A Personal Web Presence, or PWP can be likened to an online portfolio or resume. As technology is further implemented in education and school curriculum, I believe that it is important for educators to remain as professional as possible in their presence. The President of Sage Hill School, Gordon McNeil periodically posts to a blog hosted on the Sage Hill School website (http://www.sagehillschool.org/Blog?rc=0). This blog is a good example of a professional web presence that represents Mr. McNeill very well. I very much enjoy the wide array of subject matter that he discusses and how it affects the Sage Hill Community. I too would like to copy a variety of events and issues that affect the Sage Hill Campus but I will focus mainly on athletics issues and events. I also plan on posting a fair amount of pictures to accompany my posts.
Microblogging by using a tool such as twitter has been an interesting for me participate in, and I still have a lot to learn. Last spring I created the twitter account for @TrainerMeaghan. I use it along with a Facebook fan page to share scores, events, and funny things that happen in and around the Athletic Training Room (ATR). It has taken me some time to start using regularly and I hope to use it more in the future. I do have a few students and parents who ‘follow’ me.
I feel that emergency and very stressful injury situations are when I am in my “sweet spot.” I know that this role is where I am very strong and capable and am thankful that my employers recognize this in me. Fortunately I don’t have to be in emergency or stressful situations very often. People always ask me if I look forward to injuries happening? The short answer to this question is, no. Although I am at my best in those situations I never hope for a player to get hurt and feel pain.
If emergency/stressful situations are where I am at my best, I will admit that slow days where I should be getting ahead on tasks such as paperwork, I find that I am not as productive as I could be. This is where I need to work on my time management. Things are always going to come up but I need to work on staying on task with administrative tasks.
The Internet has had a strong impact on my own personal learning. There are so many tools available via the Internet to tell you how to do most anything. I will often times seek out taping procedures or rehabilitation protocols on YouTube to make sure that I am preforming a skill appropriately. I often check sites that apply to my vocation such as the rule books for CIF, the county board of health, and the NATA website. Personally I follow a few dozen blogs that have to do with cooking and food, I haven’t made a habit like this professionally yet as I find too much information seeking can be a distraction. If I have time to work on my computer at work, I generally need to be getting something done and not searching the Internet. Occasionally I will eat my lunch at my desk and will spend that time browsing the web for information on current issues I am facing. Overall I think technology enhances the learning experiences and has great benefits. I do think that the learner has to use caution because not all sources on the Internet are credible or share correct information.
I have recently opened a Pearltree account to organize information that I find interesting and necessary for this blog to be successful. I have not yet created a lot of branches, but need to immerse myself further into the technology to have a better understanding of how it works and how it can further benefit me.