I really enjoyed reading your blog post! I like how you brought up using Instagram and facebook as ways that students can expand their professional networking. I think that these are great ways for students to expand their networking in a variety of different professional connections. This also got me thinking about how most companies have their own Instagram page and Facebook page which allows for better professional networking. In terms of looking for a job even just following the company on social media shows a lot about how dedicated you are to try to expand your professional learning network.
I really enjoyed reading your discussion post! I think that expanding your professional network by joining online communities would work well! This is something that I hadn’t thought about, and have not partaken in, however, it is a great idea. I know that there are some websites, like discord or Reddit to set up that are targeted toward being an online community for people to discuss their interests and disciplines. I think it is also interesting because not only have I seen this type of communication on those specific websites, but also on tik tok lives and Instagram lives, where people are showing others how to do math or teaching them about science.
What Digital Platforms are students currently using to develop their professional network?
After making my own Visitor and Resident Map I can imagine that many students’ maps look pretty similar to mine. I would imagine most students would have bright space on their map since I know myself personally, I use it multiple times each day and just in a professional way. This is similar to Microsoft teams as well; I use it a lot but only in a professional setting. I think that many students have a view website that they use almost every day and simply just for school/ work. Additionally, I have a couple more websites that I engage with, but not as regularly. These websites are harder to distinguish because I use them in both a professional and personal way. An example of this is my Gmail account, I have a personal one, and a UVic one. This one is in the middle because I will sometimes use this as a way to communicate with my relatives or with friends, but not as frequently as any social media website. I also use both my personal and professional accounts, however, I check my personal more frequently than my professional account. Because of this, I will quite often give my personal account as the best way to contact me by email. I would imagine a lot of students would have their email account in the middle too because of the reason I gave. Another factor as to why students would have this email here is because once you are finished university and graduated you will no longer have access to your UVic email account, so it makes it easier if you have your personal account for your main contact as well.
Additionally, I would imagine that many students would have a shifted map. I think there would be a lot of websites in the visitor, professional quadrant, and a lot of websites in the personal residence quadrant. I think that this would be the case because many individuals who use personal accounts tend to use them enough daily that they would consider themselves a resident because they are more likely to use websites that are more personalized to them. Additionally, I would imagine that many professional websites you would use because you have to and you wouldn’t voluntarily use them as frequently to communicate so therefore you would consider yourself a visitor.
What could the student consider in expanding their professional learning network?
I know at least for myself, I only post things frequently on my personal accounts, so my professional learning network is quite small. I have a couple of accounts for example Twitter and LinkedIn that I have just made an account, but I have not posted anything or really ever used it. I simply have an account because I know that one day, I will probably need it. This is something I could definitely work on because in order to expand my professional learning network I should try to shift myself from being a visitor on these websites to a resident. Another thing that I have reflected on is that I don’t actually use as much social media/ websites as I probably should if I want to strengthen my learning network. This got brought to my attention when I looked at my comments from a previous blog post. I know myself personally when I think of professional learning networks I usually think of more professional social media and websites. However, this is not the case. Cyci had brought it to my attention that many people will use discord, YouTube, or Instagram to expand their professional learning network. This is something that I should work on, considering that I have never used discord, and rarely use YouTube. Because of my lack of presence on these websites, I am missing out on something that could help improve my professional learning network.
I have Embedded Cyci’s comment on this post if you want to learn more bout alternative networking sites!
Thread discussion: How do data privacy and security limit and promote a PLN? In your network, how can you create a digital identity/ reputation?
Personally, I have always been super aware of my data privacy and security which has maybe worsened my PLN. Because I rarely post anything on social media, and I don’t use a lot of different websites or social media sites, I think that I have a worsened PLN than most people. I don’t have as many connections to professional networking, which in turn could affect my job outlook in the future since I don’t have a high presence on professional websites. If I were to look for a job and they were curious about my social media presence via my digital identity, they wouldn’t find much about what I can do or how my PLN could benefit the company. The benefit of this is that I don’t have anything on the internet that could affect my chances of getting a job since I am always mindful of what I post. I think to create a better digital identity I should start posting and being more active on some of my accounts, I would still be mindful of what I post but I would also highlight some of my strengths so that future employers know what I can and cannot do.
