Running head: An Examination of the Digital Media Use of Jennifer and Patrice

An Examination of the Digital Media Use of Jennifer and Patrice

[Student Name Removed]
Post University
EDU520: Digitally Mediated Teaching and Learning
Instructor Linda Kaiser

An Examination of the Digital Media Use of Jennifer and Patrice

An Examination of the Digital Media Use of Jennifer and Patrice

Branding is an important component to any professionals digital presence. It is how a person is
presented to the world and how prospective employers and students alike research and judge ones
credibility. Dorie Clark wrote in HR Magazine (Clark, 2016) that your brand is just another word for
your reputationIts about understanding how people perceive you and making sure that picture
accurately reflects your talents (p 3). Teachers of English as a second or foreign language are
increasingly using sophisticated technology to both brand themselves online and to provide quality
education to students. It is of utmost importance to their careers and credibility that they present
themselves in a certain way online in order to maintain a professional digital presence. The Web has
become such an integral part of everyday life and technology gives language educators a powerful tool
with which to teach; in fact, Technology affords opportunities to educators to explore ways to use
these tools to help students learn at multiple levels - from informal to formal activities, lessons, and
assessments (Kovalik, Kuo, Cummins, Dipzinski, Joseph, and Laskey, 2014, p 5). Two language
education professionals were chosen as subjects for this paper, Jennifer MacDonald and Patrice Palmer,
and are exemplary models of how educators should digitally represent themselves. Their online activity
will be surveyed, stored, and analyzed below in order to aid in the construction of a Personal Learning
Environment that is both appropriate and professional.
The Subjects introduced below were chosen because of their exemplary online presence and
because they both utilize social media sites and other web resources with great agility and effectiveness.
They have ample experience as educators and have both been published. They promote themselves
online in a professional manner and post content relevant to their professions. They are proficient in
using digital media, maintain an exemplary online presence, and are outstanding examples of how
educators should represent themselves online.

An Examination of the Digital Media Use of Jennifer and Patrice

Method
This paper examines the digital habits of two professionals in the field of English language
education. Their most heavily used websites are analyzed for their content and theme. Their Linkedin
profiles are reviewed to determine the kind of information given and how they use the tool to network
with other professionals. Their Twitter accounts are analyzed for their content to determine in what way
and for what purpose they tweet. Examples are chosen based on how well they align with the narrative
of their online identity and how it contributes to their online branding. Their websites are reviewed for
their set up and presentation, and the content of their sites is gone over to conclude how well they use
their websites to promote themselves electronically.
The examples provided below were gathered in a separate document for each professional and
then analyzed to help support the theme of branding and professionality. The best of the examples were
chosen and presented within an appropriate section of this paper to help support the story of each
professionals digital presence.
Online Profile of Jennifer MacDonald
Jennifer MacDonald teaches English as a Second Language (ESL) at Dalhousie University in
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. For the last 13 years, Jennifer has been working as an English-language
teacher to speakers of other languages and spent nearly two and a half years teaching English in Spain,
Argentina, and Slovakia. She has been working as Head ESL Teacher at Dalhousie University for over
three years and has taught English as a Second Language, Business English, and English for Academic
Purposes. She uses digital media adeptly to promote herself as an educator and a linguist online. She
uses sites like Linkedin, Twitter, and Wordpress to promote her seminars, publications, and podcasts,
and as a tool to document her own learning. She has her own webpage on which she provides basic
background information on herself and a few links to materials she has produced. An examination of

An Examination of the Digital Media Use of Jennifer and Patrice

Jennifers social media sites is below, along with examples to demonstrate how she expertly brands
herself as a professional language educator and linguist online.
Linkedin

(https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-macdonald-32183876)
She uses Linkedin as a digital resume, highlighting her experience, accomplishments, and
publications. She lists the professional groups she belongs to but fails to provide links to the sites that
host her content. She only has 45 connections and does not appear to use Linkedin for more than a tool
to promote her professional experience and expertise. She belongs to only one group and one school, the
one for which she works, which is an example of little she uses this tool. In comparison to her Twitter
account, her Linkedin presence is singularly focused.
Twitter
Jennifer is a voracious user of Twitter. She has 1,544 Tweets and over 690 followers. In all of
her tweets she maintains an air of professionality and uses Twitter as a platform to promote herself as a
language educator and a linguist. It is difficult to tell where the line is between educator and linguist, but

An Examination of the Digital Media Use of Jennifer and Patrice

I think the line is naturally blurred as one informs and contributes to the other. Take, for example, her
most recent tweet, which is actually a retweet of an NPR article on language use by Millennials.

