A Digital Footprint is defined on the Government of Canada website as “a train of data you create while using the Internet.” Anything and everything that one does on the Internet leaves a digital footprint, and a Digital Footprint will be on the Internet forever. Even things that can be deleted from the Internet can always be recovered, so it is important to be careful with what you are doing online. This includes emails, social media, and even simple website searches. Your digital footprint can be both intentional and unintentional. It is important to be careful with how you use the Internet, and what information you are giving up online. Putting personal and sensitive information on the Internet can lead to cyber threats can leave your sensitive information, such as banking or personal information, vulnerable to hackers. Some things that people can do to protect themselves is simply to be careful with what you put online and use antivirus on your computer. It is important to understand what a Digital Footprint is and why it matters as a teacher and as a learner.

As teachers, it is important to know what is acceptable to put on the internet and what isn’t. I once heard somebody tell me that if you wouldn’t put it up in your classroom, you shouldn’t put it on the internet. Many of the parents of the students we will teach will look up teachers of their kids, so it is important that what they find about us is professional and positive. If something negative is found when a parent Googles a teacher, the teacher’s reputation will be damaged.  It is also important for teachers to have a good Digital Footprint because teachers have influences on their students. If a student finds a bad or controversial social media post made by a teacher, the message that is being sent is that it is acceptable for a student to also create bad or controversial social media posts. Having a clean Digital Footprint will encourage and teach students to do the same. It is also important as teachers to have a clean Digital Footprint when looking for work, and this actually applies to anybody looking for work, not just teachers. Employers will always look up a potential employee when looking to potentially hire them, so if an employer sees something online that they do not like, it will negatively affect their chances of being hired. 

Teachers can, and do, lose their jobs due to what they are posting on social media. One Google search of “teacher fired over social media post” led me to dozens of articles of teachers losing their jobs due to something they posted online. This is why it is crucial for teachers to be careful of what they are posting online. It can affect a teacher’s life and career negatively for the rest of their life. 

https://www.cyber.gc.ca/en/guidance/digital-footprint-itsap00133