Week 4 - Digital Citizenship: Voki & Prezi

Digital Citizenship is an important topic that needs to be conversed with between families, educators, administrators, and most importantly – students. Today, students have an immense number of resources available to them that; essentially, allow them to do whatever they wish. If they want their paper written for them, they can. I believe it’s imperative that educators and students familiarize themselves with good online practices which mean they should be weary of what they post online, who they talk to and where they gather information. The “Digital Footprint” that we leave behind spans far and wide and after watching the video we watched in class, I discovered some aspects about my online presence that I hadn’t thought about before. I tend to use my email and online banking accounts the most, and, for the most part, I hadn’t given second thought about that information becoming public. Furthermore, it’s our responsibility as educators to teach students, even before they begin to actively engage with the Internet, that whatever they post online, can have adverse effects on their livelihood.

 On ABCs Nightline, a story was published about high school students and the presence they leave behind on Facebook. Employers and universities are placing higher emphasis on checking a student’s social media presence before accepting them in their company or their school. What students and their parents may not be aware of is that their entire online existence can be monitored, stored or copied. It’s vital that students and their parents are taught about the dangers of being active in the online community. Parents should be conscious about their own activity but also about what their children are using the Internet for at their home. In Andy Oram’s article “Being Online: What You Say About Yourself or, Selves,” Oram makes reference to Shelly Turkle, a sociologist and psychologist who suggests that we create multiple personalities online, but sometimes, we don’t even acknowledge that we’re doing it. Still, in this Boston Globe piece, Kara Baskin presents an excellent point that we convey ourselves only in the way that we want to be seen to other people. We create personas on our social media that leaves us to appear one-dimensional or completely transparent. It’s essential that we’re all conscious of the image we portray ourselves in when we’re posting online or just creating a new status update on Facebook or Twitter.

 The Digital Citizenship debate is an important debate and is vital for educators and parents to understand for the safety of children, but also themselves. The Digital Footprint we leave behind is powerful beyond our belief. If hackers can break into the CIA’s main webpage, or send out malicious emails to everyone in the United States, what do you think they can do with your bank account number or your address? We all need to be mindful, especially as educators, that with technology becoming more prevalent and resourceful, there needs to be lessons on how to appropriately utilize the Internet.