(Sheidlower, 2016)
In this tweet she is posting a link to an article about language use, but it can also be used in the
classroom as a tool to teach her students about modern use of English with commentary on how it is
viewed in American society.
She also uses twitter as a platform to promote her career as an educator by tweeting pictures of
the conferences and presentation she attends that are relevant to her career. Take, for example, the
following tweet.

An Examination of the Digital Media Use of Jennifer and Patrice

(MacDonald, 2016)
She has hundreds of tweets from various events at which she is sharpening her skills as a professional
language teacher. Because she works as the Head ESL teacher in her department, it is imperative that
she share her experiences with her staff in order to promote continuing education, but she is also
branding herself online in an effective and professional way. Anyone viewing her Twitter account
immediately understands how seriously she takes her profession and how committed she is to her career.
Wordpress

(https://jenmacdonald.wordpress.com/)

An Examination of the Digital Media Use of Jennifer and Patrice

Jennifer uses Wordpress quite well. The layout of her page is logical and has very few
embellishments that could take away from the content of the page. What it lacks in stimulating visuals, it
more than makes up for in its content. She includes a categorized list of links to all of her blog posts and
even includes a feature to allow users to receive them in their email inbox. She even includes a link to
her Twitter account and an option to follow her directly from her blog page. She blogs about all things
relating to language, from why the International Phonetic Alphabet should be learned by all language
teachers

An Examination of the Digital Media Use of Jennifer and Patrice

(MacDonald, 2015)
to an examination of dad jokes

(MacDonald, 2016)
Even her playful blog posts are professional and offer an academic analysis of a fun topic. Jennifer is a
consummate professional and a stellar example of a peer I would like to emulate.
Online Profile of Patrice Palmer
Patrice Palmer has been teaching English to speaker of other languages for over 20 years, seven
of which were spent teaching in Hong Kong. She has since opened her own business called Global
Training, Coaching and Development of Educators and has been running it for nearly two years. She has
successfully transitioned from teaching to consulting and is continuously developing an online brand
that is both professional and educational. She is a phenomenal example of a highly experienced educator

An Examination of the Digital Media Use of Jennifer and Patrice

with a diverse background and a leader in the field of language education She uses Linkedin, Twitter,
Google+, Facebook, Pinterest, and various blogs, but only her Linkedin, Twitter, and personal blog sites
are going to be analyzed to determine how she uses them to brand herself digitally.
Linkedin

(https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricepalmer1)
Patrices Linkedin page is complete, which does not capture how much information she provides
on her site. It is a little overwhelming trying to make sense of it all, but it presents a clear picture of how
much of a professional she is and how much experience she has teaching English and developing other
English teachers. She uses the site as a networking tool and has over 500 connections. Along with her
previous experience, she includes a recommendation for each position she held, which increases her
credibility as a professional.

An Examination of the Digital Media Use of Jennifer and Patrice

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She uses Linkedin as a tool to blog and includes links to her various posts. She lists all of her certifications,
work experience, education, and a link to her Twitter account. Her use of Linkedin is an excellent example
of how a leader in the field of education uses digital media to brand themselves appropriately online.
Twitter
In the examination of Jennifer MacDonald, she was described as a voracious user of Twitter. That
term more appropriately applies to Patrice, as she has 4,984 tweets, a base of followers that number 2,644,
and weekly posts pertaining to the teaching of English to speaker of other languages. She uses Twitter as
a platform to communicate lessons and tips to other teachers in order to help them become better teachers
and to have a more professional classroom presence. In the following tweet, for example, she provides
new teachers with a resource guide to surviving in the ESL classroom.

