A Critical Reflection

The role of the teacher-librarian mammoth. In one capacity the teacher-librarian must teach information literacy skills, in another digital citizenship, ethical, responsible and safe behaviours online. At the end of the day, however, it is the role of all in education to prepare students for life outside school.

Technology is everywhere, and we often get caught up in what we are doing, that we don’t realise we are misusing our devices and instilling poor technology behaviours in our children and students. As I posted in module 5.4, I realise I often do not model the best technology behaviours to my three-year-old son. Yet it is this realisation that has led me to change my morning routine and improve my technology habits. I no longer read my emails in bed every day (although sometimes I slip), and this subtle change has led to my son no longer wanting to use a phone in the morning, but instead to get up and help me make coffee.

To say my learning in relation to the concept of digital citizenship has been vast would be a severe understatement. I have developed a personal learning network (PLN) through Twitter and LinkedIn to better advertise myself. My understanding of digital citizenship has broadened to include global digital leadership, the next step for which I strive. Furthermore, I have developed a deeper understanding of how to incorporate digital citizenship in a digital learning environment (DLE).

Prior to my enrollment, I was on the verge of removing myself from social networking. I found I was surrounded by fake, self-absorbed people who only cared about the likes. I’d stopped actively using social networking and posting. The shock came when I googled myself and nothing, not positive nor negative resulted. With the shock came the realisation that social networking has many purposes, both the mundane, with which I was overly familiar and the professional self-advertisement. I had never thought about using social networking as a form of self-advertisement, so I set about building a PLN on LinkedIn and Twitter. The sole purpose of using these social networks was to develop a professional digital footprint of who I was as an educator.

In the development of my PLN, I have realised the powerful potential that social networking provides. I am now able to exhibit my global digital leadership skills, something that twenty-first-century principals should be looking for in their employees. My first LinkedIn post received 213 views and 11 likes or comments. Considering I have a network of 72 connections, this number was staggering and has helped me understand better the potential positive implications of any post I make.

My understanding of digital citizenship and how to incorporate it in a DLE has expanded. As I mentioned in a forum post from module 5.1, digital citizenship has to be modelled appropriately for the age group it is being taught to. It is unreasonable for teachers to expect students to understand and practice digital citizenship if it is not modelled for them on a daily basis.

I feel confident that, no matter the direction I choose, I will be able to continue learning, developing and leading myself, my students and colleagues into a better digital world.