Inspiring a Digital Footprint #digcit

A digital footprint is like credit... Good digital footprint is good, bad is bad, none is bad.

- Jeremy Shorr

Digital Citizenship is not a set of rules. It is a guide for students to change the world.

Why do we only warn our students about having a bad digital footprint?  Show them what is possible with a good digital footprint.

I enjoy talking to teachers about student-centered classrooms.  The importance of innovative teaching methods and creating amazing learning environments for students is a passion of mine.  What if I posted image of my own classroom and everything showed students in rows, reading silently to themselves, or being completely disengaged.  My digital footprint would be in complete contradiction to what I was talking about.  I wouldn't be buying the very product that I am selling.  It is not that I have a bad digital footprint, it is just that the footprint does not "say" that same things I do.  Odd.

Now imagine if students wanted to change the world.  They identify a problem and design a solution.  One thing that I used to get my chemistry students to write, is the fact that a discovery is only a discovery if communicated to the world. To change the world you need to communicate your solution.  People will see and judge you and your ideas.  

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Ghozt_Tramp_-_Business_Communication_Duplicat_model.jpg/1248px-Ghozt_Tramp_-_Business_Communication_Duplicat_model.jpg

Simon Sinek said it best, "people do not buy what do, they buy why you are doing it."  That "why" is communicated through the marketing, communication, and by the people who are the face of the discovery.  What type of digital footprint do you want others to see so you can change the world?  If people truly buy why you do something, then they will find it in what you post, share, say, and advertise.  What digital footprint will people buy?

I refuse to leave digital footprint as something to keep from being bad.  I prefer to help students choose what their footprint is going to be and make it one that will allow them to change the world.  Every decision that they make will do 1 of 3 things.  1) it won't matter. 2) it will open a door.  3) it will close a door.  Make sure you leave doors open because you never know where they will take you.

This is all fine and dandy, but you can see from the presidential race, there is a negative side to digital footprint... That is all I have to say about that.