The Major Project... an Update on Progress - Connecting My Thoughts on Connecting

by  topgold 

The first time I saw the title for Doug Belshaw's doctorial thesis, "The Never Ending Thesis", I had to smile at the originality. Now I get it. Thank goodness I am collaborating with Genna Rodriguez, if not because of the breadth and depth of the project, but just for the moral support! Over the past few days we have been gathering and remixing ideas for the 7C's. Please see Genna's post, "Holiday, What Holiday?" for the essential questions we have explored for 6 of the 7C's.



In exploring articles and videos on connectivism and rhizomatic thinking... I had the pleasure of extending this to our project. Yes this was beneficial, as it's always nice when ideas connect, but frankly it started to make my thought process a little convoluted. The more you learn, the more you have to incorporate, as your perceptions change. Learning can be such a pain!

Here is what I was able to pull apart and re-mix based on previous readings from Belshaw and Fullen to learning then re-shuffle with Illich, Siemens, Jenkins and Cormier. To further explain, this is a Scope and Sequence for Connect which is one of the 7C's we are developing. Fortunately, Citizenship (as in Digital Citizenship) is already completed by the Ministry!

Now keep in mind that the format is off, I was just copy/pasting into this post from OneNote and, it's a draft. Draft... so there is room for revising... lots of room!

Distracted Sidenote: By the way, OneNote is a fantastic tool for collaborating!

Here are the Essential Questions...

Do students make meaningful connections between their classroom learning, their personal lives, and the world around them?

Do students see relationships and overlaps between multiple streams of information? Do the look for connections between disparate ideas?

Can students identify and harmonize and draw connections to seemingly unrelated and/or conflicting concepts and information? 

Do students understand the power and benefits of connections in the globally-connected 21st century?

Can students create meaningful networks using various digital tools and social platforms?  These networks may include learning networks, social networks, activism networks, etc.

Are students given the opportunity to connect beyond the classroom walls with other peers or experts who help to support this learning process? Are these learning interactions as valued as traditional views of how learning takes place?

Are schools bridging the disconnect between traditional learning models and the realities of the connected 21st century learner?

What metacognitive processes would students utilize when they assess their own work? Are students tracking progress through e-portfolios and connecting with other members in their learning network?

 Are students given opportunities to engage in dialogue about their learning with teachers, peers or other members of their learning network/networked community? Are students able to engage in diverse learning communities (which include face to face and digital, as well as inter-generational)?

Are students learning in networks to exchange knowledge, collect and curate stories and ideas , as well as engage in collective activities such as crowdsourcing (at a HS level)?

Are students provided digital spaces where students can engage with inter-generational experts who help to make up their learning community and helping to develop social relations in a safe and mediated way?

Here are the Goals for Student Knowledge...

To enrich understanding in an informational age, students should actively look to make connections between information, their personal lives, and the world around them.

Students know how to find common ground to connect seemingly conflicting concepts and information.

Student achievement is enhanced when their learning is reinforced and supported in multiple settings.  These settings can be online networks where resources and connected conversations are abundant and accessible.

In the right networks, students can find a sense of belonging and purpose through shared interests and passions that will support their growth. 

Valuable information can be accessed through connections outside the school walls and can significantly support learning.  These networks allow for unprecedented cross-generational and cross-cultural learning as well.

Students understand how to access and the value of connecting with multiple people face to face or digitally to help guide student inquiry. Connected learning promotes life-long learning and is an opportunity to contribute to the learning of others.

There are various digital tools and platforms to connect with others.  Students need to carefully consider which connections will enrich their lives.

Students engage in metacognitive processes and actively reflect on their learning and connect with teachers in a meaningful and timely exchange of feedback face to face or through digital networks.

Students understand how to engage with systems of informal learning in connected learning environments.

Here is the Scope and Sequence for K - 12, broken into grade groupings...

