Social Media Plan

Todd Hansen

July 22, 2013

So, I teach in a traditional setting. I think that there is a great advantage in blending the online environment. These rules are my attempt to create a mini social network LMS protocol so that I can use tools like Facebook with my students. This is some of the design plan policies that I have been considering The underlined areas are places where I might find feedback from stakeholders. In parenthesis are some basic rationale for that choice.  Please offer insights, and hopefully these ideas can benefit my students.

Social Media 

1. Student avatars/cartoon character(Identity protection)
2. Pseudonyms for self and in reference to others(Identity protection)
3. No pictures of themselves or fellow students(Identity protection)
4. Closed Facebook groups (safe learning environment)
5. “On Topic” and “Appropriate” content Expectation (safe learning environment)
6. Formal and informal “Topics” – billboards, questions… (LMS, academic discussions, peer communication)
7. Moderated content as biasedly judged by course moderator. (Safe learning environment)
8. “separate“ Individual grades and feedback via email (safe learning environment)
9. Deletion of inappropriate content, anonymous flagging process for peers (Safe learning environment)
10. Disciplinary  consequences for inappropriate content (safe learning environment)
11. News, announcements, promotions, event ideas (Communication, conversation, interaction)
12. Upcoming Deadline calendar (LMS, connectedness, awareness)

References that influenced the development of these policies:

Mack, D., Behler, A., Roberts, B., & Rimland, E. (2007). Reaching students with Facebook: data and best practices. Electronic journal of academic and special librarianship, 8(2), 4.

Schroeder, J., & Greenbowe, T. (2009). The chemistry of Facebook: Using social networking to create an online community for the organic chemistry laboratory. Innovate: Journal of Online Education, 5(4), 1-7.

Baran, B. (2010). Facebook as a formal instructional environment. British Journal of Educational Technology, 41(6), E146-E149.

Wang, Q., Woo, H. L., Quek, C. L., Yang, Y., & Liu, M. (2012). Using the Facebook group as a learning management system: An exploratory study.British Journal of Educational Technology, 43(3), 428-438.

MY PLE

ple

1.  Reflection:  I learned that this whole environment is much more ongoing. I need to connect in a more regular way. I also learned that I could rearrange the parts in other ways if I wanted to and it would still me sense.  My ple is not so dissimilar with the exception that mine doesn’t reflect interconnections as much as it does my direction in social network learning. I see how the network can grow all around a person, but the reality for me is that I tend to focus on one at a time. I chose a cycle to represent the fact that return to some core programming features as a part of my social learning. I suppose it would have been cool to add other people in the diagram to show how our networks are actually overlapping and changing each other’s knowledge. My growth in this class is huge. I can’t believe all the tools that I can use and understand now.

Professional Development

I recently attended a new professional activity. I thought that this was very akin to personal learning networks in nature. I attended 3 live twitter chats. I loved the learning. Also the moderators(hosts) left the content available for asynchronous review on their websites. I felt outclassed in these arenas. I knew the venue was potentially world wide, and I knew that my conclusions may not be practical for other circumstances. I still learned a lot and I think I contributed in a positive way as well.

Review of learning:

#ntchat, – this was my first live twitter chat and luckily i had been given instructions on the Q/A format in the resources. The moderators also reminded us, but I needed the structure in order to follow along. When it first gets going, the chat can really scroll by fast. I noticed in this chat some genuinely consistent struggles from pre-service teaching preparation that I had never addressed in myself. In the course of one hour this chat offered hundreds of sound and useful ideas for how teachers can be better prepared to help their students at the beginning of their careers.

Hopefully my answers benefited others, I did hear back from one other participant, and I appreciate how the nature of these activities is to offer ideas for others. It was really beneficial.

The #bcedchat was similar in it’s topic. It focused a great deal on pre-service training. It had a longer focus on placement decisions, than the #ntchat. I chose this chat to focus on teaching and gather perspectives from a different region.

The #blogchat was cool. It wasn’t distinctive to education. It had many business minds. I did like the tips however. They really focused a lot on what they wanted the reader to do when they saw the blog. They discussed topics like how to handle comments, popups,and multimedia. I found that this chat really inspired me to go apply my learning.

overall live twitter pd has the overwhelming gold star for documenting ideas from so many professionals.

