Author: vthamanagama

• How does your PLN help to engage business, career opportunities, and relationships ?

Having a PLN for business and career opportunities helps us to explore different opportunities related to our field of study or we have a chance of exploring opportunities in different sectors. This helps us build strong relationships with different people across the world.

• How can you take your PLN from local community to global community ?

Having PLN does not limit to one small group but it helps to expand from a local to a global community which helps build more and more connections worldwide, because social media allows us to connect to people all around the world without any limitations.

• How can you network with a world view but focus on local impact ?

We can network with a world view and focus on local impact. For example, if we take Canada, there are so many different people living whose coming from various different cultures and ethnic backgrounds. So, if our PLN only consists of all Canadians it would be a tough job to market a product to all the people who live in Canada. That’s the main reason why we need to expand our PLN globally so we could get different perspectives from around the world and build up a good plan to market to all different cultures.

• Can your PLN be used to help professional development post-course and be relied on to open professional opportunities?

Yes my PLN could be used to help professional development post course since in my PLN we have different individuals who come from different backgrounds, countries and who do different majors. They too have connections with professionals in different areas of study which will create professional opportunities, get advice and many more. For example, I am a chemistry major student and I personally do not have any professional connections related to my study but a student whose doing arts in my PLN have connections with chemistry professionals which will not only help me to get professional opportunities but will also help me to get more advice about the other opportunities I could consider.

• How does a PLN help and hinder the development of thoughts and ideas in education discourse?

Education discourse means ability to communicate with people either formal or informal, written or spoken or, descriptive or prescriptive.

In education, discourse helps people to express ideas and thoughts and figure out solutions for the most complex questions.

One thing that hinders in the education discourse is when the other party doesn’t agree with what we say and this might cause unnecessary arguments and we cannot fully trust the other people when it comes to sharing our ideas.

• How do educators create discourse?

Human connections in PLN are strengthened through various degrees and forms of interactions. For example, blogging platforms, photo and video sharing and other social networking platforms.

The biggest advantage for an instructor who has an open course is that it allows him or her to refer students to other professors who are willing to help them with their areas of study or interest. By this throughout time it helps the students to strengthen their PLN.

• What is the role of social media in education?

The role of social media in education is its easy to access information, it serves as a research center and enhances a healthy competition to name a few.

• What are some problems with social media communications in educational settings?

Even though social media could be helpful for education purposes it does have some drawbacks too. Distractions and poor self regulation, cyberbullying, posting unsuitable content on social media and lack of face to face communication to name a few problems.

• Which social media platforms are beneficial in education?

The social media platforms that are beneficial in education would be LinkedIn (to communicate with professionals), Twitter (class message board) and Facebook (for live lectures and discussions) to name a few.

• When working with the vulnerable sector, how does social media fit into professionalism and regulations?

Social media professionalism and regulations affect differently when working with the vulnerable sector and they would be cyberbullying and harassment involving minors, some stories or posts may inflict emotional distress on minors.

As a solution to overcome this problem we could raise digital literacy and online safety and restrain sexual exploitation of children and other abusive content involving children.

Media literacy is taking the full responsibility to critically analyze the stories or information presented by mass media and to determine the accuracy and creditability of the given information.

Lets consider the following questions.

• How do notable individuals use social media?

Notable individuals use social media to connect with other people like normal people do. They also use to promote their work or brands. Through social media they bring awareness to themselves and also gets feedback on their work.

• What are the benefits of being in the public eye and having a PLN?

Benefits of being in the public eye would be having a great amount money so they could host events to get to know people in the same industry. When an individual becomes famous, many various opportunities open up whether its career related or not. Wherever they go local or international they are always well recognized.

• Building community with online tools provided by the employer can be limiting, what are the perceived restrictions and benefits?

Restriction – With the online tools provided by the employer, the employees should very careful when handling business related issues or meetings in order to not to harm the employer’s reputation.

Benefit – The employer has more trusted connections with regard to the workplace and that makes the employees create more connections and gain knowledge about the work they do.

• Delivering information in a connected society requires verifiable resources, how do build a PLN to rely on?

Currently building trustworthy connections with different individuals is very risky because there are a lot of scammers out there. The best way to build a trustworthy PLN would be to take small steps in getting to know each other and building trust little by little.

• How do those, who are veteran storytellers, minimize the risk of sharing misinformation?

Veteran storytellers minimize the risk of sharing misinformation by sharing their own experience with a group of people who went through the same experience. So, that if any information is wrong there is always another person to correct it.

• Identify the risks and benefits of engaging with a public audience in a media space and consider what the risks for a public figure or person in a position of trust (educator, lawyer, government official) may be?

The benefit when engaging with a public audience in a media space would be the ability to talk to the officials directly and ask any questions from them and the risk would be the ability to determine the provided information to be accurate or not. Since we do not 100% know if the source of information is true or not.  

