Over the past few weeks I have engaged deeply in reflections on my role as educator in a digital world of learning, and my current use of technology as seen within a digital Visitor/Resident typology. I am now at a point where I want to ask myself: where do I go from here when I think about my digital presence and identity as an educator? I recognize the tension created within the visitor/resident typology and I understand it as a continuum rather than a binary opposition (Whyte & Le Cornu, 2011). I am always seeking a balance in everything I engage in and as I was creating my digital identity map I noticed the imbalance I had created through my lack of engagement in my professional resident space. I am most comfortable as a visitor personally and professionally and I am reluctant to leave behind a digital footprint, However, I came to realize :
that privacy is simply in a state of transition as people try to make sense of how to negotiate the structural transformations resulting from networked media……[and] that we need to examine people’s strategies for negotiating control. (Boyd, 2010)
So, in the light of my need to control my privacy and taking Boyd’s advice, what strategies will I use to develop my online identity? First I want to utilize the tools I have already created, but sadly neglected. I have a LinkedIn account, which I never utilize and my program has a FaceBook page, which has been very neglected over the past year. Second I want to make regular use of the new tools that have recently been added to my professional resident space, such as my MALAT blog, Slack and Feedly. Third, I am using tools like audiobooks in my personal visitor space which I intend to move closer to my professional visitor space.
My first steps towards developing my resident space will be to update my LinkedIn profile and develop a presence through inviting other colleagues and accepting invitations within the LinkedIn space. This action will start me on my path to create my professional family. As well I will take the lead within our program FaceBook page again, I want to make this site interesting and engaging for past and present students through regular twice weekly posts and links. Becoming involved on the FaceBook page will assist me to create my professional profile within the larger circle of my field of work, it will help me to stay in contact with other educators and alumni from our program. I will continue to develop my student blog with regular posts in order to stay connected to my studies and to help me to develop a confident online identity. I would like to eventually share this blog with some of my colleagues outside the MALAT environment. I want to keep developing my daily use of Slack and Feedly to stay in touch with my cohort while I am taking the MALAT program, and additionally to use Feedly as a tool to follow other blogs within my profession and areas of study. I love listening to audiobooks on my long daily commute to work and I intend to seek out digital materials that will support my journey of studies, this will help me to keep reflecting and to gather new thoughts which I will be able to share on FaceBook, Slack and my MALAT blog.
To help this plan to be successful I bring with me a fearlessness in regards to trying new technologies, I love trying new tools and using them until I have mastered them. I use reflective practice to keep my actions intentional and this intention coupled with my fearlessness will help me to analyze my actions and adjust my plan if necessary. The barrier I foresee is being able to literally ‘get over myself’. I tend to over analyze anything I digitally post, this takes time and in the end often obscures what I intended to say originally. I expect I will build my confidence as a digital citizen and I intend to use the following words by White and Le Cornu (2011) as a reminder :
Residents […] see the Web as a place, perhaps like a park or a building in which there are clusters of friends and colleagues whom they can approach and with whom they can share information about their life and work.
Using this perspective to look at my resident space makes it a lot less scary to engage with.
I assume I will know I have succeeded with my plan when I feel more connected within my professional networks and my MALAT cohort, and when I have been able to form new friendships and connections because of my engagement. I will be modelling my own believe that in open learning communities we engage in order to learn with and from each other. Cormier (2017) said to be open for learning is a pedagogical necessity and I am excited to learn to be a well balanced digital citizen who feels comfortable on the typology continuum as a visitor and a resident.
References
Boyd, D. (2011). Social network sites as networked publics: Affordances, dynamics, and implications. In Z. Papacharissi (Ed.), A Networked Self (pp. 39–58). New York, NY: Rutledge.
Cormier, D., (2017). Cormier: Intentional messiness of online communities. [Video file] Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mQS_o-C_jO2taghriJfXKDsgfa1fUL0mTDMo2JTGSJc/edit#
White, D. S., & LeCornu, A. (2011). Visitors and residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday, 16(9).
