Creating a Professional Web Presence for Teachers

When I first started teaching in a middle school, the rule about social media was , "Don't do it, or do it in an extremely private way. Students should not be able to find you. Absolutely no friending current or past students." That seemed simple enough. Twitter was out there, but teenagers weren't using it. No TikTok, no Instagram, no What'sApp, no Facetime, etc. Most teachers didn't even have a web presence because they were so worried students would find them. 

Today, things are quite different. Educational technology teachers really must create a web presence. If we expect to teach our students about digital literacy, we must practice what we preach (Lowenthal et al. 2016).

Being digitally literate means managing one's online presence in an active way (Lowenthal et al. 2016). Understanding a digital footprint can be the beginning of this learning curve. "A digital footprint, according to Hewson (2013), outlines a person’s online activities, including their use of social networking platforms^ (p. 14). A digital footprint is therefore created whenever we use networked technology."

But, before you go out into the 'professional' digital world, there are some precautions one must be aware of. Having a passive/digital shadow presence can lead audiences to finding less than professional material. One must make sure to portray not only professionalism, but their true authentic self. Pseudonym profiles are ok, but be careful about what is posted even in a 'private setting'.

A technology education professional should start with a home base (Lowenthal et al. 2016). Start with a personalized website. There are plenty of templates on sites such as, wordpress, blogger, weebly, etc. Most sites are free with many templates to help you personalize. Start blogging! 

"But what should I write about?" you may ask. Well, keep in mind that your website is not an e-portfolio. I actually had the great experience to be a scorer for Pearson's EdTPA assessment. Although, this was an authentic way for pre-service teachers to showcase their teaching and reflection skills, it was not something that would be relevant beyond their first few interviews. Lowenthal comments, "Further, in our experience, graduates often do not understand the relevance of maintaining a portfolio of select and recent artifacts or of developing a web presence apart from an ePortfolio throughout their professional career (Lowenthal et al. 2016).

In a 2014 study conducted by Vanessa Dennen, she outlines the different types of bloggers.

Role                Description

Blogger            Individual who authors posts on own blog.

Commenter      Individual who comments on other people’s blogs. Bloggers typically also play      he role of commenter, but bloggers who comment are viewed differently from      people who just comment.

Lurkers             Individuals who read blogs regularly, but who never or rarely leave a                     comment. Their presence is usually known because of site counters or                 their status as a follower of a blogger’s feed.

Passersby         Individuals who visit a blog or group of blogs but who do not become                 regulars within the community.

Characters        Individuals who do not blog, comment, or read blogs, but who are featured                               regularly in a blogger’s storyline. Recurring characters typically are family                               members, friends, neighbors, and co-workers of the blogger. 

Which one will help you establish a better professional web presence? Which one are you? 

Ultimately, your blog should include some career information, self-authored posts, curated articles/information from other sources (including other professional blogs!!), and links to other social media outlets you participate within. For a more in depth list take a look at Lowenthal's recommendations (Lowenthal et al. 2016):

• Current personal statement
• Biography
• Resume
• Philosophy on instructional design and technology integration
• Teaching, and/or research
• Projects, products, and other showcased professional activities
• Testimonials, awards, and other professional achievements
• Contact information, including social networks participation 

Keep in mind, your writing style, affiliations and comments will reflect back onto you (Dennen 2014). As you begin to make connections and affiliations you will start creating a personal learning network, or PLN. In a recent study PLNs were studied to see how they can help current educators 'connect'.

"Many educators in the 21st century utilize social media platforms to enrich professional learning networks (PLNs). PLNs are uniquely personalized networks that can support participatory and continuous learning. Social media services can mediate professional engagements with a wide variety of people, spaces and tools that might not otherwise be available. Teachers who once might have had access to only a handful of colleagues can now employ Facebook, Twitter and other mediums to learn from peers across the globe at any time." (Krutka, D.G., Carpenter, J.P. & Trust, (2017) 

More on PLNs next week! 

So go forth and create your website, start blogging, and enjoy the beginning of a wonderful professional relationship with you and Web 2.0! 

