Going back to school twenty years after graduating from my Bachelorette of Nursing felt very daunting. I was unsure of myself, felt unprepared, and frankly I was nervous that I would not be successful. Self-guided study has proven to be challenging but it has also provided me with the tools I will need to be successful in this program. Our first unit was called Inter-professional Connectedness and it challenged us to explore our feelings about social media and our current online presence and digital content curation. If I am being honest, I did not have a professional online presence, nor did I have a formal way to gather and store information, I was starting from scratch. Throughout this course I have used various tools and classmate’s expertise to gather and store information which I will outline below and have developed a professional e-portfolio which will continue to evolved throughout my career.
Content Curation
In the first week of this course we were introduced to the term content curation. This was a new term that I was unfamiliar with, and took some time to get used too. In today’s electronic world, finding information on the internet is the easy part, but not all information is good information. Content curation is not simply keeping a list of many resources, but selecting specific resources, evaluating the information for its relevance, and sharing or collecting it in an organized way for future use (Oddone, 2016). How we keep track of digital information is based on individual preference, but this course has highlighted the importance and need of content curation to be successful in my Master’s program.
There are many content curation tools out there to use, as I had never explored any of them before, I turned to my classmates’ posts and made a decision based on what others where using and their feedback. I choose to start with Zotero, as many others had stated this was the best option for beginners. I found it difficult to navigate and was spending more time on trying to create folders and organize the information than I was on actually finding the information. I also use my work computer for this program and there were many plugs in’s that were required and I am unable to download them on this secured network, which may have impacted the functionality of this tool. I moved on to Google Documents which I felt much more comfortable using. I essential just made lists of my curated resources in a word document and saved it to my Google drive. This format was easy to navigate, share with others and add information too. The down side I found with google docs was that while it was easy to enter information into, I found it difficult sort the information into categories or quickly move through topics and sections. I decided to move all of my curated resources for this course into my e-portfolio and I am happy with that decision. I am a visual person and being able to store and share my curated resources in a visually appealing way was important. I was able to create and label folders that are easy to access both on a computer and remotely if required.
Social Media
Social media is a very powerful tool that can have great benefit with accurate information sharing but can also do a great amount of harm, if professional standards are not upheld. CRNM states the Code of Ethics can be applied to all types of online communication including personal websites, blogs, discussion boards and networking platforms. This means that conduct online and in-person would be judged and examined in the same way and held to the same standard (CRNM, 2023). When this course started I viewed an online presence only through the lenses of social networking sites such as Instagram, Facebook, and X (the platform previously known as twitter) and had a strong opinion against the use of these platforms in a professional way. In a previously posted blog, I identified that I made a very deliberate effort to keep my personal and professional identifies separate online and this was based on fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of making a mistake, or fear of not adhering to professional standards. Throughout this course I have discovered the benefit of a professional online presence and the benefit of sharing information and networking. One’s social media presence reflects how they want to be seen, it is important that you consider what message is being portrayed and ensure the information is a good representation of yourself and your beliefs while being cognizant of your professional responsibilities (Ventola, 2014). I have created an e-Portfolio as a requirement of this course that I will continue to develop throughout my career. I have enjoyed creating it and sharing it with colleagues. I plan to use it on my Organizational website as part of my professional Bio. I have never written a Blog before but plan to continue with this platform as I continue on my Master’ journey. There is a lot of information to share and I enjoying being able to use my online platform and blogging to inform and discuss topics and issues that are important to me.
Conclusion
The skills and confidence I have accumulated throughout this first course in regards to content curation and social media presence has created a solid foundation for the continuation of my Master’s program. Being able to obtain, synthesize, and organize reliable information is a skill that I did not have prior to this course, and I now feel more confident. I will need to continue to grow in this area but I feel I am off to a good start. Throughout this course I was challenged to evaluate what I wanted my online professional identity to be and if I wanted one at all. Creating an E-portfolio helped me create a professional online presence separate from my personal one. I am a very proud registered nurse and now have a space that can focus on health promotion and education while maintaining my professional values.
References
College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba (2023, June). Social Media and Social Networking. Retreived from: https://www.crnm.mb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Social-Media-and-Social-Networking_June23.pdf
Kanter, B. (2011, October 4). Content curation primer. Beth Kanter. https://bethkanter.org/content-curation-101/
Oddone, Kay. (2016, August 2). Digital Content Curation: More Important Than Ever! Retrieved November 9, 2017, from http://www.linkinglearning.com.au/digital-content-curation-more-important-than-ever/
Ventola, C. L. (2014). Social Media and Health Care Professionals: Benefits, Risks, and Best Practices. Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 39(7), 491–520
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