Posts in Category: Privacy & Safety
Professional, Unprofessional Online Presence
How Do Teachers Host an Authentic and Professional Online Presence?
Photo by Victoria Heath on Unsplash
The Presentation Made Me Wonder…
Today’s presentation with guest speaker Jesse Miller provided me with some valuable information regarding online safety, security, and presence as a teacher. It was both informative and unsettling. While I learned useful information, I’m left feeling unsettled and irritated that teachers are still held to a puritan standard. I wonder how we as teachers can hold an online presence that is true to ourselves and professional?
Oh, The Irony… And I rant.
I wonder why, in a time where we’re trying to teach honesty and transparency to youth, teachers are asked to essentially be flawless. Teachers cannot be witnessed in a photograph doing something legal and completely harmless, like having a glass of wine with a friend. As a teacher in training, I find this to be a potential invasion of my personal life. Not that a student sees a photograph of me drinking a glass of wine, but that I have been asked to not enjoy that glass of wine in the presence of anyone who may have a camera and post that online. To get persnickety about this, that would mean that I am not able to go anywhere where a camera and alcohol is present, on the chance that I may end up online with a glass of wine in hand. Same goes for other joys in life. What if I enjoy laying on a beach with my top off? While it is legal, and women have fought for centuries for equal rights and the end of objectification to women’s bodies, would I be reprimanded for doing this? Using the current logic, If a person decides to take a photograph of me without my knowing, places it online, and a student somehow sees it, I am the one who will be reprimanded despite my actions being legal.
How to (Hopefully) Ensure Privacy
Turn your privacy settings ON. What I gathered from the presentation is that in order to stay safe as a teacher in the world of online presences is to turn all social media settings to private. Never have a student as a contact/friend. Use an alias. Don’t tell other co-workers about your online presences. What other precautions could teachers take to keep their work and social life separate?
Final Thoughts
How do you see being able to express yourself honestly in social media, if there are parts of your life that have to be censored? Do you see this as being valid, given that teachers are teaching other peoples’ children? Do you think the censorship of teachers lives is outdated and needs to change? If so, why?
Here is a link to a CBC article about social media and its effects on teachers reputations –> https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/why-social-media-can-be-a-minefield-for-teachers-1.3219179
Thank you to Jesse Miller for the thought provoking presentation and being available to approach with questions regarding this issue.
Sources
unsplash.com
Unsplash Review
Unsplash: A Free and Fair Photo Sharing Resource
Photo by Ben Kolde on Unsplash
What Is It?
Unsplash.com is a website that provides users with free and high quality photographs, with an aesthetic similar to Pinterest (links at bottom). Unlike Photobucket or Flickr (links at bottom), Unsplash’s images are free for the public to use – no need to worry about copyright issues here, friends! Unsplash provides users with the freedom to choose from a variety of professional quality images that have been okayed by the artist to share.
Photo by Anete Lüsina on Unsplash
How Can I Use It?
Literally anyway you want. These images are essentially a visual dictionary that you can choose from and use however you like. It could be through blog posts, posters, slideshows, videos, printing onto a t-shirt, or any other way an image could be used.
A Note on Giving Back
While you don’t need to worry about copyright issues when you use a photo from Unsplash, there is the option to credit a photographer. Crediting a photographer is not required but it is a way to say thank you to the artists who are allowing their work to be taken and used for free by the public. Noting the photographer of an image you use is also a way of giving the photographer some publicity – again, a thank you to them for sharing their image with you.
Final Thoughts
While it’s not necessary to give credit to the photographer of the image you are using, would you consider it? If not, how come? How would you feel about sharing your own images on this site? Is it something you would consider doing as a means to provide free, high quality photographs to the public? If not, why?
Links