Week 1

Just like that week one of the winter semester is over and it is time for my first blog post about my learning in ADED 1P32. Unlike my other classes which were filled with dry and boring lectures about course expectations and due dates, ADED was a week full of learning. To begin the week I was asked as part of the course component to open a pintrest account and this blog, which were both new technological platforms for myself. By creating these accounts I was adding to the digital footprint that I have been creating for the past 19 years of my life. Correction, more like 19 years and 9 months as the video included in this week’s lesson pointed out that our digital footprint begins when we are in our mother’s womb and an ultrasound is performed. The digital footprint begins here because information is being collected about you and stored in computer files for the rest of your life. I believe that digital footprint can be beneficial if it is managed correctly throughout your entire lifetime. The benefits of a digital footprint is that it allows your future contacts to understand more about your background in a easy and timely fashion. This is can be beneficial because by having someone understand your background it could help you land job or allow the person to understand you better making it easier to form relationships. However, if you poorly manage your digital footprint the background information that people gain when looking at it could tarnish your image. This could result in not getting the job in a interview process, or not forming the important relationships that are needed to be made. In order to ensure that my digital footprint is a positive one I have a couple important rules/strategies that I use. First, I ensure that anything I post on social media websites is appropriate and free of language or words that will someone could find offensive. When I posting on these sites are I always ask myself “what kind of image is this post going to create?” My second strategy is to make sure that I am not tagged in any posts or photos that is going to tarnish my image. Posting photos online are great but if they give my future boss or friends a wrong image it could prove to me disastrous for myself. My last strategy is I control who can look at my social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and twitter, by being a protected account and having people ask me for permission to view it. This allows me to know who is able to see anything I post. These three strategies help maintain a positive technological footprint for myself.

Picture found at: https://www.surveymonkey.com
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I believe that the relationship between my digital footprint and my netiquette is something that goes hand in hand. I believe that these two things work together in way that if you are using the proper “netiquette” and following the rules of the online world, that being set by the law and the rules you set for yourself, then your digital footprint would be a positive one. The relationship between being a Digital Citizen and your digital footprint is another one that I believe is dependent on each other. I believe that being a good or bad digital citizen determines how your footprint looks. This observation comes from the idea that if you continue to do bad, or illegal things online it is tracked in your footprint leaving you with a negative digital footprint. Throughout this week I learned the importance that being a digital citizen is just as important as being a global citizen in the physical world.  Before doing this week’s readings it had not occurred to me how are actions online really do affect people worldwide. Throughout this course I will be focusing on how my actions online really do affect other people and what ways I need to change.

On the Digital Drivers License exam I finished with a 16 out 20. The three areas that I need to improve in are digital communication, digital commerce, and digital health and wellness. I will be focusing my attention especially on the digital communication category because I believe this is a very important one to know and understand. Being able to communicate correctly in this technological world is crucial to both my personal and professional success in life. I will take the opportunity in this course to expand my knowledge in this area and put a strong effort in to becoming much better in this category.

In conclusion, this week we looked deeply into what our digital footprint and use of technology has done and will continue to do the world. We learned the importance of managing a healthy digital footprint and the value of being a good digital citizen.