Rebranding!

If you've ever visited my site before, you may be asking "why the changes?" I've just completed the daunting task of rebranding from robpower.weebly.com to powerlearningsolutions.com -- and I'm excited about the change!

So, what prompted the shift? Well, I got inspired after reading a blog post by Tim Slade titled 5 Tips for Elevating Your eLearning Career. Now, it's not that I think my career is stagnating... especially in light of this awesome feedback two of my students from a graduate-level EdTech course recently posted on Twitter:

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After reading Tim Slade's blog post (he really has a great blog, BTW!), I just got to feeling that my personal website had remained unchanged for far too long! I also got to thinking about the whole point of my site. I want it to be more than just an ePortfolio. And, I've been paying for the Power Learning Solutions domain name and URL for some time now, without actually using it for anything (I snatched it up with the intent of creating a website as a home for eLearning consultation work). So... I figured that the time had come to shift the focus away from just "Rob Power," and to put it onto the work that I do with educational technology, instructional design and development, mobile learning, and helping to prepare teachers to effectively leverage technology in their teaching and learning practice. The icon at the top of this post (which is one that I have been using for some time now) is a reflection of the overall rebranding -- as it symbolizes using educational technology to "push play," and put the world at our fingertips!

The End of xPat_Letters?

So, now I'm left with the burning question... what do I do with my Twitter handle (@xPat_Letters)? I've been using that handle for several years, and have just broken the 1K follower mark. I know that I can update my handle without losing my followers... but it's hard to break the attachment! I created the handle when I lived and worked overseas at College of the North Atlantic-Qatar. I kept it after returning to Canada, as I felt it was still fitting. I might not be a geographical expat anymore -- but I still consider myself a digital expat. I'm not a digital "native" -- rather, I'm someone who's chosen to travel into the wonderful world of educational technology, and to experience all that it has to offer! But, I think that I will make the leap, and update my Twitter handle now, too. As part of my digital rebranding, I'll likely just take the leap within the next day or so!

I'll also be taking the leap, and shifting blogging profiles (and strategies). I've been using Blogger for several years -- though I'll admit that I haven't been a very frequent blogger. Perhaps a new direction that I might take -- as I shift from my old xPat_Letters Blog to this new platform (integrated directly into the Power Learning Solutions website here in Weebly) -- is to start focusing more on creating posts to share educational technology tips, tricks, and resources!

In the meantime, you can check out some of my older posts over at http://robpower74.blogspot.com/

Welcome to the new Power Learning Solutions!

References:

Power, R. (2018). The xPat_Letters blog. [Web log]. Available from http://robpower74.blogspot.com/

Slade, T. (2018, June 2). 5 tips for boosting your eLearning career. [Web log post]. TimSlade.com. Available from ​https://timslade.com/blog/elearning-career/