Elementary K-3 Knowledge & Skills	Middle Years 4-8 Knowledge & Skills	High School 9-12 Knowledge & Skills
Students make connections between information learned and connections to own personal experiences and other events in the community or around the world.  Students understand that there are many places  where they can find information to their questions, which includes a variety of sources which include print, digital and interactions with people. They are able to identify and notice overlaps of information from sources.   Shares resources from outside the classroom to the activities of the classroom.   Students understand that there are people who can provide information to their questions. These individuals help to make up their learning community.   Students  engage and discuss learning experiences in settings which include at school, home and other communities of which they interact face to face or online through teacher mediation, making up the student's learning network.   Students actively engage in different forms of communication to reach out, connect to explore and share their questions and ideas with teacher digital support. Teachers would provide opportunities for whole class connection with other learning "experts".	-Students make connections between information learned from digital sources and connections to own personal experiences community or global connections.     Students understand that there are many places  where they can find information to their questions, which includes a variety of sources which include print, digital and interactions with people. Able to identify and notice overlaps of information, as well as identify reasons for differences.   Contribute online information and resources from outside into the activities of the classroom or learning community.     -Students engage and contribute to an online dialogue with several posts and comments with other students as part of a teacher-led task.    Students  give and act on feedback from multiple perspectives in teacher created digital networks. Student incorporates ideas from network into own learning.   Students actively engage in different forms of communication to reach out and explore ideas from multiple diverse perspectives  with teacher mediation. Communication may be face to face or  teacher mediated digital connections with peers or other "experts" -  depending on student selection for learning project.   Students identify instances  and describe benefits of digital technologies being used for the creating and sharing of knowledge.   Students engage in dialogue about learning with teachers, peers or other members of their learning network in face to face as well as digital. Feedback is captured in digital form for student to act upon.	-Students independently develop their own personal learning network, based on the student identified learning needs, then develop meaning and co-construct new information or understandings, drawing on personal experiences, community or global connections.      -Students understand the value of different types of information/media, (includes print, digital and digital interactions with people). Able to analyze reasons for informational overlaps from sources, as well as identify differences in information based on perspective and type of information.   Contribute online information and resources from outside into the activities of the classroom or online learning community. Able to work effectively within digital community, by identifying and responding to expectations or goals of community (such as timelines).   -Students engage and contribute to an online dialogue with multiple in-depth posts and comments with other students as part of a teacher-led task, with the goal being to co-constructing knowledge and new understandings.   -Students give and act on feedback from multiple perspectives in digital networks. Connecting with peers significantly shapes the student's learning which is evident by process and product. Student effectively incorporates comments from network community into learning.   -Students actively engage in different forms of communication to reach out and explore ideas from multiple diverse perspectives using social media platforms. Able to communicate voice or opinions appropriately as a member of the learning community.     Students identify instances  and describe benefits of digital technologies being used for the creating and sharing of knowledge as a means of exploring various perspectives and expertise.     -Student demonstrates the ability to use a variety of online contacts and social networks to find out information, and able to distinguish between different online communication tools for usefulness for enabling teamwork and collaboration.   Student participates in learning networks to exchange knowledge, collect and curate stories and ideas , as well as engage in collective activities such as crowdsourcing  as a means of making connections for student inquiry.   -Students connect with other learners by collaborating online, use social media to interact with peers around the globe, engage in conversations in safe online spaces, and bring what they learn online back to their classrooms.

The areas highlighted in green are areas I'm unsure about. The yellow areas potentially should be designated to another "C". 

This week we will have the Scope and Sequence completed, then we start the fun stuff... building the website. To make our lives easier, we are going to create in Weebly, then transfer the HTML code from Weebly over to Drupal. This way we can get the benefits of drag and drop, as what is afforded in Weebly but not in the Drupal interface. Basically... our goal to make our site "pretty" may be realized. Yay!

Being that we hope to use these Essential Skills at a school division level, we're starting to feel a little pressure. We need feedback. We need our learning community. But... that's tough to ask when everyone is feeling the pinch of report cards, major projects and regular assignments. Really, I'm not complaining or trying not to... Anyways, if you have time to offer feedback, we would love some! 

   

Over-Consumption and the Journey in Becoming Healthy and Digitally Literate

Eight years ago my husband and I bought our first Macbook. After 8 hours of unwrapping the styrofoam and plastic packaging we finally got to our digital canvas. The machine that would unleash our creativity as we would endeavor to make music, home videos and digital scrapbooks. Eight years later, I am proud to say we have actually done a lot of those things. Really! We have made scrapbooks, photo-edited and made movies... Time is probably the factor that has got in the way of doing more, but I am proud to say that it was worth the investment. Did having the tool make a difference in unleashing our creativity? I would have to say a loud "YES!" to that question. Having the right device has allowed us the power to create. However it was also more than that. We were also moved to create as the subject matter, our kids... our family... empowered and inspired us to record our memories. 

