OT Connections is AOTA’s new online community which allows occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants and students to connect with each other to discuss issues of professional relevance and to obtain educational resources. It is designed to benefit the OT community and promote dialogue and knowledge.

Keep up with the latest Forum discussions, Blog Posts and participate AOTA members DO NOT need to Sign up. Just use your existing AOTA Web site login Non AOTA members must register to have access

What is all this? Home: Your home page provides you with an overview of your activity within your community. You can update your profile with information about yourself. Your home page shows your friends, and their activity as well. Blogs: Online journal where people can post diary entries about their OT life- experience-happenings. All registered users (AOTA members/non members) automatically have a blog. There is no “setting up" but posting is optional. Galleries: A media gallery contains files such as photos, videos of OT events. All registered users can upload and share their pictures and videos with the community. Forums: online discussions very similar to the formerly known ListServs with a lot more features. The SIS forums are only available to AOTA members, Public Forums are available to all registered users (AOTA members/non members) Groups: miniature community sites within the site that allow you to start or join a “focused” group on a certain topic. Anyone can start their own group or join an existing one. *Only AOTA members may access the SIS forums: all other parts of the website are available to both AOTA members and the public (registered users)

Blog vs. Forums Both useful in their own ways and share a lot of common features. They both allow you to post content and allow users to comment on your post. Forums require registration (AOTA members and non members have to be logged in to OTConnections to participate on a forum discussion) Blog commenting can be done without logging in or being a registered user Blogs are more about the posting of articles/content. Whether the blog is informational or merely a place to share opinions on selected topics, users interact with this content. They do not necessarily interact with each other as they do in Forums. Blogs have RSS feeds (a way to readers to subscribe to your blog and be notified when there is a new post without visiting your blog) Forum participation can be done via . You can receive, post, reply to the forums from your .

Blogs from AOTA staff, Practitioners, Students and you! Read or start your own blog! You can sort them by most recent, viewed or commented and always stay up to date with the latest Use these “keywords” to browse through topics of interest and find all relevant information on that topic

Speak up, and leave your comments Subscribe to your favorite blogs via RSS or to receive updates of new posts Use TAGS to browse through topics BLOGS

Galleries: Pictures, Videos and Podcasts! Listen to Podcasts, View and Upload your pictures and videos from OT Events!

Forums: Ask questions, participate in discussions and share your knowledge! SIS Forums are restricted to AOTA members only. Use TAGS to browse through forums by Topics Click on the Forums tab to see the SIS and public Forums and sort postings by Most active, Unanswered, Unread, Your discussions

SIS Forums: Formerly known as ListServes SIS Forums Categories SIS Forum Sorting Write a new post

SIS Forums subscriptions: How to participate via ? -Log in to OTConnections, #1 click on FORUMS tab, #2 click on Forum Subscriptions #1 #2

SIS Forum subscription: How to participate via ? Click and Select Yes or No to subscribe and receive s of discussions for that forum. You can receive one daily “Digest” or you can also receive s for each post and replies on that forum by selecting the “Non-Digest” option. -Digest: One sent daily with all activity for that forum -Non-Digest: Sends you an when a new post, reply is posted to that forum

SIS Forum: How to participate via the website? -Log in to OTConnections, click on FORUMS tab, click on SIS Forums -Click on “Write a new Post” and select the SIS forum you want to post it to

SIS Forum: How to participate via the website? Start writing your new post with a subject and message. (You have options to edit and format your message, include links, tables, bold, change font size, include video and more) see description on the next slide

SIS Forum: How to participate via the website? Compose Tabs/ Options #1 Click on Options Tab: -Click on Add/Update to upload an attachment such as a document, PDF, Powerpoint, etc -Check Locked if you don’t want people to be able to reply to this post. -Stickiness makes a post always stay up at the top of the page regardless of how many new discussions start below in the forum. This is used for “Guidelines” or posts that should be made “sticky” Click on Video Tab: If you would like to include a video hosted online in places like Youtube. Click on Poll Tab: This will add a poll to your post (people must be logged in to the site to be able to vote) Click on the Related Tab: to see related posts the site recommends by the forum you are posting to. Click on Preview Tab: this gives you a preview of what your post will look like. #2 TAGS: enter keywords you want to categorize this post under – this helps with sorting posts by different keywords and makes it easier for people to find. #3 Click POST to publish your forum post. #1 #2 #3

SIS Forum: How to participate via the website? How to Reply in a discussion Click “Reply” To reply to an ongoing Forum discussion Enter your reply, as you would in the previous slide. Click post to publish your response.

Groups: Join or start a group with your friends or colleagues Browse through the existing groups and apply/ join Start your own Group!

cOnnecT Today! It's that easy! Interact and connect with others! Visit and Log in Participate in the Forums, start a blog, upload pictures from conference and much more!

Questions? Contact me OTConnections: SamGonzales x2714 twitter.com/aotainc