Month: November 2021

As Mo Amir said in the video, podcasting is not the job that pays his bill, it is developed slowly because of his interests. On the podcast, he will interview the people he wants to interview and talk the content that he is interested in. Instead of focusing on the number of clicks, he will not deliberately cater to the audience and make some content that he is not interested in. At the same time, he also mentioned that without Twitter his podcast would not be in the top 20 in Canada. Twitter has undoubtedly changed his PLN, providing more possibilities for his podcasts, allowing him to connect with more people and share conversations.

Can your PLN be used to help professional development post-course? If yes, how? If no, what limitations exist?

What is certain is that my PLN can be used to help my future career development. I registered an account on LinkedIn and actively improved my career information. At the same time, I am also actively establishing contacts with alumni, colleagues and industry seniors, hoping to expand the PLN. Because I think this will allow more people to discover me and be interested in learning about my professional abilities. At the same time, I will also interact with people, hoping that they will also affirm my professional ability on LinkedIn, so as to increase the credibility of my professional ability.

Can your PLN be relied on to open professional opportunities?

I think I can rely on my PLN for professional opportunities. As Mo Amir said, if we use PLN properly, based on respect and following the right people, we can use social media to gain opportunities and build good relationships with others. Just like his podcast, it is also getting better and better because of the connection on Twitter. In the same way, I also believe that after a period of operation, I will establish contacts on LinkedIn and look for potential opportunities for my future carrer.

References 

Miller, J. (2021, October 25). Mo Amir EDCI 338. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgoDet6pwaI

What is media literacy?

Media literacy refers to a channel for conveying messages (such as audio, Web sites and animation), the crafting of a message for a specific channel, and the effect the media message has on audiences (Trilling & Fadel, 2009, p.66). Based on Julie Smith’s interview, It is also about asking questions about every message, Constant critical and questions about all the media. (Miller, 2021)

Why is it important?

Media has its own language, its own text. People need to know how to use media to write content that is fluent. They need to use the context to effetely produce value and let people understand the content better. So it is important for people to use it and talk about it these days on a daily basis, not just in class. As students need to understand how to best apply the media resources available for learning, and to use media creation tools to create compelling and effective communication products such as videos, audio podcasts, and Web sites. (Trilling & Fadel, 2009, p.66).  

Why is it dismissed?

Media literacy is often dismissed. I think there are two reasons. One is because people often think that only people working in the media production industry need to know how to use media literacy.  (Miller, 2021) So people can only learn from a production class. But now all people are media producers. The second reason is personal bias. People always tend to look at the content that has the same opinion as them and don’t pay attention to the authenticity of the content. Of course, they are even more reluctant to think critically about materials that they disagree with.

Why should you aim for varied views but the factual consensus in your PLN?

Having a factual consensus in PLN is to establish a fair and open platform, and also establish a diverse and inclusive environment for the audience, they can honestly express their opinions. It does not matter whether there are different statements in PLN, and it does not matter whether the source of the statements is true. The important thing is that we can understand different viewpoints and understand why people have different viewpoints. Through critical thinking, people will not be hoodwinked or bamboozled because they don’t know diverse viewpoints.

References:

Miller, Jesse. (2021). EDCI 338-MEDIA LITERACY with JULIE SMITH. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57r3-aEnci0&ab_channel=MILLER

Trilling, B & Fadel, C. (2012). Digital Literacy Skills. Media Literacy Chapter 4, pp. 66. https://learning-oreilly-com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/library/view/21st-century-skills/9780470475386/fade_9780470475386_oeb_c04_r1.html#h2

Explore the video provided and reflect on the themes of a PLN in a professional capacity.

Brad Baker mentioned in the video that he is an educator who is committed to promoting the indigenous Education Project and also doing educational activities against racism. In the video, he discussed the role of PLN in promoting the development of personal and future well-being, and even the establishment of a healthy and diverse community. It is also mentioned that social media provides people with a broader voice platform. He discussed that social media, like Twitter, allows him to hear the authentic voice, it allows the real story to be told.  Instead, hearing the information that is second or third hand, it generally loses its meaning at some point. At the same time, Brad Baker was the first indigenous educator in the northland school district, he also discussed the influence of young voices in the community. They brought more changes, and they also influenced various activities surrounding commercial sports culture.

Which social media platforms are beneficial in education?

As mentioned in Alec Couros’s article, tools related to blogging, wikis, social bookmarking, photo sharing, and video sharing are all social platforms that are beneficial to education. For example, Brad Backer said in the video. He believes that Twitter provides a platform where more true stories can be told and heard by people instead of being controlled by the voice of mainstream media. For another example, in the story told by Jess, the young man used Instagram to share photos to let people know that there are such beautiful northern lights in the world. At the same time, in my experience, youtube is also a useful platform for education, whether it is sports, music, culture, professional knowledge, I can search for relevant information on it. More experienced people in the industry share their experiences through videos.

Consider the equality that exists when all have the same platform to engage community dialogues.

I think that when everyone has the same platform, it means that they will have equal access to all kinds of information, resources and opportunities. Everyone will have the same power to speak, let the world hear her story, instead of blindly being imprisoned by a voice. Of course, people can equally choose whether to make a choice for all points of view, and people can equally choose whether to participate in various activities without being judged.

References

Couros, A. (2010). Developing personal learning networks for open and social learning. In Velestianos, G., (Eds.). Emerging technologies in distance education. (pp. 109-128). AU Press. 

Miller. (2021, June 10). Brad Baker EDCI 338. YouTube.         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5z8iHxW2n4

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?

In current social media, in fact, we are easily limited by the algorithm of the application software in a less diverse PLN, because the software will push you some similar information according to the content you watch. But having a diverse and inclusive PLN has many benefits. The diversity of PLN allows us to understand people of different races, different cultures and various things that happen in the world. Inclusive PLN will also broaden our thinking, accept new things and ideas, and not be confined to our own thoughts.

Markiel Simpson is a Canadian activist and politician. He is a person of color and has a lifelong disability. He uses his personal experience to discuss and share his views on certain issues. In the interview, he said that different people have different views on things, which are related to their growth environment and personal experience. Only when we listen to people’s views can we understand the world better. These people may be friends, family, politicians, activists, people of color or people without faith, and so on. Only when our audience is diverse enough can the content he shared be seen by more people.

He also mentioned that in order to make the activities and content he promoted can be seen by specific people, he will specially post on Twitter, because many politicians or news related to politics are concentrated on Twitter. So his voice is more easily noticed. At the same time, he will also use specific hashtags such as “#togetherwerise” and #strongertogether to make his activities easier to remember and increase influence.

Miller, J. (2021, June 1). EDCI-338 MARKIEL SIMPSON. YouTube.       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsoDHGaXNNs