- 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?
A PLN could give power to messaging for an individual or a community in that a PLN could make these individuals and communities more visible to the public, as well as allow them to control their own narratives. As the example given by Brad Baker about how the Inuit girl approaches social media illustrates, her social media use allows her to share information that may be exclusive to a small group of people (eg: How Inuits live; the way northern lights look like) with the world (Miller). And since she is the producer of these knowledge, she has control over how she wants to present herself and her community. This is particularly important for both the Inuit girl and people outside of her community because as for the girl, the use of social media allows her to raise awareness about her community in ways that she feels comfortable with; as for the rest of the world, it provides people with an opportunity to gain authentic, first-hand knowledge and stories.
To apply this example to education and learning, a PLN gives power to messaging for an individual or community first by connecting and organizing these individuals and communities into a network. Although it is unlikely that people all come from backgrounds as unique as the Inuit girl, each individual and community has its unique stories and knowledge to offer to the table. By touching on these topics, people expand both the volume and the richness of their knowledge base. Also by touching on these topics, people could start conversations regarding various issues that are critical to certain individuals and communities but may be foreign to people outside of those communities, which creates opportunities to raise awareness.
Here, I would like to take my personal experiences for an example. I interned for a company that specifies in online education for K-12 students. My job was to create and maintain an online community where students could share their learning outcomes and communicate with each other. In essence, I was working as a facilitator of their PLN. There was a student who is a national minority living in a rural area that none of my students has ever visited. Her appearance stirred great curiosity within our online community. For the next several months, this specific student shared a lot about her life – the way she and her families live, traditional holidays that they celebrate, the way they commute to nearby cities, to name just a few. It later became a little ritual within our online community that she would share a couple of pictures or a short video clip of herself and her families almost every day and the rest of us would watch them with great interest. It was a valuable experience for all members within our community because not only did me and my students learned a lot from her, she also gained a great sense of pride in herself and her nationality from educating us about it.
A potential threat associated with such information share is that people could be under attack or risk compromising their privacy for being vulnerable and sharing their personal stories. However, just as Brad Baker mentioned in the video, the fact that some people are uneducated and biased towards certain individuals and communities are part of the reasons that sharing information and raising awareness are important (Miller). Although these experiences could be less than ideal, they also provide opportunities for personal growth (Miller).
- Education occurs in so many environments beyond the classroom, how does social media help expand education and associated needed communications?
According to connectivism, learning depends on connecting different entities (people, groups, ideas, devices etc.) and that the capacity to learn largely depends on how diverse one’s PLN is because diversity is what generates knowledge (Veletsianos). In that sense, thanks to the power that social media has in reaching a large number of people, social media becomes an essential tool that connects people, expands and enriches the diversity of one’s PLN. Also, because of social media, learning expands beyond the classroom and could happen almost anytime anywhere.
Social media also changes how educators work. In the typical teacher network model, the teacher largely acts as a relay station for information coming from all sorts of sources (Veletsianos). In my opinion, in such case, the teacher acts as the sole disseminator of knowledge within the classroom and there’s little communication and connection happening between the students and sources other than the teacher. With the help of social media, especially how social media connects people and shares content, educators are able to create a network of incorporates multiple sources, including social media platforms and tools, colleagues, students and their families, and so on (Veletsianos). Instead of the sole disseminator of knowledge within the classroom, the teacher now acts as a facilitator of a learning network.
References
Emerging Technologies in Distance Education, by George Veletsianos, AU Press, 2010, pp. 114-115, pp. 123-124.
Miller, Jesse. “EDCI 338 – BRAD BAKER.” YouTube, uploaded by MILLER, 04 Mar. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy63SmEpvCw
Hi! Your blog post is so well articulated and powerful. I really enjoyed your discussion on how teachers typically dissemate information and when considering connectivism as a learning theory, it would be beneficial for a teacher to also incorporate and facilitate a learning network, where they students can engage with multiple sources and individuals to enhance learning.
Hi Patricia!
Based on my experiences working as a facilitator of online communities for my students, I would say that with the advancement of technologies and acknowledging the fact that students now have access to so many learning resources even without the help of an instructor, it is not only important but also necessary that the role of “teachers” be changed, which would help students to better navigate through this digital era and make the most use of the resource available.