Developing a Successful Cyber Image (Part 3)

A school website is only one way that schools can have a presence on the Internet and create a cyber-image. Many schools are now tweeting. Twitter can be used to share information that you want the world to know about your school such as sports scores and event announcements. Facebook is another powerful tool to reach an attended audience. Unlike Twitter that limits messages to 140 characters, Facebook allows for easy aggregation of all your posts on the school’s Facebook site. It’s a great place to store photos, list events, and share all the wonderful happenings and news from school. A school’s Facebook page can greatly facilitate a sense of community amongst its members. Some schools also have a school wiki and a school blog.

At the ACEL National Conference in 2011, Professor Michael Hough provided a workshop that dealt with the concept of cyber images. Hough makes the distinction between two types of school cyber image. The formal image includes the school’s official presence on the web through items such as school website, Twitter, Facebook, blog, and wikis. The school’s informal cyber image is created by student, staff, and parent comments on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, and Second Life.

There is a definite trend toward a greater school presence on the web and this growing presence is influencing schools’ cyber image. Hough explores the question if this trend is good or bad from two different perspectives. The pessimist’s view for taking action is based on, “It is happening and I don’t like it, but we had better be prepared”. The optimist’s view is, “All this extra interest and exposure of schools is great and it gives us the opportunity to show the world what a good job we are doing”. The pessimist can immediately see all the reasons why an idea won’t work, however the optimist will look at an idea has having promise and wonder how he/she can get it to work in their school.

References

Hough, M., Cyber Images, ACEL National Conference 2011, retrieved from http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=creating%20a%20successful%20cyber%20image%20for%20schools&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CB8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.acel.org.au%2Fascd%2F2011confpres%2F6%2520Oct%2520Thu%2F1510%2F2011-10-06%25201510%2520ACEL%2520Conf%2520Hough.pptx&ei=PAuEUM2GBIb20gGs4ICoAw&usg=AFQjCNHAZZXL5m7uKe1XsbOhLsk39Rv52A on October 20^th, 2012.