Xiaoqi Wang EDCI 338 Class

Month: November 2020

Who Needs To Know About My PLN

November 29, 2020 / / 0 Comments

When I started working on my Personal Learning Network (PLN), it was clear to me that I need to establish my objectives as to why I created my PLN. In the first few weeks of the class, I learned that one of the objectives of my PLN is to help me become a good economist in the future. For this reason, I joined forums created for aspiring economists. In addition to this, I also followed the Twitter accounts of known economists and I also discovered other professional economists because of them. Moreover, as the course progresses, I also learned that I should expand my horizon and use my PLN to develop new skills. I find this convincing because, I should not limit myself to my future profession alone. Also, I wanted to give myself an opportunity to try new things and learn new things especially that a lot of information are readily available online for free. Aside from economics, history is also one of my favorite subjects. Because of this, I also followed contemporary historians in Twitter and join forums created by history enthusiasts. After joining the forum created by history enthusiasts, the members of the forum recommended other forums that they think I might like. This helped me further expand my horizon and I really find this learning journey meaningful.

Towards the end of the course, I thought that I already learned everything that I needed to learn about PLN. However, I was surprised when our professor asked us to ponder on who needs to know about our PLNs for this blog. Looking back, I thought I am contributing to the learning of others wheneve I join conversations and discussions in Twitter threads and forum discussions. Nevertheless, I learned that I must also promote my PLN to others to guide them in their learning journey. Just as Erik Qualman (2012) said, digital leaders like me should inspire awareness and engagement.  To do this, Qualman (2012) recommended that digitial leaders need to provide sufficient information so as not to cause confusion. Additionally, digital leaders should also make people conscious of the situation and guide others to understand it. This is because, it is only when people understand the situation that they become fully engaged to identify their strengths and weaknesses. Qualman’s words made me realize that my PLN, in addition to helping me become a good economist and expand my horizon, should also empower others.

EDCI 338 is one of the subjects I enjoyed this semester because it granted me freedom to rule over my own learning and help others in their learning as well. All my life, I thought that the idea of education is just about teachers teaching the students inside the classroom. This subject helped me understand that students can be responsible for their own learning when given the chance to. Lastly, another thing I learned from this class is that social media can also be an effective tool in building one’s professional career.

References

Qualman, E. (2012). Empower others. In Digital leader: 5 simple keys to success and influence. Retrieved from https://learning-oreilly-com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/library/view/digital-leader-5/9780071792424/ch16.html

 

 

Engaging Your PLN

November 22, 2020 / / 2 Comments

If there is one good this about my PLN that is, I will still find it useful even if I am already done with this course. This is because, my PLN make it possible for me to learn various things. Currently, my PLN teaches me how to ace my economics and other classes so every day is really a new learning opportunity for me. For this reason, I believe that this will go on for as long as I keep myself engaged in my PLN. In addition to assuring that I will continually learn in the future, I can also use my PLN to look for professional opportunities. Currently, I joined a Facebook group composed of people who give tips on how to pass online certification trainings like Bloomberg, Quickbooks, and Coursera. I learned a lot of tips from them because they share review notes which are necessary before one takes the exam. This Facebook group could grant me professional opportunities not just today but also in the future because they help me earn certificates that can make my resume impressive.

Since my PLN can positively impact me as a student and as a future economist, I wanted to give something back to my PLN through influencing them as well. To be honest, I have always wanted to share something valuable to my PLN, I just do not know what and how. Although I would say that engaging in group discussions somehow allowed me to influence some members of my PLN, I wanted to challenge myself through doing something bigger. After watching Prof. Miller’s interview with Amber Glauser, I came up with the realization that I could also act like a voice and represent a group of people like Amber and I can start with the members of my PLN. Amber mentioned that there are a lot of misconceptions about American Healthcare System and one of that is the misconception that America has no socialized medicine (Miller, 2020). After watching the video, I realized how networks like PLN can be used to falsify misconceptions on different culture, philosophies, and jobs. In this regard, advocacies like Amber’s is really important today given that some misconceptions can be vicious.

