Author: miaharmitage

For my celebration of learning post, I will be going through each learning outcome of EDCI 338 and demonstrating how I met them. This will be achieved by presenting evidence and information which supports how I met each outcome.  

Examine the application of social media to support learning

The application of social media to support learning encompasses many platforms and a variety of methods.  Social media and its relation to learning were further studied by each learning pod throughout the semester. In order to fully acknowledge social media as a whole, each learning pod chose a social media topic to research. All findings were then contributed to a course e-book which could be accessed to identify how social media is used to support learning. In my group, we examined how TikTok was used to support learning. The biggest discovery we made was that TikTok can be used as an extension of a classroom. Except rather than there being a limited number of seats in the classroom, there exists an unlimited number and each “seat” can be occupied by anyone, anywhere in the world. TikTok provides a platform for educators to share their voices and further enhance viewers learning. However social media supporting learning does not end with just TikTok. In the course e-book, it was shown that platforms such as Youtube also work to enhance learning by providing millions of educational videos and the platform Linkedin allows educators to make public posts to their accounts or create and upload their own paid courses to support learning. 

Explain personalized learning and its relation to learning theory

Over the course of this semester, my understanding of personalized learning and its relation to learning theory was significantly advanced. I found that the majority of my demonstration of understanding these concepts occurred in Week 3 and Week 9. In my Wow and Wonder Week 3 post, I discussed the Connectivism learning theory. I was fascinated by how intertwined the connections we have with internet technologies are and how they have the ability to make a substantial impact on our learning. Within the internet, there are also so many connections we make with others. My classmate Sam expanded on the idea of Connectivism and its relation to PLNs. Sam discussed that a PLN serves the purpose of learning from/with others and allows you to have connections with anyone, anywhere allowing for new information to be gathered and learned. This embodies the idea that we all have personal learning to which we appeal but within that, there exists the learning theory of Connectivism which takes our personal learning to incorporate many other connections and ideas besides our own individual ones. In addition to this, in week 9, I was exposed by Alec Couros to the “adult learning theory” for the first time.  In my Wow and Wonder Week 9 post, I was able to further dive into the theory and it’s relation to personal learning. The learning theory takes into account that adults learn differently therefore, you must change and modify the way things are taught to adults. You must personalize the content to have relevance to the adult’s personal lives and jobs. Each adult must personalize the learning they receive so that it is in line with topics they are engaged with and have relevance to. 

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

The internet is not a neutral space nor is it an equal space for everyone to engage with. Firstly, it is not fair to say that the internet is a space where there are no biases or prejudices that influence or determine its functioning. I quickly recognized and demonstrated my understanding of this when I completed my major project on the social media platform TikTok. I discussed the idea of “shadow banning” which occurs on the platform. It is an automatic process done by TikToks algorithm which causes creators to stop receiving likes, views and traffic from the for you page. There are many testimonials from TikTok creators who shared their voices on the supposed “neutral” platform but after doing so were quickly shadowbanned. For example, TikTok creator Abbie Richards @tofizzle was quickly shadowbanned after publishing a video that captured a racial injustice protest where a protester is talking to an emotional police officer. After the 6 million views she received on the post, she followed up with content related to the protest and supporting black creators on TikTok. After receiving millions of views on her videos, her content then dropped to receiving 400-6000 views and she was shadowbanned. This demonstrates that the internet is not a neutral space. There are biases and prejudices that shape its functioning and if you are to speak about an issue that is not in line with the space, the platform will entirely stop functioning for you. It is neither an equal space, Abbie is a white female who previously had no trouble on the platform when she was posting content about comedy and not race. However, the second she posted content about race and black protests she was silenced. This shows the discrimination of the internet and that it is not an equal space for people of colour. Once the injustices that people of colour face are highlighted, it is quickly silenced by the internet demonstrating the internet is not an equal space for people to engage with. For further information on Abbie’s experience please read TikTok Shadowbanned? Major TikToker Claims Shut Out of Algorithm and Features.

