ETL523 - Module 4

The digital environment is a global place - you can connect with anyone from all over the world. We need to foster a global perspective, otherwise we are being blind to what is occurring globally; regardless of the sphere it is in. When developing a professional personal brand, we need to keep in mind that the data online is not 100% safe. There are reports of social media accounts being hacked and held hostage or posting content that goes against our personal beliefs. We need to ensure that we have protected our integrity online to the best of our ability. We need to be able to display the same level of professionalism (if not higher) that we are expecting from our students. Our students are still developing their competence in this area and as a site, I am unsure as to what we are doing exactly (I do not have a home group nor do I work with the year levels as a whole.); however, I am hoping to instil some of these concepts in my Year 8 English class. I personally dislike small talk, I prefer to get to the point - teachers are busy enough that scenarios that involve small talk, in my personal opinion as a waste of time. Also, as a TRT (and Early Career Teacher to boot), I find that some long-term teachers use this as an opportunity to brag about what they have done rather than trying to pass on valuable information that could help the new teacher.

I personally dislike using social media as part of a DLE. I like to keep my social media separate from my work and therefore reduce stress etc. I do however, follow some teaching pages on Facebook in order to keep up to date and learn from them but I very rarely interact on a deep level as it is a stress trigger for me.

Using technology for collaboration and communication can be a challenge. Sarcasm, for example, cannot be easily expressed through the written word. It is more easily detectable through tone and inflection; and while the use of video calling can help ease this, connection delays and less than great internet connection can make it a fairly large barrier. At a basic level, time zones can be a challenge for online collaboration. Where one may be awake, another may be sleeping and vice versa. Even within Australia, time zones can be rough to try and arrange collaboration.

21st century digital learners need to understand that what they put online, stays online, regardless of whether people try and bring it down. Even as technology gets more sophisticated, those that wish to exploit it are becoming more and more savvy. It is easy these days, for fake accounts to be created and even if the person is on a legitimate site, they can be swayed by hackers or those of ill-repute.