The presentation by Sue Beckingham emphasizes the significance of fostering a professional online presence for students and highlights the consequences of having a negative digital footprint on career advancement. It outlines essential skills for the modern workforce, including both soft and hard skills, while providing practical strategies for enhancing online profiles, particularly on platforms like LinkedIn. Additionally, it stresses the need for guidance on maintaining digital professionalism to ensure students effectively manage their online identities.

1. Digital Footprints to Career Pathways:
Building a Strong Professional Online
Presence
Sue Beckingham, Associate Professor, Sheffield Hallam University
Guest talk for N-TUTORR at South East Technological University
26 February 2024

2. Abstract
This presentation will look at the importance of
supporting students to develop a professional
online presence and the value of scaffolding
the articulation of skills through active learning
activities, applied learning and e-
portfolios. The implications of an
unprofessional or invisible digital footprint on
career prospects will also be discussed.

3. World Economic Forum (WEF), 2023 https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2023.pdf
Skills in demand

5. Soft Skills
• Communication
• Confidence
• Analytical skills
• Motivation
• Independent working
Hard Skills
• Fluency in a foreign language
• Leadership skills
• Writing skills
• Project management
• Numeracy skills
gradireland, 2023
https://gradireland.com/careers-advice/interviews-and-assessment-centres/what-employers-want-get-working-skills-you-need

6. Alternativa names for soft and hard skills (Beckingham, 2018, 2023)
Soft Skills
Baseline Skills
People Skills
Human Skills
Generic Skills
Hard Skills
Technical Skills
Discipline Skills
Specialist Skills
Practical Skills

7. 1. Digital Literacy
2. Data Literacy
3. Technical Skills
4. Digital Threat Awareness
5. Critical Thinking
6. Judgement and Complex Decision-Making
7. Emotional Intelligence and Empathy
8. Creativity
9. Collaboration and Working in Teams
10.Interpersonal Communication
11.Working in Gigs
12.Adaptability and Flexibility
13.Cultural Intelligence and Diversity Consciousness
14.Ethical Awareness
15.Leadership Skills
16.Brand of You and Networking
17.Time Management
18.Curiosity and Continual Learning
19.Embracing and Celebrating Change
20.Looking after Yourself

8. The Gig
Economy
“The gig economy is where
businesses and independent
workers engage in short-term
contracts or freelance work, as
opposed to permanent
employment.”
Marr, 2022:132
In the UK there are over five million gig economy workers (Marr, 2021)

9. 1. Digital Literacy
2. Data Literacy
3. Technical Skills
4. Digital Threat Awareness
5. Critical Thinking
6. Judgement and Complex Decision-Making
7. Emotional Intelligence and Empathy
8. Creativity
9. Collaboration and Working in Teams
10.Interpersonal Communication
11.Working in Gigs
12.Adaptability and Flexibility
13.Cultural Intelligence and Diversity Consciousness
14.Ethical Awareness
15.Leadership Skills
16.Brand of You and Networking
17.Time Management
18.Curiosity and Continual Learning
19.Embracing and Celebrating Change
20.Looking after Yourself

10. Looking after yourself
SHED: sleep, hydration, exercise and diet
Finding balance
Marr (2022:234) states this means being able to
separate your work and nonwork life and crucially
feeling fulfilled in both areas. For example:
• Being able to stay on top of your workload and
meeting deadline without working all hours.
• Making an effort to eat nourishing foods,
exercise regularly, and relax.
• Having a proper restful sleep routine.

11. Skills e-portfolio

12. Skills e-portfolio

13. Where are you
and our students
leaving digital
footprints?

15. Questions to consider
 Who will look at your online profile?
 What do people want to know about you?
 Where will they use this information?
 Why is your profile important?
 When and how often do you update it?
 How will you use your profile to your advantage?

