Creating a Positive Digital Footprint

We live in an age where we are constantly online and have access to the Internet in our pocket. Due to this it is important to think about the digital footprint we are leaving behind and what those who see it whether it be family, friends, colleagues, or bystanders may think of it. Here is my list of ten things that I believe are important for leaving a positive digital footprint!

References:

Adams, S. (2013, March 14). 6 Steps To Managing Your Online Reputation. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/03/14/6-steps-to-managing-your-online-reputation/#688a671c7767

Boyle, J. (2014, March 8). 11 Tips For Students To Manage Their Digital Footprints. Retrieved from http://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/digital-citizenship-the-future-of-learning/11-tips-for-students-tomanage-their-digital-footprints/

Digital Media in the Classroom. (n.d.). 10 Things Your Students Should Know About Their Digital Footprints. Retrieved from http://www.teachhub.com/10-things-your-students-should-know-about-their-digital-footprints

Purewal, S.J. (2015, April 8). How to manage your online reputation for free. Retrieved from https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-manage-your-online-reputation-for-free/

Zwilling, M. (2015, August 7). 6 Keys to a Positive Online Presence and Reputation. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/249053

My Digital Footprint

The concept of a digital footprint is nothing new to me, maybe the name, but not what it actually is. My father works in IT and therefore is quite tech-savy. This being said, I can remember having a computer that was deemed mine at the young age of five. My dad being the technical, but also extremely responsible, man he is wanted us to understand the responsibility of using the Internet, especially social media sites, at a very young age. I can remember him sitting me down and explaining that we needed to understand that anything we put out on social media or the Internet was out there forever and there is no getting it back even if it were to be deleted. 

The strong level of responsibility that was instilled in me at a young age continued as I chose the career that I did as a teacher. As a teacher we truly do live in a fishbowl that is under a microscope. Not only now do I have to look at the things I post from my perspective, but also I have to think about how the community of students, parents, administrators, or colleagues could also construe the things I post online.

I would say that I am the kind of person that does like to Google people and see what I can find. Therefore, I find it very interesting to Google myself and see what kind of a digital footprint I do leave behind. I would start by saying that my name is unique. What I mean by this is that when I Google “Kristin Castello” many things that pop up on the first page are me. Of the first few things that pop up one can see my Facebook page, my school website, my Twitter, and my wedding website. I have always kept my Facebook very private so the only things that could be seen there are any profile pictures or cover photos I have updated. The same can be found by my personal twitter since the only people that can see my tweets are my followers. The most information that could be seen about me is probably my wedding website, but it was also created with the understanding that it could be seen by the public. I feel that to this point in my life I have left a positive digital footprint and I will continue to do so. I also hope to leave more of one through the use of social media for networking that I am beginning to discover through this class! 

Twitter for Professional Development

The hashtags I have chosen to follow are #alg1chat #geomchat #hsmath #PBL #edtools and #topteaching. I teach high school mathematics specifically algebra 1 and geometry. Primarily I chose these to find math resources that I could use towards teaching. Also, our Freshman Academy administrator is pushing for us to work on revamping our lesson plans to be less traditional so I’m hoping to find some good Project Based Learning resources and ways to improve my teaching.

I really like the resources I could find under the subject specific hashtags #alg1chat and #geomchat. I feel like I get in a rut of using the same resources and these should help me to branch out and really include new examples and different types of problems. My first resource that I found under #alg1chat I found the following image:
https://twitter.com/KarenCampe/status/861214077993013248

This image is an example of always/sometimes/never problems. These types of questions really show an understanding of the concept because the student has to really think through the concept and when it can occur. I am always looking for ways to differentiate instruction in our Algebra 1 H class and I really feel as though these specific problems and ones like these could be very beneficial. The second resource I found was for a website called georigami. It uses origami to teach various geometry topics. It also gives videos and worksheets for each of the topics. My third resource I found was a under #topteaching. It is a blog post entitled “Changing Role of Substitute Teachers.” The author talks about how there is a shortage of substitutes in her district and that many substitutes may not be certified or even if they are it may not be in your subject. This is something I find as well. Our school will be issuing Chromebooks to all students in two years. With this roll out these devices these technology resources could definitely change the way things could be taught when I have to be out.

I am extremely excited about the use of Twitter as a form of professional development. I feel like my world has been completely opened to an extremely good resource. I am really excited to see how the subject specific hashtags are used during the school year. Most high school math teachers are going to follow the same progression through a course. I feel that when stumped on how to make a lesson better resources that would be tweeted out would work well for the lessons that would be taught at the time. Also, as stated above, our administrator is really pushing for more engaging lessons and the integration of PBL. I feel that many great resources for this could be easily found on Twitter.

