EC&I 831: Social Media, Networked Learning & Digital Identity

After watching this video, it made me think again about my own digital identity and how "open" I've been in this digital world.  Personally, I think these past few weeks I've been a visitor rather than a resident in my own digital identity.  There are so many other "factors" that take part in my journey (classes coming to a quick end very soon, work becoming more hectic, Thanksgiving break, being on a "personal" vacation), but I feel that I really need to step it up and really make that effort to become part of this network of learning because it will be so valuable in the future when I do have my own classroom!

Now, looking at how I want to become an "open educator", I've been planning ahead in my educational and professional development on making sure I am a resident even after this class is over (in less than 3 weeks! YIKES!).  Personally, I think it is going to take a lot of self-motivation, especially with Christmas break coming up, to maintain my routine of checking up on TweetDeck, Blogging, Bookmarking on Diigo, etc. but I really do not want to lose my Digital Identity with the people I've connected with building our PLN's.  Some of my plans are to:

• Keep up with Twitter--I was VERY hesitant at the beginning of our journey, but have caught the Twitter bug!  After this class is over, I plan to keep up with the resources of #ipadchat, #ntchat, & #edchat, but I hope to find more "hashtag groups" to follow that are of personal interests like cooking!
• Maintain my personal blog--It's been hard to find the time, but I hope to update my blog and document my personal journey!

 Some points from the EC&I video that I found interesting:

• The Flicker idea of sharing a picture every day.  I LOVE to take pictures and hope that Santa brings me my Canon T3i that I am wishing for this year!!  One of my friends on facebook made a New Year's resolution to post a picture every week, so hopefully I can do something similar to the two ideas!
• Google: Our new business card-- I've googled myself in the past and have found it interesting to see what is shared on the internet!  I've seen my LinkedIN profile as well as my facebook and myspace on my google search.  I also found a few pictures of myself in the image section!  At first, it seems a little scary to know how easy it is to find someone on the Internet, but I see it as, as long as you don't share your entire life story on facebook, or other social networks, it is a part of the process of being a resident and putting yourself out there "professionally".
• What makes a PLN?  Not just the tools but more of the people behind it.  I hope that I don't lose that connection I've built within Twitter, blogging, EDUC 578, etc after this class is over!

"Open Education is the simple and powerful idea that the world's knowledge is a public good and that technology in general and the Worldwide Web in particular provide an extraordinary opportunity for everyone to share, use, and reuse knowledge" 

(William & Flora Hewlett Foundation)

To view the EC&I 831 Open classroom, check out their website at: http://eci831.ca/