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The point of this story is change. It illustrates how the teaching profession you are entering today will be a different ‘place’ in ten, fifteen, twenty years time. The relationship between a profession and its client group – and in our case that’s children and parents – is constantly transforming. That is something we all have to accommodate. The landscape within which we operate changes too – sometimes quite dramatically.

 1. Link to a website -- a blog post, online story from a mainstream media organization, any kind of website -- and criticize it. If you can provide evidence that the facts presented in the criticized website are wrong, then do so, but your criticism doesn't have to be about factual inaccuracy. Debate the logic or possible bias of the author. Make a counter-argument. Point out what the author leaves out. Voice your own opinion in response.

 1. Pick a position about a public issue, any public issue, that you are passionate about. Immigration. Digital rights management. Steroid use by athletes. Any issue you care about.  2. Make a case for something -- a position, an action, a policy -- related to this public issue. You don't have to prove your case, but you have to make it. It doesn't have to be an original position, but you need to go beyond quoting the positions of others. Provide an answer to your public's question: "What does the author of this blog post want me to know, believe, think, or do?"  3. Use links to back up or add persuasiveness to your case. Use links to build your argument. Use factual sources, statements by others that corroborate your assertions, instances that illustrate the point you want to make.

SNAPP is a software tool that allows users to visualize the network of interactions resulting from discussion forum posts and replies.

Discussion forum activity is a good indicator of student interactions and is systemically captured by most LMS. SNAPP uses information on who posted and replied to whom, and what major discussions were about, and how expansive they were, to analyse the interactions of a forum and display it in a Social Network Diagram. The following figures illustrate how SNAPP re-interprets discussion forum postings into a network diagram.

What can a network diagram tell me? A network diagram is a visual depiction of all interactions occurring among students and staff. This information provides rapid identification of the levels of engagement and network density emerging from any implemented online learning activities. Social network visualisations provide a snapshot of who is communicating with whom and to what level. A network diagram of your students’ discussions online can: