Wednesday, October 29, 2014

A Shift Toward Digital Honesty


I presented a Technology Forum where I participated on a panel that was discussing "digital footprints." 

My knowledge of the subject was rather basic and I quickly realized as my turn to speak approached that I had no idea what I was about to say as my prepared statements were off topic.  

I had anticipated to "toe the company line" so to speak and discuss, from the high school perspective, methods by which my students begin to develop a digital dossier that will enhance their future rather than promote simply avoiding behaviors that might be potentially damning to their future.  I generally try to take a provocative stance on things of this nature and with my limited experience in this sphere, thats as an original thought as I could muster.    

...But then, as I was about to speak, some input came from the audience (possibly fellow co-workers) that inspired a different line of thinking.


"Why do we care what our students are doing online?"  

I get that the internet can be unsafe, but so is the real world.  I get that the internet is permanent; yes, but so is life!      

Why do we encourage our students to sanitize themselves?  Why do we tolerate this separation between our digital identity and our actual identity; between our personal lives and our professional lives?  

We have all heard the horror stories, and maybe even experienced the fall out from such things that we are trying to protect our students from.  

Perhaps, the best way to avoid these mistakes is a paradigm shift towards embracing digital honesty.  Current thinking advances the notion that the more we share, the more vulnerable we become, but I think the opposite might also be true.

Perhaps as we begin to share ourselves more completely, this separation will start to blur.  And because the internet becomes a permanent record of ourselves,  we can begin to appreciate the fallacy of our youth and reflect on who we are by bearing witness to who we were.


Admittedly, these thoughts are in their infancy, but this is the most complete "blog post" that I have yet to dedicate myself to.  The irony isn't lost on me that I habitually sanitize myself; digitally and otherwise.  I rarely feel strongly about something, so much as to try to change other people's thinking.  I am a pacifist in the sense that I consider myself the inverse of an activist.  So, while there is more to develop here, I don't know how far this idea goes.  

Perhaps it is just a first step toward digital honesty.  In any event, I am grateful that the internet has cultivated an environment  where I have the opportunity to share myself openly and develop this idea.  Regardless of what it becomes, I can't wait to look back on this. (Hi future self) 


How do we encourage students to ask higher order questions? Reflections from Critical Friends Group:


At HHSLT, teachers help each other plan using a Critical Friends Group Protocol.  A teacher presents a lesson and with the lense of “How do we encourage students to ask  higher order questions?”

Here is what we came up with:

  1. Create a culture where asking questions is encouraged.
  2. Use a protocol that prompts students to ask higher order questions by using DOK (or similar) questions.
  3. Model the process of what asking a higher order question looks like.
  4. Build time and opportunities for students to explore.
  5. Create authentic opportunities to learn:  higher order questions come from students that are internally motivated.