Celebration Post

Learning Outcomes

• Examine the application of social media to support learning

Upon doing extensive research about YouTube for our final project, I’ve come to the realization that the platform itself (among many other social media outlets) acts as a personalized learning network, which in turn, supports learning for a variety of individuals. As mentioned on our project page, YouTube can help foster connections, maintain connections with relevant groups, and also allow for new learning. Each YouTube channel has a unique community in which individuals can interact with one another through comments, likes, and community posts. The videos uploaded from YouTube channels themselves are resources that individuals may learn from. The Organic Chemistry Tutor is a great example we included in our project—this channel uploads tutorial videos on organic chemistry, general chemistry, physics, algebra, trigonometry, precalculus, and calculus. Through this channel, high school individuals can collect, communicate, create, and share knowledge with others for continual learning. Given that YouTube has a wide variety of creators and watchers, this learning experience can extend to other genres such as music, cooking, gaming, education, politics, etc.

• Explain personalized learning and its relation to learning theory

Reading into the theory of Connectivism allowed me to explore how personalized learning and learning theory are closely associated. In my wow and wonder post, I highlighted how “the way individuals learn is slowly shifting into something that’s more flexible, yet messy and complex”. The way we interact with knowledge and how we gain that knowledge has plenty of intermediary factors such as decision-making, which Siemens (2005) mentioned itself is a learning process on its own: “Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the decision” (sec. 7). A fellow classmate, Ruth Morton, brought up an interesting point in her wow and wonder post, where she mentioned how “learning from experiences like co-op placements, group projects, social media, personal learning, and collaborating with peers is more beneficial and effective than just sitting in a lecture and learning from slides”. This was highly relatable, as I find that learning and knowledge is not dependent on one source of information, but instead on a diversity of resources. As discussed by Siemens, learning requires looking between ideas and concepts with accurate, up-to-date knowledge.

• Recognize that the Internet is not a neutral or equal space for everyone

In Week 6 of my wow and wonder post, I discussed how Renee DiResta provided a great example of how social media can blow things out of proportion. I found it crucial to demonstrate that the majority of the population and our “sense of trust has been placed on the number of followers, subscribers, likes, retweets, etc. an individual has—all of which may have little to no correlation from the truth”. We see people imposing their opinions on others simply because they think they’re right, and because they think they can—it’s the internet after all, right? This type of mindset has unfortunately led to significant vulnerabilities especially found in the LGBTQ+, and Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour (IBPoC) communities.  As a result, we see online propaganda involving anti-gay groups, anti-black racism, and a distorted history of the Indigenous. In broader terms, this means that the internet will always be a battlefield of ‘unfiltered opinions’ at the cost of neutrality and equality for everyone.

• Apply social media to develop a personal learning network in support of your personal and/or professional development

Initially learning about the term at the start of the semester, I had not realized that I had already been developing my own “personal learning network” in support of my professional development. As a Health Informatics student who was exposed to a specific course, I wanted to learn more about User experience (UX) / User interface (UI) design. Upon doing initial research on google, I gravitated towards this area even more and I set a goal to enter this particular field of work after graduation. As such, I started my journey on networking and gaining knowledge from already-working professionals to hear first-hand experience of what the field of work is like. Building my LinkedIn profile was one of the best decisions I had made solely due to how many resources are available. Through LinkedIn, not only have I had the opportunity to build meaningful connections, but it also has provided me with a continuous flow of information to fuel my learning process regarding UX/UI design.

• Identify privacy issues and practice online behaviours that are legal, safe, consensual, and ethical

 In Week 4 of our course, I took UBC’s Privacy and Surveillance quiz. This showed me that despite my digital identity being limited to only a handful of social media platforms, my digital footprint will essentially be permanent. Personal privacy was especially insightful, as there are privacy settings that we can always adjust to erase our digital path—but these options are not always obvious. I learned more about controlling cookies and the importance of a virtual private network (VPN). According to UBC’s video on Anonymous Browsing, a VPN is a method of encryption that will prevent hackers from stealing sensitive information that may be stored in our devices. Using WiFi is generally risky especially when being used out in the public, and so, one of the best methods in protecting our privacy online is through a VPN.

• Recognize data ownership and licensing (Creative Commons, Copyright, Fair Dealing, and Public Domain) as a core practice when creating, sharing, or using resources online

While doing research for the major project, I came across YouTube’s section on copyright and rights management. They helped define what a copyright is, covered fair use, and went into detail regarding Creative Commons. Digging deeper into fair use, I discovered that there are four factors of fair use on YouTube: 

1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
2. The nature of the copyrighted work
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work

This showed me the importance of copyright regulations. Most often than not, users on YouTube are not aware of copyright-protected material and subject themselves to copyright infringement. Several years back, I was not aware of such rules and had experienced a copyright takedown notice due to me not having proper permission of a video clip from copyright owners. Fortunately no legalities were involved, but it was a reasonable warning that’s kept me cognizant of what I post online. Discovering the fair use guidelines on YouTube served as a great reminder to be cautious.

• Practice digital, networked, and open literacies in support of learning about social media and personalized learning

In Week 9, my final wow and wonder post I highlighted the following list of strategies from Chapter 6 of Emerging Technologies in Distance Education:

• Immerse Yourself
• Learn to Read Social Media
• Strengthen your PLN
• Know Your Connections
• PLNs Central to Learning

I believe these points summarized the best way to develop personalized learning in association with digital, networked, and open literacies. Throughout the course of EDCI338, “I made the realization that I will have to shift my perspective of learning from a course-centric community to a communal-based learning”. This means that once the course is over, I hope to carry the momentum and continue my learning with the connections I’ve made either through my learning pod, or by reaching out to other pod members. I also am hoping to add to my WordPress blog over time so that it may act as a centralized platform/resource of my reflections of what I learn in the future. In doing so, I can practice the concept of a personal learning network beyond the walls of EDCI338.