May 2017 – Karen's Blog

Leverage today and engage tomorrow.

Where I began:
Starting in 2009, I began to consider my strategy and purpose in participating in online communities. My personal and professional online worlds were beginning to collide and I found that I was hesitant to use online platforms. I was unsure where I would present the professional side of my life and where I would present my personal side. There were a few occasions where I had contacts from both sides and I wanted to make a clear delineation between these two groups. Since these online platforms were accessed by people from around the world, I began to reflect on how my images and comments could be perceived by users who didn’t know me, and thereby didn’t understand the context of my contributions. It became increasingly difficult when my learner groups began to send me friend requests on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, as I had professional responsibilities around confidentiality and privacy. Additionally, in my work at the time, I sat on multiple committees and task forces so I wanted to ensure that my digital footprint didn’t negatively impact my professional growth. It felt complicated.

Since I was working in a medium that was unknown to me, I read Start with why: how great leaders inspire everyone to take action (Sinek 2013), and determined that I wanted to choose a few tools, all of which had a clear purpose and desired audience. I was inspired by Sinek’s “Golden Circle” concept (Sinek 2013), and determined that my purpose, my “why”, was to participate in a community of professional trainers who were dedicated to developing their ability to engage and support learners. Based on this preliminary work, I decided to focus my efforts on LinkedIn to develop and leverage relationships with fellow trainers, participating on Facebook to keep in contact with personal connections, using Twitter for research around training and development and, later through Instagram to explore my interests and community connections. In the following sections I will outline my online presence as it exists today and reflect on how I can refresh my approach. I aim to better engage my intended audience and to encourage myself to participate as a resident, as opposed to a visitor (Le Cornu & White, 2011).

My digital technology presence today:
To date, the tool that I have purposefully spent the most time developing is LinkedIn. I update my LinkedIn presence more mindfully than any other tool, thereby making my profile one that I am confident to share. Being a passionate Career Developer, I understand the value that LinkedIn allows in providing the online community with a snapshot of my background. Currently, LinkedIn is a practical application that I use to research companies and key players, to follow the careers of past and present colleagues and to connect with groups of people with professional interests similar to my own. I recently joined a new industry am keen to uncover new connections; LinkedIn provides a robust source of contacts which are easily uncovered. I particularly enjoy reviewing the profiles of people that I plan to meet at conferences or other networking events.

The overwhelming access to users that Facebook provides keeps it in my life. Having 1.94 billion monthly active users in March 2017, (Facebook Newsroom, March 2017) Facebook commands my attention. It is the place where I can cultivate connections from all aspects of my life. Originally, I earmarked Facebook as a place where I could keep in touch with my personal network. However, I quickly found myself curious as to how I could leverage Facebook Pages in my professional life. In my experience, the most challenging part about building out Facebook Page presences is generating and continually populating a fulsome content calendar. Engaging users, often in concert with a paid campaign, takes time, but has been consistently effective in practice. Now that I no longer leverage Facebook professionally due to a career shift, I find that my participation has reduced dramatically, other than to connect with friends from my past.

I have been absent from Twitter since 2013, with periodic contributions in 2016. I remember when Twitter was my favourite source of information; I loved how I could join tweet-ups or participate at conferences virtually by following hashtags. In 2013 I faced a 30-minute commute to work each day and I leveraged this free time to explore Twitter. When building my presence, I decided to use a 3:2 ratio for those I followed to those who followed me. My theory was that I could keep abreast of the tweets of those I followed, while still working to cultivate a network with greater breadth and depth. As I review my outdated profile, I realize that approximately 60 per cent of those who I follow are still relevant today, buoying my commitment to re-prioritize this tool.

When I critically examined my contributions in Instagram’s space, I determined that I connect with my existing community frequently, but my message is dilute. Currently I leverage this platform for inspiration and to uncover local news in my community. As I walked through the exercise of exploring my current online presence, it became clear that my preferred tool is Instagram, likely because I choose to follow users who feed my creative side. Upon reflection, I realize that I feel good every time I launch Instagram, causing me to decide to continue leveraging Instagram as a source of inspiration, but to include a focus designed to help expand my community of contributors who are passionate about open learning.

Near-term priorities:
Dissecting my current digital technology presence helped to align three near-term priorities, all of which will be completed in May 2017:
1. Support my online identity (or brand) through consistency,
2. Leverage my blog as a landing page,
3. Refine my participation in each community.

Support my online identity (or brand) through consistency:
What stood out me the most when reflecting on the exercise of reviewing my profiles was that I had different user names, contact information and profile pictures throughout the various platforms that I use. To help support consistency on my chosen platforms, I will align my user name, contact information and profile picture on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. I will continue to use Facebook for fun and won’t include it in my near-term priorities, but will continue to consider how I may leverage Facebook Pages in the future, based on my past successes and experience.

In Larouche, Habibi and Richard’s article (Larouche, 2013), they found that social media platforms can result in increased loyalty and trust from community participants. I aim to facilitate information sharing among the members of my online communities with my newly unified online identity (or brand). I aim to garner trust and loyalty from my online community through active and meaningful contributions and shared connections.

