9. Teacher Librarians make a difference.
This work by Mia MacMeekin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
10. What is your footprint?
Image: the fat pastor Facebook
Image: stefan216.edublogs.org
11. Where to from here?
• How can our school reinforce responsible digital
citizenship as we move into the 21st century?
• Looking at our technology policy does it provide
enough scope for encouraging positive digital
footprints?
• What will you do now?
12. Recommended reading
• Ferriter, William M. April 2011. ‘Digitally Speaking/Positive Digital Footprints’. Volume 68, Number 7, The
Transition Years Pages 92-93. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-
leadership/apr11/vol68/num07/Positive-Digital-Footprints.aspx
• NSW Curriculum and Learning Innovation Centre (CLIC), 2011. ‘Digital Citizenship’. Retrieved from
http://www.digitalcitizenship.nsw.edu.au .
• NSW Education and Training, ‘What Staff need to know about Social Media and Technology’. Retrieved
from https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/policies/technology/communication/techguide.pdf
• Richardson, Will. November 2008 | Volume 66 | Number 3 ‘Giving Students Ownership of Learning’ Pages
16-19 Educational leadership. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-
leadership/nov08/vol66/num03/Footprints-in-the-Digital-Age.aspx
• Watkins, Sheri. February 2013. ‘How to help students create a positive digital footprint.’ Navigator:
Empowering teachers, engaging K-12 students, and connecting ideas with technology to make learning
more personal. Retrieved from ) http://navigator.compasslearning.com/featured/how-to-help-students-
create-positive-digital-footprint/
13. References
• Acuff, Jon. September 2012. ‘Digital Footprint’, retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eWee9x1N28
• Australian School Library Association 2013, Future learning and school libraries, ASLA, Canberra. Retrieved from
http://www.asla.org.au/site/DefaultSite/filesystem/documents/2013-ASLA-futures-paper.pdf
• Ferriter, William M. April 2011. ‘Digitally Speaking/Positive Digital Footprints’. Volume 68, Number 7, The Transition Years Pages 92-93.
Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr11/vol68/num07/Positive-Digital-Footprints.aspx
• Honeycutt, Kevin. February 2010. ‘Raising Digital Kids- The Digital Footprint’. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2_M7UIeQqKw
• NSW Curriculum and Learning Innovation Centre (CLIC), 2011. ‘Digital Citizenship’. Retrieved from
http://www.digitalcitizenship.nsw.edu.au .
• NSW Department of Education & Training Code of Conduct, ‘Employee Responsibility Duty of Care’. Retrieved from
http://www.dec.nsw.gov.au/detresources/Duty-of-care_aINKBMeyYD.pdf
• NSW Department of Education and Communities, 2012. ‘The changing world; Implementing the new curriculum’. Retrieved from
https://portalsrvs.det.nsw.edu.au/LRRView/14110/14110_03.htm).
• NSW Education and Training, ‘What Staff need to know about Social Media and Technology’. Retrieved from
https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/policies/technology/communication/techguide.pdf
• Richardson, Will. November 2008 | Volume 66 | Number 3 ‘Giving Students Ownership of Learning’ Pages 16-19 Educational leadership.
Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/nov08/vol66/num03/Footprints-in-the-Digital-Age.aspx
• Watkins, Sheri. February 2013. ‘How to help students create a positive digital footprint.’ Navigator: Empowering teachers, engaging K-12
students, and connecting ideas with technology to make learning more personal. Retrieved from
http://navigator.compasslearning.com/featured/how-to-help-students-create-positive-digital-footprint/
Editor's Notes
PresentationOutlineThe following slides will discuss: 1) What actually is a digital footprint? 2) What is Australia’s digital footprint? 3) When does your digital footprint begin? 4) As teachers, what is our duty of care in the digital world? 5) What can we do to help keep our students safe. 6) Creative positive footprints for ourselves and our students. 7) What role does the TL play in all this?
As we move through the digital world we are consistently leaving our mark and creating a ‘digital footprint’ that can never be removed unlike footprints in the sand. What users do online is there forever! 21st century continues to move forward at blistering pace, digital records are made of our identity from passing through a speed camera, the use of debit cards to buy our coffee to even spending time on the internet. Whatever is posted onto the internet is there for good, just like a digital tattoo. ‘Would you let your 10 year old get a tattoo? Well why do you let them post pictures on Facebook?’(Acuff, J. 2012).We are the first generation to have to have the “talk” with our children about digital footprints and the importance of this. Teachers need to lead the way in doing so as the time is moving so quickly that a lot of parents do not realise until too late (Acuff, J. 2012).Kevin Honeycutt talks about older generations’ use of the web as visitors but our students generation use of the web like residents. They move in and leave finger prints and footprints everywhere. Ask the question, is there anything you have done that you don’t want your mum to see, grandmother, pastor? Building an online footprint requires kids learning to build their own set of guidelines so they have a positive amazing digital footprint (Honeycutt, 2010).
