Through both Ed Tech and Multi Lit, we have had the opportunity to have a multitude of guest speakers in the classroom, and I have really enjoyed listening to the various topics they present on. This week in Ed Tech, we had Jesse Miller, a recognized keynote speaker on internet safety, social media education and awareness, and trends in digital literacy. Jesse was a very engaging speaker and brought up many points that I honestly had not thought too hard about.
We do live in an increasingly digital era, where many of us teacher candidates have our own lives online in some form of social media or other program. This can pose problems! Even if you have private accounts, are they actually private, what can students and parents get from just googling your name, what other things are out there… we don’t actually know! Jesse had many things to say about internet safety – and many examples of what not to do – but it was great to get your mind thinking about that stuff. At the same time, he also countered the argument that we shouldn’t have our lives online in that, everyone has their life online now, and we are human, and we are allowed to have our thoughts and opinions online. How much of it is up to us but being aware of school boards and parents and knowing we are in a spotlight should guide how we conduct ourselves online. It’s a bit scary actually, and knowing the world is only going to continue down this path so also being able to teach our students about online safety and to be mindful of how they conduct themselves.
I think having Jesse Miller come into high school classes and present would also be valuable. He is very engaging and I think he could provide students with insight to hopefully guide and influence their online presence for the better.
