I absolutely read every comment that’s posted to this blog. Often, it allows me to extend the conversation. With any luck, I make sense but there are times when I’m wrong and get corrected. Both are valuable experiences for me. So, when Tim King commented on my “This Week in Ontario Edublogs“, I read it with interest. Then, I read it again. I couldn’t determine if he was agreeing with me or taking me to task with my post.
But, one of the quotes in his reply made me think during my morning dog walk.
At my recent AQ, the new teachers all said that they actively avoid web2.0 because it loses them credibility with the old-school admins hiring them, and they are terrified of one of their 20-something friends posting pictures that would get them fired.
Two things leapt out at me.
First of all, Tim and a bunch of teachers are taking Additional Qualification courses during the summer. That is so impressive. I hope that it’s in an air conditioned setting given the brutal weather this summer. The additional certifications should make them more valuable to their schools and their employers and open additional teaching discipline possibilities for them. Great resume fodder.
But, the second part bothers me. It’s the concept of avoiding Web 2.0 things because of concerns about their employer’s perceptions of it. That’s really bothersome. It directly counters some of the great reading that I’ve done today.
- Twitter – A Necessity for Educators in 2012
- Twitter And Facebook Might Soon Replace Traditional Teacher Professional Development
The concerns are not isolated to the education profession. Ontario jail guards warned about social media use
I think back to the OTF Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century series and @osstfbob’s comment “Don’t Do Stupid Things”. That’s great advice but does it mean living isolated from society? I sure hope not.
I do think that it’s a call to using things wisely. In fact, the smarter you use it, the better you can leverage it. Instead of lying awake worrying about what they might find, why not be proactive about things. Post some of the great things you’re doing, blog about your progressive thoughts, tweet about excellent professional reading. And, show that you’re a real person.
I dug into Facebook to see if I’m walking the walk.
Here’s a picture of me showing off at a Minds on Media event with three great leaders that I have nothing but the utmost respect for – @brendasherry, @peterskillen, and @kellmoor. People should be saying “Wow, you know …”!
I also share things about “me”, if you’re interested. Here’s my dog sleeping on a cedar chest.
My son gave me a gift once of driving some exotic cars. Here’s me checking out the Lamborgini. (I really looked forward to the Ferrari and the Viper was cool too!)
Of course, pictures are but one part of the story. Blog posts, essays, comments, engagement, and thoughts are the things that illustrated deeper thinking and reflection. You never dig as deeply as when you reflect and write about something. Or podcast. Or videocast. In fact, there are so many ways that Web 2.0 can be used so positively.
What about those that would post pictures about you? There are ways to be pre-emptive starting with letting your friends know who you are and who you want to be. If that works, then there are things that you can do to protect your identity.
Hey, Tim, as I wrap this up, I’m thinking this would be a great idea for a presentation. Do you want me to keep that in my hip pocket in case someone cancels at ECOO? Or, are you interested in putting in a proposal for MACUL? It’s one of the really great conference and Detroit’s COBO Hall is such a nice venue. And, there are no people like Michiganers.
Thanks for the reply and making me think about this.
The content of this blog is generated by whatever strikes my fancy at any given point. It might be computers, weather, political, or something else in nature. I experiment and comment a lot on things so don't take anything here too seriously; I might change my mind a day later but what you read is my thought and opinion at the time I wrote it! My formal education includes a Bachelor of Mathematics degree from the University of Waterloo and a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Toronto. Ontario Ministry of Education and Training qualifications are in Data Processing, Computer Science, Accounting, and Mathematics. My personal website is at: http://www.dougpeterson.ca Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dougpete I'm bookmarking things at: http://www.delicious.com/dougpete
Well, I just have to add my two cents. The statement made by the young teacher(s) is very telling indeed and I think that they need to shift their perspective a bit. I think a more responsible statement might have been, \”I don\’t use social media because I don\’t trust my friends not to post compromising things about me\”. Or perhaps, \”I don\’t use social media because I am not confident that my unprofessional behaviour on the weekend will be kept private\”. Social media isn\’t the bad boy here, and the \”old school admins\” aren\’t to blame either. As a \”new school admin\” (old school admin don\’t google you, sillies!) you bet I am googling you when you apply. Guaranteed. If you aren\’t in charge of what I turn up, you aren\’t working with me. Like it or not, teaching is a VERY public profession. The simple solution here is to conduct yourself accordingly. And, as an extra measure of defense, create a rock-solid POSITIVE digital footprint that will sell you to potential employers.
