Xiaoqi Wang EDCI 338 Class

Tag: #EDCi338

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

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.

Community Engagement and My PLN

October 25, 2020 / / 4 Comments

As an avid user of social media, I would say that social media both foster and challenge community-based communications. Social media can foster community-based communications because social media has the ability to put together the members of community in online space. For instance, Mike Russell said that there is a subreddit for people living in Canada (Miller, 2020b). This subreddit allows Canadians to interact with one another and in the case of Russell, since the redditors know that he is a cop, the redditors ask him various question in relation to his job. In this case, Russell brings the community of Canadian redditors closer to the police. This kind of communication rarely happens in face to face because when people see cops, they have the tendency to get intimidated. Nevertheless, social media could also challenge community-based communications simply because miscommunication and misinformation are rampant in social media. Kermer explained that one of the challenges of the online space is that your manner of writing is different from your manner of speaking (Miller, 2020b). This means that whenever one communicates online, there is no way of knowing if the community properly received his/her message. Indeed, social media both foster and challenge community-based communication.

To reduce miscommunication, it would be better if one would always make it a point to be polite whenever he/she wanted to communicate something online.  In public media 2.0, the core function of the publics is to “keep democracies democratic” (Jansen et al., 2011, p. 59). This means that people online have the freedom to share their thoughts and opinions but they have to keep in mind that when they go overboard, they will be called out. To avoid unhealthy situations like these, one must keep his/her opinions in tow through being sensitive to other cultures and balancing professional expectations and personal beliefs. It is true that social media is sometimes used for personal reasons but one has to keep in mind that he/she is still an employee and part of being an employee is being professional inside and outside of the company.

In conclusion, as my online community learns more about who I am, I believe that the best thing I can do is to be polite. This means that I should avoid getting involved in issues that other people might find offensive. In addition to this, I will also refrain from posting very insensitive comments. If I really wanted to communicate a personal or sensitive topic, my best option is to send a private message. This way I could get to connect with people in my community that I wanted to connect with without fearing that other people might see our conversation. Lastly, I will make it a point not to overshare. By saying overshare, I will not share very personal information like my phone number, address, and even my birthday. If I share this information, strangers in the internet can easily disguise themselves as me. These cases are very rampant and I do not want any forms of crimes to be connected to my name especially when I did not commit the crime.

 

 

 

References

Jansen, S., Pooley, J., & Taub-Pervizpour, L. (2011). A new vision for public media. In Media and social justice (pp. 55-67). Springer.

Miller, J. (2020, October 18). EDCI 338 A01 – Russell M [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH_UiTWYYwU&feature=youtu.be

Miller, J. (2020, October 18). EDCI 338 A01 – Kermer, A [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/73KOxy_fMSM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Personal Learning Network (PLN) and Inclusion

October 11, 2020 / / 0 Comments

One good thing about my Personal Learning Network is that it is very diverse. It is diverse because my PLN is composed of professionals, students like me, researchers, and teachers as well. Aside from being diverse, there is also equality in my PLN because no one has the loudest voice in the room. I would not like it if I would have the loudest voice because that means that I am dominating the discussion. On the other hand, I would also not like it if one of my fellow learners in my PLN would have the loudest voice because that means that he/she is taking over the discussion. Since education is supposed to be democratic and inclusive where everyone has their own roles, responsibilities, and peer connections (Five Moore Minutes, 2018a), I wanted my PLN to be democratic and inclusive.

With diverse and inclusive PLN, I was encouraged to participate in silo of information through sharing my thoughts and opinions on topics like economics, education, and digital learning. The diverse group of people in my PLN enabled me to view things from different perspectives. For instance, teachers have different views on education compared to students and so are researchers and other experts in the field. Because everyone in my PLN has different views on a certain topic and no one is pushing them to think alike, it made me interested in the concept of inclusion. In inclusive education, educators do not force their students to think alike. Like many kids who struggled to fit in the archaic system of education that Shelly Moore mentioned in her video titled “Don’t Should on Me: It’s not easy being NOT green” (2018), I also struggled to fit in. Fitting in is not a good thing especially when you are really different from others. I want the inclusivity that I could feel from my PLN and I believe that engaging in my PLN more would help me see inclusivity in action.

The learning outcome of my PLN is to get the learners engaged and to make them lifelong learners. In order to ensure exposure to diversity and inclusion, I will not be picky in choosing my PLN members, for as long as their profiles are not dummy accounts, I will include them in my PLN. Just as Moore and Schnellert (2017) said, the paradigm shift in education is long overdue. This means that if as a student, I can do something to revolutionize my education, I will take the necessary steps to do it. After reading about inclusion and PLN I realized that education should not really look for the “not wavy” ones and fix them. I believe in finding strength and embracing diversity and this philosophy can be turned into practice. To turn it into practice, Moore (2016) gave a very important advice: Focus on the students that are hard to get to. If educators focus on students who find it hard to keep up, there is a huge chance that they will be able to reach all the students.