Before we get into my reflections and connections to the readings, I want to share with you my family's creative journey.  This is my daughter Micaela when she was born. Like many parents we posted a photo on Facebook, thereby starting her digital footprint - whether she wanted it or not. Of course we got many "likes" and congratulatory comments, as most new parents in this platform.  

On that same day, my sister took several pictures and posted them on Facebook, tagging me in the photo. One of the pictures that my sister posted was this one (on the right), where Micaela looked as though she was perhaps getting tired of all the friends, family, neighbours and well-wishers popping in to see her. This picture brought on several comments which included... "At Dawn... We Ride!!!"; "Get to the Chopppa"; "This is Sparta".... What really made me laugh about the comments from my family and friends was the participatory nature of posting reactions to the picture. No one had much to say about the sweet image I posted, but many were inspired to share comments with the angry-baby photo.

The picture didn't exactly go viral, but I didn't exactly feel like experimenting with a photo of my newborn to see if it would create a meme phenomenon either. But the picture inspired someone to create... Days later, this meme was sent to me by a family member. It almost became my birth announcement...
So what does this have to do with the course readings or even this course? I decided to share a photo, thereby allowing friends and family to see a new addition to my family. This in turn encouraged other family members to share their responses to the photo... Everything that took place represents the participatory nature of Social Media and the opportunities afforded with the Internet. However, text is text. So you don't get the feel of the remix of the comments shared on that Facebook post, unless you see it visually.

So, with the help of Image Flip, I created remixes of the original picture incorporating the comments that were posted on Facebook.

How does my oversharing pictures of my daughter connect to the readings? (I'm getting there!) In creating we are doing more than consuming. We are participating we are engaging. We are also inspiring others to engage in this creative process. Many of our students engage in this way in their free time - in the hourse between 3:30pm and 9am. The question is, how can school encourage this same creative outlet?

Larry Lessing asks in his TED Talk, "Laws that Choke Creativity", asks how can the Internet revive the Read-Write culture of creating and break us from the consuming nature of Read-only nature? I think the answer to Lessing's question can be summed up in one word... Audience. The Internet will change this mindset provided there is an audience. With the Internet their is the potential for all users to share what has been created with a real audience - a chance to share interests and passions. Lessing puts it "culture where people produce for the love of what they're doing and not for the money...the culture that your kids are producing all the time". Lessing gets into the extremism of the legalities of copyright, but without getting into the copyright/copyleft argument, the question for educators is how are we addressing these issues with our students? Are we encouraging students to create and share, then encourage them to in turn share their media in the Creative Commons so that it in turn can be remixed? Shaun Horsman, in his post, "The Language of Literacy", comments that the "current era of ‘ownership’ and copyright that is going to be a more challenging proposition than it has in the past". How are teachers helping students to navigate questions related to remixing and ownership? The Digital Citizenship Continuum addresses these issues under "Digital Law" at the grade 6 to 9 level, where students are encouraged to "Create a Creative Common license for work they create" - however, how can we help students navigate through the grey with remixing? At least one of the benefits in seeing the concept in the continuum, is that it starts the conversation regarding students seeing themselves as creators and contributors of material on-line. But then again, who owns it?

The biggest question is, how are schools tapping into the student's natural inclination to create and share? What needs to be in place? Is it a case of the Macbook in my family...  get the device - then get inspired? Or is it something more? Our students are inspired, and many have access to some of the tools - but are educators ready to provide that space for creativity? Or are we too consumed with the notion that we don't have time with all that we have to "cover"? Does our current framework for assessment and evaluation even match the opportunities afforded with digital learning?  In the midst of report cards, Danielle Maley in her post, "Remixing Education, a Reportcard Rant", shares her feelings on the need for a shift in mindset within school divisions and at a provincial level, in how we allow students to share what they know. She implores fellow educators to "get passionate and back to our core... rather than limiting kids ...[and] start opening doors." However, it's hard to open doors, particularly with the pressures related to assessments. Perhaps one of the ways we can open doors for our students is to provide opportunities where they can explore their passions within the context of digital literacy (or literacies).

Over the past few months when I have discussed with teachers the role of digital literacy and fluency in readying our students with the transferable skills they will need for 21st century learning, I am often reminded of the challenges educators face in just ensuring that students are at appropriate levels for literacy and numeracy. Although I totally agree with these teachers that before we can explore other literacies, traditional notions of literacy and numeracy need to be addressed. But do they necessarily conflict? If one looks at the Cross-Curricular Competencies for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education, you can see that Technological Literacy is interwoven and embedded within all competencies. These cross-curricular competencies being: Thinking, Identity and Interdependence, Literacies, and Social Responsibility. 

