I had the opportunity to experience a particularly enlightening lecture this past week in my EDCI 336 class from Jesse Miller. This lecture touched on a few important topics that have been at the back of mind recently as I continue on my journey of teacher education.  These topics include the use of social media and personal learning networks in the classroom and my responsibilities as an educator to uphold privacy and safety of my students, self, and colleagues while using such technologies.

Let’s dive in shall we…

Technology in the classroom is something that I won’t be able to escape, and believing I can will only slow down the inevitable. That being said I already feel mildly prepared because I am young and have experienced and used lot of technology throughout my life so far. I am no stranger to social media, but I may struggle to see its uses in the classroom. I am definitely not a teacher who wishes to have their students as friends or followers on different social media sights. To me that can cross lines and remove some barriers between student and teacher that should remain in place. That being said I am sure there are ways to use social media as an educational tool, which is something I may have to consider in my future career.

Personal Learning Networks are another way for me to connect with the education community and continue my journey of life long learning. A great example of a Personal Learning Network is twitter. Twitter isn’t something I have never been interested in because I never really saw the point. That being said I now know that twitter is full of educational resources and an education community. It is a great way to connect with the educator community beyond the classroom settings I am a part of as a student. Some of the accounts I’ve been able to explore so far include @BCTF , @BCMEA, and @sd63schools. The best part is that this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the educational community on twitter. Needless to say it is a great place to connect, learn, and continue informing my teaching practice in this digital age of learning and teaching.

Finally, with all this online connectivity and learning comes the importance of protecting myself and my students through understanding and adhering to privacy guidelines. This can be daunting to think about because there are so many aspects of teaching and learning that have become online, especially recently in the time of a pandemic. There are a number of resources, however, that will help guide me in my understanding of privacy guidelines which include the following:

As an educator it is essential that I understand and abide by privacy rules and regulations to not only protect myself and my students, but also my colleagues and my students families. I am excited to start building my online teacher presence in the education community. I am glad to know of many guidelines I must follow in order to do it in a safe and professional way.

 

Photo by Marius Masalar on Unsplash