Celebration of Learning

Course Learning Outcomes

• Examine the application of social media to support learning

Social media has permeated nearly every aspect of society. Prior to this course, I had never seriously considered its applications in a learning context, however, the last few months have demonstrated clear benefits for learners and educators alike. Throughout this semester, we interacted with materials on a range of platforms and tools including YouTube, Twitter, GitHub, and Canva, to name a few. We saw how educators like Renee DiResta, Ilana Horn, and Shelley Moore use Twitter and YouTube, respectively, to share ideas and facilitate resulting discussions.

The role of social media as a learning tool was further explored in our learning pod as we examined the Facebook platform in detail. In following the public accounts of 10 educators, we found that many regularly used Facebook to post learning content and then tag fellow teachers or academic organizations. This was done through the suite of primary Facebook tools such as Messenger, Groups, Facebook Live, and Stories. While the level of resulting discussion activity did vary to some degree, in many cases we found the educators would regularly engage with their followers in the way of likes, comments, or other forms of reaction. It became clear that although some individuals viewed the platform solely as a means to disseminate information, others prompted and participated in discussions in what could only be viewed as deliberate attempts to build and sustain a working PLN.

It occurred to me in writing this section that I inadvertently displayed my own use of social media to support learning before this class had even started. Unable to find professor Madland’s e-mail at the time, I reached out in this Tweet with a course-specific question and quickly received a response. This may be a rather small example, but this behavior is interesting (particularly as someone that seldom uses Twitter) as I reflected on the role of social media in my own learning.

• Explain personalized learning and its relation to learning theory

The emergence of social media as a learning tool has challenged traditional learning theories and demanded consideration of approaches that offer a more personalized learning style. This became especially clear in week 2 of this course as we were exposed to ideas by Ilana Horn and George Siemens that seek to challenge the status quo.

In her Twitter post, Horn raises the question of whether compliance or curiosity better drives student learning, and notes that our current education system mistakenly inhibits organic, meaningful learning by focusing too heavily on the former. It is this adherence to conventional learning theory – one that is rooted in behaviourism and conformity to the established methods – that drives this inflexibility in approach and results in suboptimal learning experiences for students.

In recognizing this trend, George Siemens offers up an alternative approach in his article titled, “Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age”, where he argues for a shift from behaviourism to connectivism. At a time when the learning landscape, and the world, are changing rapidly, we often face circumstances where additional knowledge is required. In situations where it may not be immediately available through conventional means, having an interconnected learning network to draw from is hugely beneficial. Furthermore, given the shortened life cycle of information in today’s network of instantaneous communication, what we learned just a few years ago may not be relevant to what we are facing today. And yet, as I touched on in my Wow & Wonder – Week 8 post, connected learning networks seldom die out like traditional classroom communities. This is where having a learning environment that is centered on connectivism rather than conformity encourages individual creativity, promotes the propagation of ‘good’ ideas, keeps abreast of changes to the educational landscape, and enables a well-rounded, personalized learning experience for everyone.

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

It is no secret that people are viewed and treated differently in society based on a whole host of factors. Skin colour, socioeconomic status, gender, physical ability, demeanour, personality, etc. As professor Madland noted in our week 3 course update, he and I, along with many of us, are navigating life on the easiest difficulty setting. As it turns out, these same inequalities are also present in online communities where anonymity and ignorance allow vitriolic, discriminatory behaviour to flourish.

In reflecting on this outcome, I found myself thinking about the ‘lawlessness’ of some online communities and how some individuals, when removed from the possibility of legal penalty, will engage in extremely insensitive, deliberately hurtful, proudly misinformed behaviour. In some cases, things have snowballed from misinformed virtual mudslinging to misinformed real-life Internet vigilantism, often at the expense of already marginalized groups. Take this example where one such Internet vigilante incident in the Shuswap quickly resulted in gunfire.

It is for this reason that many platforms and groups, including our own class, introduce codes of conduct to rein in such behaviour. I found the EDCI 338 Code of Conduct to be helpful in establishing rules and guidelines to ensure a fair and equally accessible learning environment for all. Reviewing this document solidified my understanding of the need for this policy to address challenges in the virtual space, even though I may not personally experience such obstacles myself.

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

I think that in addition to teaching me how to develop my own PLN, this course also made me more aware of the PLNs I currently use and my role in each – something that I was unaware of prior. A key exercise that helped develop this understanding was the Visitor / Resident chart we were tasked to create in week 4. In reviewing my own work as found in my Wow & Wonder – Week 4 post, it was clear to me then and still now that I use a rather small number of platforms and am a visitor on most of them. Comparing my results to those in Shaafi’s Wow & Wonder – Week 4 post, it’s clear that we view and interact with social media quite differently. Shaafi uses far more platforms and seems to be equally visitor / resident but varied depending on the network in question. I found this exercise to be an excellent way to visualize the different roles and uses of PLNs for myself and others.

