My Student Blog

Due to the fast development of technology, every learner must study, browse various information, shares learning resources and establish contact with others at least once or more every day through their personal learning networks (PLNs). Trilling and Fadel (2009) argued that students in the 21st century should master the skills of accessing, evaluating, utilizing, managing, and increasing information and media wealth correctly and creatively.

What is media literacy? Media literacy is defined as the ability to critically analyze mass media reports and determine their accuracy or reliability. Media literacy is an extended concept of literacy, including the ability to obtain and analyze media information, and the ability to create, reflect and act by using the power of information and communication (“Media literacy”, 2023). According to the Media Literacy Center, media literacy skills provide “a framework for accessing, analyzing, evaluating and creating various forms of information, establishing an understanding of the role of media in society, and developing basic skills of asking questions and self-expression (Trilling and Fadel, 2009). Why media literacy is important? Due to the huge wealth of available information and media and various digital tools, the students of the Internet generation must be able to unprecedented power to improve their thinking, learning, communication, cooperation, and creativity. Accompanying these abilities comes the need to learn the appropriate skills to deal with a large amount of information, media, and technology (Trilling and Fadel, 2009).

Open dialogues about media literacy and factual information can create conflict, why does this happen?

Conflicts will occur when there is an open dialogue about media literacy and factual information. There are many reasons for these conflicts, including social, political and economic factors, as well as people’s own values, etc. Social media provides a platform for different social groups to express their opinions and organize their actions. People with different political views, economic interests and social status can strengthen their organization and interaction through social media, thus forming a situation of mutual confrontation. When people have opposing emotions, there will also be conflicts. When people tend to stick to their own positions and have a dialogue with people with different opinions, conflicts will arise, especially on social media, which is easy to expand and intensify external contradictions.

What is the benefit of having a PLN that values media literacy?

For online learners, it is very important to identify reliable and valuable learning resources from the vast amount of learning information, which can help them to choose helpful information more quickly and effectively and is conducive to the establishment of their personal learning networks. Media literacy learners can analyze the media. Firstly, learners with media literacy can understand how and why media information is constructed and its aims. Secondly, they can study how individuals interpret information in different ways, how values and opinions are included or excluded, and how the media affects individuals’ behaviors and beliefs. In addition, individuals with media literacy can have a basic understanding of moral and legal issues of media access and use (Trilling and Fadel, 2009). In a word, learners with media literacy have stronger insight and critical thinking and can better understand and establish the role of the media in society through their PLNs. They promote insight and critical thinking in the process of studying how individuals interpret media information in different ways, instead of simply checking and using media information.

Online learners with media literacy are better at creating media products. First, they can understand and use the most suitable media creation tools, features and practices. Secondly, learners with media literacy could understand and use the most appropriate expressions and explanations in a diversified and multicultural environment effectively (Trilling and Fadel, 2009). To sum up, learners with media literacy have more innovative ability. By analyzing the media, they understand how the media influences personal values and behaviors and use the analyzed media information to create media products. Learners with media literacy are better at putting theory into practice.

In conclusion, the skills of accessing, evaluating, utilizing, managing, and increasing information and media wealth correctly and creatively are important skills for building and expanding individuals’ PLNs. A person with a PLN values media literacy has more abilities of insight and critical thinking, skills of analyzing and creating media products. Therefore, online learners with media literacy are better at accessing, evaluating, utilizing, managing, and increasing information and media wealth correctly and creatively in their PLNs.

Reference

Media literacy. (2023, July 14). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_literacy

[Miller]. (2021, June 6). MEDIA LITERACY with JULIE SMITH [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57r3-aEnci0&t=1s

Trilling, B., & Fadel, C. (2009). 21st century skills: learning for life in our times (1st ed.). Jossey-Bass.

According to commonsense education (2017), educators only need three ways to personalize their professional learning networks. Following others and getting connected with others, getting inspired and trying something new, giving feedbacks and comments, and sharing with others can help instructors to personalize their PLNs. Therefore, tons of media platforms are beneficial in education.

Which social media platforms are beneficial in education?

Hildebrandt and Couros (2016) argued that various of social media platforms are beneficial in education, such as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google+, WordPress, etc. Understanding how these social media work and how these tools be used together and how learners master these social tools plays a vital role in education. In addition, interpersonal relationships in personal learning networks and professional learning networks are strengthened through various levels and forms of interaction on these social media platforms. In addition to the creation of content, the feedback to others’ contributions is equal. Furthermore, it is important for social contact and communication. Providing feedback and opinions, participating in digital conferences, or contributing community resources can enhance your PLNs.

