EDCI 338 BLOG 8

EDCI 338 Blog 8

1. Explore the video provided and reflect on the themes of a PLN in a professional capacity – how does a PLN give power to messaging for an individual or community?

            To better explain how PLN can give power to messaging for an individual or community, I would like to mention Brad Baker’s experience of using social media. Brad Baker is currently the District Principal of Indigenous Education in North Vancouver School District 44 and as an experienced educator, he is using social media not just to advocate on Indigenous education but to also diversify the learning experience of his students. Social media played an integral role for Baker to positively spread the importance of Indigenous education. This is because without social social media he would not be able to reach a wide audience. Social media also helped him become a “positive” contributor to his community (Miller 5:25-5:30). Without social media, all information on Indigenous community will solely come from the mainstream media that only tell people what they want to tell (Miller 7:43-7:45).

2. Education occurs in so many environments beyond the classroom, how does social media help expand education and associated needed communications?

            In the sixth chapter of Veletsianos’ book, I learned that teachers can use social media encourage learners to have an initiative in learning and become independent learners. For example, teachers instruct their students to participate in social media activities like blogging and social networking (Veletsiano 127). In these kinds of activities, teachers no longer dominate the production of information, but rather, they are also encouraging the learners to produce their own content. This reminded me again of Shelley Moore who said that learners learn better when they collaborate with one another. This means that social media does not only allow learning beyond the classroom, but rather, it also promotes “democratic” classrooms.

3. Community communications go beyond blogs and social media shares, how does a PLN help and hinder the development of thoughts and ideas in education discourse?

            PLN is a double-edged sword –it can either help develop or hinder the development of thoughts and ideas in education discourse. One of the advantages of PLN is that it allows learners to expand their network. In connection to this, Veletsianos said that, “The best part of this course is that it’s not ending. With the connections we’ve built, it never has to end (127). This means that even if the students are done with the course, their learning does not stop there because they could continue to learn with their PLN members. On the other hand, because PLN allows learners to connect with “literally” anyone, the teachers will not be able to keep their students under their surveillance. It is still necessary for teachers to track student activities online because there is a chance that they are exposed to a wrong kind of information.

4. How does the use of PLN raise awareness opportunities in education?

            As mentioned earlier, PLN allows learners to create a network, their own network. In this virtual network that students have created, students can organize events together and support each other’s advocacy. In this week’s video, Baker mentioned that PLN also allowed the indigenous people to talk about their experiences and their dream of reconciliation (Miller 7:26). Put in other words, PLN allows learners to get the information form the authentic source. This means that learners become more exposed to the problems that they become more inclined to solve it.

5. What is the role of social media in education?

            Social media can make students’ learning active and interactive. For example, when searching for the necessary information, learners can search through their social media to look for the additional information (Veletsianos 127). In addition to this, social media also allows learners to ask questions to each other or sometimes ask for help. Without social media, I believe that it would be hard for learners to look for a support system that could help them throughout their learning.

6. What are some problems with social media communications in education settings?

            Social media exposes learners to a variety of information that they often experience information overload. When there are just too much information that can be found online, I suggest that teachers provide guide questions or checklist that students can use as they try to learn new things on their own. The guide questions and checklist will prevent students from getting lost and it will also help them assure that they are doing the right thing.

Works Cited

Miller, Jesse. “EDCI 338 Brad Baker.” YouTube, 5 Mar. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy63SmEpvCw.

Veletsianos, George. “Developing Personal Learning Networks for Open and Social Learning.” Emerging Technologies in Distance Education, Au P, 2010, pp. 109-128.