The End is Here!

It's here! The end is here! This is potentially my last blog post as a university student! This semester has been filled with exciting activities, some less than inspiring topics but plenty of learning took place. In ICT I feel like I can take a lot of what we talked about directly into my future classroom.
I am certainly glad I was able to take this class as I know if I was on my own I know I would have never got into blogging, and reading other blogs. I would have never created my own website and certainly would have never created an ePortfolio or even known what that was! Hopefully my class website building skills come in handy in the future as this is a great way for parents to find information as well as contact the teacher!

I plan to keep everyone's blogs on hand to check back on to find resources if I am feeling a little less then creative! So peers make sure to contribute to the online world, and hopefully I will be inspired to contribute myself! Plus its a neat way to see what everyone will be up to after graduation! I expect everyone will be passing along their knowledge to the young'ns of the world so don't forget to help other teachers out with your spectacular ideas!!!

I am going to miss classes but I am SOOO ready to be the teacher!
Good luck to everyone in their placements and in their future teaching careers!

The Final Product

As I mentioned last week we looked at video in the classroom and as a class we created our very own Academy Award winning videos. There were two groups, and the first group did a video about paying it forward or PIF. It was really good and  the editing was great I really enjoyed it! Here is a link to it, you should definitely check it out!

Pay It Forward!

Our group decided to fall into the Olympic theme as the Sochi 2014 Olympics just ended. It was really fun to make and its just overall kinda goofy! Enjoy!

Being a Movie Star- Using Video In the Classroom!

This past week our class went on an exciting journey and started and wrapped up making a short video for an assignment. It was actually pretty neat seeing 12 university students get started immediately and have ideas flowing non-stop! Our group could not stop talking about all of our ideas and one thing lead to another and things were getting wildly out of control with laughter and ridiculousness. After all the giggling and brainstorming we decided on an Olympic themed video. It was lots of fun to shoot (because I got to be the athlete.) As I look back on the filming of the video and as we finish up the editing I think about how I could use this in MY classroom.

I believe video in the classroom can be extremely useful. For starters it gets away from straight pencil paper work. It brings in technology (ipods, ipads, video cameras etc) and uses a very different form of expressing ones self, besides drawing, or writing or typing. You have to use a whole different side of yourself to portray meaning. It can be a serious video, it can be a silly video, it can be an interview, there are endless possibilities! In my experience with making video, IMovie is super easy to use and it has templates for various kinds of videos.
Mike (our professor) has created a nice reference page for video in the classroom. Below is the link to the site. Take a look, and use it!

Video Resources!

Future Class Website

I would consider this a template for a future class website. Here it is. SOOOO exciting I know!

www.misslbraunsclassroom.weebly.com

digital stories, photo editing... the list goes on and on

This past week we were given some tasks that were fun, pushed my creative side and made me think a little deeper about how to use them effectively .

So we began the week with digital stories. A simple and unique way of creating a story with pictures and captions and a little bit of music to jazz it up even more. We were given a quick tour of different sites to create these stories on and we were off! I created mine on Animoto, I just took some pictures I had from a trip I went on, but them on a template and VOILA an interesting and unique way of sharing a story. There are plenty of sites and programs to create these unique stories.
You could use digital stories in the classroom for whatever purpose you wanted. It could help the students with their writing. You could create a digital portfolio of students work. You could also introduce a subject or topic this way. Your options are unlimted, and its fun and unique!
Here is my short animoto story!
http://animoto.com/play/JGnD20Sby7c31ViWsxmxnQ

Another short assignment we were given was to pick a photo and then an editing website and edit a photo in some way and play around with the various options. Again there are plenty of ways of integrating this idea into a class project as well as there are plenty of websites and apps to do this on. I chose picasa, but we also did one on pixlr.com.

The one with pixlr, we were given a statement "Learning is.." we were to finish the sentence, find a picture (www.compfight.com) that displayed how we finished the statement, and then we created a unique image. I made sure to give credit to the photo, and just added text. There are endless possibilities with photo editing! I found that I can play around for a long time with all of these apps. I prefer ones that are user friendly, as I am not a pro at this or anything. Easy to use and understand rank high on my list. If you have any other easy to use photo editing sites let me know!

Missing out and Reading up!

Unfortunately I missed a guest speaker (John Finch) we had in ICT last Thursday, January 30th. To catch up and get a summary of the talk I read a peers blog www.mrsduchart.blogspot.com. I found it an interesting read and an interesting topic.