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

In order to fully visualize how I present myself on social media both personally and professionally, I created a visitor and resident map in my Wow and Wonder Week 4 post. From this map, I was able to see which platforms I used professionally and personally and the extent of the trace I leave on each platform. Prior to EDCI 338, the list of social media platforms I used for professional reasons was very small.  However, it now has grown to include platforms such as Word press and Github. Through the use of these sites, I have developed my personal learning network to support my professional development. I now have an entire blog site that showcases a variety of posts displaying my academic abilities. Additionally, I have created a site on GitHub that I could use if needed as an academic example for professional applications. Due to the fact that I had never used GitHub, in the beginning, I struggled significantly to understand the platform, but I now realize it has helped to grow my PLN. Due to the newfound platform, I was able to connect with others and learn from their posts and comments. 

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

In week 4, I was able to identify privacy issues and learn about online behaviours. My understanding of this began with taking UBC’s Privacy and Survaliance quiz. To my surprise, I had not been engaging in very safe online practices. I was shocked at how many of my responses to the quiz were deemed unsafe. My classmate Kayla also shared a similar experience with this. She too was shocked at how much companies can impede on your own privacy and emphasized the importance of being aware of how much of your life is being tracked and recorded. In addition to week 4, I also continued to demonstrate my understanding of privacy issues in my major project. I was able to identify the “fine print” details within TikToks terms of services and was stunned to see the conditions I had consented to. It is never a good idea to sign and consent to a lengthy document in which you don’t understand the terms and conditions as you are agreeing to give up a lot of your privacy. Moving forward, to practice online behaviours that are safe, legal, consensual, etc. one should thoroughly read the conditions and always be aware of what they are agreeing to. 

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

Many years ago I experienced being copyrighted when I shared a video on youtube that I did not have ownership of the song used. I was confused when it happened as I had previously not been aware of the importance of recognizing data, ownership and licensing.  However, I now feel as though I have a thorough understanding of the topic. Mia did an excellent job at expressing the concerns surrounding copyright and potential ways to avoid it from happening to you. In relation to TikTok, if a video is flagged for copyright, TikTok deletes the video and the creator could potentially face legal actions. Therefore, you must always be mindful of the type of music you are using in video and make sure if it is a TikTok video, the sound is coming directly from the app. I was able to demonstrate my understanding of copyright when my learning pod created an education vegan ceviche video on TikTok. We recognized the importance of data ownership and licensing and created a video that used a sound directly from the TikTok app and had one of my group members create a voice-over on the video of her own voice to avoid facing any copyright issues. 

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

In order to support learning about social media and personalized learning, I made sure that all of the posts I made were open literacies. I made sure everything I posted was set to public so any viewers could access my content to use it to support their understanding of social media and personalized learning. Open literacies are essential to support learning as they give everyone the ability to access educational content to strengthen their understanding and open doors for more educational opportunities. Chapter 6 of Emerging Technologies in Distance Education is a very useful resource to understand the many benefits of open learning. It showcases how great open learning can be as it presents a class that was originally set to be 20 students but ended up having over 200 students learning from the course. Mary continued on the topic of open learning and provided a great list of strategies she found for developing a personal learning network. The list included the points immerse yourself, learn to read social media, strengthen your PLN, know your connections and PLNs central to learning. 

Lastly, I want to end by saying I have thoroughly enjoyed having the opportunity to take EDCI 338 this semester. I have learned so much throughout the course that I will take with me as I progress through my academic and professional career. I feel as though I have accomplished all of the learning outcomes and I am motivated to continue my understanding of the topics in the future.

