Visitor or Resident?

I found Dr. White's description of Visitors and Residents to be a helpful explanation of the varying levels of engagement with digital space. Up until now, I have seen myself as only a visitor.  Through the years, I have learned about some of the different online tools and superficially understood their use and purpose, but I have never actually lived in the space for any length of time.

As I gain more knowledge around the different ways in which I can engage with the broad digital landscape that exists today, I am intrigued with the possibility of expanding my own access to information across the globe.  As I have recently joined a new district, my goal is to transition from visitor status to resident, as I nurture and grow my own digital persona and begin to socially engage people in my work.    As a principal, sharing my daily practice can help support others, keep my community informed, and promote open interactions with colleagues who could support my own professional development.

My own research interest lies in the idea of learning through social interactions and how we can maximize existing communities of practice to facilitate learning, and thus facilitate change.  Understanding the dynamics around how specific people within an organization (central office within a district) are able to touch several of these communities across a system is interesting to me and can help support change efforts within a district or organization.  Introducing the use of digital space as a way of sharing ideas, information, and resources adds to this potential for collaboration and learning exponentially.  More research in this area would be very interesting as we see more and more district and other organizational leaders use these digital tools as a way of enagaging and influencing change.