Digital Citizenship (Digital Footprint thoughts)

In the Digital Citizenship course, I learned about keeping my classroom's internet use safe for everyone. At first, I wasn't very interested in this course because it asked me to read the appropriate use policy that students and teachers need to follow. After reading over the major sections, I realized that the policy contains guidelines that most if us are following anyways. That got me to thinking why we have to put a policy in place for students and teachers, which brought me to the 'new' digital/ social media era and our responsibility as teachers.

I think most adults understand boundaries, appropriate use of technology and how our digital footprint can represent us in a positive or negative light. Some adults don't and end up paying the price in fines or embarrassment. In this, it is our job as teachers to pass this knowledge on to our students. If we can teach kids to use the internet responsibly, we may have a greater impact on their lives than we imagine. This course touched on the subject of cyber bullying and digital footprints. A digital footprint is essentially what you leave behind on the internet for others to find. When I googled myself, I found some pictures from an old MySpace account I had in middle school and no longer knew how to access. While there was nothing bad on this account, I could no longer log into it and those pictures are up there to stay unless I contact MySpace directly to have them taken down.

This doesn't bother me, because like I mentioned, the pictures are harmless (goofy 7th grade me with braces playing arcade games). But what if I had fallen into to cyber bullying and posted something I couldn't take back? What if I had put up inappropriate pictures to look cool or funny? I remember being in middle school and wanting to have more visits on my MySpace page. Today, kids are looking for likes on Facebook. Nothing has changed since I was in school,  just the websites. In this, I think as children use the internet at school, it is our job as teachers to show them what's appropriate. While I teach Elementary school and don't anticipate social media being a huge issue, I still think my students need to know what appropriate use of the internet looks like. I'm hoping to start a blog this year to show students how to post things online appropriately. I would also like to teach them about the concept of digital footprint at this young age, just so they're aware it exists.

Overall, after taking this course, I'm realizing that teachers need to mentor their students to use technology in a safe and appropriate manner. Even at a young age, I think this lesson will make a positive impact on student's internet behaviors.