As mentioned above, social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google+, WordPress, etc. are beneficial in education. Every learner can use these social media platforms to expand and strengthen their PLNs. Engaging in online chat and message boards, communicate with people in different industries on Twitter and Instagram can help you build a dynamic interpersonal network. By searching hashtag in Twitter and Instagram help you locate the information and resource you are looking for. Using L&D community to post questions about topics and learning content on Twitter or community on Google+ can help learners and instructors discussing, collaborating, and practicing. Learners and educators can use YouTube and Google Drive to post and share tons of learning resources, videos, etc. They can also use WordPress to write blogs or create self-portfolios on different topics. To sum up, learners can use social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google+, WordPress, etc. for facilitating various types of learning and educators can also use these social media platforms for achieving different kinds of teaching possibilities. Social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google+, WordPress, etc. bring various benefits for both learners and educators.

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

It is crucial and challenging for social media to provide an accessible design and inclusive community on social media platforms for them when working with the vulnerable sector. On the one hand, the social media platforms could provide an accessible design for the vulnerable sectors. That is, all learners could access the social media platforms without facing any barriers. First, an accessible design includes clear and intuitive structure, mobile-friendly design for every person. In addition, an accessible design also includes comprehensive application features, social collaboration tools, multimedia integration, and compatible browser supporting.

On the other hand, an inclusive community can help vulnerable sectors have a sense of belongings. That means all learners, regardless of their nationality, gender, sexual orientation, political orientation, and education level, etc., could feel supported intellectually and academically when using these social media platforms. First, an inclusive social media platform means that all users are free to express their views, post videos, comment, forward and like other people’s viewpoints and videos. Moreover, an inclusive social media platform can provide all users a place to ask questions, discuss, collaborate, and create and share ideas any time. Furthermore, a comfortable online social media platform community could make all users feel a sense of belonging, participation, collaboration, and feel free to express their opinions and feel connected with others. Overall, providing an accessible and inclusive platform plays a significant role for social media to fit into professionalism and regulations.

In conclusion, social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google+, WordPress, etc. are beneficial in education. For social media, it is very important to provide users with a barrier-free design and inclusive community on social media platforms when working with the vulnerable groups.

Reference
Hildebrandt, K., & Couros, A. (2016). Emergence and Innovation in Digital Learning (1st ed., pp. 159-177). George Veletsianos. https://doi.org/10.15215/aupress/9781771991490.01
[Common Sense Education]. (2017, July 21). What’s a PLN? And 3 Ways Teachers Can Get Connected [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju54C5A3RCw&t=1s

How do notable individuals use social media?
Celebrities should be more concerned about their words and deeds when using social media. First, notable individuals generally have lots of fans and followers, so pay attention to the authenticity of the information when publishing a post. When releasing news, they should first verify it in various ways to avoid publishing fake news which mislead the public. Second, try to avoid posting negative emotions. Celebrities should avoid making overly emotional and radical comments on social media and avoid causing unnecessary disputes and conflicts. The words and deeds of the notable people have a great influence on the public.

What are the benefits of being in the public eye and having a PLN?
Public figures usually have a certain reputation, and their words and deeds are more instructive to the public. Therefore, they can show more correct views on life and behavior through their PLNs. In addition, public figures usually have more resources, such as contacts, wealth, social status, etc., which can be reflected in their personal learning networks and can share more resources with the public. Furthermore, public figures usually pay attention to their own image and reputation, so their PLNs has a better reputation and are more reliable.

Building community with online tools provided by the employer can be limiting, what are the perceived restrictions and benefits?
Building a community with online tools provided by employers may be limited. Firstly, there are limited members of the community, and they are basically internal staffs. Thus, the contact resource is limited. Secondly, the internal community of the company cannot guarantee freedom of speech, so resource-sharing are limited. On the contrary, it is also beneficial to build a community with online tools provided by employers. By using online tools established by the company to upload data or share resources, the authenticity and safety of data and resources are ensured. At the meantime, the use of personal domain online tools ensures the effectiveness of data uploading and sharing, which is more convenient and faster.

Delivering information in a connected society requires verifiable resources, how to build a PLN to rely on?
It takes several steps to establish a reliable PLN. First, ensure the reliability of PLN internal liaison personnel. At the initial stage of establishing PLN, evaluate the reliability of the followers in the personal learning network and everyone in the learning community. It is very important to build a credible PLN environment. Second, ensure the credibility of the post content. Although social network is a virtual space, it is necessary to ensure that the information and resources disseminated are authentic, and not to disseminate fake news and resources. Third, choose a highly credible social platform. Platforms with high credibility will review the published contents.

