Googleability
April 11, 2008
Since I work in HR, I found this post by Will Richardson very interesting. How are students being taught about the impact of their digital footprints – or are they being taught this at all? I have started to be more conscious of my own items published to the web and interactions with others as I am just finally realizing the implications of both negative and positive items appearing when someone “looks me up” on the web. From what I have read about social networking and how to “protect” students, most of the literature I have read speaks to not posting personal information, being conscious of who they are adding as friends and the like (check out the PEW/Internet report on Teens, Privacy & Online Social Networks). The part that is being overlooked in many cases is the positive use of blogging, wikis, social networks, etc. (and it is happening). Students are enthusiastic to use the new mobile technologies and Web 2.0 tools, but from the post on Alec Couros’ blog today, it doesn’t look like this is sitting well with schools, administrators and parents. So how do we get the message across that this is important to their futures? What are your thoughts? What are you doing to make it happen?
April 14, 2008 at 6:46 am
I would be interested in your HR perspective on social networking uses by staff. Will Richardson’s post speaks to the digital footprint of potential staff. What should school districts be concerned/not concerned about? Rather than just our K-12 students, what are we now teaching our pre-service teachers? Has the digital world changed or impacted professional ethics?
These issues are not limited to staff in education, as many companies are facing similar dilemmas, but because of our work with children the handling of the issue may be different. Perhaps a topic for your Ning?
April 14, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Vikki Davis blogged today about eight students in the states who beat up a classmate and taped it. The idea is that they would post it on youtube and become some kind of celebrities. The students are being charged but the parents are blaming the social networks the students are part of. The parents are not putting the blame on their children but outside influences. One parent equated Facebook to the Antichrist. No wonder educators have such a tough sell when we want to use these tools in the classroom.
April 14, 2008 at 8:13 pm
I still advocate Media Literacy across the curriculum, in different scope and sequence across grades…
There is so much out there, I am sure this could be developed and adapted to existing and emerging technologies!
April 15, 2008 at 7:48 pm
The issue of sharing personal information on social web tools will be debated for quite some time. I think the research still supports the most risk in chat rooms, not web tools. I used nicknames for my grade 12’s and I think that is an effective way to use web 2.0.