Today students have unlimited to access to all types of information on the internet. The problem with this is that there is so much information that is false. It tricks students, and leads them to pages of often untrue facts and figures. As teachers we must guide students in the right direction. ICT in the classroom is how we will be teaching our students when my class of educators steps out into the field. As teachers we must create an environment where students use the internet with caution. John Finch suggested to the class that we teach the students to look at the internet and its vast array of information through three lenses;
Validity, Reliability and Currency. When we teach our students to use the information they gather using these three methods, we teach them to further there knowledge of the subject areas and ask deeper more meaningful questions after they find the information they are looking for. Hopefully this creates more well rounded, knowledgeable students.

As I was reading my peers blog I became quite interested in one in particular as well as I really liked the way he articulated his message. I had lots of the same feelings as him which include "How do I create a lesson that is unique and awe-inspiring for each class?" The answer being we should direct our students to learn and dig deeper into a subject on their own. One which gives them a desire to learn. What does this have to do with ICT in education you ask? Give Colin's blog a read and see what you think! (www.colinwollman.blogspot.com)

A Class Website- A Look into the Future

Our ICT class was given an assignment that had me really thinking about how my future classroom would run. We were asked to create a class website for the future and hopefully our classes for the 2014-2015 school year. (Cross your fingers)  As we browsed through some examples of classroom websites that are in use we discussed what each of them had, what was important and what made it a "good website." All I could think when looking at all the sites was "Yup that one is good. I'd have all of that on my site!" and "Yup, that looks awesome, that must have taken a lot of time." So now that I know that mine would never live up to those expectations I chose the simplest and most user friendly site which was a weebly and began creating and designing. I thought well it can't be that hard to create a skeleton website for my classroom, you chose a theme, add some headings and VOILA! PRESTO! a classroom website. BUT as it turns out you can change things a hundred times, and still things aren't quite right.

It turns out a good website is one that does take time. And after reading some articles about why a classroom website can be useful I came to the realization that you can use this website to make your life as a teacher a lot easier. If the students know the website you can send them there and have all your links available through one page. This also helps, so that parents can check out what was happening in the classroom that day. Students can post various items and parents know where to find it and it is user friendly for those parents who aren't as tech savvy as their offspring. A class website is a great idea! I am a promoter and I have seen it work in classroom.

As teachers we must be aware of what we can and cannot post, what is appropriate and what is not.This could be a lesson in itself to our students about online safety and using the web for its intended purpose. Websites and blogs are a great medium for teachers, students and parents. I am excited to use a website to its potential especially in the classroom setting.

PS. I am still polishing up my site, but I'll post a link of it in the coming days! ALSO I hope to post some links of my peers websites as well! Stay tuned!

ePortfolio- Do or Don't

This past week in class we discussed portfolio's (the binder and paper kind) and ePortfolios. We talked about the pros and cons of both types of portfolios on getting a job as a teacher. We then as a class discussed what types of things should be in a portfolio, and what types of things should not be, although mostly we just had fabulous ideas ;) I created a wordle to show you some of the things we thought should be included in this important (or not important to some) document.

As I begin to create my portfolio and collect artifacts, update my resume and all that fun stuff, I wonder how crucial it is and how big of a difference it will make when heading into a job interview. As students in the education faculty we get mixed messages, some professors say it's good to have, others say its kind of a waste of time no administrator has time to look at it. Who knows!?! I guess we'll all make one, just to have, hopefully keep it updated, and maybe it will give us an edge when it comes to job interview time!

~L

Last Semester- Back in the ICT Classroom

Here it is, the beginning of my last semester of my University career. It is an exciting and VERY scary time, but I think mostly exciting. As we begin this second week of classes I already find myself counting down the weeks till our final student teaching placement! But first come the unit plans, the professional development sessions and of course, blogging.
After class yesterday (Monday) I found myself wanting to blog about something Mike (Education ICT master) mentioned in class.

We began by discussing how people often say this generation is getting to much "screen time." We sit in front of screens like laptops, iPads, iPhones, etc for too many hours. We think these kids (and maybe even adults) are losing the social aspect of growing up. We believe too much screen time means no socializing and perhaps lack of thinking on our own. Yet when we look at people reading books, we never make the same assumptions. We think they are learning, and expanding their vocabulary and views on the world, we never think "Those people are missing out on socializing and stunting their imagination and creativity." But chances may be that those who have a screen in front of them are expanding their creativity by blogging, or editing photos, or reading up on the latest news from an article that someone tweeted. This sparked a different way to look at the issue of screen time and its negative connotation. Just think about this for a minute and the next time you think to yourself, "those kids should get out and play." In this day and age things are changing a mile a minute, this is one way these "things" are changing. Technology is here to stay, think about it, grow and continue to adapt.

