EDCI338

Consider how you can use the PLN interactions of this course to further your digital identity post-term.

First of all, for this class I know the platform WordPress and I created my own account on it, so for later time of the term, I would definitely use more WordPress to post my blog and enhance my digital identity. Other than WordPress, another PLN interaction of this course is Mattermost, this is a new way for me to express my digital identity. It’s like a official way to build relationship with classmate, and I can check which time zone do everyone in, so I can use it as an international PLN way to enhance my digital identity.

What does it mean to have a digital identity in your industry of choice and can your current PLN be used to help professional development post-course?

In previous videos, Jesse had meets many professionals in different fields, and I think that is a good example of PLN to help professional development. For me, I think my current PLN is not enough to be used to help my professional development, because for example, my LinkedIn account has few information about me and I haven’t build relationship on that. More important is that my current PLN is focusing more on school life, I think if I want to use my PLN to help my professional development, I need to do some changes on my current PLN.

Additionally, as you progress through the steps of your career, can your PLN be relied on to open professional opportunities?

I think I still need some time to enhance my PLN in order to help my career by open more professional opportunities. For now, I’m participating all the events that hold by my program and I am trying to know more people in my future career field and build some relationships hopefully.

– Community engagement is public communications – what are the benefits of a diverse and inclusive PLN in social media sharing that understands where you are coming from with messaging that impacts the community?

Points to Include:

– How does social media engage in advocacy communications?

Advocacy communications focus more on influencing specific audiences and using specific messages in order to deliver changes in policy or practice(Coulby, 2010), and a good advocacy communication should have clear objectives, knowledge of the intended audience, language appropriate for that audience and content that is short, specific to the point. Therefore, the way that social media engage in advocacy communications effectively is to use the number of users online as audience and post language in an easy-to-understand way. For example, using hash tags for different topics, and users can add hash tag to their post when they think their posts are related to the particular topic. Furthermore, social media can also engage in advocacy communications by expand the size of the platform, when more and more users come to join the community, it will also make advocacy communications popular and got more attention.

– How does social media use in public discourse potentially challenge advocacy communications?

Social media use in public discourse challenge advocacy communications a lot. There are billions of users in the world and social medias provides a big platform for them to share information and post articles. However, it is really important for users to decide what is good and what is bad. It is users’s responsibilities to challenge different types of information online. Obviously, people will still be attracted by majority voices on social media, but for different advocacy communications, we should always be think deeply then take actions, not just follow the majority.

Points to Consider:
o Does your PLN amplify the views of others?

Yes, when someone’s idea or points are accepted or liked by most of people, then his/her answer to the question will be list as the top one. When I learn some things from my PLN, I am also tend to check the post/content from other that already amplified by the platform, the reason is that I choose to believe or learn things and join the topic from the views that most people believe and amplified by the platforms.

o The policies of employer social media communication expectations.

I don’t think the most employers allow their employees to use social media to communicate without concerns. Because for most of time, the posts might involve some professional information or some private information, which lead to bad effect on the companies or the organizations. Therefore, many employers just regulating their employees to use social media carefully by some policies. In my major, which is health information science, most employer do not allow employee to talk about patients’ information or share details with others on social media, sometimes revealing the patient’s information without permission is against the law.

o How to better use social media to Build PLN – Influencers & Commentators

One rule that I think guides more effective social media use is the concept of getting out what you put into it. The more you actively engage with others online and their content, the more opportunities there are to learn things. The best social network to “build a PLN” would be Twitter. It is full of great educators who are constantly on it, conversating with one another about a wide range of educational topics.

Reference:

Coulby, H. (2010). Advocacy Communications A Handbook for ANEW Members. The ANEW Secretariat. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://www.freshwateraction.net/sites/freshwateraction.net/files/ANEW_advocacy_communications_handbook_draft.pdf

How would you create a PLN prior to engaging a social media campaign on a topic of your choice.

Consider how you would target and engage a PLN to discuss an emerging topic – provide insight on how others on social media could look to you as a leader in your chosen space – what themes from our introduction to the course could you actively engage to help raise your profile.

‘A PLN is simply an informal group of people who you learn things from on a regular basis. And if you’re doing it right, they learn things from you too.’

According to Woods (2103), a PLN is a platform for. people to sharing resource on the internet and take advantages from each other, which will definitely better than collecting information individually. The PLN offers opportunities for both students, teachers to study or teach outside of the school. People can learn what they don’t know and teach other about what they already know.  There are many platforms online to build a strong PLN such as Youtube, Facebook, and Chegg. In my major, I think instagram, LinkedIn, Zoom, and Facebook are the necessary platforms to build PLN; for example, we have a program instagram account, which will post upcoming events, student’s profile who’d love to share, and related contents. I personally love to share my thoughts and ideas on both platforms including WordPress and Mattermost. Therefore, the way I engaging a social medial campaign is to actively participate. Then, I think another way is to listen others’ thoughts and ideas carefully, and give them feedback to build connections.

Reference:

Woods, Bianca. “Building your own PLN: seeking new insights and ideas? Expand your personal learning network.” T+D, vol. 67, no. 11, Nov. 2013, p. 70+. Gale OneFile:Business.gale.com/apps/doc/A348998538/ITBC?u=uvictoria&sid=ITBC&xid=1010abdf.

* How diverse is your existing PLN?

