Do blogs help or hinder job prospects?

I was intrgued by this posting by Steve Poling, a principal at DeGrazia Elementary School in Arizona.  He asked the question, “Is it a risk to put yourself out there in a blog?”

I had a conversation with a principal today about starting a blog.  In the conversation, we agreed that blogging is one way for a principal to help set the culture of the school.  Writing a blog with thoughts about the school and leadership communicates ideas in a way that a personal presentation or monthly newsletter cannot. 

And, I think blogging is a way for a person to share who they are – their beliefs, their ideas, their thoughts and dreams.   If postings deal with ones beliefs, ideas, thoughts and dreams, then I think it can only enhance future job prospects.  I would hope that people today who are hiring educators in a variety of positions would consider it a plus for a person to have a blog.

On the converse, let’s say an employer reads a possible job applicant’s blog and doesn’t like what he reads?  In all jobs, we often talk about a “fit” for the job and the applicant.  If the potential employer does not like the applicant’s blog, then the job is not the right fit.

I think a blog is one way of showing a potential employer more about who you are as a person than a resume or letter of application or letters of recommendation.

21st century school with a library!

I have begun looking at “21st Century Schools” and those that have libraries and/or credentialed school librarians.  I’m happy to report that the Science Leadership Academy in Pennsylvania is one such school!  Paul Scaer is the Information Specialist/Librarian at the school.  He says in an email: 

“We are following the ideas of School 2.0 and the philosophy of our principal, Chris Lehman, to make reading and project-oriented research a major part of all courses.  I’m using Edward Tufte’s ideas (see Beautiful Evidence) and working with students in collaboration with teachers to increase the writing and information fluency of our kids.”

Here is a picture of Paul in his library that he emailed me.  Very refreshing and forward thinking.  No doubt the kids in this school will have tremendous benefits from having a credentialed librarian and a library!   Here is a picture of the library!

Students discuss the web and libraries

CNET News covered the Sun Microsystems Worldwide Education and Research Conference this past week.  One of the most popular sessions was one with college students discussing the web, networking and libraries.  An interesting statement as reported in the article was:

“Despite the fears that kids are leaving permanent digital footprints when they post personal information online, college students think it would be even weirder if someone didn’t exist on the Web.  It would concern me about their ability to use the computer. I haven’t encountered something like that. Everyone in my generation (is) somehow, someway on the Internet,” said Lorrie Ma, a 23-year-old junior in the undergraduate programs of mechanical engineering and marketing at Santa Clara University in Silicon Valley. ”

The panel of college students echoed what many of the web 2.0 prophets have been saying about access to social networking sites:

“One of the strongest messages for educators from the two students was that universities shouldn’t try to restrict access to online information and social-networking sites like MySpace or Facebook. Rather, universities should educate kids on the positives and negatives of those sites and offer best practices for Internet use.”

They also talked about what should be in college libraries:

“When it came to the subject of libraries, Shirazi and Ma said that digitization of books would be most useful to students. That’s because the library is largely an outpost for students to study or use the Internet to get PDF data for schoolwork, rather than a place to check out books.”

 Always good to hear from the students!  Blogger Ted Dodds also shared his thoughts about this presentation.

Web 2.0 trio

A great series of videos on YouTube for any professional development program showing how technology is changing education and library services.

Just had to link these three YouTube presentations together:

• Book 2.0 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRjVeRbhtRU
• Web 2.0 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE
• Librarian 2.0 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZblrRs3fkSU

Book 2.0 in ancient times

Many people have shared the Web 2.0 Youtube video entitled “Web 2.0…the Machine is Us/ing Us“.   

After sharing this with others, one person sent one back to me.  But before you view this next video, it is important for you to be in the right mindset for viewing…

Let’s go back in time.  Imagine you were living over 2000 years ago and that you were a monk who spent much of his time copying important text onto scrolls and then making sure they were properly stored.   Perhaps you lived in Alexandria, Egypt and spent time storing the scrolls in the Library of Alexandria. 

 Now, within this context, imagine you saw – for the first time – this new technology called a “book!”   Would you know how to operate it?  Would you have to call the “helpdesk?”  See this YouTube video for guidance.  “Introducing the Book.”