Something happened this morning: I was collaborating on Twitter with @techy_Margaret & @thatswightman and I added a random hashtag (#TechCoachBookClub)...trying to be clever. But, guess what? It's real, and it's happening. April 14th at 8pm will be the first Instructional Technology Coach Book Club.
I am excited to collaborate and connect with people near and far who do what I do. Our first book will be The 20Time Project (amazon link). The plan is for us to read it and then join a discussion between 8-9 pm on Tuesday, April 14th. I'm tentatively planning that our discussions will be on the second Tuesday of each month. Information is on a website here. Like it? Share this idea with your colleagues...have an issue? Let me know! So, I got this email from Facebook today: ...which was pretty amazing, yet disturbing. I've been making a conscious effort to stay off Facebook (I'm not judging you!). Why? Because I don't really post on Facebook...ever (basically the opposite of my relationship with Instagram, and Twitter). I only consume on Facebook, and I think I tend to be happier without spending as much time on it as I have been recently. If I'm going to be honest about MY Facebook (and why not?), I don't follow too many people anymore. We're 'friends', but I don't follow them in my feed. There are only so many times I want to see your: naked kids in the bath (zero times), you in a bikini (eeek!), or what you had for dinner last night (...). It's nice that Facebooks lets you maintain that connection without having to see things you aren't interested in. Oddly enough, my Facebook feed is about 90% these three things:
Facebook (for me) tends to be a time-waste vortex. I accomplish nothing and can easily lose 2 hours on it (at least with Pinterest, I actually DO some things I pin). I'm not saying I'm going to leave FB, I tried that...it didn't work. But, I would like to get my use down to 1-2 times a week, rather than (embarrassingly) 4-5 times a day. All told, the nerd in me loves that Facebook knows that I haven't been logged in and can email me, but at the same time, it creeps me out a bit. What's your relationship with Social Media like? The role our phones now play in our lives is amazing. It's funny that it's still called a phone, since it is such a departure from what used to be on the kitchen wall. I use my phone to take photos, connect with friends, do work, my banking, even control the lights in my living room. Given the multifaceted functions these computers (seriously, that's essentially what they are) can do, it astounds me how little security people utilize when carrying them around. Here's the story: recently, a student came into my office and explained that her phone had been stolen (she has recovered it). The thief reset her phone in attempts to use it, so all of her content was erased...including her photos. My first question was: "Did you have a passcode on it?". She said she did, but it was still set on simple passcode (just 4 numbers) AND she used the row straight down the middle...which is the first thing I always guess. People hear a lot about password and device security, and I think most of them just brush it off. It really is important to safeguard your information. Not only to keep yourself protected, but also to keep control of your content. Back up your phone and make a difficult passcode. If yours is numbers, change it- here are instructions on turning off simple passcode (on iPhone...need something else? Let me know). A good passcode contains:
It's never too early to help students develop good habits when protecting themselves online- passcode security is part of that. You can help by modeling good security, too!
What steps do you take to secure your online identity? |
Kendra MurphyI'm a Technology Coach and IT Support for a school. I'm passionate about 1:1 classrooms technology in instruction. Archives
September 2015
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