~Lindsey

It's been awhile....

Well since my last post I have completed a second student teaching placement, worked all summer, started my 5th and final year of my university career, and almost completed a third student teaching placement.
I decided I should start blogging again, I really enjoyed it when I started, but I  have just become preoccupied with "life."

Maybe to start I should talk about my second placement in a grade 7/8 multi-level classroom. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot from my cooperating teacher. She used so much technology in her classroom and really had the students engaged in everything she did in her class. I ended up teaching a social studies unit that I had created on Ancient Rome, which was fun, but after I completed it I found so many other things I would have loved to have done. I also did many science lessons, that my cooperating teacher and I created together, and I taught. The group of kids I had were also very smart and pushed me in my thinking, when asked many questions.
The class used the ipads on a regular basis as well as my cooperating teacher used the smart board everyday in her lessons. From this I learned so many things, and I have a list of awesome apps that fill up pages in a notebook. Student teaching in this class was an awesome experience, and I learned more in those 7 weeks then I had in the weeks prior of sitting in a classroom. The best experience is just to put yourself in front of a class and teach.

The summer flew by, and here we are. I have two weeks left in my fall placement, and am thinking about wrapping up the first semester.
I cannot say how much I am loving elementary school. I am teaching in a grade two class with 18 students and I feel like I have found where I want to be. I am planning like crazy, teaching full time and loving it. My cooperating teachers are extremely helpful and really letting me explore and take in the whole teaching experience.
I planned a whole unit on "Community" and the kids have really taken to the activities and I feel like they will just pick up whatever you throw at them.
My mornings consist of ELA, which is daily five, journaling, poem learning, brain breaks and plenty of fun. They love to do daily five and sometimes ask to do it. I try and mix things up a little bit, just so its not the same thing everyday, and they are always willing to do anything. In the afternoons we do math workshop, which again they are crazy about (anything that involves moving around and different activities they love) as well as social studies and art occasionally. I am just loving everything about grade two. :)

Anyway, my plan is to post some of the stuff we do in class, some of the resources I use etc. So stayed tuned, I will keep this blog going!!!

-LB

Things I Have Learned

Well folks, I have FINALLY completed my final project. I have learned so much throughout this course and I could have added a lot more now that I think of it. This project was a real challenge for me, not coming up with things I have learned but creating the powerpoint and adding audio and then syncing it together so it all fit. I guess that's another thing you can add to the "Things I have Learned." I really enjoyed being in this class and I learned a lot of valuable "stuff." I hope I can take another course like this again next year to help expand on the stuff I have taken away from this year.
So here is my final project. It took a lot out of me this past week....I'm glad I finally got it done!

#thingsihavelearned

-LB

Presentations- So many things to learn

Ok, I lied a little in my last post about that being our last mandatory one! Ooops sorry. So yesterday in class we did some presentations on research we had done on education and technology related topics, and it was really fun and informative. Our group did a little presentation entitled "The Internet, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" if you would like to check it out here's the link https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ErYv_zr4MNtcYhiK5iqU9O64-vkTF1lqO-A3bAtl3W4/edit
It gives you some food for thought about the internet and its uses ETC.

Anyway there were a few other presentations, and they were all very well done, quite engaging and had plenty of useful information. I found one presentation that really stuck out. It was entitled "How not to steal from the Internet." As a University student you think you know how to cite sources and that you'll never plagiarize because you don't want to get that AD on your transcript, but in actuality we do it anyway. When we make presentations we add pictures from Google images and never say where we got them from or "give credit where credit is due." So this got me thinking, how many times have I taken some information from the internet and not cited it? Probably too many to count now. So this presentation gave us helpful resources for ourselves as well as for our students on the proper way to use resources we have gathered from the internet and what many of the "Terms of Use" categories mean. I think I'll keep this presentation and its resources handy.
I would like to give everyone a big high five for a job well done. I feel like we have learned a lot about the internet and technology in this class (Uhhh duh Lindsey this class is called Internet for Educators!) stuff that I never would have thought to talk about. So yay us!

-LB

The End is Near...What does the future hold?

