Introduction

My digital footprint has been developed as an elearning resource for young adults aged 15 years upwards with access to the internet.  Students are guided through the resource by the facilitator but ultimately they are responsible for their own learning.  This resource aims to equip the learner with knowledge of:

• What is a digital footprint

• How your digital footprint affects your identity

• What is your physical identity

• Difference between your physical and digital identity

• How to control your digital identity

• How to protect your digital identity

• How to make a more positive digital footprint that may be view in the future by perspective colleagues and employers.

Rationale & Purpose

Within my current employment I have observed the impact that social media has on learners in their personal lives.  Young people share information online in a flippant manner without any thought of the trace that they are leaving behind when they engage with digital environments.  Young adults lack understanding of the digital footprint trace that they leave behind paints a picture of who they are to the world and a lot of this information is not always appropriate for public consumption. 

With the advent of Web 2.0 and mobile technologies the number of young adults using social media sites has increased dramatically.  Social media sites provide young adults with entertainment and a way of communicating and connecting with friends and family, which in turn enhances communication skills.  The provision of this elearning resource to both educators and managers in community settings will allow for the development of an engaging and interactive elearning resource that will assist in the future development of digital literacy/citizenship skills of young people.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this module learners will be able to:

1. Describe what a digital footprint is.

2. Explain how a digital footprint is made.

3. Describe what your physical identity is.

4. Differentiate between your physical and digital identity.

5. Describe how your digital footprint affects your identity.

6. Distinguish between an active and passive digital footprint.

7. Describe the impact that your Facebook, Twitter or YouTube account could be having on your digital footprint.

8. Measure your digital footprint.

9. Consider ways of reducing your negative digital footprint.

10. Implement behaviours of creating a more positive digital footprint.

Assessment

Learner progress will be assessed throughout the elearning resource using questions and interactive feedback.

Instructional Design Model – Multimodal Learning Environment

I have chosen to use an interactive multimodal approach for the development of this artefact to assist learners in learning the topic by accommodating as many different learning styles as is possible.  As stated by Mayer (2007) “student understanding can be enhanced by the addition of non-verbal knowledge representations to verbal explanations".  

Many different types of interactivity have been included in this artefact to assist the learner with information acquisition by integrating the new knowledge with existing knowledge.