When I was preparing to begin my graduate program, I was nervous. How will I balance my classes and work? Will the classes be engaging? Will the content be relevant to my work as an art teacher? These are all questions that went through my mind. Thankfully I am now going into my fourth week of my first class and I'm actually loving it! My current class is about digitally mediated teaching and learning.
Once I saw the title of this class, I knew it would at least be relevant. I think we all know how important technology is in our classrooms, especially since teaching through COVID. When the class began, I was surprised that we were beginning our course talking about digital identity. What is digital identity?
Digital identity is defined by Terry Heick in Ribble, M. (2017) Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship. He defines digital identity or citizenship as “the quality of an individual’s response to membership in a digital community" (Heick, 2017). Basically, anything that you contribute to the digital world is part of your digital identity.
I thought "this is perfect!". When I started the class, I had just recently started rebranding my professional art education platforms. I love sharing my experience as an art educator with the world! I have an Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, TeacherPayTeacher, Facebook, and now a website all dedicated to sharing my professional knowledge with the world. Apparently teaching 500 kiddos five days a week just isn't enough to scratch that education itch of mine! This class is now helping me develop my professional digital identity and I am so excited to see where it takes me.
Today I submitted a paper dealing with the concept of professional digital identities. In the paper I studied the online professional identities of two art education professionals. Of course, when I think of art educators that I admire I think of Cassie Stephens. If you're an art teacher and for some reason you don't know of Cassie, make sure you check her out here: https://cassiestephens.blogspot.com/
Stephens is an incredible art teacher and inspiration to anyone in the education field. She posts regularly to her blog as well as her other social media platforms. The way she carries herself and creates content online is admirable. Stephens posts to her social media almost every day, and often multiple times a day.
I think creating and contributing to a professional digital identity is something we should all do. Not only can we advertise ourselves to future employers through our digital platforms, but we can also help to build up other educators with tips and resources. What is your take on professional digital identities? Who do you admire in the art education profession?
What are you contributing to your digital identity? Have you created professional accounts on virtual platforms? If you're looking for a place to start, check out this article on how to start your own digital identity and why it can help you: https://www.idealist.org/en/careers/create-digital-identity-branding
Resources
Ribble, M. (2017). Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship.
Digital Citizenship: Using Technology Appropriately.
Bogle, J. (2019). How to Create a Digital Identity | Beyond Branding
Idealist
Stephens, C. (2022) https://cassiestephens.blogspot.com/
BlogSpot
Comments