16. Positive uses of Social Media
Idea
exchanges
Q&As
Informal
learning
Finding new
scholarly
activity
Feedback Mentoring
Information
finding
Networking Collaborating
Promoting
own work
Sharing work
of others
Updating
professional
profile

17. Create a digital CV prospective employers can find

18. Enhancing your online
presence using

19. Share of LinkedIn users in Ireland

20. Share of LinkedIn users in the UK
https://www.statista.com/statistics/278322/age-distribution-of-linkedin-users-in-great-britain/

21. Shining the spotlight on LinkedIn
MAKING
CONNECTIONS
SKILLS AND
ENDORSEMENTS
RECOMMENDATIONS
SEARCH GROUPS
DIGITAL
SCHOLARSHIP

22. Weak Ties
Strong Ties
YOU
Strong Ties
Friends or Peers are
less likely to be able to
provide new
information or
connections
Weak Ties
May be able to
introduce you to new
people with potential
company information
and potential job
offerings

23. • recruitment/job seeking
• develop a personal brand
• opportunity to learn and share
• global connections
• maintain connections
• ongoing 24/7 networking
• ability to be known and found
• 6 degrees of separation
4.74*
* Facebook study
The power of online connections

24. Understand your audience
The way you tell your story will depend on whose attention you’re trying
to attract. Whether it’s peers in your professional network, potential
research or business partners, or other useful business contacts,
understanding your audience will help you tailor your LinkedIn profile to
speak directly to them.

25. Complete your profile

26. Put a face to your name
First impressions count. Including a professional photo in your profile
brings your story to life and attracts more attention on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn state that members with profile photos receive 14x more
profile views than those without.

27. Create a headline that reflects your skills/interests
Along with your photo, your headline is the first thing people see on your LinkedIn
profile. Use this area to speak directly to your target audience, including phrases or
keywords they might be using to find you.

28. Tell your professional story
Demonstrate your expertise.
Use the Summary and Experience sections of your profile to showcase
your career and experience – and show others why you’re someone
worth knowing.
Be sure to include keywords and phrases that highlight your best skills
and improve your visibility in LinkedIn and Google search results.

29. Let your network speak for you
Get recommendations and endorsements of your skills from colleagues,
employers, and professionals who can speak to your abilities and contributions.
Having personal advocates will give you even more credibility.
Leadership
Team working
Digital
Literacy
Problem Solving
Negotiation and
persuasion
Communication
Organisation
Emotional
Intelligence

30. Showcase your work
Upload or link to previous work, such as blog posts, presentations,
images, and websites, and give people a reason to engage with you.

31. Make yourself easy to find
Your LinkedIn profile tells your professional story and can help cement
new relationships. Make sure people are seeing it. Customise your
public profile URL to increase your chances of appearing in search
results and make it easy for people to find you. Add to business cards,
website/blog, email signature.

32. 1. Check the privacy settings and options
Whilst developing your profile you can opt to edit certain aspects of visibility
2. Use keywords
Think about the keywords you would use in a search and include relevant ones within your profile so that people searching for your
expertise can find you.
3. Complete your profile
Fill in each of the sections. A minimalist profile won't do you any favours.
4. Include a photo
People want to connect with you as an individual, so avoid displaying an avatar or worse leaving the default image.
5. Customise your profile URL
This can be found just under your photo. Add this URL to your business cards and email signature.
6. Add your skills
Skills can be endorsed and enable your connections to validate the strengths found on your own profile.
7. Ask for recommendations
Users with recommendations are three times as likely to get inquiries through LinkedIn searches.
8. Build your connections
Look at the second-degree connections you have i.e. the connections of those you are connected with.
9. Join Groups
Consider setting up a Course Alumni Group for your students
10. Add publications, projects and Slideshare presentations to your profile
This is an excellent way to share your research and expertise.
Top
10
tips
to
develop
your
LinkedIn
profile

33. Getting
Started
on
LinkedIn
Checklist
Setting up your Linked account
 Create an account
 Upload a photo
 Complete your headline
 Add location and industry
 Complete the education section
 Edit your public URL
Complete the background sections
 Summary
 Experience
 Projects
 Publications
 Skills and Endorsements
Engagement
 Invite colleagues to connect with you
 Search for and join Groups that may be of interest e.g. Sheffield Hallam Alumni
 Follow some Company pages e.g. Sheffield Hallam or the Higher Education Academy
Connections
 Ask for recommendations

