What I am striving for with this professional website, through social media, within my networked learning space (NLS), and with my professional learning network (PLN) as a whole is to gain extensive knowledge and insight into the art of teaching, project-based learning, and learning design experiences to help me be an expert in my field.
MY PLAN
Thought Leadership Goals
As a teacher in secondary education who has recently obtained a master’s degree in eLearning Design and Technology, I am striving to be the best teacher I can be in order to help students with various needs and desires for obtaining their education. After excelling as a teacher in a Blended Learning environment for six years, with eLearning as a part of that focus, I am continuing to aim to meet the needs of various groups of students by making available additional opportunities for kiddos to also further develop their skills through a more hands-on approach with Project-based Learning in the classroom. I aspire to be thought of as an expert in learning design, online and face-to-face, as well as in Project-based Learning. I aim to help others in the realm of education to find more engaging and creative ways for students to learn and to succeed out their in the real world.
Professional Learning Network (PLN) Description
My professional learning network (PLN) is made up of my professional website hosted on Weebly that includes my Teaching What Matters blog, my networked learning space (NLS) hosted on Google+ entitled Interdisciplinary Projects in High School Collaboration, and my Twitter social media account found at @ValvonaEnglish. Through the development and use of these tools, I am empowering myself and others in the teaching field to learn from one another and grow together. We are able to create our own professional development and be a part of a community that has the ability to span across the world. My PLN will bring teachers, administrators, thought leaders, and others who might be interested in this work to these spaces I have created in order to chat, explore ideas, problem solve, and/or showcase experiences surrounding the adventure that is education. It is important that those who are just getting into teaching as well as those who have been in the education world for years have various places to visit online in order to find new ways of teaching and learning. Personally, I have found myself visiting Pinterest, Twitter, Google Communities, and other websites dedicated to teaching to find new or different strategies to use in my classroom so that I am able to differentiate and individualize learning for my students in order to suit their needs as learners and motivate them to continue to yearn for more knowledge beyond high school. With my own aspirations in mind, I created my professional website’s blog, various social networking accounts, and my Google Community in hopes that others will want to join my efforts in this great work we do. The more we communicate and collaborate with one another using these spaces, driving our ideas into amazing creations, and showcasing this work, the more we increase our expertise and have the ability to share what we have learned and experienced with even more people in our community and around the globe. We are able to be constantly connected with knowledge at our fingertips, and as long as we stay current and focused on our goals, making sure we are regularly active in these learning spaces, the better off we are and will be for our students.
Role of Base Camp Site and Networked Learning Space (NLS)
Through my base camp site and networked learning space (NLS), my name, thoughts, and ideas are able to be presented to a vast community, and I am able to hear the voice of others. I have the ability to share my beliefs, creations, and resources I have found with my audience, as well as analyze what interests and drives them most, which, in turn, allows me to continue to cater to each of our needs. My base camp shares with my audience exactly who I am in a professional capacity, where I am coming from, and where I plan to go from here. In addition, my blog included within my base camp allows me to elevate various ideas, information, and resources that I am interested in with my community so that we might develop intriguing and insightful discussions. My base camp focuses on various components within education, while my NLS focuses primarily on project-based learning in the high school classroom. This NLS brings people together who are interested in this method of teaching, whether it is through small projects or an entire year’s curriculum, those who are seeking insight and those willing to share experiences. I truly believe that there are many vital aspects within project-based learning and that this is what is best for our students; while this may be true, there are also many challenges, and there are always new and innovative ways of learning presenting themselves. I will continue to follow this path, on a quest to find better ways for students to learn, grow, and be successful in a world that is constantly changing, and always yearn to be an expert in my field.
