My Digital Footprint

     We have discussed the idea of “digital footprints” in almost every single one of our education classes over the past two years. We have discussed them in regards to professionalism, liability, privacy, networking, et cetra and I think we have all come to realize just how important our online presence is. As teachers, it is very important for us to maintain a professional appearance in and out of the classroom. Our administrators, board members, parents and students can all be online looking for information about us and it is important that our online presence upholds the professional standards that is expected of a teacher.

#ISRU11 – We ALL leave a digital footprint by OllieBray. Flickr Image at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/olliebray/5542813754/

     As part of our Internet of Educators class, we are encouraged to explore our digital footprint and see what it might say about us. I headed over to Google and here is what I found:

“Kirsten Landen” resulted in 302 results!
Here are the results that are actually representing me:
1) Professional Portfolio of Kirsten Landen
    – The professional portfolio I created for interviewing and showcasing my work
2) Faculty of Ed at BU Ning Profile
    – The profile I created for the BU Ning site
3) EduCon Profile
    – The profile I created to register for EduCon, an online P.D conference
4) Beaches of Glacial Lake Agassiz
    – A project I created in my undergraduate degree for a Geomorphology class
5) Residence Assistants
    – My profile for my position as a Residence Assistant at BU
6) Vokle Profile
    – The profile I created to sign in to Vokle to screen the live sessions of EduCon
       last year
7) Support Blogging Wiki
    – A wiki showcasing various edubloggers
8) 2013 BYTE Conference
    – The session Tyler and I are presenting at the BYTE conference this year
9) ManACE TIN
   – The session Tyler and I are presenting at the February ManACE TIN event
10) The Freshman Olympics
       – An interview with the university paper about an event I organized while working in
         residence

     Most of the time when I am using online services I DO NOT use my real name. For example, my Twitter and Pinterest accounts are both under MissLwbt which is simply a shortened version of my blog title. This is more for the simplicity of having a cohesive online presence that is connected to my blog rather than privacy. My Facebook account is under a different name all together as I use it for personal interactions rather than educational networking. I am also getting married this June and plan on changing my name, so I will have to begin creating an entirely new digital footprint!

    I found that the various pages within my Professional Portfolio, my presentation on the Beaches of Glacial Lake Agassiz and my activity within the BU Ning seemed to show up the most in a Google search and made up the first 5-ish pages. A lot of Facebook pages and other pages in Swedish also showed up but those were about someone with the same name, not me. I would hope that since all of my relevant searches are related to my time at Brandon University or other related educational services that my digital footprint would be considered professional.