More, Different and Better

I’m going to be facilitating one of the Knowledge Café sessions at tomorrow’s NIACE and BBC Innovating Learning conference, and will be very interested to find out what impact delegates think social media is having on Continuing professional development CPD.

Social media is for many of us a part of our lives, both social and professional. We need to think about where the boundaries lie between our ‘work’ and ‘home’ online selves. We also have to be aware of the messages we give across in our behaviour online and it is becoming increasingly necessary to develop a professional online presence or ‘personal online brand’.

Much has been done in education to make learners aware of the importance of e-safely and maintaining a good e-reputation, but I have not seen a general trend of teaching learners about the positive benefits of social media for selling yourself in the job market.  Joann Pan wrote an interesting introduction to the topic this year, on Mashable: Students, Here’s How to Kick-Start Your Personal Brand Online. I would be interested to hear of examples from the UK.

23 Things “is a self-directed course aimed at introducing you to a range of tools that could help your personal and professional development…” It will help you learn more about the tools you should be helping your learners to exploit for their personal branding. What are the benefits of 23 Things? 

• Its free.
• Each week you will be given tasks, some practical some reflective, that give structure to your learning.
• There are opportunities to reflect on your own social media experiences.
• There is a network of support and fellow course members blog each week about their progress.
• It can be set up for any group or organisation using a blog.
• Participants can organise ‘Real-life networking: cpd23 meet-ups’ in different areas of the country.

If you don’t feel confident in helping learners with their personal branding, a course like 23 Things will give you the opportunity to try out the tools for real, to reflect on them and to share ideas with others in your field.

Anthony Beal is a JISC RSC eLearning adviser whose professional interests include digital literacy, information literacy and technology supported learning. He has worked closely with colleagues and tutors to develop information literacy skills workshops suitable for all levels of learners in the FE environment. During 2011 he developed interactive web tutorials as a guide to the SCONUL Seven Pillars of Information Literacy, Core Model for Higher Education at the University of Salford. In 2010 Anthony was awarded the CSG Information Literacy Practitioner of the Year Award.