Strategic Plan for Establishing Web Presences
In order to ensure I exceed my goals for my professional learning network (PLN), it is imperative that I use the appropriate strategies to maintain search engine optimization (SEO). Lowenthal and Dunlap’s (2012) Intentional Web Presence: 10 SEO Strategies Every Academic Needs to Know article, provides various ways to improve search engine optimization and I am using many of them for the purposes of my PLN. In general, I need to constantly be aware of my web presence and “...intentional about how, when, and what shows up when someone uses a search engine like Google to search [my] name or area(s) of research” (Lowenthal and Dunlap, 2012). The strategies I am using are as follows. Strategy 2 - Regularly update your professional website: Since I have notifications sent directly to me when an audience member posts or comments anywhere within my PLN, I will be able to respond within 24 hours; and I update various areas of my PLN weekly or monthly to enhance activity and improve the SEO process. I try to remain active weekly within my NLS, while my blog is updated once or twice a month. As my colleagues and I move forward with our project-based learning (PBL) curriculum next year, I will also begin to actively post presentations and teaching materials to these spaces within my PLN. Strategy 3 - Track your traffic: As was previously noted in the section above, I will track and analyze visitor numbers and interests regarding the content posted within my PLN in order to continue to maintain audience members by addressing their values noted by the analytics. I have also created Google alerts to help me learn more about who is exploring me personally and ideas related to my work in my PLN. Strategy 5 - Publish your work via social media sharing sites: As I also mentioned earlier, I do plan to publish my work throughout my PLN spaces, but I will also share them with social media sharing sites like SlideShare to gain a larger spanned audience. Strategy 6 - Leverage social networks: I am definitely leveraging my Twitter account to boost visits to my base camp and my NLS, regularly posting my blog to Twitter, in addition to a few announcements about my NLS periodically. Strategy 7 - Be a good user of others’ content: As I move forward with my NLS and blog, as well as continue looking for new project ideas, I will work to be more involved in and a part of other contributors’ content, which will also increase awareness of who I am and my goals, allowing me to increase my audience. Strategy 8 - Complete all profiles: As a final strategy to improve the SEO process with my PLN, I have started completing all profiles within my networking spaces and resource accounts in order to provide a finished product and transparency to who I am. With my use of these strategies and constant attention to my web presence, my PLN has an increased chance a being successful, improving my ability to become a thought leader.
Description of Privacy Concerns and Strategies
Throughout my PLN I will always attempt to be proactive and address privacy concerns I have personally, as well as those of my community. The privacy concerns at the forefront would be related to Google+ and Twitter, which are primary focuses within my PLN. With the Google Community being public and Twitter being what it is, very little privacy exists because of how these entities use our information and because everyone has access to these spaces. In general, we need to all ensure we keep personal information being shared to a minimum and just ensure we are all commenting and posting appropriately. The advantage I have as the creator of my PLN spaces is that Google Community allows me the capability to block certain people from posting; my blog on my professional website in Weebly allows me to delete posts or require approval before a post publishes to my site, if I ever deem this as necessary; and with Twitter, I have the ability to mute, block, and report followers, all allowing more control over these spaces. The hope is that those interested in these spaces and the topics addressed will use them, while those who are not will not. I really do not anticipate inappropriate activity taking place within my PLN by users due to the nature of the work
Next Steps with Social Networking / Media
I plan to continue to use the social networking spaces already existent with my PLN, but I also plan to create an additional NLS housed in Schoology in order to reach a vast number of members within my district specifically. We are already doing such great work in our district and there are additional goals driving us towards even greater success with our students. We really need to communicate and collaborate with one another in this project-based learning adventure for ourselves and our students. In addition, as my school moves forward with this method of teaching, I will be documenting our experiences and, with the permission of all involved, posting components of this work on YouTube to act as a form of professional development, as well as to make known all that we are doing, along with the challenges and successes that come with this work. This process is so exciting, and I cannot wait to get others involved.
References
Lowenthal, P. R., & Dunlap, J. C. (2012, June 5). Intentional Web Presence: 10 SEO Strategies Every Academic Needs to Know. Retrieved April 23, 2018, from https://er.educause.edu/articles/2012/6/intentional-web-presence-10-seo-strategies-every-academic-needs-to-know