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Explore your online presence in this free training!
Join this free course to discover
- myths that hold academics back from taking advantage of their online presence
- options including websites, social media, and more
- get started checklists to help you plan your next steps
Professors, researchers, and graduate students around the world have taken control of their online presence past versions of my free training.
Choose your own adventure
Complete in just over 1 hour
Fun activities
Short videos
Go at your own pace
Free training
Who is this professional development workshop for?
Professors
Researchers
Scientists
Postdocs
Doctoral students
Master's students
Independent scholars
All areas of research and teaching are welcome.
In this course
- Choose 3 myths to explore
- An online presence takes a lot of time (1:36)
- My faculty profile is enough for me (1:22)
- I need a personal website (1:35)
- It's too early (or too late) to start managing my online presence (1:41)
- I must always stay professional online (1:34)
- It costs too much to have an online presence (1:41)
- I'm not creative enough (1:45)
- I need to be on social media (1:31)
- Which myth surprised you most? (0:10)
- How do you feel now? (0:28)
- Have you ever looked someone up online before meeting them?
- What were you looking for when you Googled them? (1:25)
- Worksheet: Scavenger Hunt
- Reflection
- How to Google yourself in incognito or private mode (2:32)
- Activity: Google yourself for 3 minutes
- What were you able to find on Google? (0:50)
- Now you're in the mindset (0:10)
- What are your options for online presence? (2:00)
- What are you drawn to or curious about? (0:08)
- Which options can you rule out? (0:10)
- Choose 2 options for managing your online presence to compare (0:13)
- Checklists for getting started with each option (0:23)
- View the Getting Started Checklists
- Pick your best option to move forward with
- Add it to your calendar (0:48)
- Book a free call with Jennifer
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
When does the workshop start and finish?
This is a completely self-paced online training. You decide when you start and when you finish. It takes about 1 hour to complete.
How long do I have access to the workshop?
After enrolling, you have unlimited access to this workshop for as long as it exists - across any and all devices you own. Occasionally workshops do end when a new version is created. This workshop is the 3.0 version of my free online presence training.
How much does this course cost?
This is a free professional development training.
I've never managed my online presence. Is this training right for me?
Yes, this course will help you plan your next steps without feeling overwhelmed. Welcome!
I'm interested in your in-depth paid courses on social media and personal websites. Is this right for me?
If you're interested in my Social Media and Personal Websites courses for academics, thank you! I loved creating them and sharing them with you since 2019. I've closed those pre-recorded courses in late 2023 to create more open source resources for academics like you now that my focus is needed for my 1-on-1 professor clients. That means that more free resources from me to help you make your own personal academic website and have a stronger social media presence are coming soon.
I'm facilitating an online presence training/workshop for my academic department or university. Is this workshop right for me?
Yes. Professional development facilitators enjoy this workshop because it's something they can easily share with their group. Just have them enroll too! It's free. It's self-paced. And it busts some myths that hold graduate students, faculty, and researchers back from sharing their work online. This is a great place to start.
Interested in having Jennifer come for a custom workshop with your department or group?
I'm not available for speaking engagements until Fall 2024 while I plan my wedding. However, I'm happy to help you in the right direction with resources or another speaker. Email me at [email protected]
Jennifer van Alstyne
Owner, The Academic Designer LLC
I created this pre-recorded training to empower academics like you. A strong online presence beyond your university is something you deserve. You can create that digital footprint for yourself.
Many of the professors I work with feel overwhelmed: "My online presence feels like it's too big a project to think about, so I just didn't start." And that feeling of being unsure sometimes stops them from taking action for years.
I don't want that for you. You can do this yourself. And you can do this for yourself. Today is the day you start taking small steps towards having the digital footprint you dream about.
It will help you better know your options as a professor, researcher, scientist, or grad student. So that you know exactly what your next step is moving forward and why.
My name is Jennifer van Alstyne. I've been helping professors with their online presence through social media and personal websites since 2018. I hope you find this training, and my free resources on The Social Academic blog, podcast, and YouTube channel helpful for you.
--Jennifer van Alstyne
