work together with the common interest of holding back the soil and spreading to cover more ground. Even though all of the creepers are different varieties, they are "a group of engineers working on similar problems" (Wenga circa 2007). My plants in the backyard work with specific groups too. Almost all of the plants in the back are specific to growing food for our family. All of the plants whether in the front or the back have a specific domain, "It has an identity defined by a shared domain of interest. Membership therefore implies a commitment to the domain....." (Wenger c 2007).


Resources:
Wenger, Etienne (c 2007) ‘Communities of practice. A brief introduction’. Communities of practice [http://www.ewenger.com/theory/. Accessed January 14, 2009].

Kop, Rita & Hill, Adrian (2008) Connectivism: learning theory of the future or vestige of the past?http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/523/1103

Sheninger, Eric. Anytime PD.  Personal Learning Networks.  https://sites.google.com/site/anytimepd/home