With the rise of network society, I believe that in addition to informing people to avoid misconception, the best practices of different countries can also be shared to other countries. Just as Del Giudice (2014) stated, the multidimensional structure of “network” society can offer a feasible option for results-oriented development strategy for developing countries. In other words, developing countries can adapt the effective strategies that other countries used. This way the developing countries do not necessarily have to do some trial and error in order to come up with the right solutions to their problems. Correspondingly, I would also like to expand my PLN through following economists and aspiring economists from other countries. Different countries have different economies so connecting with different people with different culture and experience would allow me to see different perspectives on economical progress, issues, and development.

References

Del Giudice, M. (2014). From information society to network society: The challenge. In Emerging markets, social network, and the question of legitimacy. Retrieved from https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/10.1007/978-3-319-02490-5_5

Miller, J. (2020, November 15). EDCI 338 A01 – Glauser, Amber [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiWaXNfnHAg&feature=youtu.be

PLN and Communications: What do People See?

November 15, 2020 / / 1 Comment

In a Personal Learning Network, it is inevitable for some users to share their personal identity especially when the situation calls for it. In the case of Harrison Mooney, a journalist and a memoirist, he used his personal identity and experience in a book that he is writing. His book centers on his life as an adopted black kid who used to believe that he was some kind of anomaly (Miller, 2020). In creating this narrative of blackness, it is inevitable for Mooney to refer to his personal experiences because if he did not, that would not be a narrative of his “blackness” at all. Harrison Mooney also share his personal identity in social media to discuss the black identity and it actually enabled him to connect with other people who had the same kind of experience. Nevertheless, even if sharing one’s personal identity help social media users make their narratives more powerful and credible, it should still be regulated. Correspondingly, I believe that when it comes to PLN interaction, users should be vigilant enough to not overshare.

Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) can either help or hinder the development of thoughts and ideas in public discourse. PLN can develop ideas especially when the PLN is composed of polite and professional people who are open to new ideas. In this kind of PLN, even if the members do not actually agree with one another, they know how to strategically present their counterargument in such a way that will not offend others. On the other hand, if the PLN is composed of biased individuals, then expect that the discussion will always be one-sided. To avoid this kind of PLN, users need to curate their PLN in such a way that will expose them to various contents. Just as Meikle (2016) discussed in “Convergence and Limits of Citizen Journalism,” the conjunction of contents can make way for new approaches of storytelling for news and public information. The availability of different contents can also help users cross examine the validity of certain information and verify the information’s consistency as well.

In terms of my own PLN, I would say that I would say that my identity fit into my PLN.  This is because I follow the authors, talk show hosts, and actors that I personally likes. This way, my feed is filled with information that I am interested in. Moreover, even if it is necessary to reflect my identity in my PLN, I believe that I still need to observe professional and personal boundaries. In the case of journalists, teachers, and politicians, their job requires them to be neutral or objective. In other words, journalists, teachers, and politicians cannot just freely state their political bias in their PLNs or else because people will have the tendency to assume that they are biased and therefore not reliable. In this case, even if as a citizen, they are entitled to freedom of expression, their profession demands them to be objective so it is really necessary for them to set their professional and personal boundaries for the sake of their credibility.

 

References

Meikle, G. (2016). Convergence and the limits of citizen journalism. In Social media: Communication, sharing and visibility (pp. 64-87). Routledge.

Miller, J. (2020, November). EDCI 338 A01 – Harrison Mooney [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elKNQpz0RrI&feature=youtu.be

On Why Media Literacy Matters in your PLN

November 8, 2020 / / 3 Comments

It is true that media can grant users unlimited access to various sources of information. Correspondingly, this allows them to be informed and it also grants them opportunities to learn new skills. In fact, there are hundreds of universities online that offers wide-range of courses for free. Nevertheless, in order to enjoy the vast resources of information that the internet can provide, users need to have media literacy skills. Media literacy skills, according to Center for Media Literacy, allow people to access, analyze, evaluate and create messages in different forms, understand how media affects the society, and develop the necessary skills of inquiry (cited in Trilling & Fadel, 2009). People need this particular skill because not everything they saw online are real. For example, there are news online that are created with the intention of spreading malicious information. If one is media literate, he/she will double-check if this certain news is true before sharing it with others. On the other hand, if he/she is not media literate, he/she will just carelessly share the information with others. Thus, making him/her responsible in spreading malicious lies or fake news.

