Welcome to the week on creating and curating your Professional Online Presence (and locking down your personal online presence)

There are 2 main components to this challenge:

• Determine your “digital footprint” and if needed, update your online professional presence, this could be a website (see below), LinkedIn, professional Facebook, Google profiles, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, or other social networking presence.
• If you do not already have one, construct a sample class, organizational, personal website (perhaps using Taskstream web page builder, Weebly (warning: you’ll have to sign up for this), or other online tool). Think of the use of such as site as SeeSaw, but for teachers… capture moments of your teaching experience that you can share with parents, administrators and the general community.

How do educators use the Internet for Professional Learning?

One way teachers use the Internet is to view videos produced for, and sometimes by, teachers.

Compare the highly produced versions of teacher videos like EduTopia’s, with those kept (somewhat) private through Teaching Channel Plus videos, vs this 12 min classroom video from India, vs this full public teaching video on Algebra complete with materials and examples of student work and teacher reflection?

As an example, view the Ellington Superintendent’s Twitter feed @supernicol and the District’s web page that streams multiple Twitter feeds continuously. Perhaps there are some ways you have not thought about, to leverage social media in the classroom– Here are 10 to consider. And you may know that many states now require students to complete a fully online or technology-enhanced blended learning course to graduate high school– search for “online” in the Education Commission’s Requirements summary to see more. How might you have to create a somewhat different or extended online presence when you begin teaching online?

As a footnote, what are you thoughts about the site Teachers Pay Teachers, where classroom materials are sold rather than shared as open source as on Pinterest or from teachers on Twitter?

Participating Safely

First and foremost, it’s important to be safe for yourself, protect your district, and be a positive role model for your students. So consider these simple NEA suggestions.

The web is built to be two-way. Taking and giving, learning and contributing. Online communities of teachers can learn together by sharing both their successes and sometimes the lessons that go awry as well. Communities like Teaching Channel can be a place to learn from peers.

As a new teacher you will likely benefit from reading teacher blogs, following teachers, grabbing up last minute worksheets and activities from Instagram and Teachers Pay Teachers… and so you will find many useful online sources to TAKE from.  While you can browse some of these sites, for many you will have to create an account (perhaps using Google). Voila! You have an online presence. But… besides all this TAKING, you should consider that as a Master teacher, it’s time to also think about contributing. Your Internet use should not be all taking, it should include giving back to the community of educators and scholars.

Perhaps of equal importance, teachers need to teach Digital Citizenship by example. Only by routinely using and contributing to an online community can you stay up on the latest threats and opportunities for leveraging technology. While tools like Googles playful Interland Be Internet Awesome can help, the best way to help develop student safety is for you to model it.

Believe it or not, many K-12 teachers are now teaching online. Online K-12 education is growing and to be prepared, future teachers should be developing their online teaching skills. This Starter Kit for K-12 online teachers suggests you experience online learning as a student first.

Things that administrators find about teachers online can have devastating impacts on careers and job performance. Take for example the 2010 Teacher of the Year suspended in 2011 for comments about gay marriage he made on his own time and on his own private facebook space, and the Windsor Locks superintendent who was fired for Facebook comments. What should you think about when considering accepting a Facebook Friend request from students and how that might get messy when your neice or neighbor child are in your school (and here’s another thought on that)? Web communications are routinely used by schools to notify parents of school closing and emergencies. But what makes “good” uses of social media and what uses put students and teachers and school systems at risk?

Some ideas for staying safe

• Don’t Run With Scissors. Scissors can be dangerous but a few simple cautions can minimize the risks. Same with being online. Don’t let the challenge of Internet participation overwhelm you so you miss the benefits of online participation (personally and professionally). The benefits of being connected to other teachers around the world may outweigh the efforts needed to do so safely.
• Stay aware and current with school/district technology policies. Things change rapidly and often being current is the safest thing you can do.
• Be an active role model of digital citizenship for your students and take opportunities to explain and help them as they develop their own online skills.
• Children (and all of us) make mistakes. Be prepared to deal with technology issues such as cyberbullying, FERPA concerns, and digital cheating as they arise. Think about them now, and discuss them here with your colleagues so you are comfortable with teaching when issues arise.
• Think before you post. Remember positive online participation is viewed positively, but when you consider posting about colleagues, students, parents in anything but a positive context, think twice as to how this could be mis-read, seem overly harsh, be taken out of context, or used maliciously, before you hit that SEND button.
• As you create accounts for Professional use… here are some suggestions:
  • Use separate apps (Instagram for professional use vs Facebook for personal use) and lock down the personal app to the max
  • Slightly change your name (Mr Young vs Dr. Young, vs MF Young vs Michael Young…) so your professional and personal accounts are less visibly linked
  • Use separate devices (phone for personal communication, iPad for professional posts) this way you are always reminded that you are posting either as a teacher or as an individual

If you need to claim your digital real estate and wish to construct a personal webpage, you could consider a free template site such as Weebly. If you’d prefer, Webs.com is also an option. And your Taskstream account can also create a password protected website.

Curating

While you’d like for community members and prospective employers to find you online, you’d prefer that they only see things that support the contention that you will be a great teacher. Superintendents often do Google and Facebook searches on teacher candidate finalists. One article reports that over half of employers will not hire someone they cannot find online. Once created, your online presence needs to be maintained. So this is not a 1-time event.

Why curate? Well, your worst nightmare is likely one of the Ethics cards scenarios, right? But even if you have nothing on the Internet, students can still be trouble, by breaking in to your cell phone and sharing your selfies as a school girl prank, according to this NY Daily News report.

Next consider the “deep fakes” videos (see 2018 NY Times article) that can now be easily produced with AI programming, and motion capture software. This 2019 YouTube video can provide some example. When completing your digital badge assignment for this course, did you consider your strategies for detecting if some visual evidence presented on a web page might be fake or real?

Consider this 11 minute 2017 TED talk with Keegan Korf discuss helping students become digital citizens with realistic expectations.

Enduring Understanding- Student Learning Outcome from this module

This module intends to prepare teachers for ISTE Standard for Educators 1B that states: Pursue professional interests by creating and actively participating in local and global learning networks.

In order to participate in local and global online networks, you need to create and safely maintain an active online professional presence. But you need to set boundaries between personal and professional. While it is a good thing when you allow students and parents to view you as a personal and know some of your personal interests, there is also a need to set and respect professional boundaries.