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

This video makes me rethink what PLN really does. Baker said that PLN can push us to work harder, toward our common goal, because they would continue to challenge us which allows us to grow.

  • Which social media platforms are beneficial in education?

I think Twitter is beneficial in education. I had the chance to participate in a Twitter Chat Event in my other course, to be honest, I am very impressed. It allows me to experience what it is like to learn in a “connectvisim” way. At first, the whole event is kind of chaotic, because the messages are updating every second, and for first-time Twitter users like me, I had a hard time catching up. Nevertheless, this event truly makes me feel that everyone can raise their opinions on academic topics.

Hence, I believe the learning theory that linked to E-learning is connectivism, which embraces diversity, encourages social interactions, and believes that knowledge is generated from ongoing conversations (Veletsianos, 2010). However, from my Twitter Chat event, I also discovered some potential issues of connectivism learning theory. For example, as Veletsianos (2010) says: “Connectivists recognize the influences that emerging technologies have on human cognition, and theorize that technology is reshaping the ways that humans create, store, and distribute knowledge” (Veletsianos, 2010, p. 128). I cannot imagine studying in a chaotic way, and one of the problems with social media platforms is that it distributes message in a very careless style. There’s no organization whatsoever, and that I think might be unacceptable.

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

If we think about academic discourse, our first impression might be that only the most professional and intellectual persons can speak up their opinions. But with social media platforms, it feels like we can all engage in a larger conversation. Learning is no longer passive but student-oriented, we take ownership in our learning which empowers us to engage with learning even more. Thus, I think the role of social media in education is to make the relationship between teachers and students less hierarchical. Knowledge gets produced from social interaction rather than transmitted from the teachers.

References:

Veletsianos, G. (2010;2014;). Emerging technologies in distance education. AU Press.