Category: EDCI 338 (Page 2 of 2)

Hello Felix,

After reading your blog, I agree with your point that due to the popularity of social media apps, teachers are much more likely to gain interest with students by using social media. I really like your idea about using Instagram as a way to share information. I know personally while in middle school or high school, I would quite often miss announcements because I did not check my email nearly as much as I should have. So this way students can find out information through a platform that they use multiple times a day.  

Hello Asia,

I enjoyed reading your blog post! I agree with your point about social media requiring consent. I know even myself personally when someone is taking a picture and I know that I will be in the background I try to move out of it just because I do not want to be in someone else’s photo. I think that point amplifies to children as well because dependent on the age even if they say take a photo of me coloring, the child will probably not even know what could happen with that photo and doesn’t even know what consent is yet. So I think that especially in the vulnerable sector, there should be strict rules like the ones at your workplace to help protect the children, even if they have unknowingly consented.

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

There are many different “themes” that we follow when using a PLN in a professional capacity. First off there are the themes are rules that are typically common sense, these rules elaborate on how to act in a professional setting when using PLN in a professional capacity. However, there are some themes that are not as noticeable that we follow, such as being mindful about what we post on personal accounts because they could affect our professional work as well. Another theme in PLNs is the type of network we use for different materials, for example, emailing serves as a way to connect with people in a very professional manner, and is also a way to find out information from different companies. However other networking sites such as Linkedin allow you to have a more specific interaction with someone regarding either a new job or a collaboration.  So, therefore, the themes of a PLN in a professional capacity are very different depending on the circumstances.

Which social media platforms are beneficial in education?

There are many different ways social media platforms are beneficial in education, it allows students to interact in a specific way depending on the platform, but it also allows teachers to connect with their students.  For example, because this class is asynchronous many of you could be from all around the world, which means that there are time changes that could make it harder to connect with people. However, with social media platforms, it makes it much easier to check up on people and interact with them without phoning them or texting them without accidentally waking them up.  Another way social media can be beneficial is it allows you to not only connect with students in your class but students in different classes which provides more insight. I think that the best social media platform for people our age in education would be Linkedin because it allows you to interact with people who are in the same field as you and learn from people who have worked in that field for many years. However, this is highly dependent on the field that you are in, if you are in photography or arts, you might consider connecting with others on Instagram or Facebook.  Additionally, there are so many technologies and social media platforms it is hard to just pick a couple that is beneficial in education because each one has a specific purpose for use and can be applied to education in different ways.

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

I do think that there should be strong regulations around social media when working within the vulnerable sector.  Some of these regulations should include never posting while at work, since some security information may be in the background of your photo. I also think that depending on much confidentiality is needed in your job, some jobs might request that you don’t have where you work on your social media, or at least what your position is at the job. I do think that people who work here should still be allowed to be active on social media but they should be strictly personal accounts and not share any professional information. I think another key point is to keep your devices separate, and you should not use your personal device to deal with any confidential or privacy issues from your job, but also while at work you should not use social media on your work devices. This is just another additive measure that can be used to protect any hacking or any information from being leaked. I know that there are some jobs that use social media actively, but I do not see the same outcome for people who work within the vulnerable sector.

Thread discussion: group aspects outside of the traditional classroom, include dialogue about how education in the workplace in any capacity can consist of social media & what boundaries should be considered before encouraging discourse in a professional environment

I know personally, I have learned many things from social media from cooking to learning more about academic topics. I think many workplaces have started to implement more learning from social media sites. I think a great example of this is in the marketing world. At my previous summer job, I had a small role in doing some of the marketing, and it was encouraged for us to go on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and many other social media websites to see what is trending, and to boost our presence online by interacting with other people on social media. This highlights the very need for social media in the workplace. This is not just in the marketing sector however, many teachers will go online to find new ways to teach students and to see what websites are best, and Engineers will use social media to interact with one another and to learn more things.  I do think that boundaries should be put in place if this is the case though, if you are using a personal account to interact in a professional way you should make sure that you are keeping that in mind when posting about your personal life.

