Blog #5

Community communications go beyond blogs and social media shares, how does a PLN help and hinder the development of thoughts and ideas in education discourse?

Community communication can sometimes be more effective than blogging and social media, especially face-to-face communication, and this scope is very broad. For the most part, when posting information on blogs or social media, we go for our own favorite topics and content of interest, and it’s up to us to convey the information. Of course, I think community communication will spread information relatively more slowly than social media. For example, if you put a different topic in an educational topic, not many people will follow and view it.

How do educators create discourse?

In education, discourse allows people to express ideas and thoughts and solve complex problems. Without discourse, there would be no such thing as education because ideas must be shared and explored, and one of the functions of discourse in education is to allow teachers and professors to communicate academic subject material to students. Educators must be able to explain and discuss the ideas and concepts they try to convey to their students. Discourse in education is essential because students must be able to communicate with them in any educational setting, usually through workshops and presentations. With the advent of educational technology, students may also be responsible for responding in writing to prompts and posts from other students and their teachers on message boards, chat rooms, or other online educational activities.

What is the role of social media in education?

Social media plays an important role in people’s lives. It makes it easier and more convenient to access information, provide information, and communicate. Especially in the development of the field of education and teaching, due to the constraints of the traditional teaching philosophy in schools, many schools are often unable to achieve the desired teaching outcomes and more problems arise in the process of education and teaching, such as students’ personalized learning needs not being met, low teaching efficiency in the traditional teaching mode, etc. Social media is compatible with the development trend of education and can promote the smooth implementation of education and teaching. This is because the social media platform is personalized and socialized, so teachers can implement personalized teaching and learning by combining students’ individual differences to improve each student. Socialization can enhance students’ motivation to learn. By using social media in education and teaching, teachers and students can share experiences and information with each other, enhance teacher-student interaction and student-student interaction, learn appropriate knowledge in the process of socialization, stimulate students’ interest in learning, and improve learning effectiveness. And the reasonable application of social media in education and teaching can also fully stimulate students’ enthusiasm for learning, fully highlight students’ learning subject status, effectively meet the differentiated learning needs of students at different levels, and achieve the purpose of expected improvement.

What are some problems with social media communications in education settings?

I think social media can be a distraction in the classroom, especially when it is used in the classroom where it can easily distract students. It is easy for students not to pay attention and focus on the lesson, and it is hard for the teacher to know if the students understand.
Also, if students participate in class discussions through social media sites, it can affect their ability to interact and communicate face-to-face. I think students still need to learn how to talk to people.
Social media is not without its inherent limitations in helping in higher education. Its limitations include technical and privacy issues, the dominance of academics, the passive behavior of students, and the lack of use of academic language. It may expose them to bullying, spreading rumors, and unrealistic views of other people’s lives, which can be difficult for schools to control and address.

Explore the video provided and reflect on the themes of a PLN in professional capacity

• Structure – Using the networks to foster relationships between people and make it easier for them to share information.
• Healthy community – The work is not a very harmonious place all the time. A PLN network provides people a community to become positive to everyone while interacting with others in the society.
• Strength – Getting people to work together is what inspires and motivates, and it allows everyone to get to know each other better then they can strengthen the community.

Which social media platforms are beneficial in education?

I think the social media platforms which can give people inspiration and help are considered beneficial in education. For example,

• TED-Ed – There are many Ted Talks speeches about some of the presenter’s academic exchanges, personal experiences, or some social issues.
• Instagram/Facebook – Since it is very popular, people can share their personal academic ideas, and post some of their artistic creations on Instagram/Facebook.
• WordPress – It is website for people to create blogs for their academic works, telling readers a real story, or educational instructions.

When working with the vulnerable sector, how does social media fit into professionalism and regulations?

• Social media provides a great platform for more people to participate in the conversation and express their opinions.
• Companies can use social medias to create product awareness and promote their products to the customers.
• Communicating through social medias requires lower costs, people can communicate on social networks anytime, anywhere.
• Ability to give instant feedback. It provides 24/7 communication with friends and customers. And people can keep in touch and get feedback about products and services as well.
• Contents posted on social media can spread very fast.