As part of my MALAT program and the 521 course, I have been asked to consider my digital identity and digital presence. How visible am I on the internet? If someone were to search for my name on Google, what would they find? Currently, according to White and Cornu’s (2011) classification, I am more of a visitor than a resident. I am more of a consumer, than a producer of content.
I would like to see this change in a few ways. I would like to see this change so that I am more of a resident. There are a few technologies that I identified in my technology map (Guichon, 2022), that would like to see my digital presence become more known. LinkedIn, GitHub, Youtube, and Twitter are 4 of those technologies.
For LinkedIn, I’d like to connect with more of my students. I would like to encourage them during class time to add me on their account. The reason for this is I would like to connect with recent graduates after they have found their first jobs and reflect back on their education. Did they get the job and skills they were hoping for from their education? What skills did they learn on the job, that they wished they learned from school?
For GitHub, I’d like to find some open-source programming projects that interest me that I could contribute to. Also, I’d like to take some of previous projects and add them to the open-source community.
For Youtube, I’d like to take some of my lessons from my class and publish them publicly. Currently all my videos are unlisted and only shared from closed systems like the classes’s internal LMS. By making them public, people would be able to search my name, see my teaching style, and hopefully learn a few things too.
Twitter. This one I have been avoiding for a long time. I have found the immediacy and the shortness of the messages on Twitter potentially problematic as I might be inclined to post my inner thoughts before reflecting on whether or not they should be public. However, another student in my MALAT cohort pointed out that if you create content, cultivate a digital identity, but no one knows about it, it will be wasted. I believe for my digital presence to be known, I will need to promote it and perhaps a Twitter account may be a way to do this. I am curious to find out.
As I said up until now I have been happy with a limited profile online, but by taking 521, I am starting to see the potential value of having more of a digital identity and I am willing to explore it a bit further.
Guichon, P. (April 24, 2022). Technology Presence Mapping. Patrick’s Blog. https://malat-webspace.royalroads.ca/rru0165/technology-presence-mapping
White, D. S., & Le Cornu, A. (2011). Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement. First monday. http://firstmonday.org/article/view/3171/3049
Featured Image:
“Identity” by Adrien Coquet from the Noun Project
May 1, 2022
Hi Patrick,
Thanks for sharing! I agree that this course has highlighted some potential benefits of having a larger digital footprint. Have you decided that you will make a twitter account? Personally, I enjoy Twitter (even though my account is private). How do you think the information gathered on LinkedIn will affect your practice? Does your institution have any restrictions on posting your lessons on YouTube?
May 1, 2022
Hi Tim,
Thanks for your questions. What I’d like to do is talk with recent graduates of my program and find out what they enjoyed from the program and how to improve it. I would like to adapt my teaching based on the experiences of my students in the classroom and in the workplace. If students are saying they would really wished they had a topic discussed during class, I might be able to include it in future classes I teach. To your question regarding Youtube, I do not believe there are any restrictions about having a digital presence online or posting video content. As for twitter, I currently do not have an account, but wonder if twitter would be a way I could use to promote some of the content I hope to create on Youtube, GitHub, and my blog.
May 1, 2022
Hi Patrick, I think posting to YouTube would be so interesting! What are you using to create the videos? What setup and software do you use?
I am also happy with a limited public profile but I am trying to branch out a bit more because of this course.
Great post! It was well written and easy to read!
May 1, 2022
I use a combination of things. For class-like material, I like the “floating head” in the top right corner of the videos, so students can see me while I explain things. I use a software called OBS which let’s me capture my webcam and one of my screens. I use OpenShot Video Editor, but it is very limited – it can split or splice video clips, which is what I do most frequently. I would like to learn Adobe Premiere, but I haven’t found the time yet. 😛
May 2, 2022
Hi Patrick,
I’m always a bit torn about how to approach social media and students. I tend to keep my private life just that, personal. Yet, at the same time, I do enjoy injecting my true personality into my teaching; it’s part of who I am and serves as one charismatic element of my teaching approach.
I’m curious what level of personality (e.g., persona) you plan to reveal to your students via social media? For instance, will you maintain your instructor tone with students and past students, or do you plan to show more of your true character? Perhaps you already do this as part of your teaching style?
Cheers,
Jonathan
May 9, 2022
Thanks for your comment Jonathan,
I plan on keeping a careful professional approach to my digital presence.
I am cautious with using memes, because even though the name implies “same”, a meme may be interpreted completely different than intended.