Where will your digital footprints take you?

Digital Citizenship and Digital Footprints

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       Digital citizenship is an important life skill that, in my opinion, does not get enough attention in today's technological society. It is important to remember that many of today's children are learning to use technology at a young age, and often parents don't know how or aren't aware that they need to guide their children to be responsible in the digital world as well as in the physical world. Similarly, schools are finding themselves in a position where they need to determine their roles as well in teaching digital citizenship. It is my assertion, that both the school and a student's family should be engaging in conversation about digital citizenship, netiquette and digital footprints with today's digital natives. 

"When should we begin educating students? As soon as they start using digital tools for communication, collaboration, and creation through connections online or offline." (Davis and Lindsay, 2012)

       I wholeheartedly agree with Davis and Lindsay in their thoughts about teaching digital citizenship to students as soon as they begin using technology. In my K-6 teaching, I begin teaching digital citizenship with my kindergarteners. We discuss it in child friendly terms, incorporating social thinking language as well as bucket filling language, which are both part of the guidance curriculum. The students learn about citations in an age appropriate manner and the class even sends an email to their classroom teacher. By beginning these conversations at a young age, I am hopeful that the students will better understand the implications of their choices when creating their digital footprints on their own. Since this is my first year, I have also been trying to impress upon the 5th and 6th grade classes the permanence of what they post and share online. Many students were shocked to learn that the Library of Congress saves each tweet from Twitter or that images sent via SnapChat can be saved with the help of another app or simply by the recipient taking a screenshot. These conversations are vital if we are going to help our students and children navigate the digital world and be mindful of their digital footprints. 

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       As an individual, I was fortunate enough to have developed a steady moral compass to guide me in my decisions before I was inundated with technology and began leaving digital footprints. My public digital footprints, for the most part, have been placed my myself. For example, my first time in college was around the time of the birth of Facebook. At that time, only colleges that were invited, were allowed to join, before parents, companies and even grandparents joined. Looking back, I am sure that I shared "too much" information, such as when I was leaving for school, what time my classes were out and where I would basically be for the next 24 hours, all things that I do not post publicly now. However, on the other hand, many of my friends were posting pictures of their antics at this time, unaware that Facebook would become a big as it is, or even that potential employers would someday access the posts. That being said, I am aware that everything I do, or say, is tracked and that my data is sold to any company willing to write a check. I don't have a sense of privacy online, and I think that helps me to understand and be marginally comfortable with how my digital footprints are recorded. 

       After college, I became a hiring manager, and would frequently find information about employees or potential employees thought Facebook. One example is of a man that was almost hired as an assistant manager, until the loss prevention manager and myself perused his Facebook account. His profile showed a much different picture of who he was and led us to look deeper into his background. He had chosen to put forth a public face that was not one that we had seen in interviews, let alone one we were looking to represent the company. 

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       Currently the district policy is to restrict all outside electronics. Students that have phones, or prefer to read on tablets cannot have these devices on school property. After consulting the new Technology Director, the students will soon be working with me to write a BYOD policy. As part of that policy, I believe students will need to have digital citizenship training, and I look forward to hearing students ideas on what should be done in the event that someone violates our policy. I feel that these continued conversations will only help students to develop a personal digital citizenship code of ethics that will guide them in their online interactions.


Resources:
Davis, V., & Lindsay, J. (2012, August 7). Navigate the Digital Rapids. ISTE. Retrieved April 13, 2014, from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-leading/issues/march-april-2010/navigate-the-digital-rapids