Managing Digital Footprints – Why?

So far in class, we have discussed digital footprints — mostly our own paranoia about those we’ve made and how they may be used against us in the future by vindictive parents, which seems like a situation statistically unlikely to actually happen. We have also been discussing how to teach our future students how to be aware of and try to be careful with their own digital footprints as they relate to issues like privacy and safety.

We also know that using the Internet, when approached critically, can be a wildly useful and beneficial pedagogical tool. All the talk about being conscious, aware actors in digital spaces leads to this point — if we are responsible and safe, we can reap the benefits of the machines sitting in front of us or in our pockets.

Further, technology-mediate learning has been shown to have the potential to increase student performance when pedagogy and technology are well-integrated rather than being treated as separate (DeGennaro, 2010; Kajder, 2010)  and when students are given the proper support in using and evaluating new technologies in the classroom (Caporarello et al., 2016).

So technology can help shape students as learners, but how does engaging in technology-mediated learning and participating in digital spaces shape students as people with distinct identities? Increasingly, the line between digital and non-digital spaces is blurring; this has become particularly true as a global pandemic forces us further and further into digital immersion. Our non-digital identities and our digital footprints, then, are increasingly bleeding into one another, if they were ever separate to begin with.

What does it mean when we ask students to critically evaluate their use of technology — are we simply asking them to be careful? Are we asking them to try to perform well in school by accepting new technology or new uses for familiar technologies? Or, are we asking them to make careful decisions about who they are or want to be as people?

Responsible Identity Construction

“[T]he Internet provides not only new social spaces, where identity can be renegotiated, but also new forms of social life, and spaces for learning and self-presentation” (Mar Camacho et al., p. 3177, 2012).

Most students today are likely at least unconsciously aware of the fundamentally identity-building process of social media use. They make intentional decisions about what to post on social media in order to convey a certain idea of who they are, or at least who they want other people to think they are. Creating a digital footprint is, then, a fundamentally constructive process. What we choose to search for, comment on, post, use, edit, create, share, etc. and the things we seek out, read, allow others to comment on, etc. do not just express our identities; rather, they are means by which we construct our identities. Digital engagement and digital footprints thus reflect, inform, and create multiple points of identity. Most teens will, for instance, become familiar with and likely engage with political activity or activism long before they can vote, the traditional benchmark for what we think of as marking us as political actors.

The abundance of sites, software, platforms, and methods of use provides teens now with an equal abundance of ways to construct and deconstruct, negotiate and renegotiate their identities. “[F]or young people, online identity becomes and opportunity to escape the constraints, norms, and values of the society in which they live, by providing them with the opportunity to construct themselves as they have always wanted to be” (Camacho et al., p. 3177, 2012). Teens now have more options for not only constructing themselves but, as a logical extension, their (and our world).

Technology and its use, and being able to engage it critically, therefore has serious implications not only for individual identity construction but also social construction. Being able to influence how teens approach the Internet and their digital footprints, then, necessarily becomes something that has broader social implications with the potential to disrupt those norms which no longer constrain their identity construction. “How can I teach my students how to be responsible, critical, creative, engaged, etc. online?” becomes “How can I approach technology-mediated learning and building responsible digital footprints of learners in a way that will not only protect their well-being, but the well-being of the world?”

Our discussions with teens about managing their digital footprints, though, is generally centred around the potential negative consequences of a poorly managed digital presence. The following video is one of countless examples out there of education resources available for teaching students about privacy and safety in digital spaces:

 

We provide the same types of materials for parents to ensure that they carry on these conversations when we’re not around. And certainly it is important and necessary to have these conversations. But how can we start to have conversations with students about the potential positive outcomes of a thoughtful digital presence? How can we teach them how to positively construct themselves, and their world, through technology?

 

References

Camacho, M., Minelli, J., & Grosseck, G. (2012). Self and identity: Raising undergraduate students’ awareness on their digital footprints. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 46, 3176-3181.

Caporarello, L., Magni, M., & Pennarola, F. (2016). Is technology mediated learning really improving performance of students? ICSTTransactions on E-Education & E-Learning, 3(12). doi: 10.4108/eai.2-12-2016.151719

DeGennera, D. (2010). Grounded in theory: Immersing preservice teachers in technology-mediated learning. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 10(3), 338-359.

Kajder, S. (2010). Adolescents and digital literacies: Learning alongside our students. National Council of Teachers of English.