 

References

Five Moore Minutes. (2018, October 1). The evolution of inclusion: the past and future of education [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQgXBhPh5Zo&feature=youtu.be

Five Moore Minutes. (2018, November 5). Don’t Should on Me: It’s not easy being NOT green [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeRNhz0nGts&feature=youtu.be

Moore, S., & Schnellert, L. (2017). One without the other: Stories of unity through diversity and inclusion. Portage & Main Press. https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/lib/uvic/reader.action?docID=4832579&ppg=6

Shelley Moore. (2016, April 4). Transforming Inclusive Education [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYtUlU8MjlY&feature=youtu.be

 

Personal Digital Identity vs Professional Digital Identity

October 4, 2020 / / 1 Comment

 

 

Above is the V and R mapping that I have come up with. Looking at the map, one could easily see that most of my engagements online are institutional. This is because one of the reasons that I go online is because of my classes. There are sites in the map that I would not discover if not for my classes. For example, I have no idea what WordPress is and I also do not know how it works. Since WordPress is required in one of my subjects so I was mandated to create an account and learn how it works. In the long run, I learned how to use WordPress and I kind of liked blogging so I ended up using it for personal reasons. My V and R mapping got me thinking that if I am not a student, I would not spend so much time online. However, since it is already the digital age, I am pretty sure that when I started working one day, most of my activities online will be work related. Therefore, my V and R map will still be filled with institutional online activities.

With regard to work, some of the digital platforms that students use in order to develop their professional network are LinkedIn and Facebook. According to Johnson (2019), LinkedIn is a “social network that focuses on professional networking and career development.” Users can post their resumes and search for jobs using LinkedIn. Not only that, LinkedIn also allows their users to post updates and interact with other people. In addition to LinkedIn, Facebook also has a feature that allows students develop their personal network and this feature is called Facebook Jobs. Facebook Jobs allow users to search for jobs. Also, just like LinkedIn, Facebook also allows users to interact with professionals.

As a student, I plan to create my online portfolio through creating a WordPress website. In this website, I will create a professional identity that employers would like. I will also publish articles on economics that people can easily relate to. I want people to visit my site whenever they wanted a financial advice or they wanted to know some life hacks on budgeting their money. In order to interact with my audience, I will ask them to leave questions and I will answer them in my next blog. I will also promote my website in my social media so that my personal network can learn about my website. Through this website, I believe that I will be able to create a good digital reputation. This is because my site visitors learn from the articles I write and they may even consider me an expert in the field. Also, if ever a local employer would stumble upon my blog, he/she will be able to assess how much I know about my profession. Also, the blog will be a solid evidence that I am serious with the career path that I have taken to the point that I am determined to share my knowledge to others.

 

 

Reference

Johnson, D. (2019, September 6). ‘What is LinkedIn?’: A beginner’s guide to the popular professional networking and career development site. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-linkedin

OCLC. (n.d.). Visitors and residents mapping app. Retrieved from https://experimental.worldcat.org/vandrmapping/signIn

On Digital Identities

September 26, 2020 / / 0 Comments

The concept of Digital Identity is still considered nebulous. Despite this, Eric Stoller, a Social Media expert, simply defined Digital Identity as one’s presence online (University of Derby, 2016). Also, it could refer to how one, shares, interacts, and utilizes digital tools for his/her own benefit. In other words, one’s Digital Identity is basically his/her digital footprint. One could know a lot about a certain person by looking at his/her digital footprints. This is actually the reason that some companies would search for their applicants’ digital footprints to know if they are going to hire a certain applicant or not. Just as Eric Stoller said, looking into the applicant’s digital footprint is like an initial interview. Moreover, one’s Digital Identity could also be viewed as the product of a person’s interaction in the internet. In fact, Spracklen (2015) explained that the internet helps people create their identity.  This explains why one is likely to engage in political activities if he/she belongs in an online community composed of people who frequently share posts and videos on social activism.

The Digital Identity can be changed according to one’s intention. For instance, if one created his/her social media for personal reasons, he/she can share anything that he/she likes. In addition to this, he/she can follow pages and people that simply caught his/her attention. However, if one needed to create a social media because he/she wanted to reach his/her clients or boss, he/she needs to establish a good Digital Professional Identity (DPI). According to Jawed et al. (2019), DPI refers to the personal identity that professionals create online through internet-based interaction. In creating this identity, the professional carefully uses online platforms and communication tools to appear professional. Unlike the personal approach to Digital Identity, the professional approach is more constrained. This is because as a professional, one needs to create an image that will please his/her employers and clients. Hence, in creating Digital Professional Identity, online users leave their “real” identities behind and create Digital Identities that can best fit their profession.

In networked publics, the personal and the professional identities can converge. For instance, Teacher A has two Facebooks accounts, one for his professional account and the other one is his personal account. It is possible for the friends of Teacher A in his professional Facebook account to find his personal account especially when Teacher A did not strategically hide his personal Facebook account. In this case, Teacher A’s friends can check his personal Facebook account, send him a message, or even send a friend request. When Teacher A accepted his students and employers in his personal account, he will have a hard time deciding what to share, what to post, and who to follow in fear of not appearing professional to the clients and students who invaded her personal Facebook account. On the other hand, the good side of this is that Teacher A’s employers and students will feel that they would know Teacher A on a personal level. In connection to this, problems like these will always be part of our daily life. In the World Economic Forum (2019), the economists said that over 60% of the global GDP is expected to be digitized by 2022. This only means that world gets more digitized each year so we need to know how to responsibly create and handle our Digital Identities.

 

References

Mahboob, U., Jawed, S., & Yasmeen, R. (2019). Digital professional identity: Dear internet! Who am I? Education for Health, 32(1), 33. doi:10.4103/efh.efh_232_17

Spracklen, K. (2015). Identity-making and social media. Digital Leisure, the Internet and Popular Culture, 94-112. doi:10.1057/9781137405876_6

University of Derby. (2016). Eric Stoller – What is digital identity? [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0RryRbJza0&feature=youtu.be

World Economic Forum. (2019, February 5). Davos 2019 – Press conference the value of digital identity for the global economy and society [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=326&v=1-V7lyxrOmw&feature=emb_logo

 

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