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(Palmer, 2016)
Content like this comes directly from her own blog, which is content that she develops for use by other
educators. It is difficult to count the number of tweets she posts every day, many of them dedicated to
helping teachers become better professionals. This site clearly demonstrates her commitment to her
profession and she uses it deftly to brand herself online.

Mykajabi

(https://patrice-palmer.mykajabi.com/blog)
Patrices web site is where she does most of her blogging and where she posts the content she
creates for educators. It is clearly laid out in a logical manner that does not overstimulate. It is clean and
easy to understand and navigate. She makes it simple for her visitors to find what they need and to use her
site. She provides information about herself and her background, the presentations and workshops she has
given, and access to her blog. She blogs about things that are relevant to educators and offers her support

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and expertise without charge. She uses a lot of visuals in her blog posts to keep things interesting for the
reader. Take, for example, the blog post below in which she offers suggestions and advice for English
language teachers that are just starting their careers. She uses two visuals, both of which are appropriate
to the content and are a visually appealing.

(Palmer, 2016)
Patrice expertly uses digital media to broaden her online presence and to brand herself as a wellrespected and consummately professional leader in her field.

Discussion
Jennifer and Patrice are fantastic examples of professionals in the field of English language
education that represent and brand themselves in an exemplary way online. Their examples provide an
ideal template to follow when constructing an online presence, especially for language educators that are
just getting started. They both demonstrate through their use of digital media the power that it holds in
todays world. They both use their sites to promote learning and education and use them as platforms to
brand themselves as professionals in their field. Jennifer and Patrice both use their websites to blog

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about relevant topics to language education and linguists, but Patrice uses hers as a tool to directly help
language teachers that are just starting out, which is why she was chosen as the superior and Jennifer
was chosen as the peer. Jennifer could use more social media sites to promote herself online, as Patrice
does, but she has not yet reached Patrices level in her career. Their online presence will be used in the
creation of an online Personal Learning Environment by providing examples of the kind of content that
professional educators provide and the tone that they maintain in their posts. They demonstrate that
using visuals in a blog is a great way to capture interest, whereas relevant and well-written content is a
great way to maintain it. In all, their digital presence is exemplary and provides direction for anyone just
getting started in the world of digital media.

An Examination of the Digital Media Use of Jennifer and Patrice

References
Clark, D. (2016, May). Brand Yourself: How to showcase your skills as an HR professional. HR
Magazine,
61(4), 30-31.
Kovalik, C. c., Kuo, C., Cummins, M., Dipzinski, E., Joseph, P., & Laskey, S. (2014). Implementing
web &
2.0 tools in the classroom: Four teachers' accounts. Techtrends: Linking Research Practice To
Improve Learning, 58(5), 90-94. doi:10.1007/s11528-014-0790-1
MacDonald, J. [JenMac_ESL]. (2016, April 29). Preparing English Language Learners for success
back home. Hideyo Kawashima #AWELL16 [Tweet]. Retrieved from
https://twitter.com/JenMac_ESL/media
MacDonald, J. (2015, September 12). Re: Why All (Serious) English Teachers Should Know the IPA
[Blog post]. Retrieved at https://jenmacdonald.wordpress.com/2015/09/12/why-all-serious-englishteachers-should-know-the-ipa/
MacDonald, J. (2016, January 18). Re: The Joy of Dad Jokes [Blog Post]. Retrieved at
https://jenmacdonald.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/the-joy-of-dad-jokes/
Palmer, P. [eltwisdom]. (2016, May 15). A-Z Guide: How to Surive & Thrive as a New #ESL teacher.
Download at https://patrice-palmer.mykajabi.com/ [Tweet]. Retrieved from
https://twitter.com/eltwisdom
Palmer, P. (2016). Re: How to Survive and Thrive as a New English Language Teacher

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An Examination of the Digital Media Use of Jennifer and Patrice

[Blog post]. Retrieved from https://patrice-palmer.mykajabi.com/blog/how-to-survive-andthrive-as-a-new-english-language-teacher
Sheidlower, J. [jessesheidlowe]. (2016, May 24). "Make the English language great again!"
@GeoffNunberg on @NPR slams olds irked by millennial speech [Tweet]. Retrieved from
https://twitter.com/JenMac_ESL

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