Our group project covering the Facebook platform also allowed us to collectively build a PLN with pseudo personalities and then explore the resources available to us within this network. Although we discovered rather serious concerns relating to Facebook’s privacy and data handling, it was clear that the platform is a common choice for educators and learners to connect and network through its built-in features – Messenger, Groups, Facebook Live, and Stories. While I don’t believe I will personally cultivate a Facebook PLN (I’m actually trying to draw down my social media use, particularly Facebook), the project repository offers a wealth of knowledge about each platform’s features and applications for supporting learning. Of particular interest to me was the Discord project which confirmed my own positive feelings towards the app as a learning tool. The ability to create and customize private servers for each class, establish specific topic-related channels, DM users, and share all forms of social media (i.e. pictures, videos, type-setting text software like LaTeX) seamlessly with others all contribute to Discord’s impressive versatility and diverse application for students. Overall, I find myself with a much better understanding of the definition and relevance of PLNs in my own learning, and a clearer vision of which platforms best suit and support me in my personal and professional pursuits.

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

Privacy has always been at the forefront of my mind even before engaging with this class. I have been aware of privacy concerns with Facebook, Reddit, and other major social media platforms and have drawn down my presence on these platforms for this reason. I understand professor Madland has deleted his Facebook account as well, perhaps for similar reasons. I covered the privacy section in our group project and, perhaps unsurprisingly found evidence to corroborate my personal concerns with the Facebook platform. Among the more obvious data collection practices, Facebook “uses cookies for the purpose of tracking, accessing user activity such as private messages and browser history, and sharing said information with third parties to assist targeted advertising.” Further data collection is justified by Facebook under the guise of “providing and supporting our services.”

Shaafi touched on the concerns of leaving digital traces in his Wow & Wonder – Week 3 post, as did Ali in his Showcase Post #1. In considering new geotagging features on Google’s platform (also found in other apps like Snapchat, Instagram, etc), Ali acknowledged the inherent dangers in widely broadcasting this information to an unknown audience. He concluded with the reminder to be much more cognizant of not only the content but also the associated metadata that we are sharing online. These are sentiments that I completely agree with and, although I do not feel concerned about that which I have shared up to this point, it is an excellent reminder to remain vigilant in protecting both ourselves and others in the online space, and to always seek consent before sharing media of others online. I have since tightened the privacy restrictions on the few platforms I still use, as well as purged some social media accounts (IG, Reddit) of damaging / unflattering content that may be problematic as I work to build my career.

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

As social media and online content creation have taken root and grown in popularity over the past decade(s), so too have concerns about data ownership and licensing. From big organizations defending their data to individuals actively managing and protecting their own personal content, the fight to defend intellectual property is here to stay. The TurnItIn episode clearly illustrated concerns of fair dealing as they sought to leverage student data for monetary gain without consent being granted to do so. This incident rang especially true for me as a student which I touched on in my Wow & Wonder – Week 7 post. Oftentimes we students are partially or completely unaware of our rights as learners and instead take punches as they come. Reading this article and watching Screening Surveillance’s videos lent voice to the fact that such practices are in clear violation of our intellectual property rights and raise serious questions about the extent to which surveillance is occurring in our society.

As I inch closer to a career in the tech industry where remote work is on the rise, what protections do I have as a worker fearful of unknown remote surveillance technologies? Ali echoes similar concerns in his Wow & Wonder – Week 6 post and suggests that existing protections under Canada’s Privacy Act may be of some relevance here.

As I consider my own experiences with copyright and intellectual property, I have certainly found myself reaching out to friends to remove media of myself that was posted without my knowledge. I am reminded now to be more aware of doing so myself and inadvertently contributing to someone’s privacy concerns. I have also worked for the BC Wildfire Service for the last 6 years where media taken on the fire line was strictly monitored and carelessly posting information that could damage the provincial government’s reputation was a serious concern. Even more recently, I just landed my first co-op job and was required to sign a non-disclosure agreement for the first time. All of this highlights the fact that the protection of intellectual property is true across all industries but especially so for the tech sector, and is something that I will surely encounter frequently moving forward.

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

Within our learning pod, I think the most obvious example of practicing digital, networked literacies was observed in our use of a Discord group chat and shared GitHub branch to collaborate throughout the semester. Discord allowed us to easily communicate and share ideas, while GitHub enabled us to seamlessly integrate our contributions as our group project came together.

More broadly, however, the class repository consisting of all group projects, as well as our network of WordPress blogs, gradually developed into a meaningful class PLN that each student contributed to and can draw from moving forward. As each of us looks ahead toward our personal and professional goals, the new understanding of the value of PLNs and the role that social media can play in a learning context will no doubt encourage us to continue cultivating our own PLNs on platforms that suit us. Despite reducing my social media presence as of late, I better understand my own tendencies and default role (visitor) on social media, as well as the benefits that having a genuine, interconnected network of educators and fellow learners can offer. It is my intent to continue building /maintaining these networks while simultaneously remaining sensitive to the inequalities of the online space, practicing vigilance in protecting the digital property / identities of myself and others, and being hyper-aware of the online surveillance / data collection policies that I am subjecting myself to.

I’d like to thank you and my fellow classmates for a very enjoyable course delivery over this past semester and wish each of you all the best in your future endeavors!