Reflect on your experience in the course, your development of PLN, your use of social media platforms and networked publics, share any changes in your perspective of social media in professional settings and personal use.

This week’s reading discussed the idea that by having different strengths, you will have a stronger partnership – similar to how opposites attract romantically (Qualman, 2012). I had never considered this idea, but after reading it, I compared it to my group 3B in this course. For our final group project, my group created a short whiteboard animation to illustrate the various terms and concepts we learned over the course of the semester, as well as a podcast of our group members further discussing these concepts. One group member and I had just completed making a whiteboard animation in another class, so we had experience in that form of media, and our other group member has experience in video editing, so she was able to combine our animation with our podcast into one cohesive product. Having different strengths actually worked to our advantage, as we were able to hand in a more dynamic project, demonstrating that a PLN is more effective when it is more diverse.

Upon reflecting on this semester, I realized many things. Early on in the term, I realized that I was not as well versed in privacy and security as I once thought. After searching my Instagram handle, expecting to find nothing, I was more than surprised to learn that although my account is private, posts that I have been tagged in by other people are not! It made me realize that sometimes it’s not as simple as making accounts private, but instead, it is my responsibility to read and understand the terms and conditions of how my information is stored and shared. Further, I learned that inclusion and diversity is not just morally right, but also beneficial. Through the many guest speakers and the articles that I read throughout the semester, I saw just how useful inclusion and diversity is. Not only can it offer more perspectives and ideas, but it can also bring rare opportunities to my attention. I was also reminded by a guest speaker of a goal I had been working on a while ago – to become a better listener. By listening to other’s ideas, experiences and perspectives, I can not only learn to be more empathetic, but I can also open the door to more networking opportunities.

The main theme that I came to realize over the semester, however, was that technology is continuously evolving, and there is always more room to discover new things and develop as a person and professional. We can’t remain stagnant, we must continue to learn, grow, and take opportunities, and a PLN is an excellent way to attain this goal. I appreciated the opportunity to collaborate with classmates in a new way, and further, I was inspired to see our professor’s demonstration of how a PLN can connect you with a variety of different people in different paths. Moving forward, I am excited to expand my PLN and look for new opportunities to learn and network from people of all kinds. I am most thankful to have had the opportunity to participate in such a useful, worthwhile course.

 

References

Qualman, E. (2012). Empower Others. In Digital Leader: 5 Simple Keys to Success & Influence. McGraw-Hill.