In higher education, professional online identities have become
increasingly important. A rightly worded tweet can cause an academic
blog post to go viral. A wrongly worded tweet can get a professor fired.
Regular news items in The Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside
Higher Ed provide evidence that reputations are both built and crushed
via online platforms. Ironically, given the importance of digital
identities to job searches, the promotion and distribution of scholarly
work, pedagogical innovation, and many other components of an academic
life, higher education professionals receive little to no training about
how to best represent themselves in a digital space.
Managing Your Professional Identity Online: A Guide for Higher
Education fills this gap by offering higher education professionals the
information and guidance they need to:
- craft strong online biographical statements for a range of
platforms;
- prioritize where and how they want to represent themselves online in a
professional capacity;
- intentionally and purposefully create an effective brand for their
professional identity online;
- develop online profiles that are consistent, professional, accurate,
organized, of good quality, and representative of their academic
lives;
- regularly update and maintain an online presence;
- post appropriately in a range of online platforms and environments;
and
- successfully promote their professional accomplishments.
Managing Your Professional Identity Online is practical and
action-oriented. In addition to offering a range of case studies
demonstrating concrete examples of effective practices, the book is
built around activities, templates, worksheets, rubrics, and bonus
materials that walk readers through a step-by-step guide of how to
design, build, and maintain professional online identities.
