Communication Skills to Enact Change

I strongly believe that communication must be HOT-honest, open and two-way.  I loved this quote by Dan Oswald because we have shared beliefs.  I think if you are going to use your communication skills to be effective at enacting change it must be honest.  As an early childhood advocate, you have to be considered an honest and reliable source of information.  You must be open to speaking your mind in a variety of settings that include large groups, small group, peer groups, and one-on-one with others.  Policy issues by definition are controversial (Fowler, 2013, p. 14). 

The policy process is the sequence of events that occurs when political systems considers different approaches to public problems, adopts one of them (Fowler, 2013, p. 14).  It is critical to enact change in a policy process you have to be able to effectively communicate your perspective in order for the political system to accept your approach as the best one for the public.  Early childhood has become more political with the release of brain research, but as a field we also have to ensure that we are equipped with the communication skills necessary to share our story effectively, honestly, and openly.  Everyone should have their elevator speech about the value and importance of early childhood quality so if you are trapped in an elevator with the right person your prepared to effectively share your message.

Are you ready to communicate change?

References

Fowler, F. C. (2013). Policy Studies for Educational Leaders An Introduction (4th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson.

Social Media's Influence on Policy Issue

The social media platforms I would use to support my issue of increased teacher education, and its influence on quality child care would be Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.  I am considering Facebook and Twitter as one platform and YouTube as a second platform.  Indeed, values and opinions are shaped and shared because digital posts spawn commentary sway views and spur action (Auer, 2011, p. 711).  Facebook and Twitter will help to reach a large group of users.  Many ealy childhood policy organizations use these platforms to get messages out to the early childhood workforce.  These have been effective in the past.  Child Care Aware of America uses both Facebook and Twitter to get policy information out to the field daily.  As an individual wanting to get the word out about high quality, these are quick and simple platforms to use.  Using social media for political discussions between citizens and their governments (Lampe, LaRose, Steinfield, & DeMaagd, 2011, p. 2).  Facebook and Twitter are good platforms to disminate material, but not the best for gathering data from the participants.

YouTube will be great to publish short messages about teacher education and high quality.  These could be embedded into various websites supporting ealy childhood workforce development.  Including testimonials from teachers that have utilized scholarship programs to increase their education will be included in this YouTube effort.  Additionally, the YouTube videos can be linked with the Facebook and Twitter effort.  It is important to identify technology that meets stakeholder needs, and match tasks to channels in a way that takes advantage of the interactive nature of the social media (Lampe et al., 2011, p. 12).  The barrier for YouTube is connecting with the agencies to embed the information into their websites and to identify individuals to participate in the project.

References

Auer, M. R. (2011). The Policy Sciences of Social Media. Policy Studies Journal, 39, 709-736. Retrieved from https:waldenlibrary.edu

Lampe, C., LaRose, R., Steinfield, C., & DeMaagd, K. (2011). Inherent barriers to the use of soical media for public policy informatics. The Innovation Journal:  The Public Sector Innovation Journal, 16(1), 1-17. Retrieved from https://www.waldenlibrary.edu