Leverage my blog as a landing page:
Another key learning was that I do not have a clear direction of information-flow to connect my various profiles. My blog will provide me with an opportunity to intentionally connect information from one conversation to another and from one group of connections to another. For example, I will intentionally drive traffic to my blog using #RRUMALAT on Twitter. The idea of having an online space where I am in charge of the content is both harrowing and exciting. My biggest challenge will be to have the confidence to contribute meaningfully and consistently to my blog. My goal is to contribute at least twice per month throughout the duration of this program, with posts designed to describe my journey of developing a place where I explore the e-learning community and develop deeper relationships with key stakeholders.

Refine my participation in each community:
My LinkedIn profile is well-developed, so I will continue to leverage it as a repository of my professional experience. Having been a visitor in most LinkedIn groups to date, I plan to mindfully shift to the resident zone (LeCornu, 2011). First, I will join the conversation through the comments sections, and ultimately, I will contribute fresh content. To help shift my focus and expand my reach, I have chosen five new groups to explore, all of which focus on trends and leading practices in learning, focusing on e-learning. In addition, I will commit to commenting on at least one article per group in the first three months of joining.

I have not prioritized any changes to my current Facebook use. As described above, I know that Facebook provides access to data, tools and users, so I will continue to consider how I can build in the use of a Facebook Page in my new role. There are opportunities to leverage a group of 1,200 active industry users in my community, but I will first need to define why and how we can engage these users with meaningful content. We are currently working to refine our communication strategy and I will purposefully include Facebook as a tool to consider,

During our virtual symposium, I was inspired by Dr. Roland vanOostveen’s discussion around Developing a Fully Online Learning Communities (FOLC) Model (vanOostveen, 2017), where he used the analogy of a derailment of dangerous goods. The role that each person plays in a situation is partially defined by their perspective, leading me to decide to better define my role on Twitter. After all, if I don’t define my role in this community, I won’t be able to participate authentically, which will lead to a lack of a clear perspective and may break the trust of community participants. My priorities include self-identifying as a Royal Roads University MALAT student and participating using #RRUMALAT. In addition, I will review my current list of those that I follow and prioritize following at least 10 new profiles per month, with the goal of adjusting the ratio described above to 2:1 (following to followers). These simple steps will help me to expand my scope and to define my role as someone who strives to expand my knowledge and connections in the online learning community.

As described above, I participate in Instagram as a form of self-care and will continue to do so. One commitment that I will make is to make my profile public, as opposed to private. Perhaps taking a less closed position will help to expand my “digital sandbox” (vanOostveen, 2017) so that I may encounter unexpected learning. As it stands, I only allow certain tools (users) in my sandbox, which is likely reducing my potential learning opportunities.

My next blog posts will focus on the actions I took in each platform, including any outcomes uncovered. Look forward to my journey on LinkedIn next!

References

Facebook Newsroom. (2017, March). Retrieved May 10, 2017, from https://newsroom.fb.com/company-info/

Laroche, M., Habibi, M. R., & Richard, M. (2013). To be or not to be in social media: How brand loyalty is affected by social media? International Journal of Information Management, 33(1), 76-82. doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2012.07.003

Le Cornu, A., & White, D. (2011). Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday, 16(9). Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3171/3049

Sinek, S. (2013). Start with why: how great leaders inspire everyone to take action. London: Portfolio/Penguin.

vanOostveen, Roland. (2017, April). Fully Online Learning Community Model. In Elizabeth Childs (Chair), MALAT Virtual Symposium, Symposium conducted at the meeting of Royal Roads University, Online.

Karen’s Visitor-Resident Typology

After watching Just the Mapping by Dave White (White, 2013), I began to consider how and why I use digital technology, at work and in life. Using White’s outline, I developed my map with the aim of describing three criteria that detail my current digital technology use:

The continuum of Visitor to Resident: tools further to the right along the horizontal continuum indicate tools where I actively participate in the conversation by adding my own content. Those closest to the left describe those where I access content, but don’t often or ever contribute.
How I use the tool to participate: tools closer to the top of the vertical continuum indicate those that I use in my personal life (Personal), whereas those closer to the bottom I typically use for work (Institutional).
My confidence and comfort level: larger icons indicate a greater degree of self-perceived mastery and higher levels of comfort using the tool. Smaller icons describe tools that I have used but do not feel like I’m leveraging with any purpose other than exploration.

As I began to plug in icons that represent various tools, I found it easiest to populate the Resident- Institutional quadrant. Likely because I often use these tools to communicate with and train team members, I have intentionally become comfortable and confident with their use. As I began to weigh my confidence and comfort level in other quadrants, I was reminded by an analogy proposed by White and Le Cornu, the Visitor zone is an “untidy garden shed” (White and Le Cornu, 2011). The tools I represent with the smallest icons, all of which sit in the Visitor zone, are the tools that I do not leverage, because I lack confidence around their use. What stood out for me is that I am a creature of habit and tend to leverage tools that I am comfortable using.

