Hello CIN Community:
Lately, we have had a stream of comments regarding post quality, resulting from hundreds of posts that have been, I'm going to say, low quality. I've spoken to a number of folks over the last couple weeks on this and I felt like I should weigh in. Just to note, I don't work for CompTIA; I'm just one of 10,000 or so accounts now on CIN. I'm not even the lowest - I'm #144.
@Stephen Schneiter is #4,
@Lee McWhorter is #10, and
@Steve Linthicum is #11, all of which I count among my friends. I'm just a guy with a hat and an opinion, much like many of you.
I believe in CIN and what we do for each other. But I've been wanting to write this for a while, not to put a stop to activity on the Community, but to make it better.
First, as a member myself, I always want to see some great activity, but it needs to be content that we, as instructors, content producers, curriculum creators, and such are going to find interesting and valuable. In other words, it has to contribute to
this community. I would rather see one post from ten different people than ten posts from the same person. We should be encouraging others to engage in meaningful discourse, not just post for the sake of posting (or running up the post count for the leaderboard)
Second, it's not about the number of posts a person writes or to which he/she responds, but rather, the quality of posts. If you have something to contribute to the conversation, feel free to toss in your two cents. But posts akin to "that was a great post" don't mean much when we have a "like" function. If you like a post, click the 'like' button. If you have something meaningful to add, by all means, add it. If you want people to engage with your posts, give them something to engage with - not just burp posts that don't offer anything.
Anecdotally, if we would critique our students on the various academic discussion boards that require the token 'two responses for credit' that we see in many online colleges, doing the same thing here on the CIN, to me, seems silly. We can do better and should. Because I know there is a LOT of great wisdom out here - far more than I have under my hat. I'd rather read that!
Easy for you to say, Rick, you're the current board leader
Yes, I am the board all-time leader and a two-time CIN MVP. But as I have said many times, that's not why I'm a part of CIN - I am here because I want to be a part and see all my fellow instructors have truly awesome classrooms. And I want to learn what you do to make your classrooms better - what do you teach, how do you teach it, and what works with what demographic. And I have come to make some great friendships out here in CIN, folks from all over the US and points beyond - it means a lot to me and from all of you that I've met in person, I know it does to you.
And that's what I'd like to see from everyone here. Many of you do that already and that's amazing. That's why I always love going to Summit - so I can rub shoulders and learn from all of you.
Fortunately, with the latest shakeups at CompTIA and with Stephen still at the helm here at CIN (that itself is a blessing!), it would seem that CompTIA thinks that CIN is a valuable asset to what will be the new CompTIA. Personally, I would be very disappointed if that changed - but it does take all of us to make that happen.
Certification Content/Objective Posts
We've seen posts about whether 'something-or-rather' is on a certification exam. It really doesn't take much for a person to ask Google. or one of the fancy AI's out there whether or not Is or is not on the objective list. And asking a question, only to provide five or six answers in your own post doesn't do much.
Instead of this, perhaps delve into a technique exchange on how to teach something in the classroom. For example, subnetting is one of those classic subjects that, I'm sure, there are 100 different approaches to teaching. With the varied kinds of students and instructors that pass through, exchanging techniques for teaching particular things in the classroom is a far better way to engage conversation.
Sharing new trends, news, or the sort is also good, so long as we're not just posting stuff, just because it's there. For example, this morning, an interesting discourse opened up about TikTok - not from a political standpoint, but how such a think affects the industry. That, to me, is rich conversation. More stuff like that.
But you'll notice that, most times, if I am going to reply to multiple posts in a thread, I'll put all the quotes and replies in one post, usually after waiting for folks to reply - so I have something more to say.
Respect
I probably shouldn't need to say this, because it's already covered in, arguably, the least read page of the CIN Community - the Terms of Use. We all should be aware and professional here on the Community. Sure, having a sense of humor or a sharp opinion (and I've had both) is okay, but we shouldn't be getting to the point where we're crossing the line.
Where is my Voucher Posts
I know that, for many folks, the vouchers offered on TTT are of a great benefit, perhaps the one thing that keeps folks a part of CIN. And I know that folks would love to get their vouchers quickly. CompTIA (and generally, Stephen) has to do a lot of work, in order to process vouchers for distribution. All of the attendees have to be checked to make sure that they have attended all the sessions. Email addresses all have to be validated to ensure that they are CIN members (and weed out all the fraudsters), and generally, that leads to a large order of hundreds of vouchers have to be ordered through Pearson. This takes time, upwards to eight weeks, which Stephen does on his own. So, let's be patient with the process.
Usually, Stephen will publish a post to let folks know that vouchers have been distributed. It's at that point that folks should verify if they've gotten theirs or not, after a couple days. If they haven't, and they feel they should, they should probably reach out to Stephen directly rather than posting all over the board.
And since we have a TTT coming up tomorrow, let me remind everyone:
- Attendees must be a member of CIN and in some way, affiliated as a Partner with CompTIA
- Attendees should use the SAME email address for On24, CompTIA, and CIN. That way, it's easier to identify real folks from the fraudsters.
- Attendees must attend all sessions, either live, or using on-demand. Usually, it's a two week window after the last session to make up any that are missed. (get the certificate too, for CEUs and proof, in case there is an issue)
Okay, I've ranted long enough and I'm sure this will elicit some feedback, public and private. If you have a differing view, then please, share it. I think with 2025 underway, we need to make CIN better by building our network of teaching professionals, in and out of the classroom. I look forward to what 2025 has in store with the new CompTIA (and even GTIA - although we don't talk to/about them much).
And if you made it this far, I owe you a coffee.
Hope to see the lot of you in the TTT tomorrow! And if you still haven't signed up - well...
Rick