Hi Ella,

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.

Hello,

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.

Hello Nick,
I really enjoyed reading your second blog post! I liked how you talked about how a digital identity isn’t just one person but can be an organization, program, or device used for authentication. I think this is important because when many people think of digital identity, they think of it as a single person, but it could be multiple people. I also liked how you pointed out that many people have two social media accounts for professional and personal use. I also included this in my blog as well. You did a really good job of bringing up the point that nothing is wrong with having co-workers on your personal account, but if you do you should ensure that you are not making any of your co-workers uncomfortable about what you post.

Hello Wanqin,

I really enjoyed reading your blog post, it was very insightful! I really liked how you mentioned that digital identities help bring more security and convenience for people. I think that this connects very well with COVID-19, as many people had to sign documents but because of how it easy it is to use technology people were able to do so. More importantly like you mentioned it was secure for people to do this because there are ways to conduct identification, which is really important for making sure it is the right account and preventing theft.

What is a digital identity?

A digital identity like Eric Stoller (0.25) said is like your footprint on the web. It’s something that is traceable and has good and bad benefits. Some of the good benefits are that it makes it easier to promote ourselves, employers might look you up on social media and get to know more about you than just what they would have found out from an interview. The downside is that employers learn more about you, if you do not ensure that you accurately portray how you want to display yourself on social media you could lose your job or not get hired because of it.

Your digital identity is an accumulation of your presence on the internet it includes both things that you post as well as things that other people have posted of you. Everything that has been accumulated on your digital identity is usually pretty easy to find even if it is on a private account. I googled my name just to see what would pop up and unsurprisingly my Instagram account was the first thing to pop up. However, there were some things that I had forgotten that I have even done that popped up like a podcast I recorded in 2020, a Prezi that I had made in 2019, and photos of me that are linked to my parent’s Twitter accounts. This just goes to show the impact of digital identity, and even if you forgot you even posted something it might be one of the first things that pop up when you google your name.

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

I find especially with today’s social media, these two overlap substantially. Just reflecting on writing my Digital Identity exercise, I point out that I am always cautious of what I post because of the saying the internet lives forever. Once something is posted it is near if not impossible to entirely remove something, I have seen ways to access your old Instagram bios (yes, ones that have been written almost 10 years ago) just by accessing your own account history.  This could affect your professional social media usage because everyone has access to what you have posted even if it is on a personal account. Additionally, most co-workers follow each other on social media and not just on professional accounts but also on personal accounts. Due to this, your personal posts can easily affect how your co-workers perceive you and may make work situations uncomfortable, especially if you are not thinking before you post online.

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

Digital identities definitely have some big benefits in the networked public, it helps to set the tone of how certain people interact. Obviously, when interacting online with your friends and family you can open up more and express yourself and be more informal. However, in a business setting a digital identity allows you to highlight what you can offer other businesses if they were to hire you and allows you to promote yourself. This only works if you have two separate accounts which is not always practical. Some people might have one account that is personal and is private so only they can dictate who gets to see it. Whereas others might just have a business account that is public, but they are careful about what they post.

I would say with how big of an increasingly social media sites have become in the last 10/20 years that it is something that is relatively new, and something that people need to get educated on. Although digital identities help most people they could be detrimental to others. This is why it is important, especially for post-secondary students to receive training about what they should and shouldn’t share online so that their careers are not harmed.

Can a digital wallet provide trust in networked publics?