Shannon
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Shannon. Your comment about “old school admin” made me smile. I think that it’s more likely that someone would selectively bring an issue to their attention. It’s easy to envision “googling” someone, finding positive content and then proceeding. I’ll ask you to expand –
1) what will you do if you do this searching and find something you don’t agree with?
2) what will you do if you do this searching and find nothing?
Where do you define and draw the line?
Good questions, Doug. The answer to the first question depends on whether the person is already on staff with me, or a candidate seeking a position. At the end of the day, I would hope that encountering negative material on the web would be a learning opportunity.
I recently posted a .5 teaching job and had close to 300 applicants. The competition is fierce. Of course, I didn’t have time to google all applicants, however, it is likely that once a short list is established, a quick search would be done on the candidates getting interviews. If something negative turned up, I would provide that as feedback to the candidate. I would take other mitigating circumstances into consideration, but when there are that many qualified, eager candidates, small slips can mean forfeiting the opportunity.
At this stage, if I don’t find anything, it is neither here nor there. The candidate is in a perfect position to begin to build a strong and professional digital footprint. Now, if I do find something positive, that candidate is bumped up in my estimation. For new graduates, I encourage them to find a way to flag their digital footprint right away by including that information in the contact section of their resume.
With staff, I have had initial conversations about inappropriate posting on facebook with a couple of staff members. You are correct that it is something that is brought to my attention (by parents or students usually) rather than something that I seek out. I don’t make it a big deal, but simply ask them to consider what a parent or student might think. The lines between personal and professional are indeed blurry.
I try to model what I expect of staff members with my own online presence. For what it is worth (and in response to Tim’s comment on your links post), I do not intend to wade into anything political (on a local or provincial level) on my blog. That would be divisive and would not serve my school community. My blog is where I share my learning and thinking about pedagogy and learning. As a leader, I try to be very selective and mindful of setting a positive tone.
Shannon
Doug,
To answer your first question: is it really any different than in the “old days” when a parent reported seeing a teacher in a less than professional manner at a bar, party, concert, etc? While these might not be events that can get you fired, as Shannon said we should have a conversation with that teacher. It’s the same with a social media posting.
Our school system has made it a point to “scare” us with some of the horror stories about social media and teachers. To me it’s common sense. If you post something, you’re putting it out there for the world to see. If you really “need” to post something that you don’t want everyone to see, be sure your Facebook settings are private.
Something I’ve shared with my students and staff, if you wouldn’t put the picture on your desk at work, don’t put it on the web.
That’s good advice, Reed. I’m having difficulties defining in my mind the “professional manner” outside the context of the job. In my mind, there are clear polarities – things that are really good and things that are really bad. As you move to the centre of a continuum, it seems to me that it could get iffy and interpreted by different people in different ways. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Shannon, that’s an interesting sequence of events. If I interpret it correctly, applicants make your short list and then you “google” them? Does that imply that a digital presence is less important than other criteria or is it just a matter of time/effort to do them all? Won’t it be interesting when an online practice of professional learning, sharing, and classrooms becoming content creators becomes the standard and this transparency becomes one of the more important attributes sought during a job application?
Doug,
Essentially, that is correct, but I didn’t say what criteria might help you land on the short list – if an applicant highlights an online portfolio or presence in their application, then they are going to catch my attention. This isn’t standard practice… yet.
I believe that it is important – digital literacy is perhaps the key literacy these days.
Great post to get my thinking today!
Doug, Shannon, Reed – some great discussion
(and Tim, thank you for the launch on this topic),
I think the way Shannon rephrases the AQ takers’ words best describe the concern. Doug, as you point out with the jail guard example, many work places actively discourage use of social media. Our union takes it a step beyond preaching caution.
The point Tim (and Melanie – one of my favourite Tweeters – she challenges my thinking in tough ways) makes about blogging about the challenges to education and the political landscape right now is a difficult one. I’ll be honest – I tend to avoid making overtly critical and overtly political posts … there’s already so much negativity online that I don’t want to contribute or start a flame war. I have to ask myself “What’s the purpose of my post?” and since the answer is usually to share my experience (good or bad) so that people can get something out of it, my opinions have to be carefully crafted when I post on my blog. (I did tentatively wade into the GSA Club drama in a past post but it took days of writing and rewriting to get it so I wasn’t burning any bridges.) My own past experience has taught me that I need to examine all sides and look before I leap into the fray, although my “that’s not right” justice button gets pushed pretty easily and I have to hold myself back from taking action that might do more harm than good. (Ask me about dealing with “bad teachers” and I’ll give you an earful!) Enough tangents for now – thanks for the thought and discussion!
