Lee Davies

I wrote the following piece for the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering.  It appeared on the discussion forum and attracted some considered responses, but plumbers (or certainly those who are members of CIPHE) are not renown for participation in online networks.  I thought I would repeat it here because I suspect a lot of the sentiments will resonate with other professional bodies and membership organisations.  Please feel free to comment here, tweet this post or continue the discussion on Facebook.

“We may see ourselves as unique and special, but CIPHE is not the only professional body representing a vocational occupation.

It is interesting to reflect back on the very reason professional bodies exist.  It certainly isn’t for the ‘benefits’ of membership that seem to be a priority for members now.  Professional bodies exist because professionals feel the need to be united through their shared sense of identity – this identity usually includes a shared set of beliefs or values in the profession itself (‘standards’ in the modern age), a desire for professional esteem or status (post-nominals, or ‘letters after my name’) and the opportunity to influence. (more…)

Tweet

Let me get one thing clear right from the start.  This is not about PowerPoint, though I will mention it from time to time.  I use PowerPoint a lot, because it is simple and allows me to achieve the effects I want to enhance my presentations.  But I could equally use a range of digital images in a slideshow or an alternative to PowerPoint such as Prezi, BrinkPad, Adobe Presenter, Preezo, Google Docs or PreZentit.  Yup, there are that many and a whole lot more.  I’m not going to compare and contrast the alternatives here, you can readily do this online and this Mashable article isn’t a bad place to start.

Right – that’s the techie stuff put to bed.  How often have you heard the muttering “oh no, death by PowerPoint” at the start of a presentation, even when the presentation medium isn’t PowerPoint?  It is, however, a criticism of the style of presentation not the choice of medium – when PowerPoint is used as little more than a visible autocue.  Sadly, however, it has become synonymous with the software and will often be chanted before giving the presenter a chance.  I have someone particular in mind at this point, an individual who always mutters this phrase but who couldn’t give a presentation if his life depended on it, PowerPoint or no PowerPoint.

I know I am not a bad presenter; I get enough positive feedback to know that I must be doing something right.  I suspect it is the teacher in me (or the performer).  (more…)

It is often overlooked, but the ‘icon’ can be the most powerful element of organisational participation in social media.  Think about it.  Most organisational logos are designed for the big, bad world of reality.  They leap out from posters, shop fronts, 52” television screens, etc.  But when we create that Facebook profile they are shrunk to a size approximately 5cm square.  Then there is the thumbnail, an image taken from the profile picture that is effectively the organisations online brand in every post or comment made.  Facebook automatically shrinks and crops profile pictures to create the thumbnail 1.25cm square.

Yup, that’s right.  Your online brand identity needs to be clearly defined in an area 1.25cm X 1.25cm (that’s just 50 pixels high and wide).

So the top tip for organisational engagement in social media is design a logo specifically for use with sites such as Facebook, You Tube, Twitter, etc that works when viewed in the micro world of tweets, status updates and comments.

Sticking with Facebook, the optimum profile picture size is 5cm X 5cm (200 pixels high and wide).  Facebook specifications recommend that profile pictures should be 5cm (200px) wide, while height can vary as needed.  What is less documented is how the thumbnail that Facebook uses across the system is generated from this picture.  Facebook automatically crops profile pictures when generating a thumbnail, losing all of the information around the edge.  There are no hard and fast rules for what works well.  I have played around with a number of test images and recommend a border or image free area on corporate profile pictures of 0.375cm (15px).  In other words, when you create a corporate or organisational image for use as a profile picture, make it 170px square centred within a 200px square canvass.  Oh, and don’t forget Facebook rounds the corners of thumbnail images.

For example:

(you can see this in action here)

Share

I’m afraid I don’t buy into any proposition presenting technology or the use of social media and web 2.0 technologies as new pedagogies, anymore than the introduction of paper and ink.  We should not confuse the way we learn with the medium we choose to channel learning through. I’ll support this by looking to ‘critical pedagogy’.  Ira Shor described critical pedagogy in terms of “habits of thought, reading, writing, and speaking which go beneath surface meaning”, Paulo Freire employed this approach to learning in challenging domination through thinking critically about their situation.

