I found that the article this week highlighted the course goal: examine the application of social media to support learning. The article “It’s not misinformation, it’s amplified propaganda” by DiRestas highlighted the negative implications of social media in the creation and sharing of information that others learn from. What made me go “wow” was how the author explained the new word for creating narratives that shape realities in the digital age, “ampliganda”. This has changed my thinking of misinformation and propaganda spread through the internet, as it is no longer solely authorities forcing ideas onto the public. In an online world, any participant can now shape perceptions and realities by having their ideology amplified through shares, likes, and comments of a mass audience. This made me wonder, if clicking or resharing can now be a propagandic act, how can we ensure the right voices are being uplifted? If ampliganda is spread through shared ideologies, how do we know what is right from wrong? To ensure I am not an unwitting agent of ampliganda, I always look into what messages I am sharing on the internet. Usually, I share something if it aligns with my personal beliefs or something I learned in university such as equality, marginalization, etc.
Category: edci338
What made me go “wow” after reading the article “One Without the Other: Stories of Unity Through Diversity and Inclusion” was how the author highlighted the need to shift the traditional educational model of inclusion. This made me change my thinking of inclusion as we should not only include those that are “others”, but get rid of the “other” entirely. Moreover, the author described the traditional educational model as one that was created to replicate students so they meet the demand of the workforce. This made me wonder; if the education system follows this inclusion ideology in learning, will the capitalist society follow? The capitalist will always want homogeneity as diverse people challenge the hierarchy and control will be lost, resulting in a loss of capital.
In today’s blog post I will be discussing learning theories, personal learning networks, and copyright concerns. Beginning with Siemens’ (2005) article “Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age”, I was fascinated with how they suggested shifting traditional learning theories to take into account the new ways we learn using technology. Siemens (2005) highlighted that in a digital age, personalized learning is more challenging through individual experience than by learning from others’ experiences. This is due to what Tianna highlighted in her wow and wonder, the half-life of knowledge. Tianna explained that the half-life of knowledge refers to a particular time span from where the knowledge that was first learned is starting to become obsolete. With technology, our knowledge has doubled over the last decade and doubles every 18 months (Siemens, 2005). In relation to the shift towards a connected online world, Miah mentioned that learning is something that can occur without any effort on the part of the individual. Therefore, as traditional learning theories become outdated, we should shift towards new understandings of how individuals learn.
Since learning is now emphasized and stored through technology, the new ways we learn are through connecting with others. Siemens (2005) highlighted how connectivism is the key learning theory in the digital age. The underlying principle of connectivism surrounds the importance of a network of people and their sharing of knowledge, sources, and opinions. Congruently, the author of “Networked Privacy” emphasized that in a digital world, we must not center or focus on the individual, but rather develop models that center networks of people as the unit of analysis. Moreover, an example of connectivism in action are personalized learning networks. Personalized learning networks are self-directed learning spaces that are facilitated through regular interaction with a network of people, digital devices, sources, and services. (Gutierrez, “n.d”).
After I read Siemens’ (2005) article, I wondered about my own personal learning network and how I connect with others to gain knowledge and I immediately thought of Tik Tok. The social media app has taught me many things, including how the internet is not an equal space for everyone, which is a learning objective for this course. For example, I have learned about the importance of closed captions on Tik Tok for those in the deaf community, and how it can make them feel excluded if captions are not enabled. After doing some research, I have found an article that affirms my experience of networked learning on TikTok. Gasson (2020) mentions how TikTok is an important educational tool, as its’ condensed content captivates a wide range of users’ attention efficiently.
Although there are benefits of learning through personal learning networks such as TikTok, there are some copyright concerns that educators should be aware of. After spending so much time on creating a video, if it gets flagged for infringing on someone else’s copyrights, the video can be deleted and educators could be faced with legal action. According to Gardoce (2021), a way users can avoid copyright infringement is by making sure the music in the video comes from the TikTok app. This is because of the license agreements TikTok has with various artists (Gardoce, 2021). Users should also be mindful of the images in the video as they may be protected by copyright too (Gardoce, 2021). In order to mitigate the negative outcomes associated with TikTok in learning, educators should simply use original content.
Lastly, a question I have for you to reflect on this blog post is: Can you think of a learning experience that came as a result of an online connection?
References
Boyd, D. (2012, December 22). Networked Privacy. Surveillance & Society.
Gasson, C. (2020, October 15th). What Can L&D Learn From TikTok? Thrive.
Gutierrez, K. (n.d). What Are Personal Learning Networks? Shift.
Gardoce, R. (2021, August 12). The Legal side of TikTok Music, Copyright and ownership. Sprintlaw.
Siemens, G. (2005). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 2(1).
I found that the article this week really highlighted the course goal: recognizing that the Internet is not a neutral or equal space for everyone. What made me go “Wow” was reading how Prensky distinguished those who were proficient in technology vs those who were not. I have never thought of separating older people as digital immigrants and younger people as digital natives and I’m glad this dichotomy is no longer applicable-as argued by the authors. Moreover, as my background is in sociology, I could not help but notice the somewhat ageist attitudes that surround Prensky’s line of thought. The authors recognize this as well and mention that Prensky is suggesting that older learners are handicapped. The authors argue that skills and struggles regarding technology will vary regardless of age. It is ironic how Prensky argues that older folks were socialized differently than younger ones in relation to technical proficiency, since the nature of how Prensky was socialized may have given him ageist conscious or unconscious biases. I wonder if Prensky would agree with the author’s visitors and residents continuum typology.
What made me go “wow” after reading the article “Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age” was the ways in which the author highlighted the need to shift traditional learning theories to encompass the new ways we learn through technology. In a digital age, personalized learning can no longer be acquired through experience, but through learning about other people’s experiences. Constructivism, a traditional learning theory, states that a learner can acquire knowledge through tasks, however, the new challenge in a technological world is to connect with others to gain knowledge. Therefore, connectivism is the key learning theory in a digital age as its underlying principle surrounds a network of people and their sharing of knowledge, sources, and opinions. After I read this article, I wondered about how I could relate this to my own experience of networked learning, and I immediately thought of Tik Tok. The social media app has taught me many things, including how the internet is not an equal space for everyone. For example, I have learned about the importance of closed captions on Tik Tok for those in the deaf community, and how it can make them feel excluded if captions are not enabled. Can you think of a learning experience that came as a result of online connection?
What stood out to me in the article “Networked Privacy” was the way in which the author interpreted how we should analyze and address privacy concerns. At the end of the article, the author emphasized that we must not center or focus on the individual, but rather develop models that center networks of people as the unit of analysis. This made me go “wow” as I have previously thought about surveillance technologies and algorithms solely on an individual basis. The fact that these technologies can draw upon our social network makes this privacy concern even more alarming. Moreover, in the article “What is a Personal Learning network”, the author described how jobs and education can be affected by long-term social distancing. This made me wonder about the physical and mental concerns of a population with long-term social distancing. I also wonder if there are any studies on this yet?
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