No matter how important media literacy skills are, especially now that it is already the Digital Age, open dialogues on media literacy and factual information actually create conflict. This is because, not everyone agrees on the concept of media literacy and not everyone sees it as an independent concept. In the interview of Prof. Miller to Prof. Smith, Prof. Smith mentioned that there are some people who are surprised to learn that media literacy is actually different from “literacy” that we know (Miller, 2020). This implies that people have this notion that for as long as you know how to read and write you are considered be literate and that you are media literate too. Consequently, people often dismiss media literacy skills because they think that they already have it and there is no need for them to learn it anymore.

On the contrary people needs to learn media literacy skills because it will help them navigate through the Internet. Also, just as Prof. Smith mentioned, media changes every day and it is not as constant as math (Miller, 2020). For this reason, it is exciting to know what will happen next. On other hand, the unpredictability of media makes others fearful and instead of learning how to use media, they would rather be alarmed and put their walls up (Miller, 2020). For me this kind of reaction is dangerous because this will deprive people of the necessary skills they need. In order to learn media literacy skills, people can build or be a part of a PLN composed of people who values media literacy. People who values media literacy are critical thinkers, they can also be reliable sources of information, and people who are not familiar with media literacy can learn from them. Being part of a PLN will also help users to see varied view of different people on a certain topic. However, users must make sure that factual consensus is present because this indicates that the PLN maintains healthy discussion and harmonious relationship.

References

Miller, J. (2020, October). EDCI 338 A01: Smith, Julie [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_T9RghwJlI&feature=youtu.be

Trilling, B., & Fadel, C. (2009). 21st century skills: Learning for life in our times. John Wiley & Sons.

Public PLN – Balancing PLN & Public Discourse

November 1, 2020 / / 2 Comments

When people talk about the benefits of social media, majority would actually come-up with a long list of its advantages. Just as Sophie Liu shared in the video interview, back then, they would use brick phones, real phonebooks, and yellow pages if they wanted to connect with someone (Miller, 2020). With respect to today’s scenario, everything can be found in Google and it is easy to connect with people via Twitter or other Social Media. However, even if PLN can be beneficial to public figures, it also has its downsides. In the case of Sophie Liu, there were instances when she will receive letters, or receive phone calls from viewers (Miller, 2020). My personal take on this one is that, the public could easily connect with public personalities because their information is readily found online. For this reason, public figures find it hard to live a normal life once they are done with their duty. Aside from invasion of privacy, public figures are also prone to fake news. Fake news is intentionally fabricated to mislead the audience (Allcott & Gentzkow, 2017 cited in Hirst 2019). In the case of public figures, malicious people use fake news to discredit them.

Nevertheless, even if using Social Media has negative effects, this does not mean that public personalities like news reporters and government officials should not use it at all. For news reporters, they could use social media for exposure. More so, being in the public eye will also help them be recognized by people and having the right PLN will help them to be in touch with the right people. In the case of government officials, they could use Social Media for official announcements and dissemination of information. On the other hand, public figures just have to remember that they need to observe some restrictions. For instance, if they are using verified accounts due to employment, they should make it a point that the content of their posts and comments will not harm the image of their employee, does not contain foul language, and most importantly, not some kind of fake news.

Fake news is no longer new; it just happened that with social media, it can spread like a wildfire in seconds. To deal with fake news, Hirst (2019) suggested that Media Literacy shall be promoted. Media Literacy refers to the act of critically evaluating, create, or manipulate media. Promoting media literacy will prevent people from believing whatever they see online. More so, on the side of content creators, if they know what Media Literacy is, they will create contents that are not just consistent but also reliable. In this regard, it is important to point out that veteran story tellers minimize the risk of sharing misinformation through cross checking and cross referencing. This means that if their different sources say the same thing, then there is chance that that certain information is true. Social media users can apply this strategy too. If they have read a certain news, they should consider checking other news sites before they believe that a certain information is valid and reliable.

 

References

Hirst, M. (2018). The political economy of fake news. In Navigating social journalism: A handbook for media literacy and citizen journalism. Routledge.

Miller, J. (2020, December). EDCI 338 A01: Lui, Sophie [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T4jOdKd12I&feature=youtu.be

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