Weekly Report and Refection Post #1

      So now that you all know a little about my upbringing, interests, and future goals posted below, I would like to reflect on what I have learned this week through the readings, setting up this blog, and videos I watched about Digital Citizenship.  First of all, I found the YouTube video titled Digital Dossier by Treyvaud (2008) very interesting and educational.  I had actually never ever thought about or realized that we have a digital footprint even before we are born.  As I began to think about this I became conscious of the fact that I had quite a large digital footprint prior to birth.  When my mother was pregnant with me, it was a high-risk pregnancy.  As a result, she had numerous ultrasounds and tests that left me with a pretty big digital footprint trail. So do I want a digital footprint?  The answer for me is I don't think I had a choice in the matter, but it definitely was a positive start to my digital footprint.  The second piece of information I learned and indeed stood out to me were the core rules of Netiquette.  I can relate very well to rule one.  This might be part of the reason I was kind of turned off of the cyber world for a while.  I believe it is really important to respect others opinions and remember if you wouldn’t say it to their face, don’t write it online.  
       
       I was also quite amazed and informed after reading about the nine elements of digital citizenship (Ribble, 2011).  The one titled “Digital Law” really peaked my interest.  Often parents, children, youth, and adults are very naive and uneducated when it comes to the legal responsible of taking part in the digital world.  I remember back in high school when students were sending each other very inappropriate texts.  One valuable fact that teenagers should be aware of is that if a nude or semi-nude photograph of an individual under 16 years old is text, the action could fall under child pornography (Ribble, 2011).  I believe every person who uses digital technology could benefit in some way from a crash course revolving around the citizenship of a digital world.  An additional element of digital citizenship that stood out to me was the one regarding Digital Communication.  I certainly can understand why educators are being confronted with hard choices regarding the usage of cell phones during school.  As I reminisce about the day my parents finally decided to purchase me a cell phone, they too were very concerned about this form of technology being a distraction during school and at home.  Today many professors are not allowing the use of cell phones or computers during lecture.  I know you may be thinking...am I serious.  Truthfully, this is not really an area I struggle in.  I never have actually depended fully on these digital communication tools. I still physically write out my lecture notes in class through the "vintage way" of paper and pencil.  Many of my professors prefer this method because it is less distracting and they state people retain information better this way.  

       Finally, I passed my Digital Driver's Licence with flying colours!  However, just like it is when we pass our G1 licence, its the beginning in learning how to drive so I'm sure I have a lot more to learn in the next 11 weeks.  Well, I will wrap this weekly reflection up by saying I certainly am learning some very important facts about the responsibilities that need to be taken seriously if we want to be a citizen of the digital world! 

Alex 

                                                                      

Common Sense Media Inc. (2015) All Digital Citizens. Retrieved from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/elementary_poster

 Ribble, M. (2011). Digital citizenship in schools (2nd ed.). Eugene, Or.: International Society for Technology in Education.

The Albion.com Netiquette Site. Retrieved from http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html

Treyvaud, R. (2008, Aug). Digital Dossier. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/79IYZVYIVLA