Resources:

Dabbagh, N., & Kitsantas, A. (2012). Personal Learning Environments, social media, and self-regulated learning: A natural formula for connecting formal and informal learning. The Internet and Higher Education, 15(1), 3–8. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/10.1016/j.iheduc.2011.06.002

Dennen, V, (2014) Becoming a blogger: Trajectories, norms, and activities in a community of practice, Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 36, 2014, Pages 350-358

Krutka, D.G., Carpenter, J.P. & Trust, (2017) T. Enriching Professional Learning Networks: A Framework for Identification, Reflection, and Intention. TechTrends 61, 246–252.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-016-0141-5

Hewson, K. (2013). What size is your digital footprint? A powerful professional learning network can give a boost to a new teaching career. Phi Delta Kappan, 94(7), 14.

Lowenthal, P. R., Dunlap, J. C., & Stitson, P. (2016). Creating an intentional web presence: Strategies for every educational technology professional.Links to an external site.TechTrends, 60(4), 320-329

Portable Technology

  Take Your Tech Anywhere! 

This week I've spent a lot time thinking about how portable our technology can be. 

I'm incredibly grateful to live in sunny Florida with mostly temperate conditions. This is my daily view as I complete classwork. In this setting, I feel calm and focused, but if I was still teaching full time I would constantly be checking my phone every time it notified me. 

My husband literally carries around two cell phones in his pocket (personal/work phones) and then spends time looking at a laptop. It gives me a headache 😆.

Some studies suggest that when boundaries between work and non work time can affect family/personal satisfaction. In a study where teachers were assessed on their use of technology outside of work hours and proved that it can positively affect work-life conflict and negatively affect personal life perception. (Bauwens, et al 2020).  This seems like an obvious outcome to me, but how many people truly understand this and work hard to fight the effects of tech boundaries being blurred? 

 But do you remember when it wasn't portable? You'd have to sit at a desk and stare at a clunky desktop. Multi-tasking (task switching) only slowed things down so you really could only focus on one operation at a time. Before the true portability of tech happened, I also think it was a time of clearly defined boundaries between work and personal time. 

How far will the portability go? Google sunglasses never took off, but tons of new tech comes out every year that takes it just one step closer to completely blur those boundaries. 

I made myself a rule when we had our son. If I was on my phone, and he approached me, the phone was always put down and our face to face interaction took priority. 

Sometimes he sneaks up behind me and asks me what I'm playing. Busted. I can only imagine when he gets his own phone. Hopefully we can help him understand the same boundaries that we strive for and that portability doesn't equate to the tech being used all day. I saw a great quote that was posted anonymously, "Disconnect to reconnect."

Resources:

Robin Bauwens, Jolien Muylaert, Els Clarysse, Mieke Audenaert, Adelien Decramer, Teachers’ acceptance and use of digital learning environments after hours: Implications for work-life balance and the role of integration preference, Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 112, 2020, 106479, ISSN 0747-5632https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106479.(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563220302314)

Call for Resources

 Resources? Resources? Resources?

Well, I don't know about you but the first two weeks of EME6414 overwhelmed me with so much information, I almost shut down. 

In week 3 I'm learning how to filter what I need and what I don't need. But, with so much out there maybe it would be nice to share some unconventional resources with each other. If you're not new to the program, what journals do you read? If you are new, what are you finding as good sources of information for complementing our readings and discussions?

I recently found this little gem that I look forward to diving into soon. 

https://www.iste.org/areas-of-focus/online-learning

There's a ton of free information from books, videos, and blogs centered around online teaching. 

So, what is everybody diving into? Leave a comment and let's make a shared list!

Review of Otherworld by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller

 

We've all had times where technology interferes with our everyday life. Checking your cell phone at a family dinner, playing games while you're supposed to be working (or doing homework 😉), watching TikToks instead of sleeping a full 8 hours. But has technology truly taken over the human experience

 I recently read a book by Jason Segel and Kristin Miller called Otherworld. It's a 3 book series that takes on the idea of society getting 'sucked' into technology in a Matrix and Hunger Games-like way. Admittedly, this book is very similar to the Ready Player One series, but has some enjoyable differences. 

The book starts with an introduction to a new game. Otherworld is a fully immersive virtual reality game created by a huge tech company. Eighteen year old Simon  is a typical gamer and of course has to get into the newest and best. This new game is not just a 'visual' virtual reality, but also includes all other bodily senses. The virtual reality portrayed within the text describes different worlds where any human desire can be met. But what is at first a fun and addictive new game, soon turns into something that will turn both his and his closest friends' reality upside down. I consumed this text as an audiobook and felt it added to the darkness of the tale. An easy sci-fi YA read, Otherworld and the following two books in the series, dives in to the idea of technology taking society down a very dark road. 