How do those, who are veteran storytellers, minimize the risk of sharing misinformation?
Experienced storytellers are capable of judging the authenticity of published information and resources. They have more experience in verifying the authenticity and reliability of information and resources. They will avoid spreading false information and can help the public filter out false news, misinformation and fake resources.

Reflecting on how you would curate your social media with a critical public audience.
Firstly, it is vital for individuals to pay attention to the protection of their personal information and privacy, and don’t disclose their personal information and privacy to the public. Everyone should set their own account privacy settings in order to avoid unnecessary harassment and information disclosure. Secondly, it is important to ensure the authenticity of published information and resources. Don’t mislead the public by publishing problematic or unreliable news or resources. Therefore, it is necessary to check the reliability of each released information. Third, it is also significant to actively engage in social media. Share your own experience and knowledge, communicate and interact with others, and learn more information and inspiration from them. Build a reliable social environment.

Identify the risks and benefits of engaging with a public audience in a media space – What are the risks for a public figure or person in a position of trust (educator, lawyer, government official)?
The words and deeds of public figures in the media space will have a far-reaching influence on their fans and followers. On the one hand, the positive performance of public figures can play a demonstration and leading role, such as transmitting positive energy, paying attention to public welfare activities, which will have a positive impact on society. When a public figure pays more attention to social welfare undertakings, participates in volunteer activities and participates in charitable actions, it is often regarded as a positive benchmark by the public, and their good behavior habits will affect their fans, thus making a wider contribution. Similarly, the efforts and enterprising spirit of some public figures will also inspire the enterprising spirit of the public and make them work hard for their dreams. On the other hand, public figures have good financial resources and ability to gather people. For example, when the country suffers a disaster, they are more financially capable of helping the local people.

On the contrary, the negative influence of public figures in the media space will also cause fans and followers to follow suit, which will have a negative impact on society. At the same time, once the image of a public figure collapses in the media space, it will have a negative influence on their followers and fans. Furthermore, the intimate contact of public figures with the public on social media may expose their privacy. There are also extreme fans and followers who are too curious about the privacy of a public figure and commit crimes. Therefore, it is beneficial and harmful for public figures to actively participate in the interaction with fans or followers.

How to address negative replies and critiques that reflect your personal values and employer’s social media policy?
First, fully understand the negative responses. When there are negative responses and criticisms, you need to take time to understand them, and understand why there are such negative responses and criticisms. Including looking for the authenticity of information, whether it is a malicious comment of the followers, and whether they hold different opinions. After understanding the facts, find out whether there is any misunderstanding or incorrect information, respect everyone’s different opinions, discuss them amicably, and allow the collision of different opinions. This is also an important process of learning and understanding other people’s views.

Secondly, after knowing the truth of negative information, we need to take measures to deal with them. When responding to negative information, we should pay attention to the time, manner and content of the response. Positive reply to negative reply and criticism is also respect for others. And choose an appropriate way to respond to negative responses and criticisms. Adhere to the attitude of friendly communication and supporting different viewpoints. The content of the response should be concise and contain the main points, explain your own opinions, and at the same time be open-minded.

In conclusion, there exist risks and benefits of engaging with a public audience in a media space for public figures. Balance personal learning networks with public discourse is important for notable individuals.

Reference
Hirst, M. (2018). Navigating Social Journalism: A Handbook for Media Literacy and Citizen Journalism (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/10.4324/9781315401263
[MILLER]. (2022, June 6). Sophie Lui – EDCI 338 [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfcXgKLzOVM

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?

Clark & Aufderheide (2011) argued that public broadcasting, newspapers, magazines and online news broadcasts have played a central role in our democracy, providing information to citizens and guiding public dialogue. Now, an open, many-to-many network media environment is replacing the top-down communication technology that supports them. Era is changing. People open all kinds of social media to learn about what’s new every moment, which country has a coup, which celebrity has a scandal, which gas station’s oil price is rising, and which supermarket’s price is being adjusted. They know about the political affairs of the country and the prices of daily necessities through social networks. Social media is an important place for people to participate in communication and learn about various updated information. People can communicate with friends or strangers all over the country or around the world through various social media without leaving their home. However, due to the freedom of speech and the lack of censorship mechanisms on social networks, it is difficult for individuals to judge the authenticity of these political affairs, daily information and speech.