• How to best address negative replies and reviews which reflect your personal values?

The best way to address negative replies and reviews would be by paying attention to their point of view and then analyzing it and giving a neutral response. Showing anger would make things worse.

• How does open dialogues about media literacy and information can create conflict? Why does this happen?

Open dialogues about media literacy and information may create conflicts and that’s because every individual has a different perspective on the information received. Some tend to believe the information; some need more evidence and clarification, and some do not believe in it instead they have their own point of view.

• Thoughts on the benefits of having a PLN that values media literacy.

Benefits of having a PLN that values media literacy would be it helps you to access the most current information, access valuable resources, advice, and support. Also, can engage in meaningful conversations and discussions.

Unity through diversity and inclusion are main things we focus on our workspace. Inclusion does not mean controlling everyone and telling them what and how to do, it means to accept everyone for who there.

Working as a manager with different nationalities in a big retail store for the past 2 years has given me so much experience about diversity and inclusion. We have created our own Instagram page where all our associates hard work is being celebrated and appreciated. Moreover, we make sure we give them badges for the challenges they win and for their hard work. Once a month a survey is being conducted by our co-manager in order to get suggestions from associates in order to improve anything in the store or for the associates. Also, every six months a computer-based learning module is given to all associates about diversity and inclusion.

Having a PLN that is public and engaging, requires risk assessment and policy understanding. Let’s consider the following questions along with the explanations.

• How does social media engage and challenge communications ? Is it inclusive?

Social media engagement is a measure of how people interact with an individual’s social media account and content. Engagement comes in different forms such as likes, comments, shares, mentions and retweets to name a few. Engaging in social media helps individuals to connect with various other people/organizations and even professional from all around the world regardless of where they come from. Where as, social media challenges are when it affects our social skills (decrease of face-to-face communication), decreases self esteem and confidence and not being able to fully trust the other party. Therefore, it is inclusive.

• Does your PLN amplify the views of others?

Yes, my PLN does amplify the views of others because we are from different parts of the world, and we all think in different ways. Having a diverse group of individuals not only stops us from thinking from one perspective but helps us think from different perspectives.  

• The policies of employer social media communication expectations.

The employer social media communication expectations would be informing employees to avoid talking negatively about their colleagues, their employer and its customers, clients, and contractors. Also, that any work-related grievances could be directly handled by the HR department directly. Reminding employees to respect law when posting on social media and not to violate any relevant data protection or copyright laws. Attention should be given to other company policies which might be relevant to social media use such as bullying and harassment or equality and diversity policies.

VISITOR (V) – The main idea of being a visitor in the social media platform is using any technology to gather information or learn something and not leaving any social traces online. Its more like an individual comes online to use one of the tools available to perform a task and then goes back offline.

RESIDENT (R) – The main idea of being a resident in the social media platform is using social media as an important tool in their day-to-day life. For example, regularly contributing to different social media apps such as Instagram to share stories (personal or other), commenting on blog posts, using twitter and son on.

Shown below is my V+R map along with an explanation as how I am using each social media app.

Search – For university related studies and personal purposes

Gmail – For university and mostly personal purposes

Online Banking – Pay bills and money transfers

iCloud – Save images and download apps

SMS – Sending messages to close friends

Online shopping – Personal purposes but use only once a week to browse

Netflix – Watch movies and tv shows

WhatsApp – Communication with friends, co-workers, and fellow classmates

Instagram – Post pictures, share stories with friends and browse other posts

Blog – Sharing thoughts about various topics with EDCI 338 classmates

Google Docs – Used mainly to do schoolwork for example group activities and reports

Brightspace – All my courses and course information are posted there

UVIC webmail – Used to send emails to professors and share information with fellow students.

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

The digital platforms currently used by students use to develop their professional network would be WhatsApp where an individual can have a personal account where they could communicate with friends and family and business account to communicate with professionals. Also, another platform would be Gmail where an individual could create two email accounts one for work/business related purposes and other being personal so that emails from both parties would not get mixed up. LinkedIn is also another media where students use to communicate and make strong ties with the professionals.

 What could the student consider in expanding their professional learning network? How does data privacy and security limit and/or promote a PLN?

In expanding a students professional learning network, they could consider what personal information they should share with the party which they haven’t met face to face. Also, a student should be aware whether they could trust the company and would they be able to make strong ties with the organization in future (having common grounds). At first making strong ties with a organization would be difficult but with as times goes we could understand whether they are reliable so that they could make strong ties.

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

By choosing carefully what I want to share about my personal life with the public. For example, I would like to share my vacation with the public, but I would not share my banking information with anyone.

Consider how an employer would respond if you applied for a job with them and they assessed your social media presence via your digital identity.

If an employer was to assess my social media (Instagram) they could see my posts which are mostly taken during trips and some stories which includes birthday stories and outings. Everything would be very professional and nothing inappropriate and mainly no deep personal information is being shared in my Instagram.