Chapter 6 of The Connected Educator
Chapter six of The Connected Educator text focused on the power of connected learning communities. These communities can be created on any social media platform but has become especially popular through Twitter. Participants can talk to individuals that have shared interests and goals but come from different backgrounds and cultures. Having diversity within a community is important for creating new ideas and perspectives. Creating communities that consist of people of different backgrounds is crucial in allowing for extended learning. These networks are a place where one can connect with people all over the world to find new information and bring it back to existing communities. When getting started online it is important to be consistent with one username among all platforms, find a mentor and to choose connections that you respect. Viewing social media platforms, such as twitter can help find people that have similar interests.
It is important when creating a learning community online to ensure that it is a safe space for everyone to share their thoughts and opinions. Everyone involved should have a shared concern for the well-being of the group, as well as active and consistent participation. When creating a community, it is important not to overwhelm people with too many differing opinions and thoughts. People crave structure and familiarity, so it important to create a space that is near to everyone. Naturally roles and leaders will emerge within these communities. The founding members should have a clear vision in mind, but should allow for constant design changes, as the group will continue to have emerging needs. When joining a group, it is important to have a role that is best suited for you. Whether it be lurking, linking, leading, or learning, it is important to find the spot that is best suited for each individual. Real learning only happens when the people involved create with passion and continuously strive to challenge the status quo.
After graduating from college, I plan to use my degree to pursue a career within the business marketing field. Using social media and websites to connect with people from around the world, would help expose myself to new ideas and knowledge of people with shared interests. The business field continues to adapt to new technology and ideas, by learning from others around the world it would help me keep up with new ideas that are constantly being proposed. As stated in the text it is important to constantly challenge the status quo. Within the marketing field, a company will not be able to generate many sales by flying under the radar. By joining a learning network, it would allow me to be exposed to new ideas from people all over the world. My question to readers is, when potentially joining or creating a learning community what aspects do you look for?
Nussbaum-Beach, Sheryl, and Lani Ritter Hall. The Connected Educator Learning and Leading in a Digital Age. Solution Tree Press, 2012.
I liked how in depth you went into explain this chapter and specifically about how learning communities online have to be safe place for everyone to be able to share the information they have. I also liked the explanation that you put for how this will help you in your career in the business marketing field with explaining that a business cannot fly under the radar.
ReplyDeleteHi Lauren! I like how you restated that founding members of the learning group should share similar goals. It's easier to have a founding group that agrees on the plan of action and can bring it to fruition.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question, I look for the following things when joining a community. Safety or some form of psychological safety is number one. I don't want to be a part of a community that is negative, or puts others down, or is generally toxic. Another thing I look for is the structure of the group and behaviors of the founders. I don't trust a mod or admin of a group that has shown questionable habits on places like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, especially if the questionable content is recent. (Think Gina Carano's posts.)
Lauren I think that everyone has the same concept of a safe and welcoming social platform but there also others who may have a different interpretation of it. Having mutual consensus of all involved party members would be ideal but when there are hundreds if not thousands of similar folks then it becomes hard to please everyone since everyone has different mindsets on what is okay and not. Overall you summarized the importance of establishing a social network as it branches into other things like business opportunities, potential solutions to everyday problems, and you get to meet new colleagues and friends.
ReplyDelete