An Educators Tip for Navigating in the Digital World

At a point in her career, she received anonymous emails posing a threat to her. Back then, she didn’t know how to handle these situations. However, she made it a point to overcome it and also pay it forward to help other people navigate their way through similar challenges in this digital era. Especially for children.

She started her talk by an inclusion activity — “we should start by acknowledging that we are the first generation to raise families in both the physical and digital world.” she proclaimed.

What was your first experience with the digital world? 

Her first experience with technology was in her third grade. “My third grade teacher brought a radioshack TRS80, she brought it in on a Monday and said go play with it.” she said. They created code, print, games, and more — all of which has taught her skills and dispositions that she still finds useful today. “What I didn’t know then that I know now, is that this device really was serving a means to an end for me.” she continued. 

Just like all of us, our first experience of technology really sparked curiosity within us — critical thinking, problem solving, and reiteration. And as technology changes, we still apply these skill to it. But back then, the internet was not highly accessible to the general public. Right now, in 2022, the internet and technology is the new normal. It’s so ingrained in our daily lives that it’s impossible to do day-to-day tasks without it. 

“We live in a connected world wherein wherever we go, we are connected to the internet.” she proclaimed.

Preparing the next generation for the digital age

There is a potential danger lurking right within our pockets: our children may be physically next to us, but they might be thousands of kilometers away in a reality where dangers are harder to spot, harder to forecast, and much more difficult to keep at bay due to the prevalence of mobile devices. The result is that raising children in the modern day might seem like a never-ending struggle. You can’t keep the screens away from children forever, can you? Well, it doesn’t have to be the case. 

She stated that it’s all about being a good digital citizen, empowering the next generation to create a healthy digital footprint. With that, she created her own digital presence with purpose framework, a data-backed system that helps educators navigate the digital sphere.

The Digital Presence with Purpose Framework

Sharing information, sharing evidence, and sharing resources are all essential principles of the Digital Presence Framework that she developed to help educators reflect on their own online engagement. Although the three components that make up the structure have many parallels, she shows you how to utilize it to launch your "digital presence with purpose.”

Sharing Knowledge

This area encourages educators to turn their training or conference experiences into useful models for other educators. Many of us are attending innumerable seminars to learn how to supervise remote learning. Have you learned anything about remote learning and education? If yes, describe your understanding and how you intend to adopt essential student assistance measures.

Sharing Resources

Educators may share items, studies, and other material in this sphere. More significantly, your online presence shows your development mentality as an educational professional. Sharing materials that improve your teaching or leadership methods shows your dedication and may encourage others.

Sharing Evidence

In this category, educators are encouraged to promote positive change in their school environment by sharing media-rich material that exemplifies the high-quality, contextualized educational leadership actions they promote. For instance, before the pandemic struck, you could post videos of assemblies, photos of finished projects, or certifications of training you attended.

In conclusion, the Digital Presence Framework serves as a place to reflect on how you might best participate and contribute to the online world by drawing on your own work, ideas, and career aspirations.