V & R Map:
What digital platforms are students currently using to develop their professional network?
Many programs at Uvic utilize digital platforms for students to gain the opportunity of developing their professional network to gain business/employment opportunities in the future. Currently, my program (Bachelor of Elementry Education) grants me the opportunity to expand my digital platform and build my teaching portfolio, thus, developing a positive reputation for future job acquisitions. My cohort and I have the opportunity to create this blog (WordPress) to display and promote our academic profile in a professional manner. At Uvic, business students are required to build a LinkedIn profile to start reaching out and building their social network. I believe that this is a great opportunity, however, I value having a blog more, as it showcases my educational portfolio, rather than just a resume of my experience. I also find LinkedIn rather challenging to use and reach out to new people. In addition to a WordPress blog, our program recommends using Twitter to follow other teachers and find communities to build our social network. I enjoy Twitter, however, I have not fully found the right way to use it, and hope it becomes a valuable tool in my future.
For future students, I believe that there are many digital platform opportunities online to help build a positive reputation and professional networks. One that many people are not aware of is Pick My Brain. The CEO wants to create a new version of LinkedIn, where people buy and sell knowledge and experience. One is able to form social networks and enter group discussion boards to exchange one-of-a-kind knowledge and personal experiences worldwide. This company is on the way to help people build a professional portfolio and form social networks while getting paid for their unique knowledge and experiences.
What can you (as a student) consider to expand your professional learning network?
In my current program (B.Ed), I want to continue to build my professional learning network to expand my resources and meet new people. I think as a start I want to continue to upload posts/assignments to my blog and showcase my student achievement for future employers. In addition to this, I would like to learn how to use Twitter, so I can expand my network and find educational/teacher communities to strengthen my teaching skills/network. I also recently downloaded Tik Tok and I find a lot of the Teacher Tik Tok boards to be very beneficial and helpful. They have loads of resources and fun games to encourage students to work together and give teachers a place to reach out and ask for guidance.
In your network, how can you create a digital identity/reputation?
Currently, my resources (Blog, Twitter, Pick My Brain) allow me to build a reputation that showcases my skills, portfolio, academic achievement, and my social network. My blog encourages a professional outlook and collects my information in a way that shows future employers who I am, what I am working on, and my passions. It allows me to share my information publicly and gives my audience an understanding of who I am, on my own terms. Therefore, my digital identity is being carefully dictated and planned to ensure my reputation remains professional for future job acquisitions. I get fairly timid to post personal information/opinions (due to my career path, and my digital identity) however, I believe that Twitter could be very resourceful in my future. I would be able to develop an educator’s identity and form a community of like-minded individuals. In addition to this, it would also allow me to stay connected and gather relevant information on current events. I also display multiple social media platforms on my V&R map and plan on making them private in the future, and ensuring the content that is presented is professional now and in the future.
Consider what a local employer would do if you applied for a job with them–can they search the content, is it of benefit to the career path, does it hinder the opportunity of employment?
I would assume, that they would search up my name and city to begin, and with that they would observe my blog and social media platforms. Fortunately, my blog is a document of my time at UVIC and is a display of my academia and teaching portfolio. It is created in a professional mannar and is used to help increase my opportunity of employment, therefore I want to keep it public to increase the chances of future employers reviewing it. My social media platforms will be targeted, however they are very professional and in the future I plan on making them all private to ensure my identity is relatively controlled and private. Tehrefore, as of right now I have no concerns reguarding my digital identity, if anything I need to create more places where employment opportunities can view my teaching portfolio and showcase who I am as an individual.
Overall, this week’s assignments and readings have shown me multiple digital platforms that I was not aware of, or ones that I forgot of entirely. I found the V&R mapping assignment to be very beneficial to understand my digital identity and gain insight into how a future employer would background check my information. I also discovered how limited my resources were for growing my professional network, and plan on researching other digital platforms to build my teaching portfolio and develop a positive reputation.
