Sharing Yourself (Online)

profileAs a teacher trainer, one of the things I have trainees do many times, is to reflect on themselves, their personal qualities and their accomplishments. Just this little bit of reflection sets a teacher on more solid ground from which to progress.

You can do this many ways. Many times, I get teachers to write out a mini educational philosophy (see mine in this post). It could be a series of reflections like my Zen and the Act of Teaching.  However, I also think it good if teachers have the opportunity to share with others, “who they are” and online tools offer some great ways.

First, one caveat. Facebook is something I don’t recommend teacher’s using to share their online self. For many reasons but mostly for how complicated it is to control the flow of information on the site.  I know others might have a different opinion but that’s my feeling after using it extensively. Also, cluttered and “too active” for this sort of thing.

One basic way to share oneself online is for teachers to fill out a profile online. This could be something extensive by way of making a website (try weebly for this!). Here’s my own profile website. However, you can also do something quicker by filling out an online profile. Here are some options for this, with my own examples.

1. Google Profiles:  Probably the easiest and clearest. What doesn’t google do good?  Here’s mine , the process is easy. You just need a gmail/google account.

2. FlavorsMe: You get a full page to personalize and share your online self. My example.

3.  DooID:  Probably for those with a more serious online presence. Nice, well designed “badge” with contact details. Also, a nice password can be given to selected information so not everyone can see it. My example. Very similar to About.mehere’s my example page using it.

4. LinkedIn: This is an absolute must for anyone making ELT a career. Post your resume and connect with likeminded professionals. My example and also, join our ELT Professionals around the World group!

5. Who Hub – interesting variation and interview yourself by choosing the questions and answers. Here’s my in depth interview with myself!

6.  Other options: These offer a lot of different approaches to sharing yourself online.  Retagr / Card.ly / Gravatar / DandyID

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ddeubel

Teacher trainer, technology specialist, educational thinker...creator of EFL Classroom 2.0, a social networking site for thousands of EFL / ESL teachers and students around the world.

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