The tweet and the post...

All the social media/web 2.0 tools (blogs, wikis, facebook, twitter) can be overwhelming and simply daunting due to the fact that it is ever changing and there is just so much of it! However, I am very aware that all this 'technology stuff' is the stuff of our students and as a principal, the leader of a team, it is imperative that I know something about it, that I am somewhat literate in this milieu. Social media is here to stay, and it's not a matter of whether it is used in our schools, but how. Therefore, part of my personal learning this past year was focused on how to use social media effectively. I was inspired by members of my staff already engaged with social media, or moving in that direction; I also wanted to inspire, to be a role model to staff, through my own learning and risk taking.


The two areas of social media that I have dipped into are Twitter and blogging. When I heard about Twitter, I was a "nae sayer", a real skeptic. Why would I want to know what a celebrity, or any other individual for that matter, is doing in their life, in 140 characters or less? Not something that I wanted to be part of. My attitude changed however, when I went to a workshop for administrators, "The Digital Discovery Series", where I had the good fortune to hear what George Couras @gcouras had to say, and show, about social media. It was at this workshop where I was convinced it was time to investigate Twitter; I came to the recognition that Twitter is so much more than what I initially and mistakenly, understood it to be. And since that fateful evening in March, I have used Twitter as an educational tool, almost daily, to read articles and blogs, to watch youtube videos, to further my professional learning in the area of 21st century learning pedagogy, leadership strategies, and other topics of interest. It is professional development at my fingertips 24/7! It is through Twitter that I have embraced my own learning and developed my personal learning network (many of whom are administrators and teachers with the Surrey School district) which has provided 'non-exhaustive' educational information and has been incredibly inspirational. Twitter is helping me to continue to evolve as an educational leader. At our last professional development day for the year, I gave a workshop on Twitter, encouraging my staff to "tweet it out", and a number of the teaching staff have since joined! All of this in just five short months.

With blogging, posting has been slower. I had three objectives in mind with regard to "Why blog"? I liked the idea of being able to share some of my professional endeavours and journey via this social medium. Second, encourage teachers and thereby students, to blog---and indeed some staff and students are blogging (a few staff members already had blogs). Third, raise the profile of NSLC by addressing such questions as "What is a learning centre?","Who attends or can attend?", "What kinds of things happen in a learning centre?". My intention was to blog once a week. My first blog was posted April 1/12; 2nd blog, April 12/12 - a little more than a week, but not bad! However, I have not been able to meet my goal of once a week. I am now working toward blogging twice a month, which is more doable. In September, with the start of a new school year, perhaps blogging will come easier, and I will be able to post a good quality blog a little more frequently. Something definitely to work toward.