E-Professionalism for Early Care and Education Providers

Teachers of young children work hard to be professional and to be viewed by others as professionals. These efforts to maintain professionalism must include e-professionalism. E-professionalism involves behavior related to professional standards and ethics when using electronic communication (Evans & Gerwitz, 2008). Cellular telephones, social networking sites, video-sharing sites, online forums, electronic mail (email), wikis, blogs, and a range of Web 2.0 technologies allow for sharing of personal and professional information in a variety of ways with an extended audience. With any of these forms of communication, it is important to consider professionalism and what it entails. This article offers recommendations for teachers on how to make wise choices when using electronic media. (Contains 2 tables.)