The 3 live webinars was a challenge for my schedule(even with the sufficient alottment of time of 3 weeks) . – my excuse is that I was finishing a capstone research paper, getting over a cold, dealing with a broken air conditioner, on the road, presenting presentations, and much more last week. That really drove me to the last minute on live webinars. So, I didn’t find live ones that I could attend(uggg) however, I did find huge archives full of recently recorded ones. I will share some of those resources and my learning below.

great for open ed and nonprofit ed trainings – edtechleaders

http://www.edtechleaders.org/webinars

huge variety and regularly occurring webinars at simplek12

http://community.simplek12.com/scripts/student/webinars/

A few webinars worth noting on lightspeedsystems.com . I particularly like the Ipad saity and success webinar, which helps teachers use a 1:1 ratio of electronic device:student in more meaningful ways.

http://www.lightspeedsystems.com/resources/webinars/

Overall while I am disheartened that I could not give this a better effort, I do still believe that I gave this assignment great effort, and accomplished the true purpose of the task. Hopefully, that will count.

Joining Communities

First up Joining More Social networking communities.

This course has been a roller-coaster of new tools. I knew this was an area where I really lacked understanding, much less presence, and practice. Let me put it this way -I only used the internet for two things: I looked up information, and I sent emails. This was true up to even a year ago. I admit that I did know of some social networks and programs, but  I honestly and only used Facebook at Christmas to give close family some updates.

Now, I am adding new networks to my practice all of the time. I really love the hashtag concept to categorize topics across networks. I think the tweetdeck is my best friend amongst all of the tools I have been using lately. I have added ten new networks of emphasis just in my tweet deck alone. However for this blog I want to focus on a few where I have been trying to become a participant instead of what I am 99.9% of the time – lurker/reader.

The above picture is meant to reemphasize the number of professional communities out there similar to my interest – It is shocking. This is the linked in network list that I am trying to build. Here are some of the networks I have been using – linked in, flickr, google plus, moocs.

 

Again, this just skims the surface. I have had a difficult time dealing with the amount of reading for each site.

  for example: look at these cool moocs that help me develop the programming skills for creating my own apps exactly how I want them. Yes, I know there are easier ways, but I have always wanted to learn programming, and now I have found a venue. 

Back to the assignment at hand – contributions -ten…Well, I didn’t approach it very cleanly, I have been contributing in many ways. In an attempt to be connected I have branched out in many ways. However, I only offer a few contributions as samples. This first one comes from google plus where I noticed a BSU teacher had a post in an interest of mine…EDTECH. What her post showed was a principle that I am currently learning in a different class. I found that I could actually contribute in a meaningful way prior to my diigo and scoop it research.

This second one shows the amount of contributions going on by other professionals. The comment section of a single contribution can be as long as a novel.

 I can now take advantage of the collaborating opportunities I have been finding as well.

 

New activity: Curation

First, I just developed an understanding of curation this week. Accordingly I have attempted to perform a curation of a topic: English as a new language. I am an esl teacher and this is my daily battle. However, I may have chosen too large of a topic for curation, either way, here it goes.

I developed, in conjunction with two of my classmates, a criteria to evaluate or curate my resources.

Here are the questions we developed with my assessment of my curation based on this sites compilation – http://www.scoop.it/t/english-as-a-new-language

1.Does the content have the most pertinent information that fits the user’s needs?

Yes, I have included information about theories, strategies, tools, applications, common core, professional development, and research.

No, even though I took my time, this was by no means an exhaustive list of the best sites for this category.

2. Is the content focus too narrow or too general?

Yes, I could have greatly narrowed to some of the conflicts in this field.

3. Is the content useful?

Yes, I gleamed useful information, and I made comments about individual sites to highlight potential values I noticed in the individual parts.

4.Is the content interesting?

It depends, I think so, and I expect others in my field will also think so.

5. Is the content consistent with the message?

Yes, my message seeks to inform overall, not to conclude or take sides on issues.

6.Is the content source reliable?

Well, I know that I’m completely reliable(not) but, my selection process did stay with a majority of mainstream publications. Thee were a few individual pieces that were in left field. Those pieces were given special treatment with the nature of my comments towards them.

7. Is the content of excellent quality?

Yes, this is why I chose it. I felt it offered something useful and of value, which I know as a teacher requires a certain level of presentational skill.

8.Does the content include a variety of media?

yes, blogs, video, graphics, scrolling, feeds, and more.

9. Is there a clear target audience?

Yes, the target audience is teachers of ELL students.

10. Is the content appropriate for the audience?

Yes, though individual teachers may not be interested in the full range of offerings provided.

11. Are multiple perspectives of the content shared?

Not really, there is some controversy with the ccss implementation and its lack of coordination to ELL, special needs, and electives. I decided to avoid that argument by simply offering suggestions of how to make ccss work for ELL students.

12. Does the author share their biases or agendas?

I do occassionally offer my judgement of curated content, and the authors of the sites I curate also offer on occasion their bias/agendas.

