Do Educators and Schools Have a Responsibility to Help Their Students Develop a Digital Footprint?6/14/2022 I found this topic (pre-debate) to be one of the more interesting ones for me personally. I think I was intrigued with the topic because it is something that myself, and I would say many others know little about. Most individuals would have an opinion on say cell phone use in the classroom whereas they might not have an opinion or even an understanding of a “digital footprint”. Ironic no doubt that something of greater importance is likely significantly less understood. In terms of assisting the development of a digital footprint, this article here covers some of the issues that a school may encounter. Knowledge of these potential issues is enough to make me not want to post anything school, and especially kid related as a teacher. It simply feels like too much risk, for very little, if any reward. The disagree side (Gertrude and Kim) also provided a plethora of research to support their position against working with students to develop their digital footprint. After hearing them speak, and reading through the articles, I am inclined to agree with them. To be frank, I was impressed and agreeable with the arguments made around not letting big tech off of the hook for the mess that they created. I thought that the comparison between it and what happened in the past with putting the onus of recycling on to the consumer was excellent. While I agree with the points around not letting big tech companies out of what should be their responsibility, I also appreciated the points presented by Rae and Funmilola and educating students on their digital footprints and the consequences it might have. In my mind there is a significant difference between education around digital footprints and assisting in developing one. For example, we teach kids about bike safety (wear a helmet), but we don’t always practice riding bikes together as a class. Sometimes we do, but that is teachers going out of their way to be awesome! Relatively speaking, the internet is quite young, and many of us simply aren’t aware of what the consequences might be yet. I for one did not give pause in 2007 when I joined Facebook that a future employer might look into what I was up to or doing (fortunately, nothing too nefarious). That notion alone may be enough to change the way individuals interact with the internet – these footprints are not being made in the sand, rather in concrete.
7 Comments
Matthew Fehr
6/15/2022 08:47:44 am
Hi Chris! I agree that teachers have a role to play in educating our students about the consequences of their online activities, but like you I have difficulty with the idea of curating or maintating a student's online identity. What if a student moves to a new school? Do we have a say in what parents post about their children? How can we given a responsibity when many of the key decisions are taken out of our hands, or happen outside of our working hours? I think all of us are more than willing to be part of the solution, but the interconnection and overlap of responsibility means that this cannot be the sole responsiblity of instructors or teachers. I think that we are missing the point, as tech companies need to be held accountable for storing vast amounts of our personal information, which makes it vulnerable to theft and exploitation.
Reply
Christopher Kampman
6/19/2022 09:57:43 am
Thanks Matthew!
Reply
Christina Puscus
6/16/2022 08:32:15 am
Chris, I appreciate your comment about the irony of people generally not understanding digital footprints yet their being of much greater importance than something like cell phone use in classrooms. Very thought provoking! I can relate to your mindset shift on this particular topic. It's heavy stuff to be playing a role in someone's digital identity and the consequent implications, especially with something that is currently so poorly understood. Maybe that's something we all need more education on ourselves before we start meddling with it for others.
Reply
Christina Puscus
6/16/2022 08:33:40 am
...I used the wrong "their" and it's killing me. THERE.
Reply
Christopher Kampman
6/19/2022 09:55:24 am
Hey Christina!
Reply
Karen Anderson
6/20/2022 04:46:36 pm
Thanks for the great blog. I am drawn part about there being a big difference between helping students create a digital footprint and teaching them what it is and why it is important. I personally don't think I need to help my students create one but I will definetly teach them about it now. I am one of those people who really didn't understand what it was until this debate and I wish I had known about it sooner. In fact my husband and I had a discussion about it with our own children last night. We plan to continue these discussions about tech, social media and their devices often to help them naviagte the fast paced changes. I am also making sure to add it t my classroom teaching as I create a digital unit of learning for them using everything I learned in this class.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
|