e-Rambler » Ask the readers

Ask the readers: How do you protect yourself online?

Jez — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:06:46 +0000

In my last post, Privacy, identity and control on the web, I talked about about how important it can be to take control of your online presence.

But I got to thinking: What do you do to protect your privacy and/or identity on Facebook, Twitter or the rest of the web?

Please share your thoughts by posting a comment below, or by writing a post on your own blog and linking to this one — a link will automagically appear below.

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Ask the readers: do you keep a portfolio?

Jez — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:21:02 +0000

Room 800: Police Evidence Room by Sam Teigen

One of my favourite posts so far has been my first Ask the Readers post, so I’ve decided it’s time to continue the series with another request for ideas. I’ve written before about how I kept a digital portfolio as part of my Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education qualification. It’s something that I learned a lot from, particularly in conjunction with learning about learning, and I’ve continued the reflective ethos of that portfolio here on the blog.

But as I’ve come to the end of my current stint of volunteering at the National Trust (on which more in a later post), I’ve been feeling that I want something a bit more than just the shouting into the void that I do here.

I have two difficult tasks ahead:

Find a challenging and rewarding job in a very competitive marketplace;
Continue to learn and grow outside the structures of formal education.

What I really want, then, is somewhere I can:

Continue to reflect and learn, even when said reflections aren’t suitable for public consumption;
Gather a base of evidence for my skills, to draw on when applying for jobs, and to identify gaps for me to work on;
Access online, from work, home, conferences, etc.;
Keep private but make available to individuals for PDRs, professional qualifications, etc.;
Retain control of and keep regular backups of (this stuff’s valuable).

It seems to me like it’s time to resurrect a full portfolio, but as I’m new to this I thought I’d ask for some advice. My question to you is this: Do you keep a professional portfolio and if so, what are your top tips for doing so?

To get the ball rolling, this is where I am at the moment:

I’ve set up a new blog on my trusty self-hosted WordPress MU installation;
For advice I have this advice from the University of Sheffield careers service, the course guide from the PCHE and my other half’s copy of Building Your Portfolio (aimed at qualified librarians seeking chartership).

I look forward to reading your comments and I’ll be sure to summarise them in a blog post next month and continue to keep you informed about my progress.

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Reader poll: how do you follow blogs?

Jez — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:40:14 +0000

I have several reasons for writing this post. Chief among them is curiosity: I like pulling the universe to bits and poking it to see what happens, and I’m genuinely interested in finding out how readers of this blog actually keep up to date with the blogosphere. Second, I’ve spent a lot of time in academia, where evidence is a key part of life; I’m aware that a lot of what I say on here is just my opinion so it’ll be nice to make a change to that (self-selecting samples aside). Third, it’s useful from a promotion perspective to know how people are getting here: Feedburner and Google Analytics stats only tell part of the story. Finally, the PollDaddy plugin for WordPress has been around for a while now and I really want to try it out.

So, without further ado, here’s my first reader poll:

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Social networking poll

Ask the readers: Why use technology in teaching?

Jez — Sat, 30 May 2009 08:10:30 +0000

Today I have a challenge for you, dear reader; but first a little context.

Each year, the PCHE course has a couple of special interest sessions: optional workshops to look at issues related to learning and teaching in HE.

For a number of years this has included a session on blended learning, run by previous PCHE graduate AC. This year I offered him my assistance, little knowing that he would soon be offered a new job leaving me with an opportunity to lead the whole session.

So, that session is next Wednesday, and as well as selling the use of technology in teaching, I’d also like to demonstrate it’s use for professional development; this ties in nicely with themes of reflective practice and social learning.

To that end, I would like to ask you, the readers, to take a few seconds to answer the following question:

What is your top reason for using technology in teaching?

To start the ball rolling, here’s one from me:

To make courses interesting, we should make use of a wide variety of different media, particularly those with which our students are fluent.

Please leave your answer in the comment section, or tweet me. I’ll summarise the responses on the blog next week, and they’ll also help me persuade a group of keen, talented new teachers to make more use of elearning.

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