34. Students need support and
guidance to develop a
professional online presence

35. How can we ensure our
students know how to
avoid creating a
NEGATIVE
online presence?

36. Developing Digital Professionalism
Ellaway (2010:706) provides seven principles that stand to this day

37. Keeping your profile accurate and up to date
Principle #1: establish and sustain an on
online professional presence that befits your
responsibilities while representing your
interests. Be selective in which channels and
places you establish a profile
Ellaway, 2010:706

38. Managing access to different parts of your profile
Principle #2: use privacy controls to manage
more personal aspects of your online profile
and do not make anything public that you
would not be comfortable defending as
professionally appropriate in a court of law
Ellaway, 2010:706

39. Reflecting on how your actions will be perceived by others
Principle #3: think carefully and critically about
how what you say or do will be perceived by
others and act with appropriate restraint in
online communications.
Ellaway, 2010:706

40. Reflecting how your actions will reflect on your
profession and institution.
Principle #4: think carefully and critically about
how what you say or do reflects on others, both
individuals and organizations, and act accordingly.
Ellaway, 2010:706

41. Dealing with ambient and permanent surveillance
Principle #5: think carefully and critically about
how what you say or do will be perceived in years
to come; consider every action online as
permanent.
Ellaway, 2010:706

42. 6. Dealing with hostile acts
Principle #6: be aware of the potential for
attack or impersonation and know how to
protect your online reputation and what steps
to take when it is under attack.
Ellaway, 2010:706

43. Working responsibly and positively within online
communities
Principle #7: an online community is still a
community, and you are still a professional
within it.
Ellaway, 2010:706

44. Development of
Guidance
• 2013 first set of guides
• Iterative changes
• 2023 new set of PDFs
and accessible web
pages

45. Development of Community
• SocMedHE at SHU 2015, 2016 and 2017
• 2018-2023 hosted by other unis
• Return to SHU in 2024

46. Research-based Recommendations
A clear statement about the support and
expectations for the use of social media
within the university community
Support and specific guidance for the use of
professional net- works which develop staff
and student professional identities
Principles for consideration in using social
media for learning and teaching
A protocol for guiding how social media
accounts are best administered for groups
and peer learning
Guidance for dealing with online behaviours
and encouraging positive and professional
online interactions.
Sharing of examples of pedagogic uses of
social media in practice.
Supporting appropriate risk-taking in
exploration of emergent social media
technologies

47. Social media today?
• Established and ubiquitous with global adoption
• Ethical and moral considerations
• Alternative and emerging spaces
• Misinformation and ‘fake news’
• Social media guidance still requested
• Guidance updated and republished in 2023
• Further publications in progress

48. Morgan (nd) The stages of the SET Model
https://www.improvingthestudentexperience.com/student-practitioner-model/set-stages/
The Student Experience
Transitions Model
At what points are we/can we engage
with students?

50. Thank you for
listening.
Any questions

51. References
Beckingham, S. (2018) Baseline Skills—Scaffolding Soft Skills Development Within the Curriculum. In J,
Carter, M. O'Grady and C. Rosen (Eds) Higher Education Computer Science: A Manual of Practical
Approaches. Springer.
Beckingham, S. (2023) Baseline Skills—Scaffolding Soft Skills Development Within the Curriculum. In J,
Carter, M. O'Grady and C. Rosen (Eds) Higher Education Computer Science: A Manual of Practical
Approaches, 2nd Edn. Springer.
Ellaway, R. (2010). eMedical Teacher: Digital Professionalism. Medical Teacher, 32(8), pp 705-707.
https://doi.org/10.3109/0142159X.2010.505849
Marr, B. (2022) Future Skills. Wiley.
Sheffield Hallam University. Social Media Guidance. https://www.shu.ac.uk/digital-skills/personal/social-
media-guidance

52. Bio
Sue Beckingham is a National Teaching Fellow, Associate Professor and
Teaching and Learning Lead in Computing at Sheffield Hallam
University. She is also a Certified Management and Business Educator, a
Senior Fellow of the HEA, a Fellow of the Staff and Educational
Development Association, and a Visiting Fellow at Edge Hill University.
Her research interests include social media for learning and the use of
technology to enhance active learning and teaching; and has published
and presented this work nationally and internationally as an invited
keynote speaker. She is a co-founder of the international #LTHEchat
'Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Twitter Chat'.