Digitizing the 7 Vectors

ì Digitizing the 7 Vectors:

Exploring How College Students Develop their Digital Identity

Student Affairs Counseling, M.Ed. -‐ Capstone Research Project Defense – May 9, 2013

College Student Identity Development

In-‐Person IdenGty ì  Personality

ì  Values & EmoGons

ì  Religion & Spirituality

ì  Sexual OrientaGon

ì  Purpose / Career AspiraGons

ì  Family, Friends, Partner

Digital IdenGty ì  Defines Personality

ì  Manages EmoGons

ì  Displays Values

ì  IdenGfies OrientaGon

ì  Defines Our Purpose/Goals

ì  IdenGfies Family, Friends, Partner, etc...

ì Its all about the Impressions you make One post, One picture, One Like or Comment can define you...

Photo Courtesy of #WhatShouldWeCallStudentAffairs Tumblr

W.W.W.

ì You can learn a lot.

ì Others can learn A LOT about you!!!

ì What do you want them to know??

Your Billboard

Great GPA, Community Service, Greek Life, etc...

Stuff that makes you look GOOD!

Digital Brand Creation

Limitless Potential...

Limitless Virtual Space... Every minute of the day: •  100,000 tweets are sent; •  684,478 pieces of content are shared on Facebook; •  2 million search queries are made on google; •  48 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube; •  47,000 apps are downloaded from the App Store; •  3,600 photos are shared on Instagram; •  571 websites are created and •  $272,000 is spent by consumers online (Pring, 2012)

What is a Digital Identity?

The concept of developing an online presence in college is simple, but for many college students, there is much in jeopardy, whether they are aware of the risks or not.

Kevin Kruger (2009) asserts that there is a “conflict between individual rights, privacy and claims of free

speech and the responsibility of colleges and universiNes to monitor the behavior of their students” (p. 589).

What is a Digital Identity?

A digital idenDty (DI) is the extension of one's in-‐person idenDty projected onto the World Wide Web through

social media profiles and linked online accounts.

It can be thought of as a person’s individual brand and can facilitate both posiDve and negaDve impacts on the

21st Century life experience.

The Seven Vectors...

Chickering & Reisser (1993)

ì  Vector 1: Developing Competence

ì  Vector 2: Managing EmoGons

ì  Vector 3: Moving Through Autonomy, Towards Interdependence

ì  Vector 4: Developing Mature, Interpersonal RelaGonships

ì  Vector 5: Establishing IdenGty

ì  Vector 6: Developing Purpose

ì  Vector 7: Developing Integrity

Implications of a Digital Identity...

Privacy + Anonymity Internet ì  At least 27% of college admissions offices are reviewing applicants’

social media profiles via Google, and 26% check applicant Facebook profiles during the admissions process.

ì  35% of admissions representaGves said that “they reviewed something on these sites that negaGvely affected a student’s chances of being accepted” (Quinn, 2012).

ì  In addiGon, 51% of employers are saying that social media use has a negaGve impact on workplace producGvity

(Staffing Industry Analysts, 2012).

Implications of a Digital Identity... The NaGonal Survey of Student Engagement (2012) (NSSE) found:

ì  89% of college students use social media

ì  40% of first year students look to social media to find out how to get involved on-‐campus

ì  90% of college students are connected on social media plaforms (Dahlstrom, deBoor, Grunwald, & Vockley, 2011; Junco, 2011a; and Mastrodicasa & Metellus, 2013).

ì  “There is increasing evidence that social media have a posiGve effect on a wide range of personal and developmental outcomes. Recent studies have shown that social media have a perceived posiGve effect on emoGonal well-‐being, confidence, and sympathy toward others and lead to more successful relaGonships with friends and family members” (Common Sense Media, 2012; Kruger, 2013, p. 32).


ì “The manner in which we engage, share, promote, and present ourselves online has become a major facet in many of our lives.

ì No longer seen as being separate from ‘real life,’ an individual’s digital idenGty is intricately connected to their overall idenGty” (Stoller, 2012a).


ì “The manner in which we engage, share, promote, and present ourselves online has become a major facet in many of our lives.

ì No longer seen as being separate from ‘real life,’ an individual’s digital idenGty is intricately connected to their overall idenGty” (Stoller, 2012a).