Although social media is facing many challenges, a diversified and inclusive personal learning network in social media sharing has become indispensable part of people’s daily life. Firstly, the diversity of personal learning networks gives us more choices. This is also reflected in the diversity of social media. The importance of media diversification is that it provides more diversified sources of information. There exists some weakness in the traditional public media, such as high threshold and single information, which cannot meet people’s demand for rich information. However, people can now get more interesting content through various social media, online websites and other media. Therefore, diversified social media has changed the way people get information, making it more convenient and widespread. People can get various information through social media, including news, entertainment, technology, culture, etc. Social media provides people with more platforms and channels to know something new about the world and the communities around them.

In addition, the diversity of social media provides various platforms for people to share information and knowledge, which enables people to acquire and share all kinds of resources anytime and anywhere. This is of great significance for individuals and organizations. It plays a key role in expanding people’s personal learning networks (PLNs). The diversity and inclusion of social media facilitates social interaction and cooperation. People can establish a wider and more diversified social network through social media, so as to strengthen communication and cooperation with each other. This also reflects the inclusiveness of PLN in social media sharing, regardless of different nationality, gender, sexual orientation, intellectual level, race and social class. People can communicate, cooperate and establish contact through a diverse and inclusive personal learning network.

Furthermore, a diverse and inclusive personal learning network in social media enables people to communicate faster, more globally and more diversified. People can communicate with people all over the world through social media, share their creative ideas, resource, and opinions, and build a broader and more diversified social network. The diversity and inclusion of PLN in social media sharing has enhanced people’s personal expression and engagement. People can express their different opinions and emotions through social media and participate in various discussions and activities, thus enhancing their self-awareness and social participation ability. The diversity and inclusion of personal learning network also promotes the dissemination of information and cultural exchange. Through different social media, people can get to know the information and viewpoints of different countries and cultures, deepen their understanding and cognition, and promote the exchange and integration between different cultures.

In conclusion, a diverse and inclusive PLN in social media sharing plays an increasingly important role in the digital era. A diverse and inclusive personal learning network not only changed people’s way of communication, but also promoted the sharing of information and knowledge, the enhancement of personal expression and participation, and the promotion of information dissemination and cultural exchange.

Reference
Clark, J. & Aufderheide, P. (2011). A New Vision for Public Media. In: Jansen, S.C., Pooley, J., Taub-Pervizpour, L. (eds) Media and Social Justice. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230119796_5

Building a reputation and trust in a connected culture can be difficult, how are you building a network of individuals who are dynamic, reliable, and participatory?
Are you leveraging healthy relationships from your PLN for growth?
How would you create a PLN prior to engaging a social media campaign on a topic of your choice?

A strong PLN with reputation and trust is essential for helping to create better learning. In an interconnected culture, building reputation and trust can be difficult. Someone may ask, how do we build a dynamic, reliable and participatory personal network before launching social media activities on the topics we choose?

Woods (2013) believes that spending time chatting with the people in your life will help you to easily establish your personal learning network (PLN). Talking with others is a simple way to get insight from others. In addition, use technology to expand and strengthen your PLNs. Participate in online chat and message boards, and communicate with people in the same industry on Twitter. Follow the industry experts you like. Get to know some interesting viewpoints. Start conversations with your peers and establish connections with other Twitter users. Join the learning and development (L&D) tweet chat, which will help you look at the problem from different angles. You can also take advantage of the conference back-channels to see various perspectives from all over the world. Establishing contacts with people from different industries can also help you see things in different sights. These activities can be useful when building your learning and development PLNs.

Therefore, it is necessary to establish a dynamic, reliable, and participatory personal learning network before starting social media campaign on the topic you choose. Firstly, increasing the participation of social media can help you build a dynamic interpersonal network. Follow some professional industry experts you like. Make high quality comments under the similar industry experts who you follow and attract a group of like-minded friends, who might agree with your viewpoints and comments or retweets your comments. Check the insightful comments under the posts or articles of relevant experts, and comment below his comments to increase the connection with people who has the same viewpoints. Retweet the insightful posts or articles, with your opinions attached. In short, actively participate in social media interactions, contribute your highly relevant opinions and comments, which will help you to expand your social contacts in related industries in this process. Increasing engagement on social media is of great importance for building a dynamic, reliable, and participatory personal learning network.

In addition, increasing contacts with relevant people will help you build a reliable personal learning network. Build a thematic learning community on one of social media you want to engage a campaign, such as Twitter. Members can be the friends you made on Twitter. Establish trust with others and use your PLNs to help or answer questions about relevant topics and contents in this thematic learning community or in L&D community. By cooperating with others to solve problems or answering their questions, you can build deep contact and trust with them. Building deep contact with other individuals can consolidate your personal learning network and make it dynamic, reliable, and participatory.

