Creating Your Online Presence, Part 3

Last time, we talked about creating your own academic website. In this post, we'll talk about other options for creating and managing your online academic presence.

Academia.edu. Often called "Facebook for academics," Academia.edu allows you to post a profile that includes your C.V., publications, employment history, and many other features. It can be a nice way to have an online profile for academic colleagues to visit without creating awkward overlap between work and personal life (your hiring committee doesn't want or need to see those pictures of your last birthday party). You can get an account for free.

LinkedIn. Touting itself as the "World's Largest Professional Network," LinkedIn allows you to post many of the same elements as Academia.edu or Facebook: profile, picture, employment history, interests, skills, etc. 150+million members use LinkedIn, so having a profile could be a way for employers or colleagues to find you. You can get an account for free.

Facebook. If you really just want to use Facebook -- and really, in today's world, who doesn't use Facebook? -- make sure that your security and privacy settings are customized. Facebook has many options that will allow you to secure your profile and keep a professional online presence, such as options to create separate "lists" of friends with customized visibility settings (e.g., who can see your posts, photos, etc.). When you add professional contacts, keep them in their own list so that you can easily control what they are able to see. Like we said earlier: only your friends IRL need to see those party pics.

Twitter. If you're really into social media (or your field is quite technology-heavy, such as digital humanities), you might consider starting a Twitter account. If you're doing this for academic reasons, make sure that you have a professional @username: potential employers might not consider @funkycupcake* a scholarly persona. Keep your professional and your personal Twitter feeds separate, and as always, use discretion and common sense. The Chronicle of Higher Education has some stories about ill-judged or poorly-voiced tweets having disastrous effects on job searches.

*We apologize if that's a real username. We're sure you're really a nice person.

Creating Your Online Presence, Part 2

Last time, we showed you what you might want to put on an online C.V. Today, we'll walk you through how to create more elements for your own academic website. Up next: teaching materials!

It can be very useful to post some of your teaching materials on your website. This section can act as a sort of informal teaching portfolio, allowing visitors to get a sense of your teaching approaches and techniques. It can also be a wonderful resource for your fellow teachers, particularly if you have a great exercise or prompt to share.

Megan has arranged the "Teaching Materials" section of her website as a series of subdivisions, each with a descriptive title such as "Teaching Philosophy" or "Prompts." This makes the section tidy and easily navigable. Clicking on each link takes visitors to a new page.

While you may want to post other sorts of information here, what Megan has posted is fairly reflective of many teaching portfolios. Her teaching philosophy introduces her approach to teaching, and the syllabus, lesson plans, prompts, and class activities sections demonstrate how she translates that approach into actual student interaction. Finally, Megan also provides a selection of sample student evaluations that show how students have responded to her teaching. Taken together, these pages give a good idea of what a class taught by Megan might look like.

Now, let's take a closer look at these individual sections.

Teaching Philosophy. If you haven't already, consider writing a statement of your teaching philosophy. Virtually all academic employers require one, as do many teaching portfolio and certificate programs for university graduate students. The Chronicle of Higher Education offers some advice here, and you can view a sample teaching philosophy (from a Stanford student!) here. In general, a good teaching philosophy statement will:

• Be brief. Don't run on for eight pages about your inspirations from kindergarten up. Remember that most people who are reading this will read many, many others. Be kind to their eyes.
• Give examples. Don't rhapsodize in abstract platitudes about how your classroom is "student-centered." Give a good "hook" for readers to latch onto.
• Involve students. Don't get so focused on your teaching approaches that you forget to describe, at least briefly, how students have responded to these. If you're that amazing engaging totally fantabulous teacher whom that college just has to hire, show them why.

Syllabi. Posting syllabi can be a great way to demonstrate your teaching approaches more concretely than your teaching philosophy might. They can also reflect how you manage a semester/quarter and show off your mad planning skills.

Lesson Plans. Posting lesson plans can give visitors an idea of how you would manage a single class period and incorporate the approaches from your teaching philosophy in a concrete, interactive way.

Prompts. Being able to write clear, concise directions is invaluable. Demonstrate that you can clearly communicate your expectations to students by posting a few prompts or exercises.

Class Activities. Megan has posted a handout she made for students called "Zombie Grammar." Posting class activities you've created can show your engagement with your class and your response to student needs and wishes.

Sample Student Evaluations. You don't have to post all of your evaluations here, and nobody's expecting you to post that one from that student who thought, like, you totally robbed her of an A. Nevertheless, posting some selected evaluations can give visitors a sense of how students respond to your teaching.

Coming up: other online presences!

Creating Your Online Presence, Part 1

In the next few posts, we'll walk you through creating your own academic website. In the hyper-tech new media climate of today's job market, you want to create (and control) your online presence in a professional way. One of the easiest ways to do this is by setting up a personal academic website. Below, we'll show you how.

As an example, we'll use a site created by one of our own Writing Center consultants, Megan Stoner Morgan. There's a lot of information up there, but we'll break down what's important (and useful!) for you to have on your website. Think of your website as an online interactive C.V. You want people who search for you (networking connections, potential employers, etc.) to get a sense of who you are and what you do.

First of all, you'll have to figure out where to host your website. Unless you're loaded with cash, buying your own domain name is probably not feasible (or necessary), There are many free hosting services, such as Weebly, Moonfruit, and Google Sites, which is what our sample uses. When picking a provider, make sure that your service is reputable! The last thing you want to do is infect visitors to your site with viruses (or have your link perpetually cycle to an unknown website).

Once you've signed up with a host, you can get down to designing the front page, where visitors will stop first. Here's Megan's:

There are a couple of things to notice about this front page. First, it's relatively uncluttered, and the dark text on light background is easy for readers. Second, as the highlighting points out, Megan states her research interests and her current academic position, giving a sense of what she does. And finally, the picture gives visitors a face to put with the name and the description.

The tabs at the top also give readers a quick and easy way to find what they may be looking for. Megan's divided her website into pages like "C.V.," "Research Areas," and "Teaching Materials," all of which might be interesting to colleagues and/or potential hiring committees.