The Digital Makeover
1. Part 1: Conduct a Background Check on Yourself
1.1 Conduct searches via major search engines and see what the top 20 links say about you in Bing, Google, etc. and evaluate your public profile on social media platforms.
1.2 Write a 300 word profile of what you learned about yourself and what is available about you on the web. Was there anything that surprised you? What would you like to change?
I conducted research using google search engine on myself using my name in quotation mark “ Ajay Kalra” ,I found my Facebook and linked in profile in position 3 and 4 at first page of google search.
When I typed my name Google search engine displayed 26000 searches. A search about my name yielded lot of results about people with same name.
Clearly there are others who share my name and their content ranks higher in search of my name. I would like to have more relevant content about myself which relates to my profession as a math educator and provide more information about my website and my career.
When I did the research by adding “Math” or “Math teacher” after my name, Search engine displayed my profile in top positions in first page.
I think my public profile reflects mostly about positions and roles as math educator at different institutions I worked as full-time or part-time.
I was surprised that despite my so many pictures in social media sites, search using “images” did not display any of those pictures except only from MSU-URBAN STEM.
Interestingly when I searched using criteria “Ajay Kalra Math STEM”, in top displayed searches most of them RELATED to MSU-STEM program like “Roots of STEM book”, my site “Kalamathguru.weebly.com”.
It looks like I have good presence on web depending on search criteria .I think I need to have more videos uploaded regarding math education as none of the searches displayed results from YouTube.
2. Part 2: Evaluate STEM Educators
2.1 Identify three STEM educators who have online portfolios you think are well designed and information.
2.2 Write a 300 word profile describing what you like about the design of their page. Describe the types of information have they shared about themselves as well as the types of information (if any) is missing that you believe should be shared? What elements of their site (design and content wise) will you consider incorporating into your site and why?
I looked at E-portfolios of many STEM educators and found that all were more or less same as all educators showcased their work, learning chronological order and shared their reflection on many assignments.
Yet all E-portfolios were different in sense of design, navigations, pages, themes, hyperlinks to their assignments/reflections and digital archive.
Obviously most of E-portfolios were replete with assignments and activities covered in MSU-URBAN STEM and content and format in each was for specific audience.
I found that “ STEM educator Mahesh” took care in selecting and organizing materials in a way that will be helpful to readers .All assignments on his e-portfolio has name and were in chronological order which would help evaluator and assessors easy to grade and find information.
I also liked Steve’s portfolio’s use of multimedia which enhance content and engage the audience Also the multimedia content he shared was appropriate and purposeful .
I also liked his profile page which is very concise and has logo of Universities he attended which is smart move as reader does not have to go through his resume to find which colleges/universities he attended.
I found Anna McGowan’s online Portfolio very interesting and interactive. Anna’s online portfolio Navigation bar is different and comprehensive in the sense that it’s not by sequence of assignments by dates but rather by types of assignments like “Quick Fire, Storify,, Book review” etc.
After reviewing my online portfolio, I found that I need some more multimedia features to make it appealing and interactive. I have made some changes in navigation bar to make it easy for readers to find information .I have also added page for “My Teaching Philosophy” which is very important for an educator to make reader aware of my teaching beliefs as learner, educator and instructional practices.
3. Part 3: Complete a Digital Makeover of your Brand
3.1 Delete risky content from your website and social media sites wherever possible. Delete any content from accounts no longer in use. Once the content is deleted, it is safe to delete the account.
3.2 Check the privacy settings on all social media sites and make sure the content is only viewable to the audiences you want to view.
3.3 Check content for currency/accuracy; make sure information is up to date and no spelling or grammatical errors are present.
3.4 Complete usability/accessibility testing on website with another fellow.
3.5 Create Google Alerts based on the same criteria you used to do your background check in Step 1.
3.6 Write a 300 word paper describing the choices you made to improve the privacy, design, usability, and accessibility of your website.
This is the first time I created a website using “Weebly”as Platform. Writing content for web users has its challenges. Chief among them is the ease with which your content is read and understood by visitors.
I would like my site easy to navigate and to find information on many topics related to math and STEM education. In navigation I titled pages in few words which will help users to find information as users as tend to read the first few words of headings, titles and links when they're scanning a webpage.
Definitely if content on website is highly readable, my audience will be able to quickly digest the information I share with them — a worthy goal to have for website, whether I run a blog, an e-store or my or an online learning platform.
It's pretty well known that web users have very short attention spans and that we don't read articles thoroughly and in their entirety. A study investigating the changes in our reading habits behaviors in the digital age concluded that we tend to skim webpages to find the information we want.
To make users stay on my website for longer time, improved my navigation bar design so that user or evaluator can easily find information he/she is looking for and navigate easily between pages.
On each page I used headings to break up long articles on page as most of internet users inspect pages in blocks which is also known as “BLOCK READING”.
To make it easy for users to read content on my website, I gave sufficient between characters, words, lines and paragraphs.
