This week in class we had a guest speaker Jesse Miller who talked about digital citizenship and online privacy. His presentation was very engaging, and I loved how interactive he was with the class, prompting us to react with emojis to his questions as well as to type in the chat. This made the class much more interesting and engaging. It also made me think a lot about how closely connected our professional and personal lives are when it comes to technology. He pointed out how our generation grew up with social media which makes us a lot more social media literate.
Jesse started by asking us to think back to the first social media platform where we had a positive experience. Most people said Instagram, but others said platforms such as Facebook, Tumblr, snapchat, and more. It was actually very interesting to see other peopleās experiences and to think back at my own and see how young I was when I first got it and how much social media has changed since then. He shared examples of how technology can have serious impacts like the Canucks riot in 2012 when social media was used in a good way to help the investigation. This really showed me how serious and powerful digital footprints can be even when you think what you are posting or sending is only temporary.
He talked a lot about personal vs professional as a teacher. As a future teacher maintaining personal and professional boundaries online is very important. I am aware that as a future teacher remembering to think before you post and being aware of your online presence is extremely important as it could be viewed by employers, coworkers, parents, and even students. I remember being in Grade 7 and looking up my favourite teachers on Instagram and requesting to follow them. Looking ack at this I can understand how important these boundaries are. Jesse gave a few examples of how data can be collected such as scanning IDs at a club and simply using the Wi-Fi in a store. This really made me realize how unaware some of us are to all of the ways that data and information about us can be collected in our everyday lives.
One thing that stuck out to me was phones in schools. For me I have always seen phones as something that is not allowed in a classroom especially in elementary and high school, less so later on in high school. I feel like I view it that way because in elementary school we werenāt allowed to have phones out and if we did it was rare so when I went in to high school that view carried over. Now in BC phones are not allowed in classrooms unless they are approved by a teacher. Jesse framed this in a way to give teachers power rather than restrict students. I agree with this because being in a classroom where a teacher has taken phones away, I found myself holding a resentment towards them. It almost made me like them less because they were known as the āstrictā teachers. Instead of banning phones completely I think students should be taught how to use them responsibly, safely, and that they can be used as helpful tools in the classroom.
Jesses talk was overall very eye-opening, it made me realize that as a future teacher and being in this new generation of growing up in the digital world and being on social media its more than just knowing how to use technology, itās about modeling how to use it responsibly.
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