Week 12: Wrapping it up

My online course, ADED 1P32, has come to an end and thus, this will potentially be the last post on this blog. It has truly been an eye opening experience, showing me how little I know about the Internet. This course has introduced me to numerous tools that have and will continue to enhance my learning. For that reason, this is the kind of course I wish I would've taken during my first year at University. Tools such as Diigo would've been helpful while doing research for a paper, while knowing that you can find Copyright friendly images on Flickr would've been helpful for presentations.
Growing up in this digital era I was exposed to technology at an early age and so I am able to easily navigate the Internet and get the hang of new software pretty quickly. I've had a digital footprint for over fifteen years; however, I didn't quite understand what being a responsible digital citizen meant up until I took this course.

Callahan, D. (2012, March 9). Digital Citizenship [Online Image] Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/

One of the biggest things I learned from this course, aside from exploring numerous online tools, was Copyright law and the use of Creative Commons media. Throughout my academic years I have created numerous presentations that included countless images which, although properly cited, might've had Copyright licenses that I wasn't aware of. I could have been committing a crime for all I know. Ever since I found out about Flickr, I've been using it to search images with Creative Commons. I use media appropriately now by reading the terms of the license for each image. Knowing what rights and responsibilities come with the use of technology has helped me become a more responsible digital citizen. I strongly believe that because kids are getting exposed to technology at a younger age, they need to be taught the nine elements of digital citizenship - emphasizing their rights and responsibilities. The use of technology does not automatically make you a digital citizenship, HOW you use technology is the deciding factor.
This course has allowed me to come out of my shell in order to collaborate with others. I had always been reluctant to joining social media sites for fear of damaging my digital footprint. I now believe that as long as I follow proper netiquette when posting on these sites, my digital footprint will remain a positive one. That being said, I plan to continue using sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest to promote appropriate behaviours in others by sharing links to useful tools and websites related to digital citizenship. Edudemic and Free Technology for Teachers have become my favourite sites to share posts from since they regularly promote digital citizenship. The exploration of tools through this course and through resources from my Feedly has greatly expanded my PLN. I am hopeful that although this course has ended, I will continue to explore tools to further expand my PLN and keep up with all the posts on my Feedly so to remain informed of any news regarding the World Wide Web. Here's to life-long learning. Cheers!