Having the opportunity to develop a space that is mine is harrowing. As is clearly indicated on this map, I use the tools I know. I only venture towards the Resident side when using tools with which I am familiar and confident. Equally important is the lesson that I need to mindfully shift and reposition some of tools into different contexts. I won’t ever have the time to be an expert in all of the tools available, so I should consider leveraging some of the tools that I enjoy using in new contexts. What an interesting self-reflection!

Please follow this link to see a higher resolution image of my Visitor-Resident map: Resident Visitor Typology

White, D., & Le Cornu, A. (2011, September). Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday, 16(9). http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3171/3049.

White, D. (2013, September 13). Just the Mapping. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.easybib.com/guides/citation-guides/apa-format/youtube-video/.

Shifting paradigms: highlights from the virtual symposium.

Shifting paradigms: highlights from the virtual symposium.

As I watched the various presentations during our virtual symposium week, I felt many paradigms I hold near and dear shift. Although I knew that I would stretch the boundaries of my comfort zone in this program, I was surprised how quickly I began to think about online learning from a fresh perspective. I’ve always been fascinated by the depth and breadth of platforms, tools and approaches in the virtual world. An enthusiastic learner, I explore as many new tools as I can and intentionally leverage these tools in life and at work. Some I use for fun, such as Facebook or YouTube, whereas others, I use for networking, such as LinkedIn or Twitter. Most I just visit periodically, mainly in an effort to keep current.

When beginning my journey using online tools, I put a lot of thought into my purpose and intended audience for each. Doing so, I thought, would help to balance my time and effort as I searched out news and opinions or developed relationships. I am grateful that I carefully considered my path from the beginning but now I wonder if I have been too narrow in my scope. What resonated with me the most during the symposium was that, it is through creation that our learning is deepened and our synapses are fueled, as broached by Vivian Forssman (Forssman, 2017) in her presentation.

At the beginning of Dave Cormier’s presentation (Cormier, 2017), symposium participants were encouraged to share a few words that could help to define what is meant by “open”. Although there were a variety of answers, the red thread that wove throughout for me encapsulated the notions of freedom, increased access and equality. I began to think about the purpose of learning environments and now question if the learning environments that I tend to design are too closed. Funnily enough, much of my professional experience and passion are steeped in developing learning interventions that are accessible to all types of learners. I am excited to embed some of this new awareness in my future learning development opportunities.

I loved when Cormier said that open gets messy (Cormier, 2017). As an avid gardener, I related easily to Cormier’s example of rhizomes (Cormier, 2017). I have experienced annoyance when grasses penetrate my carefully delineated garden beds. Through this program I will need to intentionally develop my ability to balance the importance of supporting learner outcomes with learner creativity. Dr. Roland vanOostveen explored this further through his exploration of the digital education sandbox metaphor (vanOostveen, 2017). The sandbox is bounded, but there are tools available which support learner creativity. I am excited to embrace the shift towards interventions where the learners have more opportunities to co-create or negotiate context.

I was equally inspired by the Irish equal marriage referendum hashtag example that Catherine Cronin described (Cronin, 2017). Although I have participated in tweet-ups and used event-specific hashtags, I didn’t appreciate the power online users have in impacting and building shared culture. In a previous role I spearheaded and managed the implementation of a social media strategy where our goal was to engage current and potential clients through the use of Facebook Pages and local Twitter profiles. We began our exploration by engaging our stakeholders in focus groups and then we did a lot of work educating the teams. The major challenge we faced was encouraging users, both clients and team members, to consider the balance between openness and privacy. As I listened to Cronin use the analogy of an onion (Cronin, 2017), it became clear to me why our approach was ineffective. Instead of encouraging participants to start by using a technology tool that they were comfortable with, we mandated how three specific tools were to be used. When I consider how I would do things differently, I realize that our approach was too prescriptive. As Cronin describes, practicing openness is not easy – it is “complex, personal, contextual and continually negotiated.” (Cronin, 2017)

My next challenge will be to continue to explore how I can translate my passion to develop safe, accessible, robust learning environments to the digital world. I’m excited to continue stretching and shifting as we practice and learn.

Cormier, D. (2017, April). Intentional messiness of online communities. In Elizabeth Childs (Chair), MALAT Virtual Symposium. Symposium conducted online at Royal Road University.

Cronin, C. (2017, April). Open culture, open education, open questions. In Elizabeth Childs (Chair), MALAT Virtual Symposium. Symposium conducted online at Royal Road University.

Forssman, V. (2017, April). Virtual Symposium Presentation. In Elizabeth Childs (Chair), MALAT Virtual Symposium. Symposium conducted online at Royal Road University.

Van Oostveen, R. (2017, April). Fully Online Learning Community Model. In Elizabeth Childs (Chair), MALAT Virtual Symposium. Symposium conducted online at Royal Road University