Teaching Online- Barriers and Successes

A few months ago I was asked by the resurgence of the East Kingdom College of Performers to teach a class online. As I have been serving as the Deputy Chatelaine, I feel very connected to this group and it’s successes. I agreed but had to think of what I could teach. Very much, like the iconic Taoist bear, Winnie, I sat and thought and I thought and I thought.  Then in struck me, like a a sack of bricks… or something more gentle I suppose, as my face and body are intact. As a modern medievalist, I spend a large amount of time attached to social media. I use it to make connections in our modern world and I use to to connect to better resources. Living in the more Northern Part of the East Kingdom and being separated from our vast populace, there are only so many places I can travel. The internet is for more than porn and kittens… and memes.  (By the way, my Partner has just given me a huge lecture on the actual teachings of Taoism)

One if the largest issues about being a performing artist is how to get your work out there and how to get noticed. Below is an outline of my class. If you’d like more in depth information regarding what I talked about, please feel free to contact me.

 

First and Foremost, your online appearance:

 

Good/Yes!                                                              

Bad/No!!!

 

Be neat, clean and groomed. It doesn’t matter your personal style, but no one wants to see you fresh out of bed.

1) Getting noticed

• Bards/Performers are a 1 off performance (fleeting performance)
• How do we get seen outside of competitions and bardic circles
• We are not all composers (and don’t need to be)

2) Platforms for getting noticed

• Competition
• A and S
• Word of mouth
• Campfires/Events

But…. is this effective? Let’s talk digital!

Social Media Platforms

• WordPress
  • Can maintain images/texts/videos
  • Simple to use
  • Easy cross platform posting
  • Free, but Can pay to upgrade for additional features
  • Maintenance heavy
  • Free

• Livejournal
  • Text only
  • image/video embedding is not as simple
  • Older Platform
  • Not as well trafficked
  • Nominal customization
  • Free
• Reddit
  • Home of trolls
  • Very well trafficked
  • Not well respected in documentation society
  • Simple to use
  • Easy Embedding
  • Easy search engine to use
  • Posts are easy to discovered if you are looking for them.
  • Minimal customization
  • Free
• Facebook
  • Well Trafficked
  • Well integrated
  • Easy embedding
  • Videos can be downloaded and uploaded
  • Images are easy to upload/download
  • Algorithms are wonky
  • Missing data
  • Timeline only (Scrolling text and no customization)
  • Free

 

• Myspace (LOL)
  • Houses Tracks
  • No space for Blogging
  • Basically a dead site
  • Free
• Soundcloud
  • Tracks only
  • Free
• Podcasts
  • Tracks only
  • Can have upkeep costs
  • Can have potential for income
• Homemade websites
  • Fully customizable
  • May require coding knowledge
  • Generally have a cost
• Youtube
  • Videos/Songs only
  • Cannot have copyrighted material
  • No limit but can take forever to upload material
• Yahoo Groups
  • Text only
  • Dead source
• Instagram
  • Images only/Videos/Vines
  • No text

Silliness ensues

• Twitter
  • Short text only
  • Good for link sharing/Cross posting

• EK Wiki
  • Good for short and basic info about your persona
  • Can link videos/Images
  • Not very versatile for blogging/Documentation

Blogging in general

Talk about WordPress in general and availability

 

https://solveigbjarnardottir.wordpress.com

 

https://wiki.eastkingdom.org/index.php?title=Solveig_Bjarnardottir

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIGXtcuwfZg

 

https://myspace.com/laurentreidel

 

EK Wiki:

• Everyone should have one!
• Easy to maintain. If you don’t have one or don’t know how, we can connect to make sure you have one
• Should have who you are, awards, affiliations, interests and events you’ve staffed. If you have any other focuses, those can be listed as well. Should really be just short reference and quick so people writing you in, people reviewing you for the order and scribes and do you proud.

Word Press:

This is where you make the dream happen

Images!

Videos/Recordings

Blog entries

Compositions

All other social media can be linked to and from

 

What sort of things should I be blogging about?

• What you are doing
• Period pieces performing
• Documentation
• Videos and recordings of your performances
• Stuff you have composed/wordsmith-ed (Images if they are avail) If there is documentation on that, include it too
• Non musical stuff. People want to see that you are more rounded
• Classes you are teaching and their documentation
• Feedback and reflection

 

The major barrier of teaching online is engagement and response. Also, equipment levels from your audience.

Success!!! I got a bunch of information out from my house, I had a moderator and more people are blogging.