Well folks, the end of the semester is nearing and for many in this class, you will move on to bigger and better things. This is one of the last "mandatory" posts for my internet for educators class and I really hope I can keep up the blog posts as I embark on my second student teaching placement  because I have really come to enjoy it and my cooperating teacher, I found out, is the technology "guru" in her school, so this was really exciting for me to find out.
Education has come a long way, even from when I started school, which really wasn't that long ago. Technology infused classrooms are where education is at right now. Technology is how the 21st century learner is going to learn , we have moved past the textbook phase and into the tablet phase. Technology is the "it" thing and so as educators we must accept this and go with it. Looking at the Horizon Report I was surprised at all the ways technology is being brought into the classroom. All of the tools and techniques that involve learning through technology really lets all learners have the opportunity to use technology.There was a piece of information that stuck out to me from the report and that was, at what point is there too much technology? How do we as teachers know what to use and what not to use. We can't keep using the same types of technology and techniques over and over again because then we aren't growing and changing at all either. I guess as teachers we will have to figure it out ourselves, it will take some mistake making but I think eventually as we find out our own unique teaching styles it will become a simpler task. The future of education has lots of changes ahead of it. But I know one thing, it will be very technology oriented. We won't see the effects of these implementations for a while, as everything takes time, but I am sure the benefits of having the world at our fingertips in the classroom will be great. Taking this class and learning about all the exciting things that education and technology have to offer makes me even more excited to be heading into the classroom in two weeks. Although it will be a challenge, I'm ready to learn. Being a 21st century learner is a great advantage and I can't wait to be a 21st century connected educator.
Next up is a little slideshow that is a presentation and a mashup of everything I learned and taken out of this course!

-LB

Show and Tell, Technology Style

I have three apps that I would like to share with the blogger world (and my class). I was doing a little thinking about some of the struggles or maybe things in class that we used or did that could be enhanced by technology. So the first thing I thought of was writing. Students struggle with ideas about what to write about whether it be in their daily journal or for writers workshop. I found an app that has thousands of writing prompts on it. You click on it, give your phone or Ipad or Ipod a shake (I downloaded it on my iPhone) and BOOM a writing idea that's a little bit out of the ordinary but should spark their imagination.

Another idea that came up when I was looking back on my student teaching experience, and some classes that I took last semester that used the smart board was a lot was surveying or polling of information. Surveying the class is a good activator and its interesting to see the different ideas in the classroom, and since its private there is no peer pressure so you kind of get an honest answer. I know there are some good polling applications on the smart board that involve a "clicker" but a cool one I saw on a fellow Internet for Educators blog was one that was online and the class could use their smart phones and text  in their reply. Very Cool.

The website is: http://www.polleverywhere.com/. Give it a look if you can.

Another interesting tool is called DropBox, anyone heard of it?

Well you send out an invitation to receive a certain folder and you download the program or "Box" to your computer or smartphone and whenever someone adds something to that folder in their box, whether it be an assignment or music or something everyone that got the invite for that folder will also receive the same information. It is also an easy way to share large files. I was introduced to it a couple of months ago, and I use it to share new music with friends!

I am sure you could apply it to a classroom setting as well!

That's all for my show and tell technology style!

-LB

Teaching Veterans Keeping Up with the Pace of Technology in the Classroom

An option for last weeks mandatory post was to talk about the stuff we discussed in class, well since I didn't think it was safe to travel back to B-Town (It stormed and the roads were snow packed and icy) I missed this class, so I could post on ideas and topics that popped up after doing tech tasks and reading other blogs. As I read my friend Jenn's Blog (you should give it a read!) I was inspired to talk about technology closer to home but also a topic in the education world. I decided to talk about  technology and education viewed from a very experienced, excellent and inspiring teacher. (She's a great mom too!) The idea also came after I listened to another podcast entitled "Keeping up with the Pace of Education Technology."

