Is there a difference between reflecting on information and understanding information?  Does reflection come before understanding, after or not at all?  In my case, I have to reflect and then go back and try to understand and reflect a little more.  Writing a blog or modifying your digital identity includes these elements as well.  I’m committed to making my digital identity journey an active and ongoing activity.

LinkedIn is a fabulous network tool if one uses it to the fullest potential.  To grow my knowledge base and my network, I will begin to focus on all that it has to offer.  We know that “networks are among the primary knowledge conduits of the world; throughout our lives we learn from people we know” (Anderson & Dron, 2014). If I increase my networking with others and reach out to discuss ideas I will definitely learn from others and I may even inspire others at the same time.  In addition, I will go through my existing and new (to me) contacts and endorse them.  As Anderson & Dron (2014) stated, “Skills that have been tagged in a user’s profile may be endorsed by those who are in the user’s network, thus providing a collective view of a person’s accomplishments that is both bottom-up, and in aggregate, trustworthy” (p. 222).   Trust is a key component in any relationship. It has to be built on a day by day basis.

I am also going to extend myself to the uncomfortable zone and begin to participate in Twitter.  I recognize the importance of participating in conversations as they begin because it is part of the learning dialogue.  In addition, creating and sharing content is an important requirement of the connectivist learning pedagogies (Anderson & Dron, 2014). This can be curated through live tweets from industrial design shows and events around the world  (Jenkins, 2018).

References

Anderson, T., & Dron, J. (2014). Teaching Crowds: Learning and Social Media. https://doi.org/10.15215/aupress/9781927356807.01

Jenkins, H. (2018). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture. In Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/8435.001.0001