When I started looking at Doug Belshaw's work, I started to see a connection between his 8 Essential Elements of Digital Literacy and many concepts in the Saskatchewan Cross-Curricular Competencies. Belshaw shares that extremely challenging to define “literacy” –never-mind, “digital literacy”. Literacy can only be explained contextually, and for this reason, Belshaw uses the plural and explores the notion of ‘literacies’. To further help understand the different contexts of digital literacies, he explores 8 essential elements which include: critical, civic, confident, cognitive, creative, communicative, constructive and cultural. After further investigation, I was also able to see a connection to Fullen's work on the New Learning Goals or the 6C's - critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration, creativity and imagination, character education and citizenship.

Doug Belshaw's TED Talk, "The Essential Elements of Digital Literacies", was one that I was already familiar with as his work has helped to inspire my collaborative major project. Within the context of the presentation, Belshaw emphasizes the importance of taking people, particularly students, into a mindset beyond passive consumption of technology and instead into one centralized on making, creating, or remixing. In order to develop digital literacy within students, schools need to look at what opportunities we are providing students to develop these proficiencies. Skills at learning how to decode technology and media and contribute to the creation of products and ideas using digital tools.
  

The Essential Elements
of Digital Literacies from Doug Belshaw

In addition to helping students develop skills in being able to remix, decode and create in developing digital literacies there is also the challenge of "bolstering student engagement and drive more innovation" and shift to "deeper learning approaches, such as project and challenge based learning", as stated in the NMC Horizon Report: 2015 K-12. One of the aspects that I love about this report and the challenges shared from manageable to "wicked" is how there is an emphasis on constructivism where the focus is not on the technology, but the concept of creating. 


Belshaw,  Fullen and the Horizon Report all focus on what can be accomplished when the focus is on student-centered pedagogy and opportunities for students to choose how they will use technology. The focus is not on devices but on pedagogy. The question is, how can we get school divisions and educators to this shift in mindset? How can we shift from "covering" outcomes to allowing students opportunities to demonstrate their understanding of the outcomes in a variety of ways? Perhaps the shift from percentage based reporting to outcome based reporting will help us find these answers. At least this might be a start...

TEDx Warwick: The Essential Elements of Digital Literacies from Doug Belshaw

  

Collaborating and Sharing the 7C's of 21st Century Learning ... the Ever Evolving Project!

The project that I am exploring with Genna Rodriguez as you may know (or don't) is a framework for  technology integration within the Regina Catholic School Division.  One significant aspect of the project is creating a scope and sequence for each of the Essential Skills of 21st Century Learning (7C's) in addition to creating a website that will demonstrate what the 7C's "look in action". On the website, we will also include the skills and knowledge identified in the essential learning, as well as digital tools and resources to support the learning in the classroom. Last week Genna and I composed our first Scope and Sequence for Collaboration. Although I know that Genna posted the same information, so this might be somewhat redundant, I am going to post anyways to help track our learning journey.

The following are our Essential Questions and what students and teachers need to know about Collaboration. 

Essential Questions Are students able to work together to reach a goal, drawing from the talents and expertise within the group? Do students demonstrate fluid proficiency in working collaboratively both offline & online?

Knowledge Understand how to collaborate and work in multiple ways from face to face to online. Student reflect on their own strengths and what they have to offer in a collaborative environment. Ability to critically assess and reflect on their roles, responsibilities and collaborative process face to face and online. Understand the creative process through collaboration.

These are the skills that students will develop from Kindergarten to grade 12. We decided to go with a slightly different grade groupings, than the Digital Citizenship Continuum. Honestly, it was to make the task of creating a Scope and Sequence for K - 12 for 6 other Essential Skills (being that Digital Citizenship is already completed), a little less taxing. However, feedback regarding this decision is appreciated!

