Soon you will be a public and influential person in your community. You need to decide if your current social media accounts are the ones you want to share with your future employers, parents, or even students. If the answer is "Eee... not really", you should start building your new professional digital footprint. It is time to separate your private and professional life, teachers!
Growing your professional digital footprint can significantly enhance your Online presence, reputation, and career opportunities.
A Personal Learning Network (PLN) is a way of mapping connections that you have to find answers, learn new things, contribute your ideas, and collaborate to create new and exciting opportunities. It also maps the Online resources that you use to accomplish these tasks. Often these connections are made through social media. These social networks provide tremendous opportunities for teachers to enhance their professional development by networking with each other beyond school, town, or even country.
In this course, we network via X (former Twitter) with the use of #unietd hashtag. You can share your knowledge or A-ha! moments from our labs, lectures and RWLDs, and outside experience by using this hashtag. Using this #unietd will help you, graduates, and others interested in the educational use of technology network and learn from each other.
The intention of this experience is for you to:
This activity aligns with:
These activities engage skills found in these unit of the Google Educator Level 1 Training Connection:
Growing and nurturing your personal learning network and building and maintaining your digital presence are essential skills in today's interconnected world. Here are some tips to help you achieve that:
1. Google Yourself! Do you like what you see? Are you visible in a positive way? Are you a ghost? Your future employers may google you as well. So why not give them what they want to see? Be Googleable!
2. Optimize Your Social Media Profiles:
3. Use relevant keywords and tags to improve your visibility in search engines. Jargon word: SEO (search engine optimization).
4. Contribute to Online Communities: Join relevant Online communities, forums, and discussion groups related to our profession. Contribute thoughtful insights and help others with their questions or challenges. Here are some resources to get you started:
5. Start a Blog or Website: Creating your own blog or website allows you to showcase your expertise, portfolio, and achievements. It also gives you full control over your content and personal branding (be Googleable!). We will learn in this course how to create a website using Google Sites. Here are some interesting blogs to get you started
6. Stay Informed and Share Resources: Stay up-to-date with current trends, research, and best practices in education. Share resources, articles, and insights with your PLN through social media, email newsletters, or professional development sessions.
1. Identify Key Stakeholders: Make a list of the stakeholders you want to include in your PLN, such as special educators, related service providers, language learning specialists, librarians, media specialists, community organizations, students, parents, teachers, intervention specialists, administrators, legislators, and community members.
Conisder the scenarios listed in this linked document to self asses your current knowledge of the resources needed to support your student's specific needs.
Mapping your Professional Learning Network (PLN) can be a valuable exercise to visually represent the connections you have or intend to build with various stakeholders. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to conduct this exercise:
Create a concept map to visually represent the connections you have or intend to build with various stakeholders. Create Nodes for Each Stakeholder Group: Draw or create digital nodes (e.g., circles, squares) to represent each stakeholder group2. Join Professional Organizations related to education. It can provide valuable networking opportunities and access to resources.
3. Build your PLN Connections via Social Media:
Follow educators, organizations, and professionals in your field. Participate in Twitter chats, join Facebook groups, and connect with professionals on LinkedIn. Use hashtags related to education (#edchat, #teacherpd, #spedchat, etc.) to find and engage with relevant conversations.
- 40 Teacher Facebook Pages You Should Follow Today - curated by We Are Teachers
- 25 Teachers You Should Be Following On TikTok - curated by Bored Teachers
- 40 Top EdTech leaders transforming education & experiences - list with LinkedIn connections
- 100 Iowa Educators to Follow on Twitter
- Pinterest pins and boards related to education
4. Expand your learning channels
- Subscribe and listen to some podcasts for educators.
- Learn something new by browsing the Resources tab from the Google Training Center.
- Complete tutorial/training via LinkedInLearning and collect the certificate of completion completion.
- Browse the resources in YouTube for teachers
- Compile learning resources in a YouTube playlist and Subscribe to the learning channels
- Participate in a free educational webinar(Online workshop or session).
- Join and earn some badges from the Microsoft Education website
- Create informative Pinterest boards focused on some aspects of your profession, follow creative professionals (ex. Creative use of QR codes in a classroom).
- Find (or create) a Symbaloo webmix that organizes important resources.
- Use Online Platforms and Communities focused on education and teaching. Websites like Teachers Pay Teachers, Google Educator Groups, and Reddit's education-related subreddits offer forums for sharing resources, asking questions, and collaborating with other educators.
- theorg.com - network of public org charts. Here is Iowa Department of Education at the org.
5. Attend Workshops and Conferences: Attend workshops, conferences, and seminars both in-person and online. These events are great opportunities to meet and collaborate with other educators, specialists, and professionals. Take advantage of networking sessions and engage in conversations with attendees.
6. Stay Curious and Open-minded: Try to embrace new ideas and be open to learning from others. A growth mindset is crucial for continuous learning. Diversify your Network: Challenge yourself to connect with people from various backgrounds, industries, and locations. A diverse PLN provides diverse perspectives and insights. Reflect and Adapt.
7. Take an inventory of your methods for organizing the extensive collection of bookmarks and digital resources. How do you organize the vast amount of information you collect in each class? Do you have a bookmarking system? Do you manage resources in docs, folders, or bookmark bars? Do you curate the resources in YouTube folders, Symbaloo tiles, or Pinterest boards?
Here is a short YouTube tutorial on Organizing your Bookmarks in Google Chrome: https://youtu.be/0ozlPz7AbyU?si=zDuY743T2P-EeJVl
Learning (defined as actionable knowledge)
Siemens, G. (2005) Connectivism:A Learning Theory for the Digital Age.
- is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources
- it can reside outside of ourselves (within an organization or a database)
- Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.
- Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.
- The ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.