#DigitalScholar Day 1

I’m planning to blog daily about my Digital Scholar experience. Let’s see if I can keep this up!

Today’s assignment is to post an update about your proposed course title. Why it matters and for whom is it. The ultimate deliverable is either a course outline or a learning module. I am hoping that I can work enough during the next few weeks (in between my day job hehe) to complete a learning module.

Before I even signed up for this course, I’d already thought about several social media workshops I wanted to do. I was planning for these to be face-to-face but the universe has given me a nudge to do an online version by letting me participate in #DigitalScholar!

In a previous post on my acceptance to this online program, I’d already said I wanted to create an online module, Twitter for Health Professionals. I said as much when I introduced myself to the online community.

Hey, much to my surprise I got immediate feedback from the course admin! I’m already thinking how I can answer his question.

Last night, I was checking #DigitalScholar on Twitter. First I found the mind map of the course.

And here’s the draft day-by-day planner for the #DigitalScholar course… Transforming a mess of ideas to structure pic.twitter.com/0EQOTEYPHb

— #DigitalScholar (@DigiScholar2016) July 3, 2016

If that wasn’t overwhelming enough, I found the rubric for creating the online course.

If you’re following #DigitalScholar on Twitter, comments welcome and appreciated on the still-very-rough rubric https://t.co/s2Rv9R5YUr

— #DigitalScholar (@DigiScholar2016) July 3, 2016

…and this is the high-level description 🙂 https://t.co/xkNCYP6GVr

— #DigitalScholar (@DigiScholar2016) July 3, 2016

So my course title … they said to include a verb and some keywords that may interest learners. So I’m revising Twitter for Health Professionals to

BUILD A PERSONAL LEARNING NETWORK ON TWITTER: a pilot online course for health professionals invested in lifelong learning

In my previous post on the social media workshops I was planning, I’d said –

This seminar is for healthcare professionals who are new to Twitter or are not yet on Twitter but wanting to discover how Twitter can be useful in their work. Participants will learn how to choose a Twitter handle, participate in a tweet chat and build a personal learning network on Twitter.

The instruction says to say why it matters and for whom. So I have to revise this too.

Health professionals are expected to be lifelong learners who need to keep updated in their field of expertise. It is not the lack but the overwhelming amount of information available which makes it difficult. By building a personal learning network on Twitter, health professionals can curate relevant content and filter noise.

I use this video of Dr. Kevin Pho often when I talk about Twitter and curation.

I’ve seen the rubric so I know this is just the beginning and I need to add more detail in the coming days.

Another task for day 1 is to sketch the learning architecture for your course. I’ve tried but can’t seem to capture my ideas on paper. I am thinking of structuring it around the 3 Cs: Curate, Create, Connect. One can simply start curating information by following people on Twitter. However, Twitter’s magic lies in truly connecting people. I find that it is when people tweet chat and create content together that magic happens. MY learning module has to provide this experience.

Featured image of Twitter bird from freepik.com