How others perceive one’s digital idenGty has become increasingly significant, as it offers a synopsis of the person, job candidate, or student.

College students, most importantly, need to understand that they have created a digital idenGty the moment they created an account online.

They contribute to this “online resume” with every Tweet, ‘like’ or picture

they choose to post.

If college students are unaware of the impact that their digital idenGty can have on both their college experience and future career goals, the

consequences can be damaging to their limitless potenGal.

Chickering & Reisser’s 7 Vectors Like geong involved in college, “there is undoubtedly much to be gained from

taking control of, and acGvely developing our digital idenGty” (The Paradox of Openness, 2011).

“AcGvely creaGng learning spaces that foster posiGve development of digital idenGty should be our mandate. It hasn’t been created (yet), but the addiGon of digital idenGty to the current canon of student development theories seems like a logical evoluGon” (Stoller, 2012a).

Virtual Vector 1: Developing Competence

ì  Competence ì  1. Intellectual Competence ì  2. Physical & Manual Skills ì  3. Interpersonal Competence

Digital idenGGes are created via social media networking sites and are proving to be more than

just a markeGng tool for big business; they relentlessly contribute to a students’ personal

and professional online brand and idenGty (Couros, 2012).

•  self-‐confidence, •  persistence, •  leadership, •  empathy, •  social responsibility, •  understanding of cultural and intellectual differences ... •  criGcal thinking, •  reflecGve judgment, •  the ability to process and use new informaGon and to communicate it well, •  the ability to reason objecGvely and to draw objecGve conclusions from data, •  the ability to evaluate new ideas, arguments and claims criGcally, •  the ability to become more objecGve about beliefs, aotudes and values”

(Chickering & Reisser, 1993, pp. 54-‐55)

Virtual Vector 2: Managing Emotions

ì  “Students come to colleges loaded with emoGonal baggage” (Chickering & Reisser, 1993, p. 83)

ì  Oqen, they are unable to “escape anger, fear, hurt, longing, boredom, and tension. Anxiety, anger, depression, desire, guilt and shame have the power to derail the educaGonal process ... [and] these emoGons need good management” (p. 46).

ì  Managing emoNons digitally means engaging students to further hone self-‐asserNve tendencies.

ì  Student affairs professionals must acknowledge distress signals that students post online and guide them toward appropriate channels to release their irritaGons.

Virtual Vector 3: Moving Through Autonomy, Towards Interdependence

ì  College students are “self-‐regulaGng, autonomous individuals” (Mastrodicasa & Metellus, 2013, p. 25).

ì  A “key developmental step for students is learning to funcGon with

relaGve self-‐sufficiency, to take responsibility for pursuing self-‐chosen goals, and to be less bound by others’ opinions” (Chickering & Reisser, 1993, p. 47).

ì  Students take “increasing responsibility for self-‐support” as they

travel through this vector, and educators can help students to “clarify goals, reorder prioriGes, and ask family members to support them as they redefine themselves” (Chickering & Reisser, 1993, p. 115).

Virtual Vector 4: Developing Mature, Interpersonal Relationships

ì  “In person and online college seongs offer opportuniGes for students to learn about others from different backgrounds and to establish mature, mutual relaGonships with them” (Renn & Reason, 2013, p. 148).

ì  “RecogniGon and acceptance of interdependence is the capstone of autonomy. It cannot be experienced unGl a measure of independence has been achieved and a sense of one’s place in the community and global society has been awakened” (Chickering & Reissder, 1993, p. 140).

Virtual Vector 4: Developing Mature, Interpersonal Relationships

ì  “In person and online college seongs offer opportuniGes for students to learn about others from different backgrounds and to establish mature, mutual relaGonships with them” (Renn & Reason, 2013, p. 148).

ì  “RecogniGon and acceptance of interdependence is the capstone of autonomy. It cannot be experienced unGl a measure of independence has been achieved and a sense of one’s place in the community and global society has been awakened” (Chickering & Reissder, 1993, p. 140).

The Internet is a catalyst for exploring idenGty online, and can showcase student capacity for inGmacy and vulnerability. It also risks inappropriate self-‐disclosure, which is why it is important that student affairs professionals engage with students and help them develop their digital brand and teach them about congruency, respect, honesty and responsibility as it relates to their idenGty (Chickering & Reisser, 1993).

