Taking charge of your digital life

I am currently reading a book titled “Professional Learning in the Digital Age: The Educator’s Guide to User-Generated Learning“. In this book I just read a story of a new high school teacher who had a negative online experience. Some students of hers posted a picture of her in the “Hot or Not” website and over time other students on campus began rating her. The school couldn’t do anything about it. She couldn’t erase it. If anyone searched for her name this site would come up in the search results.

This got me thinking about how important it is for educators these days to take charge of their own digital life and control how the world sees them on the Internet. Think about it, would you rather be the one posting things about yourself so that your digital appearance is positive, or would you rather leave it up to others to post whatever about you?

So how do you take control? Begin using social media for professional purposes. Tweet about great things your class is doing. Join professional groups on LinkedIn and join in the conversation. Share resources you find with others in Google +. Of course, the choice of social media tool is yours, so use what works best for you. If you have a continual, positive digital existence controlled by you, the way others perceive you when they search for information about you will also be positive. Don’t fear using social media for professional means, embrace it!

Thanks for reading

Shannon Doak