Now, if anything social media has opened up the opportunities for individuals and communities to challenge society and beliefs; critical pedagogy for the masses.  Has the fundamental pedagogical ideology changed?  I’d argue no.  What has changed is the way individuals and groups optimise technology through pedagogy.  Let us not confuse the how and why people learn with communication tools they employ to make it effective.

The important message is not to sacrifice pedagogy on the altar of technology. (more…)

A couple of weeks ago I spoke at a Solace national conference, Solace being the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers, the representative body for leaders and senior managers working in the public sector.  My focus was the use of social media for citizen engagement or more simply how local government can get the most benefit from the conversations and discussions that take place in online communities and social networks.

I think I took them a little by surprise and for a while they were certainly wondering why this rather odd bloke had been invited to speak at their conference, dashing around the stage using screenshots and images to paint a picture of his life, but they got there in the end.  My message: it doesn’t matter one jot what they think about social media (and my pre-conference survey suggested not a lot), their constituents and the communities they serve will be active and they will be talking about the quality and effectiveness of the services they receive.  Being “not interested in that Facebook rubbish” is fine if you are also not interested in your reputation.

The reality is that, whatever the organisation, its customers will have an active online presence and the washing is being aired in public – good and bad.  This is particularly true of public services and the voluntary sector, where staff expertise and capacity around social media can be limited.  But if everyone employed in an organisation is empowered to be active in social networks and online spaces and there is a clear strategy for escalating the potentially injurious comments they pick up on to senior leaders, there is a veritable army of organisational champions out there watching. (more…)

If you overlook the fact that it is grammatically incorrect, this is the title of the lunchtime panel debate at world of learning, a two day conference in 2010 aimed at ‘learning and development professionals’.

Now I don’t profess to be an expert when it comes to social media, but I do know a bit about learning and I get really frustrated when I hear technology enabled learning being described as ‘the new pedagogy’.  It isn’t.  Would you attend a seminar entitled ‘pen and paper: is there a place in learning?’  No, nor would I.

As teachers (trainers, tutors ….. learning and development professionals) it is not for us to decide what extent social media have a place in learning.  If learners are actively engaged in online spaces and are using these to share the experiences we provide, they have made the decision for us.  Our job is to discover how we can harness the technologies our learners own and use.
(more…)

For those of you new to the world of social media and how you or your organisation can add value to the spaces people use ….. Social Media Today is well worth a visit.

Go on, take a look!

OK, so you’ve listened to all that’s being said and read all that’s been written on social networking and reached the inevitable conclusion that your organisation has to add value to the spaces and places your people (members, customers, citizens, etc) use.  You’ve done your research, know where the important conversations are happening and are approaching it strategically and tactically.  You’ve set your objectives, found your champions and things are starting to take off.  What more is there to think about?

Keep it fresh…..

Good content is, arguably, the most important consideration in driving engagement and interaction.  On the down side, the internet is awash with content – good, bad and indifferent - and people are becoming more and more discerning.  Fresh, relevant and original content will keep people coming back for more, particularly if it adds value to professional, working or social lives.  If you are struggling to pitch it right ….. ask the experts.  Yes that’s right, talk to the people who are active in the spaces you are trying to influence and give them what they want.
(more…)

Well, I did just this at the recent teaching and learning conference when a question was posed from the floor: “how can we incorporate things such as Facebook and YouTube into our teaching, when learners spend time chatting to friends?”

I wonder if the same was said when those early innovative teachers first started to use pencil and paper, rather than slate: “how can we possibly use this new fangled paper, when students can fold it up and pass messages to each other?” (more…)

Congratulations to the brilliant team at Pebble Learning for picking up the 2010 IMS Global Learning Impact Award … not just any award, Pebble only went and made Platinum.  Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch or, indeed, a better personal learning space.

Want to see Pebble’s winning submission … it’s here.

Want to find out more about the IMS awards … look here.