A Digital Footprint Message

What a great piece of software that can be used in any academic setting with any age.  It was really fun creating this Voki.  Having so many options (backgrounds, clothes, voices, etc) to create this "public service announcement" is amazing for a free account.  One mistake I made was creating a complete Voki and then realized to publish it you had to have an Educator's account.  I lost my first dialog and could not remember what I had typed in the text box!  The graduation cap on the characters head indicates that you must have an educator's account to use that character.  I did explore the site and there are many things that you can do with your students (lesson plans for teachers, calendars and photo collages.

Blogging about blogs

Everybody today is blogging about something.  Any topic you search there is a blog about that particular topic.   People globally have information to share on a blog.  That is one of the benefits of blogging; you can connect with someone to share and obtain information about a topic of interest.  I have never participated in a blog until I took EDUC 536.  We were blogging as a class, with a section of EDCU 584 and I was administering a blog for my class project with a group of College Experience students from my college.  By the end of the semester I was very interested in blogging especially how it could assist me professionally.  My experience blogging with the College Experience students was great.  I must admit in the beginning I was skeptical, but their participation in the project was great.  As the administrator I enjoyed reading thought out responses and posting my comments.  The topics we blogged about were Cyber bulling and Digital Footprints.  I feel that blogging on those topics was a learning experience for both the students and myself.  My positive blogging experiences shared with the College Experience students has kept my interest in viewing higher education blogs.  I frequently look at blogs to see what other higher education professionals are doing in my area.  One particular blog (entitled: “Confessions of a Community College Dean”) is written by an anonymous dean at a northeastern community college.  His blog covers various topics trending in higher education today.  Two posts that I really enjoyed reading are: “Googling the Job Candidates” and “Peeling the Onion.  The link for the blog is below if anyone is interested in reading any of the posts.  “Googling the Job Candidates” is a good post for anyone interested in the importance of leaving a good digital footprint.

 I believe blogging is a positive teaching tool.  How has blogging impacted or affected your students academically?

https://suburbdad.blogspot.com/

Digital Footprints

After taking EDUC 536 I became interested in Digital Citizenship issues.  Each week in class we would review articles, blogs and videos in class.  I was amazed how students and adults were not practicing good digital netiquette and foot printing with various online outlets.  I decided that I was going to make this my project and bring these best practices back to my college.  As part of my final media project I worked with a group of students in a College Experience class to promote awareness of this important issue.  Each week I met with the students to discuss Digital Citizenship.  By the end of the semester we were blogging about current social media issues and how they can affect our daily lives.  Many times college students are not thinking about what they post today could affect their future employment opportunities.  I think all of us working in the academic arena, at all levels are responsible for educating or promoting awareness to students about Digital Citizenship issues.  I would like to see colleges offer a course that is dedicated to this topic during the freshman year.  What do you think?  How is technology, social media (to include safety and security) and Digital Citizenship integrated into your degree programs?

The link below is a great activity for adult learners on how a digital footprint is created with information we provide on a daily basis.  There are a series of questions with multiple choice answers.  The total time to complete this activity is about ten to fifteen minutes.  It is a great eye opener!

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/koppel/interactive/interactive.html