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Principle # 4: Effective online teachers teach and model ethical online interaction, while helping students develop digital literacy that will pose them for success.
Today, nearly every career calls for some form of digital communication. Thus, it's important for teachers to model ethical online behavior and ensure that students develop digital literacy that they will carry beyond their academic journey and into their careers.
@ONE's Digital Citizenship (DC) course: (1) helped me develop my own professional digital presence, (2) encouraged me to incorporate open pedagogy in my teaching practice, (3) taught me ways to provide opportunities for students to create content that can be shared outside of a learning management system, and (4) assisted me in establishing a learning culture that promotes curiosity and critical examination of online resources while fostering digital literacy and media fluency.
Reflections
Reflections
Where I Was
Where I Was
The term "digital citizenship" was not familiar to me prior to starting @ONE's DC course. Initially, I thought digital citizenship implied some type of status involving the rights and responsibilities as well as the benefits that come with participating in the digital world. However, I've learned that digital citizenship deals with the evolution of the interactions within the digital world.
Learning about digital citizenship made me realize that I need to work on developing my own professional digital presence. While enrolled in @ONE's DC course, I conducted a quick search of my name using Chrome Incognito more. My findings were as follows:
(1) The first two links that showed up are links to Facebook accounts of people with the same name although the second link belongs to someone with a different spelling of my first name.
(2) Third link is an "Instant Checkmate" link - a people search engine. Clicking on that reveals more information about me. It included my full name, cities in which I lived, last 4 digits of several phone numbers associated with me, my age, some names of people related and associated to me. This was a bit disconcerting but not surprising.
(3) The fourth link leads to the State Bar of California which contains my Bar License number and the address on record for my principal place of business.
(4) The last several links are links to Avvo (online legal services marketplace), LinkedIn, and YouTube accounts of people with the same name.
I also clicked on "Images" link after searching my name and found no pictures of myself. I believe this reveals a very limited professional digital presence - something that needed to change.
Where I Am
Where I Am
For online instructors, learning digital citizenship is important because it allows us to examine and select the tools and platforms to use in the digital environment. Having an appropriate digital presence also improves student perceptions of us making us "real" instead of being a shadow behind a computer screen. Additionally, by curating appropriate digital presence and practicing ethical online behaviors, we model a strong digital citizenship skills for our students.
Since taking @ONE's DC course, my professional digital presence have improved. A quick search of my name on the internet now reveals the following:
(1) The first link leads to LinkedIn, a professional network website, which shows my educational background and professional experience.
(2) The second link leads to the State Bar of California where my Bar License number and address can be found.
(3) The third link leads to PTIN (Preparer Tax Identification Number) directory, a national directory of registered tax return preparers and professionals, where my PTIN number can be found.
(4) The fourth link leads to Avvo website (an online legal services marketplace) which contains my business address.
(5) The fifth link leads to a Facebook account that has the same name but is not associated with me.
Clicking on images, a professional picture of me can be found which is associated to my LinkedIn account. Lastly, there are two personal photos that link to my YouTube page where you can find a video of me singing while playing a Ukulele and another video of me singing with a Snapchat filter.
In addition to creating a professional digital presence, I now also implement open pedagogy in my courses which requires students' cooperation in generating digital content.
Where I'm Headed
Where I'm Headed
Advances in technology is rapidly evolving which potentially means there are (and will be) plenty of digital platforms from which to teach. Keeping up with the evolving digital world will be challenging but I look forward to learning and sharing the knowledge with my students.
I will continue to encourage and assist students in creating their own professional digital presence. To help students move beyond finding, evaluating, and consuming digital content, I will continue to implement open pedagogy in my courses by providing students plenty of opportunities to create digital content. I would like to research more on non-disposable assignments and how to incorporate Open Educational Resources into my courses.
Lastly, although I have resisted creating a Twitter account, I have created one after taking @ONE's DC course. Creating an account will help me further explore and experiment with participatory learning.
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