My mom who retired last June, taught in the public school system for 35 years. She graduated from Brandon University in 1978, a time where you hand wrote everything, and only had to be in school for 4 years in order to obtain your B.Ed. Mrs.Braun has taught everything from Kindergarten to Grade 8. She spent the last 20 years in a Grade 4 classroom and here saw the evolution of technology. The first computers in the school were ones that used those huge floppy disks and were mostly used to play games (really, really, lame games) very little word processing and of course no internet. Those were then replaced with the white dells with huge monitors that weighed a hundred pounds and here word processing was used more and more in the classroom. Soon there wasn't just a computer lab but a computer in every classroom on a rolly cart. And soon after that all those white heavy, clunky dells were replaced with the coloured apple computers. (click on the link if you don't know which ones I'm talking about) Now there was computer class put into the timetable, and it was mostly spent on "all the right type a typing program to help develop typing skills. Internet access was now available but very limited because not a lot was known how to best utilize it in the classroom. Professional Development sessions were offered to help develop computer skills and resources for teachers. For someone who had not grown up with a computer or used a computer in University, like all the new teachers, she embraced it and tried to learn along side her students. Soon after came apple laptops and the apple monitor which are now used today. The school gave her her own Macbook and she managed to navigate that on her own (with little help from me.) While all of this computer business was going on, the smart board technology was out there and she wanted it in her classroom. She saw the opportunities and potential that it had for her classroom. She asked for one for her classroom and finally one was installed, the first in her building! She began using it daily in her lessons and when she had student teachers in her classroom they showed her all sorts of new stuff that could be done on the smart board. Technology and all it has to offer was fully accepted by a "veteran" teacher. She used the internet and video in her classroom on a daily basis, just to provide a different perspective on different lessons she was teaching.
The point of this post was to show that even though my mom began her teaching career in a time when there was little to no technology available to be used in the classroom, she embraced the changes as technology became more readily available and learned along with her students to make sure she was giving them the best opportunity to stay connected and "on top" of this technology based society. I think there is often a stigma that older more experienced teachers have trouble integrating technology or don't want to integrate technology into their classroom. But it's benefits are so many that they are not only limiting their students but also themselves.
Technology is changing the way we teach, everyone should try and use it to its full potential. The class I am taking is helping me to understand this, and is also helping me get the most out of technology for my classroom. I am excited to try and use some of the things I have learnt in this class in 2 weeks in my Field Experience placement.

-LB

Web Based Courses

Today in class we had 2 presenters come in and talk to the class about web based courses or WBC. I have never used a web based course before. But they are used a lot here in Manitoba. As Donald and Sophia mentioned there are basically 4 ways to use web based learning,
1. As part of a blended learning environment
2. As a teaching resource
3. With a face to face class
4. With actual distance learners
Web based learning is a great alternative for rural school divisions that don't have the numbers to support upper level courses like pre-calculus, calculus, physics, etc. Web based courses can be used by a few students in a number of high schools and they can all video in and talk to the teacher and learn that way. This is a better option compared to not taking it at all. Another great reason for web based learning that was talked about was credit recovery. This means that if a student failed a course, they can take the units that they struggled with online without having to re-do the whole course. WBC are also a great alternative for someone who is motivated but cannot succeed in a classroom environment.
As with anything there are concerns with this type of learning. As a pre-service teacher that will be looking for a teaching job in the next couple of years, having the web based courses cuts jobs. There is only one teacher needed for 5 different classes instead of 5 teachers, one for each class. All of this technology is great and it has so many benefits especially for those students who cannot be in a classroom for various reasons. Yet the concerns for me and my Bachelor of Education class are many. Now I am just wondering what your thoughts on this are. Should web based learning be promoted more? Are my concerns legitimate?

-LB

Ever used an infographic?....me either!

Infographic, yet another "technology" term that at first had no meaning to me. BUT as I did a little research (and a few classmates showed me some examples) I knew exactly what it was. As I am an avid Pinner (on pinterest) infographics come up all the time, especially in the fitness and health category. An infographic is just a visual representation of data. It's fun to look at and easy to decipher. You can find a web app that helps you put information together in an appealing way. I think infographics would be fun to use in a classroom for projects or even just fun activities. You can use it for many things and most kids would find it entertaining. They could build their own infographic to help people get to know them using information about how long they have been born for example. They could split it into years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds.
I decided to build my own infographic. I was reading other blogs and found a neat website that could help me accomplish this task. Since I love twitter I thought this was a perfect idea, I would compare my two twitter accounts! One is my personal one that I made quite some time ago and one is my "professional" one, and I wanted to see how the two compared!
Infographics can be used everywhere and for anything. It really is just an interesting way of showing data, and I think I could really make great use of it in a classroom setting!

