running head: online identity analysis of steven ......online identity analysis 2 takes a lot of...
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Running head: ONLINE IDENTITY ANALYSIS OF STEVEN AND HOPE
Online Identity Analysis
Mallory Lessasrd
Post University
EDU520: Digitally Mediated Teaching and Learning
Instructor Linda Kaiser
Online Identity Analysis 1
Steven and Hope
Creating a professional online identity takes time and effort. When wanting to showcase
one’s work and collaborate with others, one must create a professional space where the audience
can learn and connect with the author. Two educators that have a positive professional online
identity are Steven Anderson and Hope King.
Steven Anderson describes himself as a dad, learning evangelist, educator and author. He
has won many awards for his contribution in technology education and is an advocate for
incorporating technology in the classroom as well as the importance of collaboration among
teachers. Anderson runs his own website (www.web20classroom.org) where he has a blog that is
often updated to aid in the field of educational technology. Anderson is very active on Twitter
(@web20classroom) where he is a founder of the education chat, #edchat, where teachers across
the world can easily connect about diverse topics.
Hope King is an elementary educator that is currently teaching fifth and sixth graders at
the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, Georgia. She has been an educator since 2007, has taught a
few different grade levels, and has won awards including the Debra Deeds Excellence in
Teaching Award. King has her own website (www.elementaryshenanigans.com) where she has
an active blog and a store to share her teaching resources. King is also very active on Instagram
(@elementaryshenanigans) and Twitter (@hopekingteach).
Professional Online Identity
Anderson and King both are active online and have created a personal brand for
themselves. According to the Queens University of Charlotte North Carolina (2016), “You need
to be constantly cognizant to lead with your best foot forward and communicate strategically, so
anyone who views your profile will have the impression that you want them to have.” (para 8). It
Online Identity Analysis 2
takes a lot of time and effort to keep the audience engaged as well as being dependable and
consistent with the content that is published for one’s brand.
Steven Anderson
Steven Anderson runs his own website at www.web20classroom.org. Here is able to keep
his audience up to date on his upcoming speeches, current thoughts on his blog and information
on his current books and where to buy them. Anderson has a fun and quirky of himself on his
website, with his signature bowtie. The bowtie is part of his personal brand and can often be
found around his neck at his presentations.
(http://www.web20classroom.org/)
Anderson is most active with keeping his brand current by consistently posting on his
Twitter account. He is a co-author for the book The Relevant Educator:
How Connectedness Empowers Learning, and is an advocate for making connections and
networking among teachers. Therefore, he is often updating his Twitter account by posting
Online Identity Analysis 3
relevant publications about education and technology. Some of the post are from his blog while
others are from outside resources. The tweets and posts are all relative to the professional
identity he has created and does not question his personal brand or professionalism.
(https://twitter.com/web20classroom)
As it can be seen from his tweet one September 17, Anderson quotes how important it is
to be able to network with each other and create a network with connections and ideas about
education. Anderson is able to maintain his professional identity and passion of networking of
teachers by having these weekly education chats over Twitter. His hashtag (#edchat) can be
easily accessed and one can read many different topics about education.
Anderson also has a blog that can be accessed easily from his website and is often
hyperlinked on his Twitter accounts. According to Sue Waters’ post on why she blogs, she
reminds us that blogging is a great platform to reflect and add information that is personal and
creative. (Waters, 2015). Anderson has done this by using his blog as a source of reflection from
personal experience as well as research about educational technology.
Online Identity Analysis 4
(blog.web20classroom.org)
Here Anderson publishes a blog post about a personal experience he recently has with
hosting a professional development. He states that one the audience members fell asleep during
his presentation. Instead of keeping it a secret or pretending it never happens, Anderson takes
opportunity from the moment and reflects on why it happened and how it can be prevented in the
future. He was able to take a personal “failure” and make it a learning moment, in his own
words, in keeping with his professional image and educate others. What a great example of how
powerful one’s published blog can be.
Hope King
King is most active with her Twitter and Instagram accounts. Each tweet or post relates to
her professional life as a teacher, speaker, and resource creator. King has presented herself as an
enthusiastic educator like is enjoying teaching and wants others to be inspired to teach. As she is
an educator at the Ron Clark Academy, her posts are related to the school as well as her
Online Identity Analysis 5
excitement for learning. With pictures of classroom transformations or student work, King is
consistent with keeping her online identity professional.
(http://www.elementaryshenanigans.com/p/about-me.html)
Elementaryshenanigans.com is King’s website as well as her blog. Here she post
information about upcoming conferences where she will be speaking as well as information
directly from her classroom. As seen from the above picture, King’s website and blog are
consistent with a fun theme that feels like an elementary classroom. She maintains this colorful
theme throughout her website and her teacher store at Teacherspayteacher.com.
Online Identity Analysis 6
(https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Hope-King)
King’s website and blog haven’t been updated since August 10th, where she posted an
online contest. At first glance it might seem like she is trying to give her audience members a
reward but with further investigation one would see that King is part of a “loop” of bloggers.