In Alec Couros Chapter 6 of “Developing Personal Learning Networks for Open and Social Learning,” I was exposed to the idea of ‘Adult Learning Theory’ for the first time. Wow! After learning about it, I now am able to reflect and understand what Alec meant by how important it was to consider in the teaching and creating of EC&I 831. The main idea is that adults learn differently than children and this must be acknowledged and the differences which can be seen must be accommodated when teaching. Among the points which Alec shared, the one which resonated with me most was “Adults are most interested in learning subjects that have immediate relevance to their job or personal life.” As university students, we have chosen to take these courses due to the fact that we relate to them and at least in some way, feel as though they could be of benefit in our lives. Reflecting on my academic career, the classes and topics which I have been most interested in and passionate about are the ones that I deem as useful in my own life. I find myself continually engaged in EDCI 338 as I am able to relate to the content and I can see how it can fit into my personal life. I think if I was unable to relate to the content covered, I would be less interested in participating in discussion and would not be as involved with my learning pod if I thought it was not of relevance to me. I think this is an integral point to consider when creating a course, you must base it on relatable content and of use to the individuals whom you are teaching to.

As the concept of open teaching emerges, I wonder how we will see this impact courses in the future. Will we begin to see more syllabuses be left open to student discretion and influence? As of right now, syllabuses for the majority of courses I have taken are set in stone. They outline the entire course and there is no opportunity for student opinion to influence them, I wonder if this will continue to be the case or if students will have the opportunity to further voice their opinions. 

For this week’s Wow and Wonder post, I decided to expand and comment on Jim Luke’s “That’s No Plagiarism Checker” blog post and the company Turnitin. 

As someone who graduated online and completed my first year of university entirely online, I am utterly shocked at the intentions behind Turnitin. I understand with school being online, students have more opportunities to cheat, however, students should not be punished for this new era we have entered. It is disheartening to hear that Turnitin is a program that now intends to eliminate faculty members and replace them with a system that has the ability to provide “feedback” to students. Personally, this made me think “Wow”, this is a slap in the face to students. We devote an immense portion of our lives to completing assignments, losing sleep over them and making sure they are completed to the best of our ability. To think a system would be ‘reading’ these papers, potentially rejecting the many perspectives and ideas students bring forth is something that does not sit right with me. I believe this diminishes the work of students and if students were to hear a robotic system was grading and providing feedback, their work ethic would significantly drop. So many students bring different ideas to a topic and I just don’t see how a system could accurately account for the diverse perspectives students bring forth. Also, I feel as though this is disrespectful to professors who have spent their lives learning and perfecting their subjects in order to be able to effectively offer help and feedback to students. The work that they do should not be compared to the work of a system, in my eyes, they are simply irreplaceable and a system should not be made in an attempt to be able to replace them. 

I “Wonder” if we will begin to see an increasing popularity of this system amongst schools as an attempt to save money and make even more profit. I do not agree with this, however, I would not be surprised if we started to see a decline in faculty members and an increase of software programs that supposedly do the job of faculty members.

While reading It’s Not Misinformation. It’s Amplified Propaganda. For the first time, I was exposed to the term “Ampliganda.” The idea is something which upon reflection, I can see it occurring almost daily but ‘Wow’ it is crazy to me that the social media we use, has created this. It is crazy the amount of power individuals hold on social media, regardless of whether they are an online nobody or an onscreen celebrity, both have the ability to release information and shape people’s perceptions. I can recall just last week when Kanye West went after Pete Davidson on Superbowl Sunday, which then lead to Kanye West’s family trending more than the Superbowl. Quickly, people’s perceptions changed to be focusing on the Superbowl to now watching the Superbowl while asking “did you see the Kanye West drama that’s trending?” To me, this idea that a simple tweet or post can be blown up to become the number one trending item is crazy. So many people rely on social media for their daily news intake, but they don’t realize how much they play a role in being an active participant in determining what information will be amplified. 