 

Video- VHS to YouTube

When I think of video in the class I think of seeing the teacher wheeling a TV and VHS player down the hall on a clunky cart, trying not to hit kids or the walls along the way. This is not the case anymore when we talk about video in the classroom. Now each class has a computer which connects to the internet, which then in turn is connected to an endless number of useful, short interesting videos that can engage the students more than a VHS from the early 90's ever will. (Although you could probably do some sort of history lesson! HA!) At first YouTube is your initial reaction to video on the internet, but there are an endless number of video resources for educators to use in their classroom. (WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT?!) In my search for educational, interesting and engaging videos for some lesson's I'll be planning I came across TED-Ed. You can really search anything in terms of a topic in any subject area. I think video is useful because kids just love videos, it's a known fact and if you can show a short film to help enhance their knowledge on the subject area, or show them something cool (like an experiment) that you can't do in class then do it! The more resources you can have on a subject the better, well I think anyway. And video is such a simple, but often under used resource. Plus it's great for those visual and auditory learners!
The next question is would I have kids make video and would I post it somewhere. Yes I would definitely have them make videos, with the availability of Ipads, or Ipod touches with a camera it's so simple and so fun for the kids! Of course I would get the proper consent from  parents/legal guardians. I would then probably post them on the class website and as a class we might even have a YouTube channel, so I might even post it there! Endless possibilities with podcast's and videos. Teaching with technology is sounding better and better!

-LB

podcast's- more technology for your classroom

I have never really thought about podcast's being used for education purposes. I usually thought sports when I thought podcast's, maybe because that's what I see on TV, and because I am not really acquainted with the use of podcast's and don't know there full potential. I thought it was kind of neat that I was about to do a blog post on podcast's and I actually found a science lesson plan that used a podcast. Interesting how things work.
So to begin I went to my iTunes to check out what was available for my education podcast search, and what do you know, there are thousands and thousands of podcast's on exactly the topic I want, education. I found an interesting one call Teacher's Aid. There was 27 podcast's on a variety of topics. I chose to listen to one entitled "Keeping up with the pace of Technology." They discussed how technology is always changing and its hard for "older" or maybe perhaps "wiser" teachers to adapt to all this change. They start by discussing the challenges, then the variety of guests shared successes they have had with technology, which were many. After, it was discussed where to begin with the use of technology and how to find resources to help you along the way. The first two things that were suggested for helping those of us who are more technologically challenged was to create your own blog of your experiences and to go on twitter and find a hashtag in your field of study and build from there!
I really like the idea of a podcast. I enjoy talk radio in the morning so maybe instead I'll listen to some podcast's on issues or ideas in education, and become more educated?!? Who knows!? I like the fact that some of them are short, they share a snippet of information, some are longer but don't over work the issue. As I mentioned before I was planning a science lesson and as I was researching some ideas for my weather unit and I came across one that was really interesting. The class would record the weather for the week and the different variables and at the end of the week they would do a daily news/weather report and create a podcast. This hit on two of the outcomes for the unit, it included technology and it was something different that I thought was kind of neat. I am sure there are plenty of other ideas out there, and I would really like to explore them, I feel like podcast's could become very incorporated into my classroom. Another idea that just popped into my head was just a daily report about the class, what we have learned etc and post the podcast on a class blog for parents to listen too.....hmmmmm ideas are swirling in my brain right now. Cool. So if you get a chance, check out podcast's (and they don't have to be education related) search something you're interested in, give it a listen and learn more. (So maybe it is education related because you're learning....!)

-LB

Is Your Digital Footprint Squishing You?

If you take a moment and think about how much time you spent surfing the web, checking emails, Facebook and twitter. Long after you've shut off your computer, and left the digital world behind the information you've accessed lingers in the magical world of "the internet." Like stepping in wet concrete our digital footprint is often really tough to get rid of.

As educators we should be aware of our digital footprint. It is so easy for future employers or our students to access the information we posted and may not realize is still available for everyone to see. This would be a negative way to look at our digital footprint.

But a digital footprint can be a good thing. When people, whether they be your future employer, students in your class or even the parents of those students, search your name it can have a positive impact on your career. Things such as a blog, or an information page or twitter can show up but if they hold interesting and resourceful information then its not such a bad thing for people to search you. A digital footprint is what you make it. You should always be careful of what you post, comment and search but it shouldn't stop you from exploring and enjoying the magic of the World Wide Web. To protect yourself look at security settings and don't be naive to the issues and threats that are out there and maybe think twice before doing anything that could put you at risk for losing a job or not gaining employment elsewhere.

So talking about a digital footprint, I decided to do a little Google search on me! And I didn't find much, although there are a lot of people out there with my name it took me a couple of pages to find information on myself. My twitter account came up, my Google+ account came up, and that was really it. I hope maybe in the future my blog will come up or other online resources that I plan to use for my career. And now its your turn to do a little research on yourself and see what your digital footprint may look like. 

Have fun, and hopefully the information you find doesn't alarm you to much :)

-LB