Elementary K-3 Knowledge & Skills	Middle Years 4-8 Knowledge & Skills	High School 9-12 Knowledge & Skills
-Students will be able to work together and generate ideas.  -Students need to be able to understand the importance and difference of roles and responsibilities within a team. Students may be assigned different roles and responsibilities within a teacher created online platform ie: blog. -Students demonstrate respect for one another and that sometimes everyone contributes in different ways towards a goal. -Students reflect on their individual contributions towards the group's goal. -Students brainstorm and generate ideas, encouraging all group members to have input. Ideas can be captured digitally or in traditional forms. (ie: Padlet, O365, Pixie app). Set up a plan for action in reaching goal guided by teacher. -Students understand different ways that groups may work together and how different cultures work together.	-Students will be able to generate ideas while working together face to face and transfer to a teacher defined on-line space. (O365 Group or doc or a teacher created class blog).  -Students need to be able to understand the importance and difference of roles and responsibilities within a team. Students need to demonstrate different roles and responsibilities and effectively participate in an online teacher created collaborative space  ie: blog or O365 Group. -Students demonstrate ethical behaviour and digital etiquette when engaging in the online space with guidance from their teacher. -Students engage in a teacher guided self-reflection on  individual contributions towards the group's goal and the differences between face to face and online. Students start examining ways to improve collaboration in a variety of spaces. -Students will explore how to generate ideas collaboratively, ensuring all group members have input in a digital platform to exchange and build upon ideas.  Students will create a plan for action in sequential steps.  -Students understand different ways that groups may work together and how digital inequity may play a role in how different cultures and groups work together.	-Students will be able to generate ideas while working together face to face and on a student defined on-line platform that suits the needs of the project. -Students demonstrate and understand different  roles and responsibilities within a team. Students understand their capacity to fulfill the roles and responsibilities in a student created collaborative space.  ie: blog or O365 Group. -Students demonstrate ethical behaviour and digital etiquette when engaging in the online space as well as manage conflict independently. -Students reflect on their individual and collective contributions towards the group's goal  and differences between face to face and online. Basically how well they work together as a team. Identify areas for improvement in moving forward in future projects. -Students will explore how to generate ideas collaboratively, ensuring all group members have input in a digital platform to exchange and build upon ideas.  As a group, students will independently create a detailed plan for action in sequential steps and report individual progress towards the collaborative goal in a digital platform.  (ie: O365 Groups, OneNote Notebook, Blog, microblogging/social media, texting group). -Students understand different ways that groups may work together and how digital inequity may play a role in ease of digital access and how to accommodate and support those who encounter barriers to access.

* Note the areas that are highlighted in yellow we need to further explore. Feel free to pass along any suggestions! 

We also found that the course readings were fantastic resources for our project as the focus was on developing digital and media literacies for students as life long learners, and readying them for the changes in our future workplaces. As part of the introduction to our webpage, I think it would be beneficial to include the NCTE Framework in why educators need to examine these new and emerging literacies. What I love about this resource is the connection to how literacy is evolving and including more than traditional understandings of  reading, writing, listening, speaking and representing. We will most definitely be incorporating some of the questions from this resource into our project. What I really really appreciate about the NCTE Framework is that there is a potential for us to adapt and adopt some of the questions into our scope and sequence. 

The NCTE definition of 21st century literacies  demonstrates this evolution of literacy and what that looks like in the classroom. The following will be adapted in our introduction page.

Literacy has always been a collection of cultural and communicative practices shared among members of particular groups. As society and technology change, so does literacy. Because technology has increased the intensity and complexity of literate environments, the 21st century demands that a literate person possess a wide range of abilities and competencies, many literacies. These literacies are multiple, dynamic, and malleable. As in the past, they are inextricably linked with particular histories, life possibilities, and social trajectories of individuals and groups. Active, successful participants in this 21st century global society must be able to:

• Develop proficiency and fluency with the tools of technology;
• Build intentional cross-cultural connections and relationships with others so to pose and solve problems collaboratively and strengthen independent thought;
• Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes;
• Manage, analyze, and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information;
• Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multimedia texts;
• Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments.

In addition to creating the scope and sequence, we have been facilitating professional development sessions to go with our project. As teachers who work in Educational Technology, we are fortunate that this is within the scope of what we do in helping teachers integrate digital tools into curriculum and pedagogy. So this week we had a group of 15 teachers take part in a Teaching with Technology session. The purpose of the professional development was to provide time for teachers to learn about effective technology integration in the classroom and what truly makes a difference on learning. It should be noted that our division has been hosting these sessions for a couple years, so this is a continuation of what has been previously developed. To ensure that this professional development connects with the Essential Skills of 21st Learning (7C's) we changed our resources to reflect this philosophy. The following is an overview of the goals for the session: 