Hello Anita,
I really enjoyed reading your blog. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
I too am a reflective person. I am not the person who would share ideas at a meeting when asked, I need more time to think and process and then think and process some more (maybe too much!). When thinking of my plan for my digital presence, I could not solidly come up with some answers especially since I know that I have room to grow when learning from and with such a great cohort. I appreciate that you shared that some of your tools have been “sadly neglected”. I too am guilty of that. I have a LinkedIn account which is not up to date and I have noticed that my profile has been viewed many times recently. I’m glad to read that you have a “fearlessness in regards to trying new technologies”. I will have to learn from you. There is definitely a lot of great learning ahead of us!
Hi Joyce, I actually went into LinkedIn today and updated my profile. I felt very accomplished as I had not been in there….well for a very long time. Your comments inspired me to ask myself some further questions about my own reluctance to be the one to jump in with an answer. You said you need time to process and think and I relate to that so well. I went on a search about reflection and self-reflection and came across the work by Angela Webster-Smith. She wrote about the ‘Self Reflection Pyramid’ and in her paper she explains each level of the pyramid and it’s function within a self-reflective process. I found the information so very interesting and it validated my own thought processes when confronted with new materials to contemplate, or a problem to solve. I included the link below in case you are interested to check it out. What I mostly walked away with was the thought that in this instant gratification world a bit of self-regulation, self-reflection and taking a pause may not be such a bad thing after all. I think it’s why I chose this digital learning environment, because it allows me to take my time to think, reflect, process and pause.
Webster-Smith, a. (2011). Scaling the Pyramid of Self Reflection: A Model and an Assignment for the Preparation of Inclusive Leaders. The International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation, Volume 6, Number 1, January – March, 2011, ISSN 2155-9635 Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ972908.pdf
Anita, I enjoyed reading how you will cultivate and support your digital presence. I think it is extremely valuable to re-engage in what you have already created. How long ago did you create them and how often are you active in your current platforms? Each of your platforms holds a different audience, which will allow the creative person in you to fulfill those needs. I continue to connect with new and post professionals in the hospitality sector on my Linked In platform. I reached out requesting to connect with our MALAT cohort on my Linked In this past week. Not everyone has Linked In and for those that do not, I am hoping to connect on my Twitter platform.
Anita, I like how you are embracing an open learning community, just as Catherine Cormier spoke about in our 2017 Symposium. Persistence … and notions of “authentic,” as acts and information are not located in a particular space or time (Boyd, 2011). Creating personal content for each of your posts, you become a branded authentic engaged professional.
I like your WordPress site; I see you are incorporating different things Wesley spoke about in his symposium. Nice work.
Reference
Boyd, D. (2011). Social network sites as networked publics: Affordances, dynamics, and implications. In Z. Papacharissi (Ed.), A Networked Self (pp. 39–58). New York, NY: Rutledge.
Hi Rachelle, thank you for all your feedback. I think I was last on my LinkedIn in 2013, our program Facebook page I haven’t been on in almost 2 years. So it was time to reengage and wow, LinkedIn sure looks different in 2018. I was really surprised when you said ‘each of your platforms holds a different audience, which will allow the creative person in you to fulfill those needs’. I never thought of it in the context of creativity, I love that perspective and it definitely is speaking to me. Thank you for opening a whole new door for me. I found you on Twitter Rachelle and am now a ‘follower’. Twitter is very new territory for me and I am finding it difficult to imagine my audience when I am on Twitter. I found another article by Boyd ‘I tweet honestly, I tweet passionately: Twitter users, context collapse, and the imagined audience’. She talks about 3 different audiences, the writer’s audience, the broadcast audience and the networked audience. ‘The networked audience contains many different social relationships to be navigated, so users acknowledge concurrent multiple audiences.’ (Marwick & Boyd, 2010). As an introvert navigating multiple social relationships feels a bit daunting. How have you managed your Twitter account? Do you find Twitter overwhelming or exciting? I am not sure yet.
Marwick, A.E. and Boyd, D. (2010).The networked audience contains many different social relationships to be navigated, so users acknowledge concurrent multiple audiences. New media & society 13(1) 114–133. DOI: 10.1177/1461444810365313 Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1461444810365313