Virtual Vector 5: Establishing Identity

ì  Establishing idenGty involves the “growing awareness of competencies, emoGons and values, confidence in standing alone and bonding with others, and moving beyond intolerance toward openness and self-‐esteem” (Chickering & Reisser, 1993, p. 173).

ì  “The hazards of [the] existence [of social media] force a conGnual process of integraGon and that we struggle, progress, and regress in trying to maintain equilibrium” (p. 174).

Virtual Vector 5: Establishing Identity

ì  Establishing idenGty involves the “growing awareness of competencies, emoGons and values, confidence in standing alone and bonding with others, and moving beyond intolerance toward openness and self-‐esteem” (Chickering & Reisser, 1993, p. 173).

ì  “The hazards of [the] existence [of social media] force a conGnual process of integraGon and that we struggle, progress, and regress in trying to maintain equilibrium” (p. 174).

Digital idenGty-‐diffusion as a virtual developmental stage refers to a beginning point where college students begin to fully realize that each of their online accounts arGculates their idenGty. This unawareness may result in students not experiencing any dissonance (or crisis) surrounding their profiles. When students think criGcally about what is appropriate to post on the Internet and what is not, they may be experiencing this stage. Foreclosure insinuates that no “idenGty crisis has been experienced” (Chickering & Reisser, 1993, p. 175), yet, virtual foreclosure might also inform pracGGoners that some commitments surrounding a student’s personal values and intenGons to be congruent have been made, or are about to be made.

Virtual Vector 5: Establishing Identity continued...

ì  Virtual moratorium could suggest that a student is gaining competence and congruency within their social media presence, but all the while are sGll either in crisis, exploring and evaluaGng themselves, and/or formulaGng their own values and judgments about how they want their personal brand to be perceived online.

ì  Lastly, college students may display virtual idenGty-‐achievement. ì  The realizaGon and digital publicaGon of persevering through a

crisis, or life experience assists students in commiong to and idenGfying values and aspects of their (digital) idenGty.

Virtual Vector 6: Developing Purpose

ì  Chickering and Reisser (1993) said that developing purpose “entails an increasing ability to be intenGonal, to assess interests and opGons, to clarify goals, to make plans, and to persist despite obstacles” (p. 209).

ì  “Developing purpose requires formulaGng plans for acGon and a set

of prioriGes that integrate three major elements: ì  (1) vocaGonal plans and aspiraGons, ì  (2) personal interests, ì  (3) interpersonal and family commitments. It also involves increasing

intenGonality in exercising personal will on a daily basis.

ì  To be intenGonal is to be skilled in consciously choosing prioriGes, in aligning acGon with purpose, in moGvaGng oneself consistently toward goals, and in persevering despite barriers or setbacks” (Chickering & Reisser, 1993, p. 212).

Virtual Vector 7: Developing Integrity

ì  Integrity is what you do when no one is watching; it's doing the right thing all the Nme, even when it may work to your disadvantage.

ì  Integrity is keeping your word. Integrity is that internal compass and rudder that directs you to where you know you should go when everything around you is pulling you in a different direcNon.

ì  Some people think reputaNon is the same thing as integrity, but they are different.

ì  Your reputaNon is the public percepNon of your integrity. Because it's other people's opinions of you, it may or may not be accurate. Others determine your reputaNon, but only you determine your integrity (Qualman, 2012).

Leaving a Legacy...

On the Internet, college students are constantly seeking to affirm their core values, along with their cyber-‐friends’. Digital Integrity “permeates across the vectors to bring competence, emoGons, relaGonships, idenGty, and purpose together in a coherent way ... Many students may not be ready to pull their enGre development into congruence, but by poinGng out that this is possible-‐or by poinGng out when students’ speech [including online posGngs] and acGons lack integral congruence-‐educators lay a foundaGon for potenGal future growth” (Renn & Reason, 2013, p. 149). It’s kind of like leaving a legacy...

What do you want your legacy to be? “To Be Remarkable, Means to Act with AuthenGcity”

“Life isn’t about finding yourself, its about creaGng yourself”

For a full list of sources, please contact Max – [email protected]

@PMaxQuinn

Digitizing the 7 Vectors

Education

Transcript of Digitizing the 7 Vectors