"It’s a game so addictive you’ll never want it to end. Until you realize that you’re the one being played.

Welcome to Otherworld, where reality is dead. Step into the future. Leave your body behind."

Tolerance Clocks

The world wide web and life in general is about instant gratification. Ever look at the length of an article or even a friend's post, skim through it and move on...or not even read it because it was too long? 

I believe an individual's computer behavior  (especially web 2.0 tools) has a tolerance clock. Yes, we've all been down the internet hole that starts somewhere on Facebook with a click-bait article and then we keep clicking to move on to new websites to look at related (sometimes not related :) )  content and then a few hours later wonder where the time has gone. But in truthfulness, how many of us, unless mandated by necessity make it through a whole piece of content? I've found myself not even being able to sit through a whole tiktok unless I'm really interested in the creators. The longest they can be is 60 seconds!! Where did my attention span go? It's like flipping through tv channels without a guide, watching for a few seconds and then moving on. 

 I think Web 2.0 has played a huge part in this tolerance time clock. It allows us to keep 'flipping' channels at such a fast rate through so much information, that we lose meaning in anything we are skimming or even fully reading. This can cause serious problems though. In a study involving measuring mobile technology habits and how it affects impulse control and reward sensitivity, researchers concluded:

Developing a better understanding of the impacts of smartphone and mobile technology usage on cognitive and affective outcomes is critical in understanding the potential problems of overusing this technology. Given the correlational nature of the present data, we should remain cautious before drawing any causal inferences. Still, the findings provide important insights regarding the individual difference factors that relate to technology engagement and are consistent with the common conception that frequent smartphone use goes hand in hand with impatience and impulsivity.  (Wilmer and Chein 2016)

Even while reading this study, I got distracted and looked at the side bar and saw 3 more articles to read. At this point, I saved them to a folder because my tolerance time clock is low right now 😀

References:

Wilmer, H.H., Chein, J.M. Mobile technology habits: patterns of association among device usage, intertemporal preference, impulse control, and reward sensitivity. Psychon Bull Rev 23, 1607–1614 (2016). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-016-1011-z

“You'll never get anywhere if you go about what-iffing like that."- Willy Wonka

My five year old son had his birthday party this past weekend. The theme was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (we had just finished reading his first chapter book 😀). 

As I see my only child grow and begin to explore the world, I also am reflecting on how I can continue to grow and explore. But I also find myself constantly 'what iffing'. 

What if I can't keep up with the technology? 

What if I can't continue to be creative in my lesson planning for my online tutoring business? 

What if I was no longer relevant as an educator?

 I finally realized it was time to stop what iffing and start exploring. Part of that exploration was enrolling in my second master's program at FSU. 

I've spent the past 3 years teaching and tutoring online and in person. I really like teaching 1:1 or in small groups (it must be the special education resource teacher in me). As I spend more time tutoring online and planning lessons , I'd like to 'buff up' on my tools that I can use to create a fun and interactive learning environment. 

When I taught special education in an elementary school for 10 years starting in 2008, technology was used more for accessibility than to teach specific concepts. I can still remember using Boardmaker and printing images off of the program, cutting them in small square pieces and laminating them. These were then used to help students who had communication disorders interact with teachers and peers. I left the elementary field and jumped into higher education teaching beginning readers and GED students. We spent a lot of time reading online because the GED test had just changed into a computer version vs a written test. Students struggled so much because of the amount of text on the screen. If you think about how we 'surf the web' on our phones or tablets, the written text we read is done quickly, partially, and then we move on. Unless you're taking #EME6414 at FSU 😄, we rarely spend more than a minute or two in one place. Students studying for the GED had to work hard to increase their reading time while maintaining comprehension. My master's is in literacy and how adults adapt to reading online is of great interest to me. 

During this summer semester I'd like my blog posts to focus on how to help students become active learners online. 

As a teacher, I'm always looking for new resources and I think I might have found an awesome link. I sincerely apologize for not being able to remember where within the course that I found this link, but I was not the one that initially found it. Since it was only written 9 months ago, it is extremely relevant and I look forward to diving head first into the page and #eme6414!

50 Web 2.0 Sites for Schools