This course has been eye-opening regarding how I can grow my personal and professional knowledge using PLNs and social media. I believe social media is an incredible tool to interact with people from various professions all over the globe. A concept that stood out to me from this course is the importance of using PLNs not only to grow knowledge within your professional area, but also to gain diverse viewpoints from various professions. At the start of this course, I was exposed to PLNs and their benefits. However, I thought in order to develop a strong PLN, I should engage specifically with education-related resources to contribute to my role as a teacher. As the course continued, I discovered that engaging with educators is beneficial; however, there is also value in engaging with other professions. For instance, making an effort to follow Indigenous leaders or politicians on various platforms can help bring an array of knowledge. By diversifying my PLN, I can develop a wide range of viewpoints that will make me a stronger educator. I will keep this idea in mind as I continue my professional journey and grow my PLN.
There is a huge amount of knowledge that can be acquired through online resources (Giudice 79). The internet is an incredible place that has so much potential to help with professional and personal growth. From engaging with my peers in my group project, I discovered the value of using various social media platforms to gain knowledge. For example, I never really considered using LinkedIn to enhance professional interactions. However, two of my group members are in the Health Information Science program, and LinkedIn is highly suggested to make connections and find jobs. Discussing the value of this platform with them has helped me visualize the value in this platform for my profession and I plan to look further into this platform to help enhance my professional digital identity.
I really enjoyed working with my group members on the final project. We created a podcast where we discussed the overall themes of personal learning networks and I feel as though through our conversation, I now have a diverse understanding of this topic. Furthermore, I learned various perspectives and valuable information from my group members, demonstrating that we created our own PLN within our group.
Overall, my understanding of personal learning networks and how to use social media for professional and personal growth has flourished. With several communication platforms (Giudice 79), access to diverse resources, and the skills I learned to get the most out of online interactions, I feel as though I can use my PLN to grow and contribute to my role as an educator.
Works Cited:
Giudice, Manlio Del, et al., Social Media and Emerging Economies: Technological, Cultural, and Economic Implications, Springer, Cham, 2013. https://link-springer-com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-319-02490-5.pdf