This contest is a way to get her blog followers to follow other educational bloggers as well as
gain more followers. This is a tool to remember when wanting to gain more followers for a blog
to reach more people and open up the network of educators.
King is mostly active on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Some of the content overlaps
each other but it is all maintained in a professional setting and lets her brand of educator first.
Online Identity Analysis 7
(https://www.facebook.com/Hope-Kings-Elementary-Shenanigans-
818659184921054/?hc_ref=SEARCH&fref=nf)
From King’s professional Facebook page, she is able us use the “live” feature of
Facebook and takes blogging to new life. She is able to take a moment and use a live video to
showcase her reflections and information that she may have put down as a blog post. This may
be why her blog hasn’t been updated since August 10, but has a few posts from after the 10th.
Online Identity Analysis 8
(https://twitter.com/hopekingteach)
From King’s Twitter account she is able to keep a professional image current. She
follows the idea of networking and not only showcases her own personal work but other’s work
that one can use as inspiration. King’s Twitter and Facebook have some of the same posts to
ensure her ideas and work are showcased and seen. This is a good idea when thinking about
creating a professional online learning environment as it allows many different platforms to post
and publish information and allows the audience to “tune in” to the appropriate platform of their
choice. Hope also does a great job with creating those networks of educators and showcase
other’s work.
Online Identity Analysis 9
(https://www.instagram.com/elementaryshenanigans/)
King is also very active on Instagram. She tends to use Instagram to showcase a snapshot
of her classroom and personal teaching. Instagram is a great platform to showcase one’s work
because it allows the user to take a moment of time and post online. With the post, one can then
describe what is going on, use a hashtag to connect with others, and make a visual representation
of his or her own reflections and work. Instagram allows others to take a peek into one’s life and
King is able to use to continue with keeping her professional bran and identity online. It is
important to note that one can easily see what her students are learning and how she teaches
those students. It is also important to know that both King and Anderson both use the online
platforms to showcase the best of the best and when reflecting on using their practices one must
realize that only the good is shown versus the burn out days and failures.
Online Identity Analysis 10
Data
Both Anderson and King have respective websites, blogs, Twitter accounts and
Instagram. These will be the accounts that will be monitored for postings that are applicable to
each educator. Both websites will be visited for on updates and changes as well as the
effectiveness of branding themselves professionally. Twitter will be monitored and analyzed for
reasons why they tweet and if it continued to promote their professional identity that they each
have branded.
The data that will be collected and analyze what type of posts are published, if it is
personal or professional and what does the content relate to. A table will be created where
tracking of published posts will be collected and rated on how user friendly the content is as well
as professional. The table will also track how often they are each active online via their websites,
Twitter, blogs and Instagrams. Most importantly, the table will also track if the post continues to
be relevant to both Anderson and King’s current online identity.
Personal Learning Environment
If one was to use Anderson and King’s online professional presence as a guide, one
would be able to take away a few ideas on how to create a professional online identity. Both
educators are able to present current, up to date, relevant information for their audiences. Twitter
and Instagram are a social media platform where one can share his or her thoughts, reflections
and information quickly and efficiently. With the access of social media in the palm of one’s
hand, creating and analyzing one’s personal brand is easier than before. Also, one’s audience is
now specific and is chosen by the audience member. Following Anderson and King on social
media it is easy to see the keeping the audience engaged is important to keeping up with one’s
own brand.
Online Identity Analysis 11
Both educators also are able to show reflection and personal side that many may not be
able to showcase. If one can make a connection with the author or the blog or website, then one
may gain more from the post. For example, when Anderson introduces himself he often lables
himself a dad as well as author and educator. A small glimpse into one’s life gives the reader a
chance to make a connection and not only see the professional, business side of the author but
also the human side. King had a post about how she takes time to reflect and slow down to
ensure she doesn’t have a burn out that many educators experience. With these personal words
one can make a connection on a personal level as well as the business level.
When planning my own personal learning environment I will take away the idea of
keeping an up to date platform that is user friendly and accurate in information. I want my PLE
to be one where the highlight reel of my teaching and learning could be found and enjoyed. I
need to create a professional online identity within the social media platforms such as Twitter
and Instgram to easily catch the attention of my audience as well as make the network
connections that are vital. I will also take the time to reflect on my blog and create a space that is
enjoyable to read but useful in the education field.
Online Identity Analysis 12
References
King, H. (n.d.). Elementary Shenanigans. Retrieved September 03, 2016, from
http://www.elementaryshenanigans.com/
Queens University (2016) Managing Personal vs. Professional Identity on Social Media |
Queens University of Charlotte Online. Retrieved from:http://online.queens.edu/masters-in-
communication/resource/managing-personal-vs-professional-identity-on-social-media%20
Steven W. Anderson-Web20Classroom. (n.d.). Retrieved September 03, 2016, from
http://www.web20classroom.org/
Waters, S. (2015). Why I Blog (And How You Can Too). Retrieved September 18, 2016,
from https://www.theedublogger.com/2015/07/17/why-i-blog-and-how-you-can-too/