We cannot stop our digital footprint. Everything from making a phone call on our mobile, using the GPS in the car to having medical tests result in contributing to your digital footprint.According to online security firm AVG in a 2012 study, 81% of U.S. children have a digital footprint before age two (Watkins, 2013). When our children were born we put up photos of our beautiful boys to share with our friends and family on Facebook and via email, ultrasound results are sent between doctors via email and conferences were had and recorded during the 9 months I carried the twins, so began their digital footprints. They now have their own reading egg accounts which tracks and records their personal reading information along with their name and age. Their digital footprint continues to grow at 3 and 4 years old. As teachers we need to help the whole school community to understand the importance of digital footprints and how no matter what everyone will have one, the choice is there to be made do you want a positive footprint that will outshine the negative footprints that maybe left behind.Honeycutt (2010) mentions in his speech, ‘have you done anything in your past as a teenager that you’re not proud of? Can you google it?’ That is the difference between students today when compared to 20 years ago. As teachers we need to help them create a positive digital footprint that will be useful in years to come and not one that will hinder them or to be ashamed of.
What do we need to do? Why is it important/relevant as educators?Duty of care – As educators we have a duty of care for our students.The code of conduct for NSW departmental employees states that ‘As a departmental employee, you have a duty to take reasonable care for the safety and welfare of the departmental school and TAFE students in your charge. 1) That duty is to take all reasonable action to protect students from risks of harm that can be reasonably predicted. For example, risksfrom known hazards and from foreseeable risk situations against which preventative measures can be taken. 2) The standard of care that is required, for example the degree of supervision, needs to becommensurate with the students' maturity and ability.Duty of care to students applies during all activities and functions conducted or arranged by schools and TAFE where students are in the care of employees. The risks associated with any activity need to be assessed and managed before the activity is undertaken. 3) You also have a duty to ensure your safety and that of others in your work. Considerations of safety relate to both physical andpsychological wellbeing of individuals’ (NSW Department of Education & Training). It is our duty as educators of students to equip them with skills for lifelong learning and therefore we need to equip ourselves with the understanding of the importance of creating a positive digital footprint. To help protect our students from negativity that could arise and assist the wider school community to help prepare our children for this new digital world they are moving into. If, as educators, we are standing by and being visitors (so to speak) on the internet and not actively involved in learning what is available then we are not adequately equipping ourselves to provide this duty of care to the students we teach. As teacher librarians we need to be at the forefront in the race to keep up with the latest developments so we can support our students and staff in creating a positive footprint.
As educators we need to educate the students in our care and also support fellow staff and the wider community in becoming responsible digital citizens. In 2008 as the shift began to take place, Will Richardson (2008) used the analogy; ‘Picture a bus. Your students are standing in the front; most teachers (maybe even you) are in the back, hanging on to the seat straps as the bus careens down the road under the guidance of kids who have never been taught to steer and who are figuring it out as they go.What a scary thought! As educators we need to be preparing our students for lifelong learning and even though this was written in 2008 it is still relevant 4 years later as many adults and teachers are struggling to keep up with the latest technologies and apps that are imposed upon society today. A shift is required in our thinking about the internet and the negativity that is imposedon students when teaching about internet safety such as cyberbullying, sexting and online predators. The reflective question ‘What is your digital footprint?’ Was asked to a year 7 class that was researching this topic by the expert they were interviewing. The response is quiet frightening – ‘Digital footprints are the trails people leave behind when they live online — and Internet predators use these trails to track down careless tweens and teens. "At our elementary school, they really tried to scare us’ (Ferriter, 2011).With all good intentions the teachers of these students had not prepared their students effectively to be responsible digital citizens. Through providing a positive outlook at digital use and scaffolding students through modelling can be taught how to take control of producing their digital footprints students will then be able to take more of an ownership role of their digital footprint.
What is being done? The NSW Department of Education and Communities has provided the Digital Education Revolution NSW. All year 9 students have been provided with laptops expanding their classrooms to the wider world of technology but what about younger children? The website http://www.digitalcitizenship.nsw.edu.au/ provides teachers, parents and students with a number of resources that teach about being a responsible digital citizen and how to stay safe whilst on the internet. Is this enough?
How do we creative positive footprints, and take control? As already stated everyone has a digital footprint and many are unaware of what this is.When teaching students how to create a positive digital footprint three things to consider are: 1. Monitor and evaluate – discuss pros and cons early. 2. Make positive connections- remind kids who they associate reflects back to them, research 3. Build positive digital footprint- highlights positive achievements and encourage links to these achievements begin to build a positive digital’ (Watkins, 2013).In order to do this up to date policies need to be developed and reviewed frequently to check for relevance and accuracy. Next as teachers we need to be active in our own participation on the internet and embedding these new skills within the everyday curriculum. Through consistent modelling and use students will learn to be responsible digital citizens and make informed safe decisions when using technology in their everyday lives. The new Australian Curriculum is factoring in the importance of digital learner and how our students are embedded into this culture in doing so the new curriculum has not only been produced in book form but ‘online with interactive and consistently updated resources which caters for both students and teachers needs’ (DEC, 2012).
Traditionally the role of the teacher librarian has been perceived as being a gatekeeper of resources and custodian of information artefacts. With new and emerging technologies, the dynamics of how information is accessed and utilised has changed. As schools are pursuing a world class 21st century education, then state and territory governments, and other education authorities, need to address the role and function of school libraries and empower teacher librarians in this context’ (ASLA, 2013)
Digital Footprints will follow you forever. Do you want to take control, help your kids take control of their future and build a digital footprint that will help them with their life long learning? Have a look at your Digital Footprint by either placing your name in Google, using Google Alert or using sites such as 123people.com or spokeo.com. What did you find?