Furthermore, actively sharing useful industry-related or topic-related resources on the social media. Sharing resources can also help you find some like-minded partners in the same industry, who can jointly lead social media campaigns on the following topics and expand your personal network teams. As more and more similar industry peers join in, they can provide with various insightful ideas, which can enrich this social media activity and increase its reliability.

In conclusion, you can take advantage of the healthy relationship in your PLN to promote the growth of your PLN by actively participating in related industry or theme social networking activities, increasing connections and trust with other peers and expanding your personal learning network teams. Use social media to expand and strengthen your PLNs. Establishing a dynamic, reliable and participatory PLN plays a vital role in engaging in a social media campaign in the future.

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

How diverse is your PLN?

Diversity is the range of human differences, with a wide range of interests, backgrounds, experiences, and opinions, including but not limited to the differences of language, gender, race, social status and so on. “Everyone is diverse” (Moore & Schnellert, 2016). In my Personal Learning Network (PLN), I was connected to individuals have different people with diverse interests, backgrounds, life experience, and viewpoints. We share our diverse learning materials, experience, ideas, and creations with each other. Besides, for various reasons and purposes, we are connected to different digital platforms and communities.

Are you learning from a variety of diverse voices and are you expanding your understanding of the views of others?

I am learning from a various voice and learning to expand my understanding of the opinions of others. Take this course as an example, we discuss on Mattermost with our peers about diverse topics and then reflect on everyone’s viewpoints into our blogs every week. In education, the diversity and inclusiveness of teaching are often mentioned together. Teaching to diversity and inclusion is where we value the characteristics that are diverse (Moore, 2016). This learning activity has greatly taught us how to listen to other people’s voices and learn to understand different people’s viewpoints. This is the embodiment of inclusion. And it also helps us build a diverse PLN.

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

In this week’s reading and learning activities, I learned that diversity is not only tolerance and integration. According to Moore (2016), inclusive education depends on the diversity of its ecosystem, which not only promote coexistence and tolerance, but also flourishes with the learning and interaction of everyone in the community. Fortunately, we are studying in an inclusive education system. We are exposed to a diverse and inclusive educational ecosystem. Moore (2016) argued that inclusion is not just about students with special needs, it is about all students. Therefore, every student can be guaranteed to be exposed to inclusiveness and diversity. There are inclusive and diverse educators around us, and we should learn to accept inclusion and diversity, so as to better integrate into the brand-new education system and ensure understanding of true inclusion.

How likely individuals are going to continue with their created content and their network?

We are not sure what possibility it is that every student will continue to use the content and network they created. Personally, I like my current Personal Learning Network. We are free to make learning schedules and choose learning activities, we can flexibly complete our study tasks every week. Discussing and sharing ideas with diverse study members is the source of happiness for studying every week. And eventually establish and expand our own personal learning network gradually in the weekly learning activities.

Are the skills that they developed applicable in professional practices?

In the process of establishing personal learning network, some people may set up it without purpose, while others may plan their own professional learning network purposefully. Maybe some skills are not necessarily practical in later professional practice, but developing professional skills is not the ultimate goal. The skills learned in the establishment of professional learning network may come in handy at some time. We have no idea what will happen in the future. As Qualmann (2012) said, it is difficult to build a network when you are in urgent need of help. Before you need a network, you must first build a network. We are not sure whether the professional skills developed now can be applied in practice in the future. We cannot cultivate skills before we need them in the future. We must first develop these specialized skills.

In conclusion, social platforms play a significant role in helping us establish messaging and themes that are inclusive and diverse. First, social platforms will not refuse us to participate in social activities or learning activities because of our diverse backgrounds, experience, interests, opinions or different skin colors, nationalities, languages, genders and sexual orientation. Second, social platforms will not be inclusive because special people have special needs, but treat everyone equally. Therefore, in such a personal learning network or professional learning network, everyone should be inclusive. The network accepts everyone’s diversity. Exposing such a diverse and inclusive education ecosystem, social medias make a big difference on establishing diverse and inclusive messages and themes.

Reference

Moore, S. (2016), One Without the Other: Stories of Unity Through Diversity and Inclusion, Portage & Main Press, 2016. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=4832579.

Qualman, E. (2012). Digital leader: 5 simple keys to success and influence (1st edition). McGraw-Hill.

What digital platforms are students currently using to develop their professional network?
Students use professional social networking sites or applications to share knowledge, share documents, organize discussions with peers, find jobs or career opportunities, while using personal networks to contact friends or families. Most of group members believe that students are currently using google doc, google searches such as wikis, some open courses from universities, blogs, LinkedIn, Twitter Threads, Facebook Groups etc. to develop their professional networks. With the different purposes of students, the digital platform they use will change slightly. For example, graduate who want to find a job often use online platforms such as LinkedIn or indeed.