I think that the digital wallet especially during Covid-19 has helped a lot of businesses and people. The digital wallet allowed people easier ways to sign forms along with easier banking which helped to limit people’s in-person interactions. There is a fine line however with having a digital wallet and the country intervening and violating privacy rights. This is important however at this point there have been many laws put into place that ensure that the country does not violate these laws. A huge argument was about the effect of vaccine passports, these helped to ensure people were protected from the Covid-19 virus, and in return, they could do certain things that others who were not vaccinated could not do. This allowed the country to see how many people were approximately vaccinated to give them a better idea as to how protected the country is and to also see when the appropriate time would be to lift public health restrictions. This helped the overall safety of the country, and allowed them to find out an accurate percentage of who was vaccinated just by registration numbers and not by accessing personal information. Additionally, in terms of banking many banks have special software systems, as well as duo authorization that ensures that their clients are protected. I do agree that sometimes when using a digital wallet you have to be cautious of the information you provide, but for the most part when they are asking about personal information like where you live, it is used to ensure that this is the right person using the device, or a way to contact someone if something ends up going wrong.

References

Stoller, Eric. “Eric Stoller- What is Digital Identity?” Youtube, uploaded by University of Derby, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0RryRbJza0

Hello Jacky Li,

I agree that many online networks pose the threat of scams. I think that this is
especially important in networking as well, since nothing is more frustrating than when you are waiting for a text or email from someone and you receive a scam email. I think this poses a big threat in risks of public communication because, like you said, even if you have never shared your number or email on social media platforms, there are still numerous ways people can access your information. This is not only scary for us as individuals but also poses a big threat to businesses that might be trying to promote themselves through social media networking and face the risk of privacy issues.

Hello Cyci,

Thank you for opening up and sharing about ASD. Your blog has definitely opened up my mind about how I interpret networking. I never thought about the different scripts involved in networking but it is such a good point, because their is as you mentioned different ways we act on social media towards people we know and people we don’t know. These scripts also play a huge role in how we benefit from networking, for example if you are doing something for work you are way more likely to have more people to collaborate if you follow the scripts of networking in a business setting ( i.e. being respectful, asking for help).

Hello everyone,

As a current student at UVIC whenever I heard someone talking about networking, I had always assumed that it was a term predominately just for business students. After doing the readings this week, I am happy to say that I understand networking better and can see how networking is extremely important for business students and why it is important for all majors and for all people.

I understand now that personalized learning networks are not just people we encounter regularly, but also people we reach out to for collaboration on ideas, ways to get input on ideas, and many more interactions.  Using social media to network allows us to have many different options to reach out to people and for certain interactions.  With emerging social media, I have noticed that there are certain platforms for specific kinds of networking. Twitter is more specific for finding out news or any topics that might be trending in the news.  Facebook has more family networking but also is better for larger groups of people so you can gather communities and interact with people in your neighborhood or city, or with people who have similar concerns or questions as you.  However, in my opinion, the best way to network using social media seems to be LinkedIn, they provide you with contacts you might know based on your education history and people who have similar jobs or majors as you. This allows a quick way to ask for collaboration on ideas, to find out new technology in your career, and to learn new things. The way I understand it to network using social media is to use social media to your advantage and an easy way to improve your networking skills. What do you think it means to network using social media?

I think we are motivated to participate in networked publics because of how frequently the world is changing. With the change of Covid we ourselves were motivated to network I feel like for the sake of human communication. As life progressed back to normal businesses and jobs started to see the benefit and motivated people to participate more in networked publics. However, working at a not-for-profit organization I have seen firsthand how once you start networking it is easier to maintain and motivates people more to network since they have seen firsthand how it benefits themselves. Have you noticed any particular ways you have been motivated to participate in networked publics?

I feel that for the most part, Gen z has had the benefit of growing up with technology in numerous ways one of which is the education we got in being safe while online. This included only talking to people you know, never telling people where you live online, etc. but with online networking, it is a little tougher. We interact with people online every day that we don’t know, for example, in this class I have never met any of you in person just online. However, this might seem unsafe online I know all of you are students at the University of Victoria, and that I am not at any risk, but I actually benefit because this allows me a way to network with new people. I can learn new things from people in this class, I can ask you questions to get a different viewpoint and interact in many other ways. Yes, there are privacy concerns in public communications that pose a risk, and they are really important to consider, however, if we are able to benefit from public communications without any risks or if proper precautions are put in place, then we should use networking to our benefit.