Sunday, January 30, 2011

Protecting Reputations Online: A Lesson to Share and Then Create

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of and I've certainly made my own Faux Pas in the online world but I'm always surprised when I see a perfectly intelligent person who has posted something that clearly may come back to bite them. Whether it be an inappropriate comment or a photo or a link to a hate group, I'm not sure people truly understand that what they post online is there in perpetuity; .

Education needs to begin early and should be ongoing. As with all schooling, it can't be boring and preachy. It needs to be engaging, quick and most of all DIFFERENT! Take this video from :




What if all middle and high school students had to watch this and then form groups of 3 or 4 and create their own similar video (or just stage it) to share their own story of caution for younger students?

Although my 4th grade students didn't create videos of taking care of reputations online, they did use this method to create science videos. to see how it can easily be done (well, not nearly as well as Common Craft's ) but my students will never forget the concepts or the experience.

What are your thoughts?

13 comments:

said...

This is another gem from CommonCraft and timely for me, as I had a discussion last week with some sixth graders who are on Facebook, with last names, etc. I am going to show this video tomorrow to my classes.
Kevin

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing on this extremely important topic.
I'm doing a session related to this topic at FETC, from the perspective of what parents need to know. The title is Parenting 2.0. I've done a version of this presentation for a couple of PTAs, and in my career, I've spoken to about 1,000 PTAs about technology and their kids and learning.

Anonymous said...

One other thought. With students age 13 and older, you might also want to talk about TRUSTe certification of child privacy. This is an independent determination of whether a company keeps student information private.

The company doing this is www.truste.com. You will see a small TRUSTe logo on the bottom of websites who have the business practices to display it, like Adobe, Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, Electronic Arts, and education-focused sites like Cahootie, Brightstorm, Course Hero, Disney Internet, Education Planet, ePals, GoTrybe, Kidzrocket, Leafcutter, Leapfrog, Schoolwires, Thinkquest, Togetherville, Vantage Learning, and others.
Reading privacy policies isn't much fun, but this independent group goes through more than you might think to ensure privacy of student information on websites. It's like knowing about the "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval" for websites.

Beth said...

Made Common Craft style videos with my kids too. The final product had that 'classroom production' appeal. The real quality was in the incredible experience we had! http://tinyurl.com/236aal3 May be time for a 7A Cybersafety Production!

said...

I thought this would be a great way to start the year off combining general respect and ethics with some timely online safety reminders.

Thanks for the great post. :)

said...

Thanks for sharing the video Lee! We were so excited to see it be so well received when we published it. I think you'll see more of this kind of thing from us. Thanks!

said...

Lee, twice in the same week recently, I sent out a tweet without really thinking. My commentary added to the content was really the issue. In both cases, someone DM'd me suggesting I delete the tweet. They were right. I did delete the tweets, but have to keep in mind what I'm doing and putting out there.

said...

We all assume that once we delete something, it is forever gone, but this video taught me otherwise. I think it is very important for students to understand the risks involved in posting unwanted information online.

The Common-Craft video technique seems to be a positive, new, and exciting way for students to learn caution when posting while creatively sharing educational information.

I am in EDM 310 this semester at the University of South Alabama. http://edm310.blogspot.com/ This is our class blog and http://wilsonnicoleedm310.blogspot.com/ this is my personal blog. I can also be reached on twitter @NicoleWilson2

said...

After seeing your student's science videos I used them for examples for my classes. It was very successful so thank you for posting their work.
Making videos in this format is a fantastic way for students to construct knowledge and make sense of their learning.
http://berwicklodgeps.globalstudent.org.au/category/video/

said...

I think it is great that you are getting your 4th graders involved
with this. I am 23 and am just learning the importance of my online
reputation. EDM 310 is the first class that has brought to my
attention that everything you put on the Internet can and will be seen
by future colleges and employers. It seems like it would be a
"no-brainer", but when you are young it is just all in good fun. I
have personally seen someone's reputation be ruined by something
posted on the Internet which also makes it very important to bring to
peoples attention that not only what you personally post but also what
others post can effect you and your reputation.

said...

Lee,

CommonCraft always manages to break down what might be complex concepts into understandable (and short!) videos - Kudos to a job well done!

Yes, these should be shown to middle and high school students, but don't forget to share with parents as well as many are clueless about the digital footprint left behind.

I too present to various groups on one's digital footprint, "There's NO Such Thing as a Delete Button!" and the audience is always amazed at what can be easily dug up on the internet. We also need to remember that it's not just the internet. Last summer I lost 20 pictures that were somewhat critical. Being the Digital Diva that I am, I tried PCs, Macs, netbooks, other cameras, etc. attempting to retrieve these images. Nothing. Or so I thought. A quick search online and $30 later I was in possession of an image retrieval program. Popped my card in, and sure enough! Even though no device was able detect the images on the card, and the card had been reformatted, I was able to retrieve not only the images I needed, but EVERY SINGLE image that was ever saved on the card!

Trends may come and go, but bits and bytes are here to stay!

said...

My name is Jacey-Blaire Chandler and I'm a student in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I've been assigned to your blog.
I STRONGLY agree with the message you are sending in this blog. I, too, think it is very important to monitor what you post onto social networks. From experience, I've lost role models because of some things people I used to look up to have posted. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who has turned away from them because of it.
The video was a good representation of this situation.
You can reach me @jblaire17 or on my own blog, http://chandlerjaceyblaireedm310.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the post!
Jacey-Blaire Chandler

P.s. The name of your blog is very cute!

said...

Thanks for sharing this great post.I'm doing a session related to this topic at FETC, from the perspective of what parents need to know. The title is Parenting 2.0. I've done a version of this presentation for a couple of PTAs, and in my career, I've spoken to about 1,000 PTAs about technology and their kids and learning.