I wonder what effect this will have on society. How will society be affected by relying on social media ‘ampliganda’ to determine their perspective on a topic? How much misinformation will be spread? This idea that truly anything can be spread and then become a trend is quite scary. The fact that people, ones with no following and no authority, have the ability to entirely change a population’s perception of something seems to be the new reality. At this point, anyone holds the power to share an idea and alter people’s viewpoints, whether that’s in a good way, or in a harmful way.

As someone with a brother who has suffered his entire life living at the faults of the education system without receiving the necessary support, this week’s topic was one that really struck home and resonated with me. I have first-hand experience at seeing how someone who has a learning disability is treated in the education system. I will never forget the day my brother’s teacher accidentally CC’d my mother in an email she had written to the principal about my brother. The teacher made dehumanizing statements about my brother and how she could not teach him. What the teacher thought was that my brother wasn’t trying and she was not willing to put in any additional effort to help or support him, despite her knowing about my brother’s learning disability and having all of the supporting documents to prove the validity of the disability. That email absolutely broke my mom, her son was being bashed despite him being an incredible person who has done so well for himself. For my brother, he excels in other areas of his life such as athletics, even making it to play in the WHL. Due to this, his disability isn’t something you would notice right away but after experiencing life-threatening spinal meningitis as a baby he was left with an everlasting learning disability. The disability my brother faces daily should not be something discriminated against.  My ‘wow’ of this week is for Shelley. For recognizing the faults of the education system and committing to provide better support and inclusion for students. You truly never know what people are going through and it is essential that individuals do not face discrimination. I commend Shelley for addressing this and advocating for the kids who may otherwise be left behind. After watching the Shelly Moore: Transforming Inclusive Education video, I wonder if all teachers were exposed to the bowling analogy and were shown this new idea of teaching if fewer students would be discriminated against. I wonder what ways we can actively advocate for this idea of teaching. I think it should be a necessary training requirement for teachers so that, unlike my brother, no more kids face discrimination when they are just trying to learn and do their best.

Wow!

The idea of being a visitor and a resident on the web is an idea that has never occurred to me. I have always known I have a bigger presence and interaction on certain platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat, but I never have actually thought about the trace I leave behind on those platforms of which I would be considered a resident compared to the platforms I am a visitor of. I have always just considered platforms on social media and the digital space to be that of the same category but after reading Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement, it really made me realize the differences that exist between the platforms I use and the continuum of the way my presence and interaction on these platforms differ.  I have created a map to represent how I present myself online.

Wonder! 

After completing the Privacy and Surveillance quiz, the responses I submitted and the feedback I was given for each question made me wonder whether I am behaving safely and responsibly online and made me feel as though I need to change some of the ways I interact online. One of the biggest eye-openers for me was the question about public wifi, I am quick to accept any free wifi I can get when I am in a public space so that I am able to save data. However, after seeing the feedback I received it made me reevaluate using public wifi and made me wonder whether my security and privacy have already been compromised due to my previous lack of knowledge of the dangers of public wifi.

Something which made me wonder while reading the Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age article was in the background section of the article. I began to wonder and have more questions circulating around the point “Do we gain knowledge through experiences? Is it innate (present at birth)? Do we acquire it through thinking and reasoning?” Being a psychology student and having taken a lifespan psychology course this is a question lifespan psychology aims to tackle. Due to the reason that if you tried to teach a two year old calculus it would be near impossible it goes to show that learning is a process which is lifelong and we are not born with all of our learning. However, I do believe we acquire it through both experiences, thinking and reasoning. There are many studies which show children learn based on experiences and I encourage you to look up the Bodo doll experiment which will really make you understand how much children pick up on things and it helps to understand how things are learned. Due to the fact that this point in the article had my brain thinking of how do we actually learn; which is still a heavily debated question, I thought wow when I read the section on connectivism. Learning is a process which is not completely under the control of an individual, we learn sometimes without even trying because we are in a world so connected. The point “nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning” really resonated with me. We can’t possibly experience every single thing this world has to offer ourselves but everyone has lived such different experiences and we all have so much to learn from each other.