1. Part 1: Conduct a Background Check on Yourself
1.1 Conduct searches via major search engines and see what the top 20 links say about you in Bing, Google, etc. and evaluate your public profile on social media platforms.
1.2 Write a 300 word profile of what you learned about yourself and what is available about you on the web. Was there anything that surprised you? What would you like to change?
I conducted research using google search engine on myself using my name in quotation mark “ Ajay Kalra” ,I found my Facebook and linked in profile in position 3 and 4 at first page of google search.
When I typed my name Google search engine displayed 26000 searches. A search about my name yielded lot of results about people with same name.
Clearly there are others who share my name and their content ranks higher in search of my name. I would like to have more relevant content about myself which relates to my profession as a math educator and provide more information about my website and my career.
When I did the research by adding “Math” or “Math teacher” after my name, Search engine displayed my profile in top positions in first page.
I think my public profile reflects mostly about positions and roles as math educator at different institutions I worked as full-time or part-time.
I was surprised that despite my so many pictures in social media sites, search using “images” did not display any of those pictures except only from MSU-URBAN STEM.
Interestingly when I searched using criteria “Ajay Kalra Math STEM”, in top displayed searches most of them RELATED to MSU-STEM program like “Roots of STEM book”, my site “Kalamathguru.weebly.com”.
It looks like I have good presence on web depending on search criteria .I think I need to have more videos uploaded regarding math education as none of the searches displayed results from YouTube.
2. Part 2: Evaluate STEM Educators
2.1 Identify three STEM educators who have online portfolios you think are well designed and information.
2.2 Write a 300 word profile describing what you like about the design of their page. Describe the types of information have they shared about themselves as well as the types of information (if any) is missing that you believe should be shared? What elements of their site (design and content wise) will you consider incorporating into your site and why?
I looked at E-portfolios of many STEM educators and found that all were more or less same as all educators showcased their work, learning chronological order and shared their reflection on many assignments.
Yet all E-portfolios were different in sense of design, navigations, pages, themes, hyperlinks to their assignments/reflections and digital archive.
Obviously most of E-portfolios were replete with assignments and activities covered in MSU-URBAN STEM and content and format in each was for specific audience.
I found that “ STEM educator Mahesh” took care in selecting and organizing materials in a way that will be helpful to readers .All assignments on his e-portfolio has name and were in chronological order which would help evaluator and assessors easy to grade and find information.
I also liked Steve’s portfolio’s use of multimedia which enhance content and engage the audience Also the multimedia content he shared was appropriate and purposeful .
I also liked his profile page which is very concise and has logo of Universities he attended which is smart move as reader does not have to go through his resume to find which colleges/universities he attended.
I found Anna McGowan’s online Portfolio very interesting and interactive. Anna’s online portfolio Navigation bar is different and comprehensive in the sense that it’s not by sequence of assignments by dates but rather by types of assignments like “Quick Fire, Storify,, Book review” etc.
After reviewing my online portfolio, I found that I need some more multimedia features to make it appealing and interactive. I have made some changes in navigation bar to make it easy for readers to find information .I have also added page for “My Teaching Philosophy” which is very important for an educator to make reader aware of my teaching beliefs as learner, educator and instructional practices.
3. Part 3: Complete a Digital Makeover of your Brand
3.1 Delete risky content from your website and social media sites wherever possible. Delete any content from accounts no longer in use. Once the content is deleted, it is safe to delete the account.
3.2 Check the privacy settings on all social media sites and make sure the content is only viewable to the audiences you want to view.
3.3 Check content for currency/accuracy; make sure information is up to date and no spelling or grammatical errors are present.
3.4 Complete usability/accessibility testing on website with another fellow.
3.5 Create Google Alerts based on the same criteria you used to do your background check in Step 1.
3.6 Write a 300 word paper describing the choices you made to improve the privacy, design, usability, and accessibility of your website.
This is the first time I created a website using “Weebly”as Platform. Writing content for web users has its challenges. Chief among them is the ease with which your content is read and understood by visitors.
I would like my site easy to navigate and to find information on many topics related to math and STEM education. In navigation I titled pages in few words which will help users to find information as users as tend to read the first few words of headings, titles and links when they're scanning a webpage.
Definitely if content on website is highly readable, my audience will be able to quickly digest the information I share with them — a worthy goal to have for website, whether I run a blog, an e-store or my or an online learning platform.
It's pretty well known that web users have very short attention spans and that we don't read articles thoroughly and in their entirety. A study investigating the changes in our reading habits behaviors in the digital age concluded that we tend to skim webpages to find the information we want.
To make users stay on my website for longer time, improved my navigation bar design so that user or evaluator can easily find information he/she is looking for and navigate easily between pages.
On each page I used headings to break up long articles on page as most of internet users inspect pages in blocks which is also known as “BLOCK READING”.
To make it easy for users to read content on my website, I gave sufficient between characters, words, lines and paragraphs.