1. Explore the Project Overview, the Essential Skills of 21st Century Learning, as well as, the Nine Effective Teaching Strategies identified that make a difference in student learning,
2. Explore how to create an  environment for learning, and the role of digital tools in leveraging these opportunities.
3. Explore strategies for helping students develop understanding - instructional strategies and the digital tools which will help further understanding and skills.
4. Strategies for helping students extend and apply knowledge.
5. Finally, give the teacher opportunities to identify an area they would like to improve in their classroom (from the Nine Effective Teaching strategies), identify the Essential Skills to be explored,  as well as, the Digital Citizenship understandings that should be explored within the context of the project. 
6. In creating a community for teachers to share their project goals and how they will need support, we created an Office 365 Group. This provides a community where teachers can share ideas and questions. (Sound familiar?? )
7. In about one month, the teachers will self evaluate their project's progress and how the technology they are integrating is meeting their needs using a Digital Tool Assessment Checklist that we created (see image from our presentation). This rubric was based on the SECTIONS Model created by the University of British Columbia for Assessing Technology Integration. We had to adapt the rubric, as it did not reflect the needs of teachers in a K - 12 setting or the infrastructure in our school division.

We recognize the fact that our jobs are a little different than most teaching assignments, therefore our project focus is on improving digital fluencies for teachers and students in our school division. We are quite fortunate to be able to work with teachers who are willing and see the benefit to attending PD like the Teaching with Technology session. It is those teachers and their students who drive us to find ways to make technology integration more meaningful. 

Identity, Life and Death in the Facebook Picture Window

This past Sunday I celebrated my birthday. In case you were wondering, it was my 39th birthday, again. By about mid-afternoon, I had 61 birthday congratulations, and by the next day the number had risen to 79. Regardless about whether or not you think this is a high or low number, or that you can't believe I'm still on Facebook - it's pretty cool to think that with a click people could reach out and wish me well. Did it mean something to have colleagues, friends, family, old teachers, and even old boyfriends congratulate me on my birthday? Actually it was kind of nice knowing that people took the time to post, even if it took them only 10 seconds to do it.

So how does celebrating my birthday connect to my online identity? These people who took the time to connect are my family and friends on or offline. There is no separation. Getting a birthday greeting from a person that I know mainly from online interactions, means as much as those people I knew first face-to-face. Receiving a birthday message via Facebook almost means as much as a card (whether it is digital or paper). I say almost, because honestly it takes under a minute to post a comment on Facebook, whereas sending a card takes a lot longer. 

My About Me page captures part of my online identity

This leads me to another consideration, how well do those who know you from online activities really know you? After this week's readings and Monday night's discussion, I understand that they know as much as you want them to know. As indicated in  Kate Fagan's article,  "Split Screen", we only know what we want others to know about us, whether this is unintentional or intentional, as in Madison Holleran's case. The moments we share may reflect an ideal life and an ideal self.  Brittany Bandur in her post, "The Great Power, Smoke and Mirrors of Social Media" explores the fact that although what we post online may seem idyllic, what you see online is just part of whole story. I fully agree with her point that although our on-line image is just part of the picture, it is authentic, and perhaps it's reasonable for others to assume that our on-line identity is just a fragment of real life. 

So if this is how people get to know us on-line, this edited version of ourselves, how well do they  really know us? The truth is, how well does anyone really know us? Don't we all project an edited version of ourselves outside of our homes? Hasn't that public image of ourselves always been an edited version and it's not just Social Media that is totally changing things? Or is our online identity edited more than we realize?

 by  Sharon Mollerus 

After reading Fagan's article, I thought quite a bit about Madison Holleran and how "She seemed acutely aware that the life she was curating online was distinctly different from the one she was actually living."  Initially, when I read this part, I immediately thought that it represented how other people connect, as I felt I spent very little time editing my life. Prior to this class and our discussion,  I believed that what I projected on Facebook, was kind of a What-You-See-is-What-You-Get Kind of image. After an exploration of my own posts and media, I realized that over the years I have been making a conscious effort to portray myself in a certain way, which is a necessary part of looking at our own digital footprint and how we model it for others.  As educators, posting information or media that could potentially be misunderstood or misconstrued, just isn't worth it. And although we do not necessarily try to live a dual life, by controlling what we post and coming to terms with our "acceptable identity fragment", this is part of what it means to be an educator in today's world. In Social Media, your private life is not your private life, as there is nothing private when you post on-line.

  by  fotologic 

When I stepped back to look at my Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles and the connections that I've made, I started to see that identity that I have been shaping online. Jeannine Whitehouse in her post, "What Will You Leave Behind?" explores many of the same questions about authenticity and her acute awareness of what is "acceptable" to one's audience. What really got me thinking, was Jeannine's comment on Jason Miller's article, on how Facebook's use of algorithms can bend what our audience sees, thereby further misconstruing who we are and the authenticity of a person's identity. With this in mind the question is, who really is the editor of our online identities?

