Edward Waters College Professor and Student
Attend  WordPress 2016
Prof. William Jackson – Edward Waters College
Joshua Rodriquez – Biology Major
@wmjackson

HBCU students are learning that the content they
create is valuable in the career direction they are
taking. Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat, LinkedIn and
other Social Media platforms can be used to enhance
Brands beyond being a student, it can enhance
visibility as an innovator, smart creative,
developing leader in the ever-changing tech industry
and a  potential rising star in intellectual exchanges
and collaboration.

HBCU students can now become entrepreneurs
while still in school if they have the vision and skills.

Joshua Rodriquez, a student majoring in Biology and
a new user of #WordPress, has learned as a first time participant at#WordCamp 2016 conference, the importance of writing and blogging. Josh, a junior attending Edward Waters College
has aspirations of medical school and blogging
about his experiences and journey.

Pro. Jackson, a veteran of WordPress, attending
WordCamp: Each year, I learn something that I can apply
personally and professionally as a teacher, blogger
and business owner with #MyQuestToTeach.
On the teaching side, it is required that students
taking Educational Technology and Social Media
course that Prof. Jackson teaches blog each week
about what is passionate and interesting to them.

Allowing students to develop WordPress sites
encourages students to read, build comprehension
skills and share on a digital and literary platform
their growing knowledge and  understanding how
to apply technology intellectually towards their career interests. They learn that literacy is just not reading and comprehension. There are other dynamics as written by Rusul Alrubai‏ @RusulAlrubai
https://rusulalrubail.com/2016/11/22/literacy-beyond-reading-writing/.
She gives a very good explanation of literacy and
its dynamic use not just for academics, but other
areas of learning.

Building future technology professionals: HBCU
students need to be able to write, share content
and information on a professional level that is
required in many careers. Just as important is
the ability to comprehend what is read and
able to apply what is read to achieve the goals
and missions of their careers. Many businesses
claim that students from many institutions are
not competent writers and even lack comprehension
skills. These skills can be gained and strengthened
from reading.

Being an educator on the elementary and higher
education level, I see the importance of students,
especially students of color, strengthening their
abilities in reading and comprehension.
HBCU students even after graduating need to
continue to read and engage in diverse literary
genres, join book clubs and participate in reading
events at their local libraries.

Joshua and Prof. Jackson had the opportunity to help
elementary students at the conference to develop
a web presence, sharing our knowledge and skills
with these growing writers.

More HBCU students should attend conferences
like WordCamp, BarCamp, EdCamp, and EdCampNABSE.
Students like Mr. Rodriquez are the growing leadership
that is needed to assist African Americans to
increase the 2% that own technology companies.
There needs to be more to empower African
American communities.

In order for HBCU students to expand beyond traditional
career roles and enter into entrepreneurship roles,
management roles, and business startups they must
be involved in leadership roles.
To be engaged in video blogging, podcasting,
microblogging and creation of Apps and the
area of virtual reality.

“I would like HBCU students to understand they are
the authors of  their story, they are authentic, they
are unique, and they are eternal in the stories
they provide.” William Jackson

Reading is vital to building language and intellectualism,
“books may look like nothing more than words on a page,
but they are actually an infinitely complex
imaginotransference technology that translates odd,
inky squiggles into pictures inside your head.”
Jasper Fforde

Joshua speaking at #WordCamp
https://youtu.be/0jdPakqSh5o

Resources:
WordCamp Central
http://central.wordcamp.org/
WordPress
https://wordpress.com/
EdCampNABSE
https://twitter.com/EdcampNABSE
NABSE
https://spark.adobe.com/page/TcID6BRLHlupl/

William Jackson
My Quest To Teach
http://MyQuestToTeach.Wordpress.com

Educational Technology and Social Media
at Edward Waters College
http://ewceducationaltechnology.wordpress.com/