13. Does the curation help others make sense of content?

yes, my comments read like summaries, and my selection was based a clear reason for their inclusion in my overall category.

14. Is the content organized to be as accessible as possible?

Somewhat, I have not played with scoop-it before. I didn’t mess with the layout possibilities. Mostly I presented them with the default layout offered by the website.

15.Does the curation create value?

Yes, if nothing else my comments and selections can spark dialogue about the topics that pertain to my professional field. And, if that doesn’t happen, at least i am reading and recording my own insights.

16. Does the curator provide context for content?

Yes, I tried to sub-categorize these with my comments, though there is probably a better way.

Managing digital reputations

My Digital Footprint Plan

#1 Stay alert with google alerts, tweet beeps, social mention, kurrently , monitor this and social media feeds or updates related to me.  see s. mallon below

#2 Perform a Google search on myself, catalog positive and negative information, delete or bury the negative. see  a.koekomoer below

#3 Develop a strong Blogger network reputation with well-known bloggers. see a.koekomoer below

#4 Establish a Social media reputation, create my own profiles write my own autobiography. see a.koekomoer below

#5 Buy my own domain name. Own my ownname.com  see b. kahn

#6 Respond to comments on my pages. For info. on how to do this well see the resource by Neil james.

#7 Use reputation management tools to check and clean. There are commercial and free options. see S. mallon below

#8 Build a professional network using professional networking sites like linked in. – see Outspoken media guides below

#9 Build personal profile on social networking sites that are interconnected and maintained by me. – see susan adams below

#10 Establish a presence in highly searched networks. see a. Ensha below

References

Adams, S. (2013, March 14). 6 Steps To Managing Your Online Reputation – Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/03/14/6-steps-to-managing-your-online-reputation/

Disilvestro, A. (2013, February 9). Top 10 SEO Reputation Management Tools Online | Social Media Today. Retrieved from http://socialmediatoday.com/amanda-disilvestro/1227146/top-10-seo-reputation-management-tools-online

Ensha, A. (2009, April 22). Retrieved from gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/how-to-manage-your-reputation-online/?_r=0

James, N. (2013, April 22). “Step By Step Guide to Online Reputation Management” Webinar – Answers to Your Questions | ReviewPro – ReviewPro. Retrieved from http://www.reviewpro.com/step-by-step-guide-to-online-reputation-management-webinar-%E2%80%93-answers-to-your-questions-19476

Khan, B. (2013, May 22). 7 Actions You Must Take to Manage Your Online Reputation | Leechon. Retrieved from http://www.leechon.com/7-actions-to-manage-reputation-3715.htm

Koekemoer, A. (2013, May 20). Your online reputation is worth gold if you manage it correctly | memeburn. Retrieved from http://memeburn.com/2013/05/your-online-reputation-is-worth-gold-if-you-manage-it-correctly/

Mallon, S. (n.d.). 5 Free Tools to Manage Your Online Reputation — socialmouths. Retrieved from http://socialmouths.com/blog/2013/04/25/manage-your-online-reputation/

Mcginnis, S. (2012, August 23). Online Reputation Management: A How-to Guide by @seanMcGinnis Spin Sucks. Retrieved from http://spinsucks.com/communication/online-reputation-management-a-how-to-guide/

The Online Reputation Management Guide. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://outspokenmedia.com/guides/orm-guide/

Reputation management – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2013, June 28). Retrieved July 1, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reputation_management

Personal expression of Connectivism, COP, PLN.

 

Each group of three pictures represents either connectivism, PLN’s, or COP’s. Try to figure out the ones that I haven’t explained. I included some description below so that my pictures make sense:

I would express connectivism as a description of how learning works. In the first group of 3, I use the image of escalators in a mall. I chose these because connectivism has to do with learning based on your context. In a mall the escalator connects you to the different levels. Food and parking may be on one level, while apparel and crafts might be on another. The escalator, or connective education, helps you to be “on the same level” and with the information or people in that field of learning.

Communities of practice really are some of the best ways to  develop professionally. It is a group of people developing their own field.In the second group, I use the picture of Boise State’s football game winning scene for two reasons. First, they are all working in the same field of football. Second, this is where my community of practice is right now. I have dedicated all of my free time to finishing a master’s, and I work with other educators in order to improve my own craft.

For personal learning networks ,in the third group of pictures, I chose a picture of a boys only club. Personal learning networks, are very distinctive with regards to who is in the network. There is a clear type of individual that we go to when we have questions that our principal, colleagues, and students won’t answer. In a way, these are your truest colleagues, with a personal interest in the success of their peers.