Leaving a Digital Fingerprint

Being involved in an online community can be an amazing opportunity, especially for young professionals who are looking to network and make connections within their field. While at Penn State, I have had the amazing opportunity to interaction across various platforms that have connected me to a global community of agricultural educators.

                                What is a Digital Fingerprint?

A digital fingerprint is a trail of "electronic breadcrumbs" that you leave behind when you participate on online platforms. These trails consists of "liking" posts, commenting, or even creating your own content and sharing it on a digital platform. Ideally, much like a fingerprint, these trails are unique to each participant, and each part of the fingerprint gives us a window into who that participant is. 

Leaving a digital fingerprint can be very important. It shows your level of participation in online platforms and is a great way to make global connections with others who participate on the same platforms. 

The Challenges of Online Professional Learning and Digital Communities of Practice

There can be many challenges associated with online professional learning and digital communities of practice. The most prominent of these issues is the idea of accessibility for all. Many of us are very fortunate enough to not have to worry about access to the internet, an important tool for accessing digital platforms. However, access to the internet can be a very difficult task for some who wish to participate in online platforms and communities. 

Another difficult challenge that we face regarding online professional learning and digital communities of practice is the idea of time. Time often proves to be a challenge in digital communities that do not allow participant to access their content on demand. For example, if you can only access an event from 4:00 PM EST to 5:00 PM EST, it may be difficult for others to access this content due to the constraint of time zone. Having an online community event only available for a short amount of time without any way to access the event after often leaves out large groups of individuals who are trying to access the event from other parts of the world. 

GLAG 22 Interactions

Participating in GLAG 22 has been an amazing experience and has given me a wonderful opportunity to practice creating my own digital fingerprint. GLAG 22 is a very interactive platform and provides events both live and on demand. With a busy class schedule, I have had a majority of my GLAG 22 interactions using on demand opportunities. For example, I was able to watch the GLAGReads author talk about two weeks after the event had been launched to the community. Listening to Dr. Micheal P. Hoffman, author of "Our Changing Menu", was a very beneficial experience. I was very fortunate to be able to access this session on my own time and listen to what Dr. Hoffman had to share. 

My time with GLAG 22 has also provided me with the opportunity to both see and participate in interactions that take place among educators throughout the world. Through various community discussion boards, I have been able to participate and witness conversations take place on a variety of topics that range from "Educator Recommended Resources" to "Bees: Wild and Honey". My time with GLAG 22 so far has been absolutely amazing and I can't wait to access more content from this digital space!