Combining Your Personal Learning Network With Evernote

   In The Connected Educator, authors Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Lani Ritter Hall describe the term personal learning network as being one that is used interchangeably and often misunderstood. Personal learning network, along with other literary terms on professional learning communities, have been used in conjunction with one another so often that they have lost much of their meaning. I am in the process of expanding the quality of my PLN and have found that while doing so, it is important to fully understand the term. When using the acronym, it has been so easy for me to mistake the P for professional, when in fact personal is what differentiates it from other terms. This learning system is about you as an individual, and how you select your own set of connections as you pursue self-directed and independent learning experiences. It is all about you gathering information and sharing resources that enhance your personal and professional learning. This semester I have the opportunity to do this using my twitter account. I am looking forward to connecting with professionals in my intended field. Chapter two of this book not only addresses common language but also developing a connected learning model altogether.


An important step to becoming a professional and putting this to practice is to be organized. To do so you must develop a workspace. My attention has just been drawn to a great app that helps you do this, and also allows you to gather and share research. The app is called Evernote, and is designed for note-taking, organizing, and archiving. Chapter 6 of the book also lists this app as a useful tool for starting your PLN. "Choosing the right tool for the job is important". The Simplified Evernote Guide serves as a great introduction to the app because it includes tutorials that show you how to work certain features. Sharing your notes and collaborating with other individuals and groups using this app could be very essential to your personal learning network, and steps on how to use this feature is found in video 4. However, there are many more things you can learn to ensure that you are using this platform to its full potential. If you want to quickly master Evernote there are 10 Tricks that will help you do so. Some of these tips include using presentation mode and web clipper, but one that I find to be useful is the IFTTT action. This allows you  to back up all your tweets to Evernote, where you can later search through and share without having to scroll through a hundred pages. This app can be used to organize just about everything and is another great way to get started ! 

The Negative Impacts of Your Digital Footprint

          
        Where are you most likely to be every Thursday at 6pm? You might just be surprised at how fast a selfie can give away your location. Last Wednesday night Professor Calderwood introduced to us an app called Ready or Not, which shows you how somebody can find your physical location using your posts on social media. I never knew the importance of privacy settings until that day. It's scary how much hidden information your device can exchange with different apps and websites. A word of advice: TURN OFF YOUR LOCATION! Whether you are intentionally posting your whereabouts or not, data and information is attached to your posts and can easily be traced. It doesn't always take a mastermind to piece together bits of information that you've shared with the world to find your location. This trail left on the internet by anything with your name on it is called your Digital Footprint. This was all news to me, but it did not take long for me to learn how easily it can be managed.    
           11 Tips for Students To Mange Their Digital Footprints by Justin Boyle briefly defines digital footprint, what it consists of, and some easy ways to mange your privacy. This article suggests the use of the privacy settings. That is a very important step toward managing your digital footprint, just as Professor Calderwood also mentioned. Also, keep a list of accounts and delete the ones you are not using. I'm sure many of us still have our MySpace accounts that we have forgotten all about. It is also not a good idea to link different accounts to one another granting them access to other information. There has been many times where I have signed into a new app using my Facebook account. Again, not a good idea. This article provided many other helpful tips and even extreme measures you can take in order to manage your digital footprint. They are some of the best ways to protect your privacy and your future.
          Yes I said future. I would highly suggest all students watch this video on how young professionals can be effected by their Digital Baggage. I'm sure all students or any young adult, including myself, have that one dream job. The job that we have all spent 4+ years in school slaving for. It is crazy to think that even with a degree, the opportunity can be lost over those one or two drunk posts that may be degrading to our character. In this video in particular, while the young man is being interviewed the employer sees that his answers contradict the behavior he displays on Facebook, and it costs him the job. Another interesting article, 12 things students should never do on social media, explain ways to avoid this situation. This article pinpoints 12 social media mistakes that can potentially ruin your education and impact your career. Posting illegal activities, objectionable content from school computers, confidential information, and threatening violence are examples of unprofessional social media conduct. Students should also avoid slandering their teachers on social media or posting embarrassing photos of them."You never know which one of your professors will hold the keys to the next great internship or job announcement". The same goes for institutions or persons of authority in general, not just teachers.  Both articles contain extremely relevant information, not only for student, but for any person looking to expand the quality of their PLN.
    We were able to speak with Cameron Brenchley, who is the Vice President at Collaborative Communications Group, as I mentioned in my last blog. He discussed the advantages of LinkedIn for business and professional purposes. LinkedIn is a business-oriented networking service that is used to build your professional identity. He made this suggestion for any person looking to connect with professionals and discover business opportunities. I was actually required to make a LinkedIn account my freshman year of college, so I was able to appreciate Cameron's advice. Even looking at his LinkedIn account I was able to gain information about his profession and occupational history, which was a great example to learn from. I was impressed with his field of work, as well as his skills and experience. It was a pleasure hearing from him.
           Chapter 1 of Untangling the Web by Steve Dembo and Adam Bellow focuses on what is called curation tools. These tools are used to strategically share information through communication channels. The chapter lists three of these technology tools: Symbaloo, Diigo, and eduClipper. These are all tools that both students and teachers can use to share, collect, and organize information. You can bookmark and tag webpages straight from your mobile device. I am looking to incorporate these tools in my attempt to expand the quality of my PLN.   