What could the student consider in expanding their professional learning network?
When expanding professional learning networks, students might consider several things. They could consider diversifying their network. Using diversified networks enable them to expand their personal learning networks. However, this will increase the risk of privacy exposure. They should consider security and privacy. They should choose digital platforms with stronger security and privacy policies. For those digital resident users, considering security and privacy should protect them from identity theft and take control of their data. Therefore, maintaining good online habits can help students protect their privacy. Select the most secure browser. Choosing a secure network is one of the best ways to protect their online data, especially when using the public WIFI network, be careful not reveal their online banking information. Password is still the main way for us to authenticate our identity on the Internet. It is very important to use random, long, and unique passwords to ensure the security of our digital accounts. Set two-step verification is significant. As an additional layer of security, you should enable two-factor authentication on all possible platforms. Furthermore, be concentrated on essential issues. Instead of being distracted by all kinds of new applications on the website, focus on the problems you want to solve. Be aware of privacy protection and security.

How does data privacy and security limit and/or promote a PLN?
Personal data disclosure, online sale of personal information, including credit card details, online banking login information, social account information, PayPal account etc., and phishing scam has been increasingly serious between year 2020 and 2023. Although people’s awareness of privacy protection has been enhanced, the threat of personal network data disclosure has not decreased. On the contrary, with the accumulation of personal privacy data leakage, on a global scale, cyber-attacks against individuals will increase. On the one hand, the risk of personal data leakage has indeed increased people’s concerns. Some group members think that the risk of personal data leakage on the network may hinder the development of personal learning networks. Some conservatives may have reduced the time of online activities, which affected the development of personal learning networks to a certain extent. However, with the improvement of people’s network awareness, the formation of good network habits, and the strengthening of personal data protection by network platforms, other group members believe that data privacy and security have promoted the popularization of personal learning networks under the case of strong demand for personal learning networks.

In your network, how can you create a digital identity/ reputation?
There are several methods to create a digital identity and reputations in individuals’ personal learning networks (PLN). First, because everyone can set multiple digital identities through different online communities, and some digital platforms do not audit personal digital identities, many people may use false information when interacting online. Therefore, if you want to establish a digital reputation on the Internet at the first time, you must show a good image on the network platform and maintain a consistent network image on all digital platforms. The unification of digital identity can enhance a person’s digital reputation.
In addition, some members believe that creating high-quality content that is relevant to the professional field is significant in creating a digital identity and reputations in PLN. For example, if you are looking for a job, then you should make a resume with good visual effects and high relevance to the job in LinkedIn, including some work-related internship experience. A highly professional resume makes it easier for you to impress HR.
Furthermore, other members think that interacting with your audience or peers on social medias is also important to create a good digital reputation. If you share some articles on your blog, read your comments carefully, take the time to answer each reader’s questions, be a good listener and be helpful to others, then this will increase your reputation on social media.

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.
My employers will be disappointed if they evaluate my performance on social media through my digital identity. According to my visitor and resident map, most of my academic performance is in the visitor mode. While I study online such as using google searches, I don’t leave any learning traces. Hence, it is difficult for employers to see my academic performance through my personal learning network. When I use various social media to contact my peers, I will show a resident mode, such as Instagram, and music applications. On these applications, my personal preferences are obvious, my “likes” and my song collection will show my preference. Generally speaking, I am not an outstanding personal online learner. On the contrary, my team members show obvious advantages. They have a good online image, high personal learning network relevance, and high-quality resumes on LinkedIn, which will help them impress the interviewers.

What is digital identity?

Digital identity is an identity that individuals show to others through network interaction and connection. It is like their presences on the Internet. It is everything they publish and share online. It is an identity how individuals participate, treat others, and how they use digital tools to benefit themselves on the Internet. Individuals’ digital identity is their footprint on the Internet. Their study, work, portfolio, blog, and everything they do on the Internet represent one’s digital identity (Stoller, n.d.). It is a fictional network image in some established and accepted social networks. For example, when they choose to build their Facebook pages or their virtual identities in chat rooms, they show an identity to an imaginary public, which they think is acceptable and can prove that they are close enough to others in tastes to be regarded as part of their public. People use pictures and references materials in the signature section to prove that they know something about the topics they are interested in when they want to post something in the social media or make comments online (Spracklen, 2015). Digital identity, therefore, is the portrait of humans that they show through online interaction.

