Taking Better Advantage of Google+

I've had a Google+ account since membership was made available to all users, although I haven't been using it to enhance my personal learning network. For a course assignment, I was instructed to join some communities on Google+ and to create one of my own. I started by browsing communities recommend to me by Google based on my searches and other activities. Broadly defined, two communities are focused on technology and higher education, two focus on libraries, and one focuses on how education use TechSmith products in Higher Ed.

Google+ communities I joined in the last week

After joining these communities and exploring some content, I decided to create a community focusing on instructional technology and higher education. My hope is for the community to become a place where instructional technologists, as well as educators who use technology tools and techniques in their higher education classrooms, gather to share resources and tips and engage in discussions.



I created the community yesterday, so today I made my first post and had one person join. Yay! I'm still a bit unclear how potential members will find my community if I don't personally send them an invitation to join. I'm guessing that this takes time to build momentum and that the discovery process can be helped along with hashtags. I plan to sustain this community throughout this semester by posting every 2-3 days and commenting on others' posts. At the end of the semester, I'll evaluate how this tool is working for me and whether it's something I will continue to sustain.