This week our class was lucky enough to have  Jesse Miller from Mediated Reality come and speak to us about the concepts of digital identity, social media use in the professional sphere, and internet safety. Below is an insightful TEDx talk by Jesse regarding connecting and sharing in the digital world we now live in.

The content of the presentation we received from Jesse was incredibly valuable as a future educator. Jesse provided an extensive explanation of social media privacy settings and appropriate content. The only social media account that I currently have is twitter, but I am confident that if I were to join any other platforms  I would understand how the information I provide would be visible or could be used.

A large portion of the presentation was Jesse’s discussion of the culture surrounding technology. Technology is rapidly advancing, and public opinion on its usage and effects range widely. We discussed how people often perceive technology and social media as harming mental health. In this regard, one fact that I found important was that research is only now starting to become available regarding the effects of technology. This is due to the relatively recent emergence of technology/social media in everyday life. We are now amid the generations that are growing up with high technology usage rates, and thus the data is only now beginning to be formed. Thus, as a future educator, it is a good time to be entering the field and discovering how to best incorporate technology into the classroom using all of the emerging research.

As I mentioned above, Jesse also talked extensively about using social media as a professional educator. He highlighted how crucial it is to be aware of what is appropriate vs. inappropriate content. To illustrate his point, Jesse asked our class to search for various phrases online. For example, we were encouraged to look for #teacherlife and #teacherproblems. The results were several news articles discussing various teachers who had been dismissed due to content they had posted of themselves, or had shared with students, that was deemed inappropriate by the school district. Thus, it was shown how important it is to not only be aware of what personal content we post, but also what we share with our students. Furthermore, it was discussed how any kind of sharing/interacting with students on social media can be questionable. It is important to be aware of school policy regarding social media usage and interaction, as well as to make sure that all accounts where interaction might occur are professional accounts (using district logins). Additionally, within any acceptable online behaviour is the understanding that under no circumstances is student information to be shared. Ever.

Overall, the impression that Jesse left was that the navigation of social media and privacy is not something to be scared of as long as one understands the basics of appropriate sharing, as well as privacy settings and precautions. To close the presentation, Jesse provided a list of further readings to explore these topics.

Linked below are titles and reviews/information on various texts mentioned by Jesse.

Featured image by Jon Tyson on Unsplash