My current Networks

College
I am very fortunate to work at a college which is a great source for networking and information. The artistic director and founder of the college is an established ISTD examiner and previous head of the modern branch facility. The principle is a examiner also and the college is a centre for courses and examinations. So I am lucky to be at the centre of a very valuable source of professional networking. Often examiners will find out information regarding any syllabus changes first, it is also useful to get their opinion on exam candidates as they understand the marking system better.

Training Courses
Teachers from all over the north west will come to college in order to partake in various courses across many different genres, this is a great way to expand my professional network by meeting new professionals and discussions with other teachers, some of which have their own school and have further developed their professional career's.

Ex-Students
Keeping a network open with ex student is a great resource, to see how they are progressing and developing since graduation but also to find people to cover classes or if we need to employ extra staff.

Facebook and social media
This is a new one for me and one I have only just started to scratch the surface of.As I mentioned in my blogs on Task 1 I have little experience in this through a Facebook group I am part of. The group is for dance teachers to ask questions and sometimes post jobs. I have also recently joined the business networking service Linkedin but I am yet to make many connections, this is something I am looking forward to developing in the future. With the ability Web 2.0 has for making connections I feel this is a great source and would be very useful to help expand my network connections. I am aware however aware that there are ethical complications regarding the use of social media. I don't feel the mixing personal and professional can work to professionals advantage.

One issue this task has pointed out to me is that I don't particularly branch out to create more professional networks. Working where I do and having everything come to me, has possibly limited my want or need to look elsewhere. The world of ISTD although only small can be a very closed one. In future I will try to make more of an effort to branch out and develop links outside this world.I feel that starting to create networks outside the ISTD may be challenging but beneficial to my future development. this task has definably opened my eyes to how fortunate I am aware how strong the network I have from college is but it has also showed me how narrow my professional network has branched.