In 2015, the Harvard Macy Institute made the decision to ‘go social’ to connect our worldwide community via Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, under the leadership of inaugural social media strategist Holly Gooding. We started our community blog, with the mission to “foster the ongoing connectedness of health professions educators committed to transforming health care delivery and education.” Our efforts were intended to bring our alumni up to date news in health professions education, to promote the inquiry and scholarship that the Harvard Macy Institute values, and to celebrate the global and diverse Harvard Macy Institute community of practice.

Harvard Macy is a community of educators and leaders dedicated to transforming healthcare education. In addition to being a top course in research, teaching, and learning in health professions education, Harvard Macy is itself a community of practice – a group of people who share a craft and/or a profession – and thus a prime opportunity to grow your professional network. 

What can you do to embrace networking while a Harvard Macy scholar? Here are 8 tips to consider: 

This blog originally appeared The Medical Educator Blog on June 13, 2017 and is republished here with permission http://www.themedicaleducator.com/blog/950165/all-a-twitter-5-tips-to-build-your-twitter-presence-as-a-medical-educator

A few years ago, my husband noted that more and more professional conferences had hashtags and suggested it might be wise for the two of us as early career academics to grow our professional Twitter presence. Admittedly, it took me a while to get on board as I’m not always an “early adopter” and I wasn’t quite sure how using Twitter would benefit me professionally. At times, the constant feed of new tweets seemed overwhelming and I wasn't sure who to follow or what to tweet about. With the added challenge of a 140-character limit I felt like I was learning a new language! As I became more and more engaged – and more users started following me – my confidence grew. After time and practice I'm now connected with medical educators from all over the world, and I recognize that Twitter offers an expansive network of professionals and colleagues at my fingertips for guidance and expertise. Since the first steps are often the hardest to take, I have compiled a few tips and tricks you can use to make the most of your Twitter presence as a medical educator.

Much has been said about Harvard Macy as a community of educators and leaders dedicated to transforming health care education. In addition to being a top course in research, teaching, and learning in health professions education, Harvard Macy is itself a community of practice, and thus a prime opportunity to grow your professional network. 

How can you enhance your networking while a Harvard Macy scholar? Here are 8 tips to consider: 

When Marg Hay, Monash University, and Holly Gooding, Harvard Medical School, asked me to write a blog post about my experience in the Harvard Macy Institute Systems Approach to Assessment in Health Professionals Education course, my immediate response was ‘of course, but why?’ The response was surprisingly simple. As a new scholar, I am now part of the Harvard Macy Institute community, and thus, my reflections are respected and valued.