TML Wk 29: Professional Online Social Networks

My post this week relates to Professional Online Social Networks. In response to this I will be reflecting on my own experiences as an early adopter of social media and the opportunities this has created for me professionally. I will discuss this considering Jay and Johnson's (2002) reflective model to unpack it. This takes the form of a three step reflection process that is descriptive, comparative and critical.

Descriptive

I consider myself to be a connected educator and early adopter of social media for professional use.  I have documented this journey, as evidenced in several blog posts and in particular this early one from 2009 on my top 3 tips for getting connected online.  In this post I suggest using "new" web 2.0 tools such as opening an RSS reader account, using social book marking (Delicious) and starting connections using Twitter! I also refer to my developing Professional Learning Network (a PLN) which back then was a very new term and predominately spread throughout New Zealand.  Now, some 10 years later, my PLN is global and these digital connections I can call upon because of the on-going nurturing of interactions via social media, making the vast physical distance of global connection virtual and compact in the palm of your hand (on your device).

Comparative

My experiences parallel the video produced from Office of Ed Tech (2013), shared for our week 29 course work which discusses how being connected is one of the number one tools for being a 21st Century Educator, the isolation of the classroom (or school environment) is no more through the magnification of the transformative power of professional learning via technology (social media).  At the time of writing this post their was limited responses in our cohort survey tool to compare.  What I can say from my own observation of being connected over the last decade is that the use of Facebook for professional social networking has increased with the use of "groups" and of interest over this time the development of #hashtags and frequency of #twitterchats to share professional knowledge.

Critical

As an advocate for using professional online social networks, I reflect back on this 2013 Ignite presentation that I shared in which I spoke about being connected, disconnected and reconnected.  

Ignite Talk | Justine Driver from Emerging Leaders on Vimeo.

It takes a lot to nurture your online social media profile and connections. The rewards of doing so open a world of professional growth that I would have never had opened if it weren't for social media/technology. I would recommend that anyone wanting to start being a more connected educator to follow the simple "Follow 5, Find 5, Take 5" method suggested by Whitaker et al., (2015) as a way nurturing a PLN.  As an employer, being a connected educator is an important factor in considering whether a candidate is suitable and I do review the online presence of applicants.  One of the key points of difference I have in my tool belt when going for leadership roles (I believe) is that my employer knows that it isn't just my skills, and knowledge that they are employing, but that of my wider collective and connective PLN too, which I can access readily!  

Opportunities afforded to be by being connected (& associated blog links/video):

• Presenting at the National Aspiring Principals Conference 2013 as alumni
• Presenting for TeachMeetNZ at the Festival of Education 2014
• Attending the Google Innovator Academy 2014 (becoming a Google Certified Innovator and Educator)
• Being on the leadership team for GEGNZ (Google Educator Group NZ)
• Organising the 2015 Twitter Dinner in Auckland
• 2015 Presenter for the Connected Learning Advisory session "Are you a connected leader?"
• #SparkshopAKL 2016 & 2017
• Being invited to be a coach at the 2017 Google Innovator Academy in Sydney
• Being invited to attend the GEG Asia Pacific leaders forum in Singapore for Google for Edu.
• Being a mentor for Google Innovators from the Colorado 16 cohort & Sydney 17 cohort

Word count: 649

References

Emerging Leaders, (2013) Ignite Talk by J. Driver. [video file].  Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/69428288

Driver, J (n.d). Blog posts retrieved from http://digitallearningnz.blogspot.com/

Jay, J.K. and Johnson, K.L. (2002). Capturing complexity: a typology of reflective practice for teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 18, 73-85.
Office of Ed Tech. (2013, Sep 18). Connected Educators. [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=216&v=K4Vd4JP_DB8
Whitaker, T., Zoul, J., & Casas, J. (2015). What connected educators do differently. New York, NY: Routledge.

Inspiring future leaders: a reflection on NAPP

Last year I was part of the National Aspiring Principals' Programme or NAPP.  This programme is for senior leaders who aspire to become principals in the near future. 

The focus of the NAPP is on developing adaptive, culturally responsive, digitally literate leaders through inquiry learning, and building their understanding of the research base around leadership. The delivery of the programme ranges from a variety of face to face small group work where akonga (learners) share their developing leadership inquiry over the year, a regional day, a national hui and  four online modules focus on school operating systems in the New Zealand context and show how to link those systems effectively to student achievement.  Using a mix of shared online interaction and individualised self-managed learning, the modules explore: school contexts, resourcing, personnel and employment, and strategies and planning.  I found the delivery of the programme to be very useful and complimented my daily work as a deputy principal.  I particularly enjoyed the face to face time in our smaller professional learning groups where each akonga shared their leadership inquiry and how this progressed over the year.  The opportunity to connect with akonga at the regional and national days meant that you could put a face to the online connections that you made through the Virtual Learning Network (VLN) and meet many inspiring facilitators.

This year I was priviledged to be asked to represent the 2012 akonga and return to address the 2013 NAPPsters at the National Hui, held in Auckland. I was asked to present a five minute talk to the close to 200 participants with a critical reflection on my experiences.  Leading with moral purpose and reflecting on ones practice is at the forefront of any leader if there is to be personal and organisational growth.  I discussed how being involved with NAPP led me to be more culturally responsive as a leader and reignite the need to be a digital resident and connected leader.

I was also asked to present two smaller round table events on my passion for implementing Teaching as Inquiry as a model of self and school improvement when staff view inquiry as a professional way of being.  Both these sessions were well attended and the link to this work can be found on my wikispace.