Links for my found resources:
#alg1chat

https://twitter.com/KarenCampe/status/861214077993013248/photo/1

#geomchat

http://www.georigami.com/

#topteaching

http://spartansocialstudies.blogspot.com/2017/05/changing-role-of-substitute-teachers.html

Creative Expression of CoPs, Conectivism, and PLNs

This image above is a compilation of images as I was making my dinner. As I thought through the making of my meal I thought that each aspect is analogous to the concepts we have researched in this module: Communities of Practice, Connectivism, and Professional Learning Networks. All of these concepts really do come together as a meal comes together from the beginning to the end.

What I believe to be the most basic level are the Communities of Practice (CoPs). Communities of practice are a group of people, with a common interest, who meet regularly in some fashion that may not necessarily be in person, who engage in a form of learning together (Wenger, 2013). In my dinner image I see the CoPs to be the individual elements such as the chicken, spinach, pasta, asparagus, etc. I see these to be the individual elements of the big picture. Individually, these pieces are cooked and primed with the end goal to be to come together for something bigger.

The piece that I see to tie all of the pieces together is the learning theory of Connectivism. Learning occurs when connections are made and not primarily through an individual. (“Connectivism”, n.d.) In my analogy of my meal, the pieces I see to be Connectivism are what I will refer to as the tools. These are the knives, the stove, the pots and pans, and the bowls. These are the pieces that bring the meal together. Without them, I would still have chicken, asparagus, spinach, and pasta, but through the tools they are transformed and brought together.

Finally, we have a meal. At this point all of the pieces (CoPs) have been brought together and connected and transformed and each of these pieces belongs to something much bigger. I see the final product, the completed meal to be an example of a Professional Learning Network (PLN). The PLN combines the groups of connected people to form an intentional bond (Gutierrez, 2016). I feel my example of the meal represents a Professional Learning Network well. At the end I have provided an image of a potluck (Woods, 2012). I feel an example of a potluck shows the many different PLNs as they come together. My meal shows one PLN, but in reality there are millions of PLNs in the world all which are also connected together as well as in a potluck there are multiple meals that come together to form the feast.

References

Connectivism. (n.d.). Retrieved June 10, 2017 from Education 2020 Wiki: https://education-2020.wikispaces.com/Connectivism

Gutierrez, K. (2016) What are Personal Learning Networks?. Retrieved from http://info.shiftelearning.com/blog/personal-learning-networks

Wenger, E.  (2013). What Are Communities of Practice?. Retrieved from http://www.ncddr.org/cop/whatiscop.html

Woods, D. (Photographer). (2012, April 21). Potluck! [digital image]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/76634755@N04/7167995448/in/photolist-bVpRjq-2fVwB-5aVQpY-72RzKG-jDQtQc-5iJBNa-5mnoi6-68M1vf-a4Uq7Q-7DaQrL-bVPgpU-3NeJfA-4rxpzk-4rxpBV-funeNU-bVPkzE-hndzo-5mnmPv-bVPJGU-bVP9By-72abMW-bVPu7m-775rQR-bVPLXU-5iNUXC-bVPzus-4rBrCE-5mrEMh-4rBuHW-9Gb3ry-edWm9-4rBp4j-4rDnSW-bVPdXh-8zp7jC-bVPNGW-6MbXB-6Qcmn3-4rBuG9-4rxpDK-bVP5jq-5pdHSy-68Gekt-4rDnNb-jdgsV-oPVxpK-kUJAj-3diAD-5K1iW5-5mrBEb

                

Social Networking Experiences and Expectations

I found joining the social networks for this course to be very simple. As a millennial I use social networks daily so setting up a profile and making posts felt a fairly easy thing to do as an assignment for my class! I was not familiar with Diigo, and still cannot figure out how to pronounce it, but I feel that sharing websites that we as teachers find to be our favorite can be a very beneficial form of collaboration.

I can honestly say that I have not used social media at all for my own professional development. I am excited to learn some ways to do so though as I know that there are copious amounts of resources that can be implemented if I were to do some research. For example, I know that many teachers have blogs where they post their resources as well as many teachers post their lessons and notes online. These could be great things for me to do, but just finishing up my second year of teaching I haven’t reached out as much as I would like to enhance my lessons.

I have not used social media much at all as an instructional strategy in my learning environment. I teach freshmen in high school and know that they are very involved in their social media accounts. I feel it could be a very beneficial tool, but I also know that it has to be moderated and in some areas could be a bit taboo. The only thing I have used that could possibly be construed as social media is the use of Remind. Remind allows me to send out messages to my students that sign up that show up like text messages on their phones. They can respond to these text messages as well.

I don’t have too many expectations for this course. This is my first grad school class that I have taken so I feel l will develop many of my expectations of what grad school will be like from this course. Since that course has a title of social networking I expect that we will often use social networking accounts to interact. I also expect that we will learn ways to implement social networks into our teaching.