How do personal versus professional approaches to digital identity affect social media use?

Professional identity is formed in social interaction based on the Internet by using online platforms and communication tools. Taking medical students as an example, they have formed some professional qualities in the process of graduation, as part of their lifelong professional identification. They learn professional communication methods on social media platforms based on the Internet, which affects their professional identity. Apart from personal emotions and cognition, academic work has confirmed the development of identity through social communication. Professional identity is a personal professional self-concept based on attributes, beliefs, motives, values, and experiences. The development of social interaction models, such as online platforms, and the subsequent formation of their professional identities have an important impact on the future of medical students. These Internet-based ways may have a certain impact on the formation of their Internet-based online identities, which are labeled as “Digital Professional Identity (DPI)”, that is, “professional identities formed through social interaction based on the Internet through online platforms and communication tools. Therefore, professional digital identity emphasizes professional-related network activities, which is more professional and purposeful, and the topics involved in the discussion are also more occupational. This will also increase the development of professional social medias.

However, personal digital identity puts more emphasis on themselves in some interactions on the Internet. Therefore, personal digital network is more inclined to personal preferences, personal social interaction, etc. It may be purposeful or aimless, with a wider scope and a wider field. This will increase the use and browsing of general social software and websites. For example, some teenagers use Instagram to chat with their peers or post something about their lives or something interesting. This kind of behavior is purposeless. Digital identity helps them to find a relaxed platform, establish contact with friends and vent their emotions, including good or bad feelings.

How do digital identities converge in networked publics – what are the impacts and benefits?

More and more individuals, enterprises and countries are interacting on the Internet. Digital identity is the core of these interactions. How they use digital identities will determine how people express themselves on the Internet. This is a basic role of identity in the digital society. With the rapid development of digital society, however, it will bring many benefits as well as threats.

Firstly, digital Identity is the core of the digital economy. Digital identity supports digital economy, and digital services occupy people’s lives, making people’s lives simpler. International services and international cooperation that were difficult to achieve before, through online platforms, humans can enjoy global services at home and keep in touch with people around the world. Digital identity is the medium of digital economy, attracting more global digital identity users and increases the economic income of countries. For the government, they can effectively manage personal digital identities, which is more systematic and concise. Everyone is under the management of one system, through which theft caused by the loss of physical identity can be effectively prevented. Their goal is to manage the digital identity of individuals more securely. For companies, enterprise services can attract the attention of global digital identity users, increase the number of potential customers who will use enterprise services, increase consumer groups, and potentially increase the company’s operating profit.

In addition, for individuals, they can enjoy global services without leaving home, making their life more convenient. People can study, socialize, and shop at home, etc. In the past, they had to spend more time in schools, social places, and shopping places. Now with digital devices, a simple mobile phone can help them to study, work, socialize or go shopping without going to the specific places. This is making everything simple, saving time and doing things more efficiently. At home, individuals can connect with the society and make them have a sense of belonging to society. However, there are more and more issues people should pay attention to on the Internet. An increasing number of websites, new apps, and new technologies will challenge people every day. Living in an age of technology, lifelong learning is very serious. Digital identity encourages humans to become lifelong learners. Social media will reveal whether people have this natural curiosity and passion for lifelong learning. But human beings are growing and adapting (Stoller, n.d.). Learning needs, work needs, or social needs will all prompt everyone to keep learning new technologies, understanding new apps, and participating in different websites or social platforms. These connections and interactions will promote continuous learning and adapting to high-tech life. Especially for education, it may improve the education level of everyone. For some reason, those who have no time to study in the classroom within the specified time can manage their time more effectively. They can balance their lives and families with study and work and improve everyone’s chances of getting education. Of course, with more and more interactions on the Internet, online bullying, pornographic websites, and online fraud will also flood people’s lives, and people will gradually learn the ability to deal with these issues.

Moreover, for professional people, interacting on the Internet helps the formation of their identities, such as peer learning, teamwork, collaborative learning, leadership ability, management and communication skills, ethics, and professionalism. Strong group identity is associated with enhanced social support and improved well-being, but unhealthy group norms may make individuals engage in behaviors and activities that endanger their wellbeing. Using social platforms would have a negative impact on academic performance, reducing students’ face-to-face social interactions. With the use of social networks, individuals may be confronted with physical and psychological problems.