Ignition... restarting the journey

Three, two, one...blast off...

After four years of disconnection with the blogosphere I'm taking a bias for action and restarting my blogging journey.  At the end of June I took part in an Edu-Ignite presentation as part of the Emerging Leaders Aotearoa Ignite evening at Hobsonville Point School.  The following presentation outlines my journey with the concept of being connected, disconnected and reconnected as an educator, and the purpose for me in reconnecting with blogging is to share my leadership adventures. 

This term as part of our E-Learning professional development for staff I am expecting that each teacher at our school will write a blog post celebrating the learning in their room for the week, so I will have the same expectation for myself in this space.  I've given the blog a facelift from its previous look (below) and hope to build a positive digital footprint of leadership case studies that may engage others reading this.  So, the journey begins....(again)....

Top 3 Tips for Getting Connected in the Web

Recently I have helped a good friend get "connected" in the on-line world of web2.0 applications. In reflecting upon this help (or coaching sessions) that we have had, I thought it would be good for me to record what we did together so that others who are beginners on the web can become connected too.

I am by no means an expert and still am learning and discovering things everyday, however the more you immerse yourself the more you learn. There are so many wonderful people out in my PLN (Personal Learning Network) that have already made blogs and wikis to share how to do these things too. However, by recording my journey I can add my own reflections on why and how I find things. I would consider myself an experienced novice, open to learning. I will go over what we did and in the order we did it (as this may help?).

Starting out your digital footprint
I use the same log in user identity so that others can find me (and I don't have to remember what I've signed up as). For my web2.0 world I have (in most instances) used digitallearningnz as my user name and then used a strong password (including letters and numbers). I strongly recommend different passwords for online banking and for your workplace computer password (as often you may have to give your work log in password to a technician). I am a visual learner and have found it useful to use YouTube.com to watch many videos to discover how to do things or what things mean. I will include several of them in the following tips.
Tip #1: Open a Reader Account
Watch the following video clip to explain what a RSS Reader does and why you will need one. I got my friend to set this up first so that the subsequent Tips could fall into place.

To get started I also found it useful to watch the video from Google too:

I find it quite good once I have subscribed to a blog and it is loaded into the reader to rename the front of the blog subscription with the author of who the blog belongs to, e.g. when you subscribe to my blog it with say "Digital Learning" but to make it more identifiable in my subscription list I rename to say "Justine Driver: Digital Learning" for me this is one way of remembering who the blog belongs to in my PLN (Personal Learning Network).
Tip #2: Social Bookmarking using Delicious
Watch the following video clip to find out what social bookmarking is and why it is beneficial for you.

In delicious my account is digitalearningnz (note only one "l" when I joined, as I typed too fast and misspelt my own user name! LOL)Please feel free to add me to your network once you have joined to see my bookmarks.

What I find really important is that you MUST put the buttons on your Internet browser (this is what makes it quick and easy to use). It is great knowing that if my computer crashes my bookmarks are not lost and I have even more at my finger tips with my network.

I also find it important that when I find a blog (and I like the content) that I add it immediately to my READER account by subscribing to the RSS feed. A good way to find out where to find interesting blogs is to look and see whether the blog has a list of blogs that author likes - follow those links and start bookmarking and subscribing.

Tip #3: Twitter

I often get asked what is Twitter? or why should I be on Twitter? I find Twitter to be my most powerful learning tool at the moment. One member of my PLN asked recently "what are the 3 top reasons you use Twitter for?" 1)I have the ability to provide quick help and assistance to others and similarly receive help/advice. 2)I get near instantaneous connection with an extremely diverse group of people who willingly help and share; and 3) by using Twitter I have an increased ability to achieve a deeper personal connection to people in my PLN compared to normal blogging (thanks to @suewaters as this was her top 3 reasons to use Twitter and they sounded better than mine, but I agree. This video clip explains:

Again I find that once you have made a connection by following someone (feel free to follow me by clicking here) you can then follow some of the people that person follows and check out their web pages too.

I find it really important that you should fill out your BIO details in your settings section when you sign up to Twitter. Some people let anyone follow them however I only let teachers or educators of some kind follow me (so make sure you include these details in your bio). I also am selective about who to follow as time is precious and I don't want to read through stuff that doesn't interest me (this is just my personal view and others would comment differently).

I also didn't realise when I started with Twitter about two important functions 1) @replies - when someone does a post to the right of their message is an arrow that you click and your message will be put into that person's @replies box directly and it is a public message or if you want to write a message to someone specific you need to start the message with the @name symbol; and 2)Direct Messages (DM) are private messages that only you and the person receiving can read and they appear in your DM tab.

So you've done these first 3 Tips now what?

Now it is your task to develop your PLN by surfing the web; setting aside a little time each day to do some tweets (mini-blog posts) up to Twitter and make some connections. As you make connections and find websites remember to book mark them on your delicious and add them into your Reader. Ask questions and begin to make comments on blogs.

What's next?
Starting your own blog and learning how to use the huge array of web 2.0 applications that there are. But this will be another post for me to write, first it is time to immerse yourself and see what is out there in the web. Enjoy and please feel free to leave a comment or ask a question.

Photo credit 1: Hackers 1992 by Mike3D
http://www.flickr.com/photos/multi_colored/303766075/
Photo credit 2: Footprints in the Snow by Henri Bonell http://www.flickr.com/photos/henribonell/371706495/
Photo credit 3: Not Hawaii by Bravewest http://www.flickr.com/photos/stargazer3stemshotmailcom/3183473355/

Video Credit for "In Plain English" series by Common Craft found on YouTube