Although Social Media does not always truly represent our whole selves, it does represent at least a part of us. And sometimes a fragment is enough,  especially if that is all that's left when a person dies. Over three years ago, my cousin Stephanie died in a car accident. She was a very social girl whose life and relationships were all well marked on Instagram and Facebook. After she died, we didn't just reminisce and share our stories and memories, we traveled down her timeline, mapping out her life just hours before she died. Maybe this sounds morbid. Alright, I know it does. By exploring the timeline, my sisters and I could examine her last days, so we could see how she was and what was going on. Facebook allowed us to see more. Her Facebook identity,  bent or fractured, let me get to know my cousin again.  In being able to journey the timeline, we were able to see that she was happy. Of course we didn't know if she was really happy.  Did it make a difference in the end? Nope. But, it did made us feel better to connect with her one last time. It was like we were watching the last moments of her life before she died and making a final connection. Maybe this sounds weird. Ugh, it's hard to explain.

Shortly after she died, my aunt was able to take over her Facebook page (see Facebook form "Special Request for a Deceased Person's Account"),  her Facebook site was "memorialized", which meant that it was deleted or left unchanged after the reported death, and a memorial page went up.  Did the group help my aunt with her grieving? Yes. Judging by the pictures and prayers that my aunt has posted over the past 3 years, it has solidified her relationship with my cousin's closest friends. Instead of sad or awkward "run-ins" they are able to still connect, evident by the posts and pictures. As Joshua Andrew shares in his article, "How We Grieve on Social Media", Facebook helped her with her grieving process by solidifying that community, so she had a place where she could connect with a multitude of people so she never felt alone. How we grieve can be considered different in the social networking realm than how we may interact face to face. According to an article from CBC, "The Online Life After Death", because of social media, discussing the grief of a loved one "even months after a death was acceptable in the social networking realm, particularly among friends who do not live in the same city". It was also noted in the article, that there needs to be a connection between the family and the digital community when someone dies. If a family doesn't connect with the deceased person's online life, the digital community has nowhere to grieve. And in reality, this might be the only way those separated by distance can actually find out about the death.

On the flip side, sometimes you don't want to remember or connect again and again through all the updates. When the memorial page was created, along with grieving friends and family, I posted a memory and joined the Stephanie's Memorial group. In joining the group, I got every single update to my cousin's site. At first I didn't mind. It was nice to come together as a community... remember and read all the different memories and prayers. At first I didn't mind - later I felt conflicted. For the next few months, the updates went on. I stopped checking out every update, not because I didn't care, but because I needed to stop thinking about her death. Just as in Julie Buntin's article, "She's Still Dying on Facebook", with every picture, prayer, memory, or update I was reminded. After a while I needed to stop remembering, yet I felt too guilty to stop following the group. I know, this probably sounds a bit selfish, but it's part of how I grieve.

If you are interested in learning more about Facebook's new policy of allowing one more post after you die, take a look at this article from Time Magazine, "Here's What Happens to Your Facebook Account After You Die" by Jack Linshi.

When I think of how our lives and identity are shaped online, it's not just a footprint that we are creating. As people around the world are sharing their lives in this space, all of this will stay forever. The information, which helps to form our identity, is going to become a digital archive that shapes who we were. All it would take for future historians and paleontologists is to analyze the digital data to get a sense of what our lives were like. In Adam Ostrow's TED Talk, "After Your Final Status Update", he reminds us of this very fact, "... today we're all creating this incredibly rich digital archive that's going to live in the cloud indefinitely, years after we're gone."  How will this archive of information be used? What will we look like to our future children? Will we appear like people who craved social interaction so much, that face to face wasn't enough? Or will we seemed like individuals who needed to share every social interaction and thought? In any case with all the fragments, historians will have first-hand accounts which will help tell the story of who we were. Bent or fractured, it will be more information than what has ever been left previously by past generations.