We currently live in a world where our social opportunities are limitless. Especially with the development of the internet today many people are beginning to understand and learn about PLN. Never have we had the opportunities available to us now to grow our network beyond our physical borders. More so, the pandemic has forced us to think outside the box and to learn more about technology to reach one another. PLN are getting a huge boost in the epidemic environment, and it can be said that PLNs are a safe environment for us to learn and work in an epidemic situation.
I would like to talk about the impact that PLNs have brought to us on two sides. On the one hand, more people are starting to focus on the development and use of PLNs as a certain future trend. I think the epidemic was a booster for the development of the network. The epidemic greatly accelerated the use of the network by various companies and schools to process with work and study. In addition, people are spending less time out of the house because of security issues which means that people can use more time on the development of personal network learning in an epidemic environment. Because of this change, more people will actively or passively learn how to use PLNs, which is one of the motivations why I chose this course. People’s learning on PLN and the increasing number of people using web platforms will help and drive the development and improvement of internet applications. Therefore, people’s media literacy will be greatly enhanced and developed, and the online environment will become standardized and formalized just like people do in real-life environments. The benefits of a diverse and inclusive PLN in social media sharing that understands where I am coming from with messaging that impacts the community are that I have access to a broad range of thinkers with whom I can communicate readily. Because we are all media producers now.
On the other hand, there can be some negative effects of the development of PLN under the epidemic. Although networking can lead to a more efficient way of learning and working because you can save a lot of time on the road and spending on transportation. However, this can reduce the amount of time people spend out of the house when they get into the habit of working and studying at home, and for some people, the commute to work or study may be the only time they exercise during the day. In addition, since we don’t use our real names and identities in social media, some people will be reckless enough to bash and convey with some very radical views and amplify the flaws of others behind this virtual pronoun in order to satisfy their vanity. But often in real life, people tend to be more inclusive when it comes to views they don’t agree with.
We need to stay calm about the bad information on the internet and strengthen our media literacy as mentioned before. In addition, we need to ignore some problematic accounts and follow some people we think are appropriate which can avoid some unnecessary arguments and time-wasting and you will discover that PLN is a useful and informative place. I have more time to also help me to understand inclusion from my own perspective and to practice it as well in the epidemic environment. I believe by developing a more focused and strategic approach to building my PLN, I will be most successful in my endeavors.
Reference
Media Literacy – Facts Matter – Course YouTube Channel
https://youtu.be/57r3-aEnci0
Miller, Jesse. (2021). EDCI PODCAST-2021-10-24 Mo Amir. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgoDet6pwaI
Moore, Shelley. “20 Minutes Moore.” Interview by Miller. EDCI 338, 30 May
2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeSV0rUl1bA. Accessed 11 November 2021.
Moore, Shelley, and Leyton Schneller. One without the Other: Stories of
Unity through Diversity and Inclusion. Portage & Main Press, 2016.
Trilling, B & Fadel, C (2012). Digital Literacy Skills. Media Literacy
Chapter 4 pp.66.
https://learning-oreilly-com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/library/view/21st-century-skills/9780470475386/fade_9780470475386_oeb_c04_r1.html
