In this weeks class we had guest speaker, Jesse Miller, come into class via Zoom to discuss with us about internet safety, privacy, bullying, and consent. I think it’s super important in this digital age to inform our students of all the unwritten rules of online safety, along with all the legal implications of what they post, say, or do on the internet. I’m glad we had Jesse in class this week as I had quite a few questions on how I can safely run my own classroom and implement various technologies.
I found it very interesting when we were tasked with googling our own first and last name. I’ve come to realize my own digital footprint being left behind with my years on the internet, and this is something I need to be extra aware of going into the field of education. For my own safety I will need to be cautious of posting my whereabouts, as I will have many students who can find my information at their fingertips. I also discovered some pictures of myself from when I was in elementary school are still floating around on the internet via my Facebook, so I think I will need to change some settings over there haha. My google search also led me to finding information about my relatives and friends. It’s quite shocking the amount of information you can gather from a quick first and last name search about a person.
This also got me thinking about my own use on the internet, and being careful of what I post on my public profiles. Becoming a teacher puts me into a position of being a public figure, and I need to think cautiously of what I post going forward, and look back at the posts I have made in the past. Having Jesse in class was very eye-opening in this sense, as he emphasized this for us future teachers. He also mentioned consent and this is very important for our young students. As teachers, we cannot be posting videos of our students, or their voices on the internet for the public to see and I’m glad that these boundaries were explained in class. I know lots of teachers on Tik Tok love to share their classroom activities, but it’s important to understand that there are boundaries when doing so.