Category: Uncategorised

Can your PLN be used to help professional development post-course?

I think that it absolutely can, or at least it will have the potential to do so by the time I need it to. Currently, many of those in my PLN are also students, but there are a lot of students that are further along the road than I am, i.e. those in upper years or graduate studies, and I think that by the time I am out of classes and want to further my education without the structure of the university to rely on, or the professor to ask questions of, they will be able to guide me in the right direction. Even now, I have had experiences where I have spoken to people I know about how I could go beyond the material the class covers in certain topics that I was interested in, and they showed me many resources, ranging from books to online freely available lectures to interactive websites with coding challenges that I was able to explore and work on. For example, I have been delving into quantum computing thanks to a very good resource recommended to me by someone in my PLN, which can be found here.

Can your PLN be relied on to open professional opportunities?

As mentioned, my current PLN does not have that many opportunities related directly to my career, but as those in my PLN finish their schooling and enter employment I am confident that I will be able to make use of my connections with them to gain access to some opportunities in the professional world. However, I think that this is something that I should be a little more proactive in pursuing, rather than simply waiting for those already in my PLN to graduate and enter the workforce. I am planning on doing co-op during my degree, so I am hoping to expand my PLN with some of the connections that I’ll make at the places that I do my co-op terms so that I have more people who I can reach out to for professional opportunities, as well as professional development.

Open dialogues about media literacy and factual information can create conflict; why does this happen?

As was mentioned in the video on Media Literacy with Julie Smith on the class youtube channel, a lot of people currently exist in a state of media literacy where they do not think critically about the media that they consume, and the things that they are presented by that media as fact. As such, when conversations about media literacy and the factuality of the information that that media distributes come about, people often get defensive. When media literacy is brought up specifically in response to when someone shares a source or a take on something, it comes with the implication that the information that they are sharing is wrong or incorrect in some way, which can also trigger that same defensiveness. 

In another case, people who both value media literacy may find themselves at odds over the truthfulness, reliability, or intended/realistic readings of a piece of media. In which case, they may enter into some conflict to hash out their differences regarding the media that they’re disagreeing over.  

All of this is situated in a media landscape that is motivated by profit, and as such will seek to play into the biases of their audience and take advantage of their blind spots.In a media landscape like this we have to be wary of all media that we consume, and it’s a bit of a superhuman feat to truly critically evaluate every piece of information that is fed to you by algorithms and news media and the like. It’s inevitable that we as humans will make mistakes regarding the media that we consume and our reflections on it, and others will call us out for that, and this often brings about some disagreement. 

What is the benefit of having a PLN that values media literacy?

First of all, media literacy is and will continue to be an important skill for people to have in our modern, digital era, and as such having a PLN of people that are interested in that as a skill will also help you to develop that skill. In addition, a PLN that values media literacy will be far more likely to double check the factuality of the sources that they bring to their PLN, therefore bringing higher quality resources and contributions overall towards the network. 

References

Miller, J. (June 6, 2021). EDCI 338 – MEDIA LITERACY with JULIE SMITH [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57r3-aEnci0