What does it mean to be fully human? Jean Vanier, Templeton Prize 2015

Keeping it HUMAN in a digital world

This page is a supplement to an article written about managing communications from the position of a school principal. Being a school leader requires a unique set of communication skills and strategies that encompass underlying layers of design, media, politics, security, and technology. This page will connect and explore some of these layers with an awareness that a school principal needs to find balance, understand their audience and manage time constraints when communicating critical messages. Elements of fun, personality, presence and revealing humanity are essential in any communication plan. Models from the field are connected as an example of potential and possibilities, not as a static direction of what should be. 

Communication with digital technology can de-humanize if the face of the audience is lost in the multimedia message. A school principal has a uniquely singular opportunity to reveal the authentic and fully human elements of school life when applying digital technology to communication. This can connect the head and heart to the learning and teaching that is shared in multilayered media messages.

Text and Image

  • Communicate through blogs, Twitter, Facebook other social media
  • Create, collect and curate images 

Voice and Video

  • Can you hear me now? Using voiced messages realtime or 'TTYL'
  • Video voices, not just a 'talking head'

Conversations

  • Feedback tools - sharing thoughts
  • Asynchronous - talking and sharing where and when you can
References and Resources
G. Couros, Four ways to share our stories to drive innovation, June 13, 2015. George Couros shares these tips: tap into the power of visual, a year in photos/video, telling your own story through digital portfolios, and the simplicity and power of a hashtag.