Furthermore, digital identity can increase political inclusiveness and political influence, including the good aspects and bad aspects. The radical left actively uses the Internet to spread opinions, while radical right-wing parties and politicians use social media to strengthen people’s support for themselves and participate in active or passive election campaign. Their control over the media of many famous countries enables them to extend their hegemony to virtual leisure space and make users’ views on neoliberalism and nationalism become norms by propaganda and persuasion. Therefore, the Internet and social media have become a group of people who influence politics and can publicize their political views more efficiently. However, because everyone is in the center of the network every day, it is difficult to avoid contacting these views, so they are subtly influenced by various political views. The internet has contributed to the growth of some conspiracy theories, making it easier to maintain some untrue beliefs. The internet has contributed to the spread of conspiracy theories and made some beliefs more deeply rooted in people’s hearts (Spracklen, 2015).

In conclusion, the network is the establishment and maintenance of social networks and identities. People can find like-minded people to share politics through the internet, but this also encourages the growth of some conspiracy theories. Social media and the Internet can make it easier for people to communicate with each other, but they also have many concerns. People will worry about cyber violence, the spread of illegal videos, illegal downloads, etc. (Spracklen, 2015).

For me, my digital identity is a typical of personal digital identity. I use social medias to keep in touch with my friends. Sometimes I vent my emotions and follow the latest news of my favorite idols. Watching interesting animal videos on social media can temporarily relieve the pressure of busy study and life. Generally speaking, I use social media to contact my friends and relax.

Reference

[Eric Stoller]. (2016, November 25). Your Digital Identity [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0RryRbJza0

Learning and working methods have been changing all the time. Instead of sitting at the classroom, we can choose efficient open learning materials and methods online: videos from YouTube, open courses from university, etc. Information, service, human beings, digital devices are connected all over the world through the internet. Individuals are connected because they study and work through the digital devices on the Internet. They can share their ideas and learning materials through the Internet and social network. This is Personal Learning Network (PLN). We can choose when, where and what to learn at any time through PLN. During the period of Covid-19, teaching methods have become increasingly diverse, online teaching is more and more significant. Therefore, it is necessary to develop PLN skills.

Some people are connected through social platforms, they also establish and maintain their own personal learning networks through social platforms. Other professionals set up their own social networks through seminars or other communication meetings, then establish their own personal learning networks according to their communality, organization features, and working environment, etc. Then keep in touch with their contacts through various social media. Therefore, social media plays an important role in the personal learning network system.

Lots of factors motivate us to participate in the networked publics. Networking skills are of great significance in an individual’s career, which is helpful to personal growth and learning. In the purpose of working flexibly in the ever-changing environment, professionals need to improve their lifelong learning skills, and obtain learning and support through establishing contacts with other professionals and professional networks (Rajagopal et al., 2011).

Professional networking provides various benefits for the professional’s career and growth. No matter from the organizational point of view, personal point of view or social point of view, the establishment of a network of relationships can help individuals learn better, obtain various of knowledge, cooperate creatively, and spread information and new ideas fast and easily. People can consciously establish, create, and maintain their network of relationships, making it an effective Personal Learning Network (Rajagopal et al., 2011).

Although personal learning network brings many benefits to everyone, it also has various risks. Since everyone establishes and maintains their own personal learning network through the Internet, risks and benefits will accompany the whole process. The privacy, which people often talk about, has become networked with the data networking of our personal relationship networked. What we share about ourselves tells us a lot about other people. Individual’s privacy often be discussed in other person’s networking and without knowing that. The Internet builds personal portraits based on personal privacy and predicts others’ interests according to their habits (Boyd, 2012).

For example, once I searched inner pot online, I would receive tons of junk emails about the promotion of rice cookers, kitchen utensils, wigs, fake flowers, etc. every day. Big Data automatically sends various of promotion information to me.

If the network can access one’s personal social network, the prediction will become stronger. Any privacy mode that focuses on information control will fail. In the internet age, the disclosure of one data will mean that other data will be widely spread. It will be a great challenge for human beings to think about how to protect network privacy (Boyd, 2012).

In conclusion, establishing and maintaining personal learning network is the demand of the times. Personal learning network brings a lot of benefits to humans, but it also has potential risks. In the purpose of improving individuals freely through the personal learning network, we also need to find some effective ways to protect PLN environment.

Reference

Boyd, d. 2012. Networked Privacy. Surveillance & Society 10(3/4): 348-350.http://www.surveillance-and-society.org

Rajagopal, K., Joosten-ten Brinke, D., Van Bruggen, J., & Sloep, P. B. (2011). Understanding personal learning networks: Their structure, content and the networking skills needed to optimally use them. First Monday, 17(1). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v17i1.3559

Summer term begins, look forward to learn something new!

Wish to have time to enjoy the sunshine and the beach, and look forward to meeting more sincere friends！