As a secondary school teacher, I have been a part of many conversations with our students about the dangers of posting on social media. We used examples such as losing jobs, or not being hired, and losing scholarships. As a university student training to become a teacher, I was also lectured about the dangers of posting personal pictures and being fired from my job.
When it comes to social media use and our instructions with our students, we heavily rely on fear and consequences (Schryver, n.d.). We often lecture about what not to share, but rarely do we speak about what to share and what benefits it may lead to. This model has lead us to using closed and more private methods of online technology and a lack of digital presence in some of our students (Waters, 2015). This has also rubbed off on me and my own practice; choosing not to post personal items and keep my personal and professional lives separate. Rheingold (2010) stated “that participating…gives on a different sense of being in the world.”( p. 18)
As I begin to ponder on what cultivating my digital presence may look like, these are some of the main topics that weigh in my mind.
Goal and purpose
- Become more visible as an educational professional and learner.
- Improve my own media literacies: attention, participation, collaboration, network awareness and critical consumption (Rheingold, 2010) focusing primarily on collaboration and network awareness.
- Become a model for my students on how you can share yourself publically, but to do so in a safe manner.
Approach
- Maintain and use conversations on the MALAT blog to gain confidence and experience.
- Share my responses and prompt conversations via twitter.
- Follow hashtags and participate in professional development discussions virtually.
- Coming to terms with not everything having to be perfect to be shared.
- Embrace the opportunities sharing online can bring.
Skills and Knowledge gaps
- Skills
- I am comfortable with using the technology needed for twitter and blogging.
- Gaps
- I am trying to stay current with competitions for my attention on digital platforms.
- I am trying to curate my own digital presence combining my personal and professional lives.
Strategies to overcome the gaps.
- I must build a routine to regularly monitor certain content creators in the field of education (via twitter, blogs and hashtags).
- I must build my comfort level for sharing. To start, keeping a log of my thoughts as I am consuming social media content. Posting my thoughts, when I feel like I can add to the conversation.
- Hopefully as I slowly start to share more, I will become more comfortable and it will become easier. I will set a goal of 3 posts/tweets a week for the first few months and hope it grows from there.
- Reflect continuously on what I am sharing and if it will benefit me or someone else. Become comfortable with the ebb and flow that happens as I transition back and forth from a visitor and a resident ( White, 2011).
Measure(s) of success
- Routinely use my media presence as a way to expand my social network.
- Feel more comfortable posting online and doing so quicker (ie. less time second guessing myself).
Overall, I am excited to see what this challenge will do for my online presence. I am nervous, as I know that I will be anxious with putting myself out there. I would probably be content with being a visitor for the rest of my life. However, I am up for the challenge, and will keep you posted on how things are going.
References
Rheingold, H. (2010). Attention, and other 21st-century social media literacies. Educause Review, 45(5), 14.
Schryver, K. (2013, February 5). Who are you online? Considering issues of web identity. The New York Times.
Watters, A. (2015, July 15). The Web we need to give students. Bright.
White, D. S., & LeCornu, A. (2011). Visitors and residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday, 16(9).
Hi Amanda,
I love the background you provided about how we are taught and teach others to approach our digital presences with caution. There is something about this series of exercises that makes me apprehensive, but I think it’s simply because I have been taught to be so. I think one of my biggest challenges will be changing my own mindset so that I can start to believe that cultivating my digital presence will help me to by successful professionally as opposed to assuming a public digital presence is likely to be a detriment.
I love that one of your goals is to model the right way to create an online presence to your students. Do you think promoting a good online presence as opposed to cautioning against an online presence well be well accepted by your fellow secondary teachers?
Hi Jessica, thank you for your comment. I am happy to hear I am not the only one feeling hesitation when moving to become more open. As for your question, I think like in any profession, there is a vast array of comfort levels when it comes to teachers and open social media. With my chosen platforms, my blog and twitter, I think it will go over well. The only hiccup I can think of is if other teachers believe I am promoting/ forcing my students to engage in these platforms, which I will not be doing. I guess we will have to just wait and see though.
Amanda, thank you for posting your personal and professional teaching experience when it comes to social media. The only difference your student experience falls within a secondary setting and my fell within an elementary environment. Reflecting back, I did not provide open-ended questions, and I did not leave the doors open for continued discussions. With social media on the rise, it should have been a continued open topic of discussion. The examples you provided your students is perfect, between the public behaviours, body art, and piercings, they will never have consideration for a five-star resort, if hospitality is on their horizon. It sounds like we had the same professors lecturing us in teachers college about the dangers of social media. I changed my name on my Facebook site, and I did not want students seeking me out. I valued my profession, license and my integrity.
Are you going to have a hard time with the MALAT program and going live with your social media and WordPress sites, knowing your students are lurking in the background?
Amanda, I like how you laid out your goals, coaching, and modeling by example to professionals and students alike. I really like how Schryver indicated, “come up with a list of rules you believe will help make social media users more considerate” (Schryver, 2013).
On your fourth approach, you indicated not having everything to be perfect to be shared? Can you elaborate on this? My perceptions this would be important to have everything perfect. You are calling the attention to your audience, branding yourself and standards. If your career goals are to move towards a principalship, this social medial residential footprint can capture you an audience that draws the attention of your board and the ministry of education. This could be an absolute powerful way to mould our students and providing them with more career options. Modeling goes beyond the scope of today’s classroom agenda.
Reference
Schryver, K. (2013). Who are you online? Considering issues of web identity. The New York Times.
Hi Rachelle,
Thank you for the comment. I also originally changed my name on my media accounts, although I think I have gone back to just my name now.
I am definitely aware that what posting may make its way back to my school, either through eyes of my students or my colleagues. At the moment I am not too worried, as the majority of my social media accounts are still private, but that may change if I choose to open more.
As for the perfection comment, I totally agree with your comment about how modelling goes beyond the classroom. My goal is to be real but polished. My fundamentals should be perfect: grammar, referencing etc. However, I do not want my thoughts and process to come out looking perfect- which will be a challenge for me. I want my blog to to show the unorganized messy side that a Master’s degree, and life really, can cause. The possibility to edit every aspect of your life to look perfect online is beyond prevalent right now, and I want to try to embrace the messier side and give my self the room to be imperfect. That being said, I am a perfectionist, and letting things go and to represent myself differently will be a challenge.
Hope that helps clarify things,
Amanda