To be honest, I don’t think my existing PLN is diverse. Firstly because I am from China, and most of my PLN are popular in my home country but not that popular in North America. The personal learning network platforms  like Youtube, Coursera, and Khan Academy were known when I came here for a while, and more important is that it is hard to extend my personal learning network without extending my personal network because the wayI know more PLN is limited. Secondly, as an ‘ESL'(English is second language) student, when I want to extend my PLN, I prefer for find some PLN from my home country because it would be more easier to learn thing without language barrier. Therefore, I think my PLN is not diverse,

* In your PLN, are you learning from a variety of voices or are you the loudest in the room?

In my PLN, I think I am the person whoo learns from a variety of voices because I think I need to learn things from different perspectives of view at my age, I want to collect more information. Later on, maybe when I have more knowledge in my mind or when I have more experience on some particular field, I will be the person who are the loudest in the room and tell others about my thoughts. or share my valuable experience.

* Do you participate in a silo of information sharing (similar themes or wide-range of interests)?

I think I am not participate in a silo of information sharing because my personal interests are wide-range. For example, I like to search different type of questions on Quora including Economic, Comics, Cars, and other fields. I would also spend more time on learning networks which include wide-range of information.

* How can you use a diverse PLN to broaden your views of inclusion?

A diverse PLN means more way to learn and collect information, it also means we have more opportunities to know people who has same interests with you. Therefore, I think I can collect information and hear variety.of voices on different personal learning networks first, then organize all the information I have learned from different PLN and make notes on some important information. Finally, ‘digest’ the information and make it become my knowledge. Furthermore, I think express my own thoughts is also important, because people should provide meaningful content and form meaningful connections between each other, which is the essence of inclusion(Moore), and if we want to use a diverse PLN to broaden our views of inclusion, sharing is also essential.

* In your professional setting of choice, do you think inclusion is actively embraced?

I am a students from Health Information Science program, and in my professional setting, which is healthcare, I think inclusion is actively embraced. However, it still depends on the purpose of the projects. In some workplace settings, inclusion is important, because we need to hear variety of voice and have diversity in order to have more thoughts and information. However, in some particular project which might need more people with more professional backgrounds, inclusion is not recommended.

* What is the learning outcome of your PLN and how are you ensuring your exposure to diversity and inclusion?

The learning outcome of my PLN is that I have more ways to express my ideas and hear from others. I think PLN is a way to learn better, because I  learned knowledge from PLN and when I tell others what you learned , it not only helps others but also reinforces my memory. The way I ensure my exposure to diversity and inclusion is to actively participate on my PLN and keep an open mind in different online communities. I think I am the person who want to be engaged or connected with the community. Therefore, the other way is to spend more time and make more connections on PLN.

* How has your thinking about inclusion and PLN evolved after reviewing the videos and readings?

Before learning from this week’s materials, I thought the term inclusion was only used to meet the needs for people with disabilities in order to adapt to live in the same setting as their family and friends. However, after reviewing this week’s videos and reading, I have a much better and clearer understanding of inclusion and our PLNs. inclusion implies more about meaningful and purposeful participation. It means individuals can be meaningfully included in the communities, rather than just physically integrated.

Reference:

Moore, S. (2018). The Evolution of Inclusion: The Past and Future of Education. YouTube. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQgXBhPh5Zo&feature=youtu.be

●  What digital platforms are students currently using to develop their professional network?

Students are using many online tools to develop their professional network such as  Youtube, Instagram, Messenger, and Facebook. For me, even though I know Linkedin is an important platform to develop my professional network and some of my instructors and program advisors highly recommend me to use it, but I just started to use it, so I am not know how to develop professional network on it.

●  What can you (as a student) consider to expand your professional learning network?

There are different platforms that I can expand my professional learning network. For example, I have want to learn any math, or programing knowledge, I have an account of an online platform called ‘Chegg’, and I pay for membership fee each month, it is like a community, and many teachers or students answer questions on it. Or if I have any question about biology or physics, there is a website called ‘Khan Academy’ with many lesson videos for free. All this platform are heard or saw by advertisement online. I know advertisements are annoying, but sometimes if you pay attention on it, some of them might really help you. Therefore, for me, the way I expand my learning network is to use every source effectively and pay attention to any other new sources.

●  In your network, how can you create a digital identity/reputation?

The way I create my digital identity/reputation in my network is to spend time on it. I think the most important thing to create reputation or digital identity is to feel a sense of belonging first. Then, I am willing to join the community and spend my time on it. After I enjoy to join the community, I would love to make more connections with the people from the community and maybe expand my learning network and social network. Therefore, I think before create a digital identity/reputation, the first thing is to enjoy the community, then it would be create reputation on it.

●  Consider what a local employer would do if you applied for a job with them – can they search the content, is it of benefit to the career path, does it hinder the opportunity of employment?

In my opinion, if I applied a job with a local employer in BC, I think they will definitely check my LinkedIn account first. Second, I think maybe they can search the content because all my accounts online are open to the public, so if they want to search the content about me, they can definitely get what they want. I think it is an either bad thing and a good thing. The bad thing is that the employer might know too much unrelated  information about me, which might causes bias on me. But for the good side, maybe it is a good opportunity for them to know me better; for example,  my life attitude, and my positive personality. It also reminds me I need to manage my own content online if I decide to make all accounts public.