Week Two- An Abundance of Skepticism and a Lack of Patience

I found the video about Andy to be very insightful. If I had heard the term “digital footprint” previously, I would have thought about social networking, online shopping, and other accounts on websites. I never would have thought about medical records and all the other personal information that is online but not necessarily “public.” I had seen the first “Did You Know?” video in other courses but I had not seen the second one. The facts are just mind blowing. So much is changing all around us because of technology. 

When I think about my own digital footprint, I like to think that my footprint is considerably smaller than others. When I was ten years old I had my own AOL account so that I could instant message my friends when my family moved. There is an old MySpace account floating around on the internet that I have not logged onto in years. My Google + and Skype accounts are practically dormant. I use Facebook to connect with family and old friends. I have lots of online shopping accounts such as Amazon and Ebay and various fitness accounts such as Digifit, DailyMile and Fitness Pal. I am in love with the apps on my iPhone that let me check my bank account, pay for gas and refill presecriptions. I also have an addiction to Pinterest and TeachersPayTeachers. Unfortunately, I am sure that Sallie Mae and Chase hold a great portion of my digital footprint.

However, I am very skeptical about all this technology and information about me being available online. I rarely post things on Facebook. My privacy settings are very tight. I never allow websites to save my log in information. I never open more than one tab on my browser. I'm not sure why I get so unnerved by the computer knowing who I am and what kinds of things I shop for, but I don't like it! It seems that I am constantly finding more and more reasons to not increase my digital footprint, especially regarding pictures.

My skepticism makes me worried for this next generation. My nephew that was born not even two weeks ago has been on the internet for six months. I have friends who post practically every picture and every comment that their children make on Facebook. It's faster than scrapbooking they say, and they're convinced someday they'll be able to print it. But people are already losing jobs and job opportunities because of their activity in social networking. Cyberbulling has been born and is evolving daily. As concerned as I am about my own digital footprint and the information about me that is either public or private online, I am more concerned for my nieces and nephews and my students. How can we teach them to use technology, to collaborate and connect with it, all while being safe? 

I feel that there is not much that I know about technology and Web 2.0. I took a course last spring and now I feel fairly comfortable using things such as Animoto and Moodle with my students. Over the summer I took an entire course about digital storytelling. I loved all of the apps and ways that students could organize information and showcase what they have learned. I also know that as educators we have to prepare students for their futures. We cannot even fathom their futures and the jobs that they might have. We cannot imagine the technologies that might be available to them. We have to teach them to be self-directed problem solvers. We have to teach them to work together and use technology. To do this schools need to change. This is not easy as Bill Daggett points out- Rip Van Winkle would practically be at home in one of our schools. But change is what we need to do. 

There are many things that I want to learn during this course. I've already broadened my definition of what Web 2.0 is. I want to learn how to use these tools. I want to learn enough to show my students how to use them. I want to learn how I can use them effectively in my lessons. I want to learn how to use these tools to guide my students to learn with, from, and to teach other students from around the world. I want to broaden the worldview of my students. To do this, I know I am going to need to learn patience. My love/hate relationship with technology is going to need to shift. I have to be better at using technology not only so that I can teach my students, but so that I can solve problems when they arise in my classroom.