– How does a PLN give power to messaging for an individual or community?

PLN gives the opportunity for individuals who engage in spreading the knowledge. In the era of information, citizen’s life, work can not get away from information production, information reconstruction, information analysis and information transmission. PLN is considered a carrier of creative inspiration. For instance, People collaborate in a group project analyze a problem and writing a report, the appearance of positive feedback will happen first on a particular group member, then the others will inherit the active interaction when they troubleshooting the project. In the online community, open teachers advocate free, open, transparent knowledge society and continuously contribute thought-provoking points of view to make the society move forward to a better place. 

–Education occurs in so many environments beyond the classroom, how does social media help expand education and associated needed communications?

With the development of technology, there are also changes in the way of living and communication, and the property of the PLN expandability also meets the learning psychological expectations of people in modern society especially in the pandemic. Therefore, when the PLN as a new form of communication impacts the traditional communication activities, and with its openness, participation and interaction, it promotes the diversification of communication subjects. From my perspective, social media move our education to a bigger range of the world. At there, we are able to get in touch with people who have backgrounds that not only broaden the horizons but also encourage us to associate needed communication.

– 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?

Research has shown that social media can help students learn through various social platforms, teachers and students can integrate social media into daily class, making the course more interesting and attractive, and increasing students’ participation. Students are engaged in interacting in the efficient social media PLN(e.g, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook)  because it is the most familiar and the most frequent tool students use. Social media is also available for research and data analysis which can provide enough evidence for the survey. Students can use a poll, a questionnaire, or even a simple question to gather people’s opinions on education discourse.

– How does the use of PLN raise awareness opportunities in education?

The use of PLN enhanced the communication between parents, students, teachers, associator and research personnel, reduce the spatial communication cost. In colleges, social media can help education groups absorb new information, update knowledge reserves carry out better-teaching work with time changes. They can also use Facebook, Twitter, etc. to spread and share school-related news events or other important announcements. Social media play an increasingly important in rapidly developing fields, so there are many potential opportunities to integrate social media platforms and tools into students’ learning. Teachers should use various methods to integrate these social platforms into course assignments and raise the awareness of PLN usability in order to keep students up with the development of the digital world.

– What is the role of social media in education?

Social media extends teachers’ office hours and facilitates interaction between teachers and students after class. For students who have no chance or student are ashamed to ask their own problems in the public classroom, social media provides them with a relatively private platform that can raise their own confusion. In high-level education, social media can become an effective approach to contact and communication with students. Through this informal way of communication, we can show the different aspects of teachers and establish a more harmonious relationship between teachers and students.

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

The problem with social media communication in an education setting is that students need to create a blog to share the learning experience they are educated on and market it as a product. Then they need to conduct market research on customer segmentation and find the fastest distribution channel. To minimize the risk of social media especially for teenagers, social media should take responsibility for data privacy and build up the juvenile protection mechanism to avoid the distribution of violent game advertisements and pornographic advertisements.

References:

1. Miller, Jesse. “EDCI 338 – BRAD BAKER.” YouTube, uploaded by MILLER, 04 Mar. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy63SmEpvCw.
2. Learning networks: Harnessing the power of online communities for discipline and lifelong learning. (2008, October 22). Some Assemblage Required. https://djon.es/blog/publications/learning-networks-harnessing-the-power-of-online-communities-for-discipline-and-lifelong-learning/