Avatar/Professional ID Icon 1. Select a professional ‘display’ name that you can use online.

Tactical Tips: The ‘display’ name you select is very important as this will become your professional digital identity. Use the following hints to help you select one that works for a while! HINT1: Use letters of your real name. Often, we use the following:

• first name and first initial of your last name (i.e., johns) • first initial and last name or a portion of your last name (i.e., jfredericks; jf) • miss/mr plus your last name (i.e., missfrederick; mrfrederic; drfrederick)

Here are some appropriate examples (please note that some of these include capital letters – it is easier to type all lower case letters, so consider your audience before using capital letters in your handle): jsmith for John Smith njones for Nancy Jones cfigg for Candace Figg MrSmith or mrsmith for John Smith MissJones or missjones for Nancy Jones

if she is single (PLEASE – never use a period after the word Miss – this is grammatically incorrect and looks extremely unprofessional/uneducated! Only Mrs. has the period following the abbreviation – Miss is NOT an abbreviation!)

DrFigg or drfigg for Candace Figg

MrJohn or mrjohn for John Smith MrsJones or mrsjones for Nancy Jones if she is married

ProfFigg or proffigg for Candace Figg

HINT2: Use a ‘handle.’ If you are uncomfortable using your real name online, decide upon a ‘handle’ or display name that you could use over and over again to represent yourself – just make it professional sounding!! I often use handy4class. Here are some other examples: The Clever Sheep (http://thecleversheep.blogspot.com/) 2020Science (http://2020science.org/) Grade1 (http://avivadunsiger.wikispaces.com/) Check out the list of Ontario educators who tweet at http://twitter.com/#!/dougpete/ontario-educators and see what other handles you can discover!! NOTE: Whatever you do, do NOT use your Brock ID (two letters two numbers, two letters) for this purpose! Your Brock ID has data connected to it that needs to remain secure and private, so do not use this outside of the technologies managed by Brock (such as ISAAK or my.brocku.ca portal).

2. Select OR create a professional image/avatar that you can use online.

Tactical Tips: Locate a professional image/picture that you would be proud to have associated with your name for a lengthy time.

Locate a professional image/picture that you could use for professional purposes. A head shot (picture showing only your head from shoulders up) is the best for this purpose. You should be dressed in professional clothing (i.e., shirt and tie, jacket – NOT your cheerleading outfit, soccer gear, or swimsuit!) Again, if you are uncomfortable using a real picture of your image – decide upon a professional-appearing avatar to represent you. You can build your own avatar using one of the online tools listed at: ToonDoo at http://www.toondoo.com/ or PicaFace at http://pickaface.net/ (MY favorites) or one of 27 tools listed at http://mashable.com/2007/09/12/avatars/.