Hi Doug,
You’re right I was saying…”hey, you know Brenda Sherry and Peter Skillen. It’s a small world we used to say….now we can say….”Look at that…people are connecting in person as well as on twitter. ” It’s nice to see technology bringing people together not just online but in person! Connected Educators!! Horray! Also, it was nice to see one of your family members, your dog.Nice read for my Sunday morning! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Karen. Because of social media fear, notice that I didn’t include a picture of his face.
I just wrote a post about teachers who are using social media as opposed to those who are not? Isn’t ok if they choose not to use it? http://oldschoolteach.blogspot.com/2012/08/thinking-out-loud-if-i-dont-tweet-andor.html
It seems that, if teachers are interviewing with anti-2.0 admin, they can simply not mention their involvement. It’s unlikely a non-2.0 admin would find a 2.0 teacher on twitter.
That said, would you really want to work for a anti-2.0 administrator? I’ve been in a 1:1 school for four years. I now cannot imagine teaching without computers.
Hey Doug…You know what I love about social media? Not only the opportunities to learn with some amazing people, but the opportunities to show authenticity into who we are as people. I connect with some amazing “people” on Twitter, not just teachers. I want to learn about their likes, interests, and families. If someone didn’t give you a job because you have a picture of your dog on Facebook, would you really want to work for/with them? I would appreciate that same picture on a teacher’s desk; why would I hate it on Twitter? We have a chance to really humanize our organizations in a way we couldn’t have had even 5 years ago. We need to really capitalize on this because those connections are so important to strong organizations.
Any good leadership talks about this opportunity for authenticity; leaders should know and show this as well.
Thanks for the great post! I have always admired your blog but I think this is the first time I have ever commented
One of the reasons I enjoy following Doug is that I actually feel like I know the guy (and anyone who gets up early on Sunday to watch F1 is alright with me). Doug demonstrates where I think social media has to go – toward a more full expression of yourself online.
Diana’s digital footprint discussion from ECOO last year came up at the AQ, which is when many of the new teachers expressed fear of being ‘exposed’ online. Even if you’re tagged in a picture at a wedding having a drink, you can suddenly find yourself in trouble, and 20-something post EVERYTHING online. Their nerves aren’t without real concerns. Diana suggested that everyone should get in front of social media, otherwise it will author you itself. That was when one of the LTOs told me about a principal in Toronto who automatically drops applicants who have facebook pages… it’s great to hear Shannon doing the opposite, but she is a minority in admin doing this from what young teachers have told me.
Melanie’s post stuck in my head when I first read it, http://bit.ly/OFbT6T because I’d been reading a lot of teacher posts that looked more like resume fodder than human. I’ve dropped a lot of teachers because all they seem to talk about are the minutia of the classroom. This might be because they are intent on building a Mr/Ms Teacher digital footprint. If that’s the case, then Melanie’s comment stands, they’re spending an awful lot of their summer thinking and doing their jobs and publishing online about it – I’d argue that it hurts their ability to do the job because they’ll never get any perspective if they are Chinese sweatshopping teaching. Of course, they might just be one of those tedious people who only talk about their job all the time.
The whole IFTTT thing adds to this sense of plastic, one dimensionality in social media. People who overuse it get dropped by me. I don’t need my twitter feed clogged with whatever you programmed your bot to do. Call me old fashioned, but I do social media to be… social. If I don’t get a sense of who you are because you’re a bot driven online presence, or because you’re just boring and singularly focused, then I’ll move on.
Shannon’s comments on the leadership angle have held me up in certain circumstances too. But I find that leadership, in general, doesn’t let me open up on people or ideas fully because I’m trying to balance an effective working relationship with disagreements. You can’t assume a leadership role if you’ve burned bridges shooting your mouth off about strong opinions. I find this frustrating sometimes, but, ultimately, the pause I take to consider leadership/relationship issues is similar to the pause I take when considering professionalism.
The issue I’m trying to clarify (with no intent to take anyone to task – I’m trying to figure it out for myself too) is the always on work brought up in that tweet. If that is happening, it’s unhealthy. If people are feeling that digital footprint maintenance is work, then it’s not a good thing. I enjoy orchestrating my online presence because it’s an expression of myself. It’s therapeutic, and gives me a sense of community, it isn’t work, though I sometimes talk about work in it.
The digital footprint 2.0 should be looking at how an online presence should be genuine, and healthy. If your digital footprint is a matter of making a virtual teacher, or programming bots to spam social networks, then I’d suggest that you’re not getting it. If it feels like healthy self-expression, then you’re heading in the right direction.
Sorry for the big response – I think I’ll work this out in more detail on dusty world…
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