EdTechWeekly #190

EdTechWeekly #190

April 3, 2011

Hosts: Dave Cormier and John Schinker

John and Dave started with a discussion of a recent research report that shows that professors who tweet about personal stuff in addition to their course content are seen as more credible by their students. From there, the discussion meandered around social networking and online identity.

Chat Log:

18:57:45  dave  http://edtechtalk.com/live
18:58:43  JohnS  http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/03/social-tweeting-professors-s...
18:59:46  dave  http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/03/social-tweeting-professors-s...
19:06:20  gary  They also will have something to do during the PD activities when they are bored. :-)
19:14:00  gary  Student teachers are very reluctant to be use Twitter - they have so much more to do that it is a low priority.
19:17:49  canugurl  This concept of these "personalities" is essentially the "brand" of the institution
19:23:24  canugurl  Hold on. Union issues? Government agencies have a brand just like companies. Educational institutions can have a brand, too. That brand is composed of a visual identity, a promise and a personality. Engaging the faculty in expressing that brand is important. They should do that in their daily interaction with students and with each other, as well as through the way they interact with the community...and that can be through social media.
19:24:47  JohnS  right, canugrl. But we shouldn't REQUIRE them to use social media to do that.
19:25:38  canugurl  No - agreed. But if part of a brand's personality is to be interactive and social, we should providing training to those people who are part of our institution so that they can reflect that brand personality in their social media interactions
19:25:54  canugurl  (if they choose to engage in that media)
19:26:19  gary  @canugurt - Depending on where you may be the teaching the union may also be your professional organization and that may have implications depedning on the professional code of conduct implications.
19:27:28  PeggyG  can you share the link again for the article that started this conversation? I logged in after it was shared.
19:27:55  dave  http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/03/social-tweeting-professors-s...
19:28:05  PeggyG  thanks
19:31:34  canugurl  [dave's evil laugh scares me!]
19:31:37  canugurl  ;)
19:32:10  Cathdy E  My Skype chat is perfect for people across the state (outside of my Google App domain)
19:32:11  canugurl  absolutely, dave!
19:32:17  canugurl  everyone knows
19:32:20  gary  Eating pizza right now but PEI is a very long pass.
19:32:28  canugurl  everyone on twitter that i interact with KNOWS that i work for a government agency
19:32:40  canugurl  it means that i have to be professional in my social media interactions
19:32:47  canugurl  but that's no different than anyone in any profession
19:33:10  canugurl  if i'm a yahoo in social media that is going to reflect in both my personal and professional lives
19:33:34  canugurl  i think about reflecting my own personal self and my professional "brand" whenever i use social media
19:34:08  canugurl  the election is an interesting reflection of this
19:34:24  canugurl  being a federal bureaucrat, i have to be cautious and careful about how i express myself in social media
19:35:29  gary  @canugurl - That makes perfect sense considering ........ we shall not say.
19:36:30  PeggyG  I always use the Diigo "read later" which allows me to save the tab as a private bookmark until I can get back to it. Really helps when I have tons of tabs open!!
19:36:47  canugurl  I use instapaper for the same thing, @peggyg
19:37:56  canugurl  dave - why are you a "weird" user of twitter??
19:38:02  PeggyG  does instapaper save it as a bookmark?
19:38:41  canugurl  @peggyg - no - it saves it as a list of articles, usually stripping the formatting, etc. - that you can go back to later.
19:38:50  PeggyG  aha-thanks
19:39:03  canugurl  but that is the WHOLE you
19:39:14  canugurl  (it's QUITE entertaining!)
19:39:22  canugurl  it's the brand of YOU
19:39:28  PeggyG  If I save mine as read later/private in Diigo then when I go back to it, if I want to keep it I unmark private and add tags and description.
19:39:46  gary  If Dave ever retires, it will only get worse.
19:40:00  canugurl  @gary...dave will NEVER retire ;)
19:40:28  gary  Then he has maxed out - good for him.
19:41:01  canugurl  my reflection on this conversation: while it isn't good to "force" people to engage in social media, it is good to encourage people to adopt the "brand" of an institution.....and to help them use the appropriate tools to do that
19:41:13  canugurl  and in 2011, a lot of those tools might (maybe should?) be social media
19:41:19  Cathdy E  I have a class of 2nd graders who "Tweet" on their sentence on their desk.
19:41:31  PeggyG  excellent summary @canugurl :-)
19:41:55  canugurl  bye
19:41:55  JohnS  don't let us interrupt you. y'all keep going with the discussion.
19:42:00  canugurl  :)
19:42:00  gary  Thanks again.
19:42:02  PeggyG  bye all