Faculty and Digital Presences

EDUCAUSE LEARNING INITIATIVE | NOVEMBER 2017

As social media tools and practices have evolved into being a part of the fabric of scholarship and higher education, the opportunities and benefits to faculty of creating and maintaining an online presence have increased. The resources below explore the ways in which academics can use their online personas to cultivate more and better relationships, further their teaching and research, and remain current with relevant technologies.

Why Academics Need a Digital Persona (2017)

This article provides a concise articulation of the ways in which social presence has become an unavoidable part of the lives of most people, including faculty. Applications and expectations are changing, and to be effective, academics should actively maintain their digital personas. This article includes provocative questions and links to useful resources.

How Do Professors and Students Use Twitter? (2016)

This video provides a visual summary of a 2016 study, “Scholars in an Increasingly Digital and Open World: How Do Education Professors and Students Use Twitter?” The research looked into the ways Twitter has been used by instructors and graduate students, identifying the connections across those tweets and the influence of these technologies.

Being a Digital Academic (2016)

This post defines what it means to be an academic in today’s digital age, including the opportunities for being digitally engaged as an academic, such as greater exposure and more collaboration. It includes a link to a Digital Identity Health Check, which features tips on how to manage one’s scholarly presence and reputation in the digital world.

How to Curate Your Digital Identity as an Academic (2015)

This article offers an outline of four concrete steps for academics to forge and maintain online identities. The author contends that in today’s world, instructors will have an online presence whether they want one or not, and so it is far better to take control of an curate that identity than to let others and the tools of the Internet do it for you.

Investing in Online Scholarly Presence (2016)

This resource from Michigan State University is designed to help graduate students and faculty use tools to build online identities, including digital portfolios and projects. Included is a short video outlining the need and value of an online presence, particularly with respect to the level of exposure and visibility associated with digital personas for academics.

Branding Yourself as an Academic (2017)

Written by an academic, this article argues that, despite the tendency in much of higher education to see the term as a dirty word, branding is in fact an important part of being an academic in today’s world. She makes the case that many high-profile academics have long been known through their brands, spelling out the ways in which intentional branding can bring various benefits to instructors.

Three Personal Branding Secrets for Academics (2013)

This blog offers three tips for academics to capitalize on social media to build a personal brand. The advice includes writing a blog about one’s academic discipline, making connections on Twitter with both colleagues and students, and sharing recorded lectures on YouTube.

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