Using Snapchat and Google as ways to Broadcast

     Wednesday night our class is expecting a visit from the Vice President at Collaborative Communications Group, Cameron Brenchley. I decided to do a little research to learn more about his profession. When visiting his twitter, I found an article that I thought was very interesting called 5 Reasons Your Organization Should be Paying Attention to Snapchat. The reason why I was drawn to his post is, as mentioned in the article, Snapchat has become a huge social media app that expanded over a short amount of time. I have been a Snapchat user for over a year, and I was interested to read about the apps future potential. According to this article Snapchat has only 100 million users but is delivering the same number of video clips a day as Facebook. As Snapchat continues to grow it is becoming increasingly appealing to advertisers as well as other professionals. After future modifications it could be used as a powerful tool for live broadcasting by organizations looking for new resources. The White House has even utilized the app to provide a way for people to engage with the government. It is evident Snapchat is another great network that can help expand the quality of your PLN.

 

       And speaking of live broadcasting! You can stream to a live audience through YouTube using Google Hangout. If you are not familiar with Google Hangout, it is a communication platform developed by Google which includes instant messaging, video chat, SMS and VOIP features. You can download the app on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. According to the article How To Use Google Hangout Broadcasts To Build Your Business, it ties in with Google+ not only to publicize your hangout, but to affect your search engine rankings too. Google Hangout has created the opportunity for you to become a TV producer, to interview celebrities, and to broadcast conferences during your profession, all without the expenses of actual equipment. This is another great resource that organizations can use as a tool to reach their audience. A current Doctorate student, Ashley Cross, who is also an educator in Tennessee, also touches on Google Hangout in her presentation on Google Tools. She discusses how Google Hangout can be used to connect with scientists, authors, and other educators and classes around the world. I recommend this presentation to anyone who is struggling with how to get started on Google Hangout. She provides a step by step tutorial for new users with Gmail accounts and explains how to use other useful google apps. These apps include google maps, google drive, google voice, and google reader. They are all effective ways to work collaboratively with others students and professionals.  

       Google has not only provided a way to broadcast live using Google Hangout, but has provided college students with support for connecting, learning, and sharing through Google+. A short presentation I watched called 31 Ways to Use G in Higher Education, highlights some very useful tips that college students can use in both their academic and social life. One thing that I have found to be difficult as a college student, is staying in constant communication with your colleagues and other professionals because of your busy schedule. It is sometimes a hit or miss. Google+ has made it easy to communicate on the go and even work with groups from home. You can also promote student groups and publicize different events that may benefit your entire campus. This has been an extremely informative presentation that I encourage not only college students to watch, but faculty, administration, and staff as well. Thank you for reading!

        

Introduction to twitter and blogging

           My name is Mariah Boone. I am a Stockton University graduate with my BA in Criminal Justice. I am currently in the process of applying for the social work masters program here at Stockton, and have chosen to take courses in the meantime to boost my grade point average. I want to pursue a career as either a juvenile probation officer or a clinical social worker, hence the two degrees in completely different fields. I am twenty two years old, but find myself to be old fashion and a little technologically challenged. I use network sites primarily for socializing so a lot of this is new for me, but I know this course will teach me how to connect with professionals and help prepare me for my career field.
            Chapter 6 has already began teaching me the importance of a personal learning network. It gives great tips on how to adapt to professional learning communities and deeper learning. The chapter explained how to get the most value out of who we choose to connect with. This has showed me how to build my networks through bloggers and twitter as a new user. Once you began following people of interest and gaining followers your relationships will grow and the network becomes more significant. It is important to nurture the network. It is also important to establish a sense of community and know the steps to developing a healthy community. Community and network connections are equally important and serve a great purpose when collaborated. Community members must have roles and responsibilities that evolve overtime, including leadership.
            An article by Steven Hughes discusses a great way to gain twitter followers. He begins with suggesting that as a new user, you choose a profile picture and post a short biography about yourself, which will make it easy for people to find and learn about you. You must be active on twitter and consistently tweet throughout your day in order to build followers and show that you are serious about connecting with professionals. Hughes mentions that you should follow people who are more likely to follow you back based on their followers to following ratio. Also in regards to that, you are more likely to receive a follow back from someone who shares the same interests as you. I can understand Hughes reasoning for that suggestion. Twitter will not be as much use to you if you do not find anything on your timeline interesting. You also want to communicate with your followers through mentions and retweets. I agree with all of his approaches when it comes to followers and these are all great ways to build a foundation on twitter.
           Utilizing twitter lists was an informative article for me. Even though I have a new twitter account that I intend on using for only professional purposes, I am not new to twitter. I have in fact had a twitter account for years and have never utilized twitter lists. Apparently viewing a list timeline will show you a stream of tweets from users on that list. This is a very useful feature when you have a large number of followers, as mentioned in the article. I found it helpful that the article included links to the twitter help center, as well as a YouTube tutorial on how to get started.  The author also referenced and included the link to another blog that discusses helpful tips to new twitter users.
               Another very useful resource on livebinder was the 100 perfect twitter accounts for teachers. Even though the twitter accounts were those of educators, it is a good start for any student to begin connecting with professionals. They were not just teachers, but authors, and professionals who focus on leadership. On the list were many technology coaches who could help those of us who are new to blogging and other networks. All of these articles can help us expand the quality of our PLN!