DIGITAL IDENTITY: PERSONAL VS. PROFESSIONAL

Personal Digital Identity: 

  • Social media accounts
  • Personal YouTube content 
  • Shared links, videos, and images with followers or friends. 

Professional Digital Identity: 

  • Class discussion posts or blogs 
  • Discussion forums 
  • School email addresses 

I make sure my online image is positive and represents who I really am by upholding boundaries. I think carefully about what I share online, considering how other people could interpret it. Additionally, I maintain distinct accounts for both personal and educational purposes. I keep up my online identity in this way. To preserve your privacy and keep employers and employees from learning about your personal life and experiences, they must be kept apart. Maintaining boundaries between your personal and professional lives is essential for building your reputation. Before you even meet someone, what you put online for everyone to see gives them an idea of who you are, which could have an impact on your career. 

Photo by Nathana Rebouças on Unsplash

This is a link to where you can learn more about digital identity and the aspects that affect it: Digital Identity. A project by UBC called the Digital Tattoo Project explores how individuals’ actions affect and shape their digital identity. 

Watch this video from the UBC Digital Tattoo Project that explains managing your online Professional Profile. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlD6KWHDFSY&t=40s

Now, review the Explore section and understand why having an online professional profile is important. THINK.  

Lastly lets discuss 

  • Do you think having an online presence is important when searching for employment? 
  • Have you googled yourself recently? Did you like what you saw? What did you think? 

DIGITAL VISITOR AND RESIDENT MAP

Platform Reasoning
Google I use this platform for finding definitions, resources, and answers to my questions for both educational use and personal use, but I am not even logged into an account when I google anything so I don’t leave a trace, which is why it is away from resident. 
Gmail I use this platform for receiving emails, reaching out to classmates and recieving emails from school as well as work which is why it is only used for Institutional reasons. I have an account but all that is visible is my first name through emails. 
Facebook I barely use this platform and if I use it is only for personal use like looking for things to buy on marketplace or looking at family profiles on facebook. I have no posts and it is strictly used for visiting. 
Youtube I use this platform to search up videos for personal and educational purposes, I have no videos posted and my account is private with no followers so I have no footprint therefore it is closer to the visitor category. 
PinterestI use this platform for tattoo, nails, classroom decoration ideas, which are all personal uses, I have a Pinterest profile where I save other peoples posts that I like. 
Snapchat I use this platform for strictly personal use and I have a snapchat profile where I contact friends and send videos and images that are saved in chats, as well as I post videos and images on my public story. 
Microsoft Teams I use this platform for communicating with profs, classmates, and employers. This is a tool that I leave a digital trace of messages, images, and videos. 
Instagram I use this platform everyday for personal use and I have many posts and a public account where I leave a large footprint, where anyone who searches up my name can find my posts. 
Open ETCI use this platform for education classes where I put my first and last name and it is a public account where people can see images I have posted and my ideas and reflections on specific topics. 

Analyzing my Map 

Creating and analyzing a visitor and resident map prompted me to reflect on my own digital identity. Mapping out my online presence made me consider how divided it is, and it made me aware of the traces I leave behind while using social media platforms. For example, I have a public Instagram account that everyone can view, featuring posts that date back to my junior high days. Now, I am much more careful about what I post. Still, as a resident on that platform, it’s a good idea to go back and reflect on what I’ve posted and make my account less visible. 

Over time, this map will probably change, and shifts may be made, some may include: 

  • Becoming more of a resident in more institutional platforms, through different learning communities where I will have to have a profile to interact with students and other colleagues, where I can contribute to conversations and meetings. 
  • I may also reduce my residency in personal spaces due to the visibility to employers or future students, where my profile must be completely professional, or to make my account private.

THEORIES OF PERSONALIZED LEARNING

Self-Directed Learning 

These theories influence my learning experience because I align with the idea of urging students to have more control and autonomy over their own learning. This can be done through self-directed learning.

“It is an approach to education that empowers learners to lead their own learning journey. A learner identifies their own learning goals, the resources they need, and the strategies they want to adopt; they then set about gaining knowledge or skills and, later, evaluate the outcome.” Self-Directed Learning 

Photo by Kelly Sikkema by Unsplash

This type of learning is one that I never truly believed I had in my earlier years of education. I felt that everything was set in stone: tests, quizzes, projects, and assignments were meant to be completed in a certain way, and resources were already allocated accordingly. When I am a teacher, I want to incorporate this learning into my teaching, giving students a more personalized learning approach of self-directed learning, to demonstrate specific goals, such as students gaining 

  • Austonomy 
  • Engagement 
  • Critical Thinking and Problem Solving 
  • Overall support for Personalized Learning 

Constructivism 

“Constructivism is a learning theory and a philosophy of education that suggests learners actively build their knowledge through experiences and interactions.” Constructivism

Photo by Getty Images on Unsplash

Constructivism is a theory that has influenced my learning experiences, as university teachers, especially those in sociology classes, demonstrate how the content relates to the real world and use real-world applications and experiences to facilitate class discussions. This is an approach that is more personalized to the type of learning that I prefer!  I feel engaged through the constructivist learning approach because it makes me understand why I am learning what I am learning, and how it can be applied in the real world. 

These theories help shape the kind of teacher I want to be and help in achieving my goals by sharing and orchestrating personalized learning approaches for my students. 

PRIVACY, SURVEILLANCE, AND DIGITAL FOOTPRINT AWARENESS

Photo by Mariia Shalabaieva on Unsplash

Every click, comment, post, and search we make online leaves behind a trace. This is data that can be tracked without us even knowing it. My digital footprint is good in some senses but bad in others, for example on search platforms such as google and chrome, I make sure that I am signed out of all google accounts, and on my phone I usually search things up on safari on private mode, as well as social media platforms that I only use for browsing I don’t have a login with my actual name. But platforms such as: 

  • Instagram 
  • Snapchat
  • TikTok 

I have a very big digital footprint and a significant trace because I have all public accounts and I post very often on all platforms and have for a very long time. As I read more about privacy, surveillance and digital footprints, I become more and more aware of my social media presence and how that could affect my footprint and security. It is very important to be aware of privacy and security, and having practices that keep your presence safe is essential, which is why I choose to keep myself signed out of most search engine platforms, and also why I am realizing that having private social media platforms is a good idea, so people who don’t need to see your account don’t. 

A person I have no relation to should not be able to see what I post, comment on, or like. This is something that breaches people’s security and privacy.

REFERENCES

Digital Tattoo. (n.d.). Managing your online profile. University of British Columbia. https://digitaltattoo.ubc.ca/tutorials/privacy-and-surveillance/online-presence/managing-your-online-profile/

Digital Tattoo. (n.d.). Wayfinder quiz: How do you navigate the digital world? University of British Columbia. https://digitaltattoo.ubc.ca/quizzes/wayfinder-quiz/

McLeod, S. (2023). Constructivism. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/constructivism.html

Moodle. (2023, March 22). What is self-directed learning? [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlD6KWHDFSY

Moodle. (2022, September 6). What is self-directed learning? https://moodle.com/us/news/what-is-self-directed-learning/

White, D. (n.d.). Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement. Retrieved [Month Day, Year], from https://daveowhite.com/vandr/