The importance and seriousness of silly

Dean Shareski, Community manager

School, Library, or Organization Name: Discovery Education
 
Co-Presenter Name(s):
 
Area of the World from Which You Will Present: Fredricton, New Brunswick, Canada
 
Language in Which You Will Present:

English
 
Target Audience(s):

all
 
Short Session Description:
In this hour long session, we'll explore the importance and necessity of being social and the increasing blurring of professional and personal.
 
Full Session Description:

As the world and education in particular embrace social media, the question of how important the social aspect is remains quite divided. Many advocate using these spaces to learn and connect. How important is it to be vulnerable and occasionally silly? This is not something we'd typically find value with as proffesionals and is often what is criticized by those on the outside of these spaces. Many educators proudly seek to separate their personal and professional lives at the same time many are finding connections and opportunities as they present more and more of themselves openly and often using the trivial or frivolity of life as a way to build these relationships.

This session will take a look at how folks have intentionally used spaces like twitter, Facebook and their blogs to blur the lines of personal and professional and focus on how we attempt to show our real selves. It will include a variety of perspectives from 5 other people from various walks of education who are intentional about their identity and often blur the boundaries of professional and personal. In the end, it won't be about deciding which is better but it will hopefully explore the intentions, purpose and approach that a variety of educators have taken to maximize their use of social media
 
Websites / URLs Associated with Your Session:

http://shareski.ca

http://www.jabizraisdana.com/

http://timlauer.org/

http://budtheteacher.com

http://cribchronicles.com/about/

http://www.leekolbert.com/