Today a colleague shared their opinion with me about putting photos on the internet. Although I have thought about this before, I've never really given it any major consideration. I'm of the techno generation and so it's quite a normal part of my day to facebook, twitter, blog, google etc. I've never hesitated about using these things as I've been taught about digital footprints and I have the understanding that anything I post may affect my personal privacy, my career, or other people in some way.
So the topic came about because I have set up a classroom blog and would like to put photos of the children on it. Although those students who have signed the school internet policy have theoretically given their permission, I thought it was also neccessary for me to send a supplementary note with a permission slip as I am the first teacher to set up a classroom blog in this school.
My colleague expressed this was essential, as they believed no childs photo should ever be on the internet and parents needed to have that conversation with their child and give their permission. I agree that it is not my decision to have that authority to share photos of others without permission, however, my thoughts are that photos can be shared for a purpose and the internet is a great way to share photos of events (and in this case, learning tasks).
I believe we, as teachers, need to be teaching children about safe practices on the internet (benefits as well as risks) and their digital footprint. After all, the digital world is the world that we are already in - and technology isn't going to go backwards.
I understand every person is entitled to their opinion, and I fully respect the point my colleague was making. I'm interested.... what do you think?
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