I have today created a flickr account, and I have to say it was completely painless. The link to my account is below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/104564597@N08/
At present you will find no uploaded content. This is because I am struggling with suitable photographs to upload. Due to the nature of my work (I work predominantly with children and young adults) and given that I have just changed jobs, I'm in a quandary. All evidence of my work is with students from my old job, and I am unable to get the permissions to use these. Given that I only started my new job 2 weeks ago I am yet to have any videos or photographs with my new students.
Rehearsals commence this week for our Christmas show, so hopefully I will be able to get some content up soon.
A question that keeps coming back to me however is: As a teacher of dance how will uploading still images of myself or my students benefit my professional profile? I can see the benefit if I was an owner of a studio, as they are a nice illustration of what is happening within the school and help to keep people interested in and discussing the schools work. But as a teacher at the studio it is not my place to decided to publish photographs of the children. Any thoughts?
Hello Megan
ReplyDeleteI too have just created a Flickr account and am just deciding on appropriate pictures to share with everyone. At the Induction Day Paula mentioned that the benefit of this task is to show that we have the ability to set up these accounts show how they are very useful and popular with business and for general use. For me I'm finding it interesting as i have twitter and Facebook but have never uploaded photos via Flickr or Instagram so it is helping me develop my computer skills and broadening my knowledge of web 2.0 .
Back to your question however i feel with the correct permission from the people in the photographs it would be interesting to see as a dance teacher how you work and what you have achieved/ are achieving in your work. So i agree when your Christmas show rehearsals start you will have a lot more to share.
Another point that Paula mentioned that the photos can be from past performances or work that you have done. Hope that helps, i had a lot of questions about this task too!
Heather X
Hi Heather
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to comment.
I completely agree that it is enhancing our knowledge of web 2.0!
I also agree that it would be interesting to see what's going on. However I'm still not sure how it would be beneficial to my professional development? As opposed to just allowing other people to be noisy (for want of a better term). I can see how for other professions - for example restauranteurs - it could be really useful, as they would be able to show off how their food looks etc but is anyone truly interested in a photo of the curtain call from my 2012 whole school show? I can see the benefit of a show reel, or personal portfolio in terms of allowing others to see how you look/the calibre of your work in movement. All that said, I suppose as they say all publicity is good publicity and it keeps you the eye of your demographic...
Hi Megan,
DeleteI just read your blog and I completely get where you're coming from with regards to "how will it be beneficial for professional development". I have Facebook and Twitter and Instagram but do not very often post as I would consider myself quite a private person (although I do love looking at what everyone else posts on there!) but as far as posting pictures of my work goes, I was quite apprehensive.. 1. I hate pictures of myself anyway and 2. To me, I just could really understand why?!
From what I can gather when thinking about discussions we have had, at both the induction day and the campus session, a lot of what we do, and how we develop, not only on this course but in life as well, is about reflection. So the way I see it is that, in 2 years down the line - or however long it may be - we can look back and see how far we have come and what we have achieved, and also how this one small task has consequently had an effect on our own professional development! Hope this makes sense, I typed it rather quickly..
Hi Amy!
DeleteIt makes perfect sense, and to me is saying: The fact you are having to think about what might be appropriate and what might not be, and documenting that (irrespective of the images themselves) is moving you forwards with your professional development?
Hi Megan,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Just reading through it and I see your not familiar with the 'taking pictures' way to communicate.
I have Instagram for my own personal use and like you say I take pictures of my food to 'show off' a great dinner I've made or I take pictures of my dogs who I love dearly :) the social side of this is great but as you do, I question if Flickr or Instagram will help me in my professional development as I am a teaching assistant!
A way you could use this for your dance is creating a book or log of all your dance movements and pieces you have created and use them to compare styles of dance and what visually works and what doesn't. It could also be a nice way to reflect and notice how your work has been influenced and what you were feeling the time you created the movement.
Hope this idea helps?!
Thanks
Beth
Hi Beth!
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to read my post and comment.
I'm still unsure on this whole thing. I've been thinking about it a lot. I have just left a role as Principal of a dance school, and I think this task would have been super beneficial if it had happened then! I was responsible for everything at that school, and although I uploaded pictures to our Twitter and Facebook accounts, and interacted via the website I did not use Flickr or Instagram and didn't even think about having a school YouTube channel!
After thinking about it, my concern I think is two fold:
Firstly, as I said above I am in a new job (these kids are not yet mine and therefore I have no work to show - their technique and everything is someone else's work right now) and I am not able to get the permissions from the parents at my last job to show that work.
Secondly, here things are illegal. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are banned and you have to have a VPN to access them. I have no idea if Flickr and Instagram are, because I haven't tried to access them without my VPN on. Blogging is banned, too.
As always, I have put my question out to the masses and I await their responses - I'll keep you posted!
Regards
Megan