Monique'sTechBlog: Is Your "Digital Footprint" Clean?

It is important to teach students that everything they post and share, on the Internet is not private but public for the world to see. People can take your image(s) and information shared on the Internet and can turn it into a negative situation. Nothing is Safe about the Internet, and it is up to them as individuals to make the decision to choose what they want to share. It is up to you to make your Internet or "digital footsteps" a positive experience. Along with that I would like to share an activity that I would have my students do before the actual assignment. I will give each student a small piece of paper and have him or her write a “secret” on it. Then, I will have them erase it. You will see that it doesn’t erase completely. I will explain to the class how it's important to be aware of what we post or share on the Internet. Just like that piece of paper, it doesn't get erased completely even if you delete it. I think this is a great activity and a will be a nice introduction to Internet safety lesson.

For this lesson I would recommend it for older grades, although social media and Internet use is becoming more common in younger people today. For the lesson on Internet Safety, I came up with having the students search their names on “Google”. After finding items on Google about them specifically, whether it be pictures or information, I will give each student a “Digital Foot” copy to cut out, print the information they have found about themselves over the internet, and glue it on their “Digital Foot”. If students do not have anything on the Internet about themselves that come up, they can cut out and glue the “My Digital Foot is clean!” banner on to their Digital Foot. This is an activity that will help students understand the importance of what they share on the Internet. Also, remember to share with the student’s that using the Internet is not always a negative thing. The Internet can have a positive affect as long as they allow it to.

Below I have two documents you can download and use for this activity. Enjoy!