Unit 5 – Activity 1 – Reflections on Digital Presence
“In Unit 2 you created a plan to cultivate your digital presence and identity. It’s now time to review that plan and reflect on it.
Take some time to reflect on these prompts and then respond to these prompts (and share any other reflections that you have pertaining to your plan regarding your online participation). Respond in audio or video. This is a somewhat informal reflection so it does not need to be a perfect video or audio. My suggestion is to make a bulleted list of topics that you would like to discuss and then record yourself discussing those.”
My reflections on my initial post are as follows:
How did you do?
- I think, overall, I did pretty good. There was some progress, maybe not as much as I wanted, but it was overall not bad.
Did you stick to this plan? Why or why not?
- I tried to. Between work, studies and family, it’s been very busy so I haven’t had a lot of energy left to really develop this beyond what I have done.
What strategies were successful?
- Participate in discussions
- I haven’t yet, but have spent a good deal of time getting used to Twitter, learning the platform and how
- Also haven’t really touched LinkedIn beyond a handful of interactions.
- I did make some initial connections on Twitter, and a few on LinkedIn; Mostly it has been getting to know some of my fellow classmates a bit, especially through the projects, which has been the most fulfilling.
- Reviewing research/websites
- Reviewing Google was very helpful.
- I’ve found that there are actually far more open resources available through the web, especially academic papers and studies, than I had thought previously.
- I honestly didn’t realize there was so much access to education materials.
- I have not yet reviewed the RRU Library yet as, honestly, there were so many resources elsewhere that I haven’t found the need yet.
- The texts for the course were a lot, and I did struggle to get through the amount there, which was what I expected.
- I reviewed the OE Consortium briefly, but I didn’t find too much on there yet. You need to be a member to get the most out of it and, not being one, the resources are thin.
- I think this is more a result of my own expectations than anything to do with the organization
- Reviewing Google was very helpful.
- Posting blog posts has not been super consistent, but I have kept up with this.
What did you learn in the process?
- I have learned about using Twitter, just getting familiar with the platform as I’ve never used it before.
- It’s definitely great for short thoughts and connecting with people.
- It’s also not necessarily great for deep discussion
- There is a big opportunity for it being used for both social change and for harming others through careless words.
- I have learned that I am still very uncomfortable with certain aspects of Open Learning.
- I love the aspect of the learning resources being available.
- At the same time, I don’t feel like the open nature of using social platforms is always safe for participants or conducive to sustained dialogue/discussion.
How would you update your plan going forward?
- I do need to focus on the things that interest me, and post more about those in addition to just the coursework
- Mental Health
- Technology
- Music/the Arts
- DIY
- I need to add in some leeway for getting used to new platforms as I am not the most open person to begin with, and the security aspects of most social media bother me.
- I may need to rethink what platforms are for deeper discussions, and maybe find those, while looking at what platforms I’m on and using them for their strengths instead.
- I also really prefer the blog posting to most other options for engagement
- It would be good to use Twitter and LinkedIn to engage with communities and then point to the blog eventually … the blog will need to be on its own server, though.
- Another thing I want to do is to ensure that what I’m posting is either an asset that can be beneficial to building a portfolio. Some things with projects from school work will obviously not fit this mould, but some may be reworked to fit that format and be shared as a proper portfolio that isn’t blocked by an NDA.
- Case-in-point, I missed the idea early (and honestly was pretty drained after the debate), but Denys and my post on “Teaching 21st Century Skills in 20th Century Schools” could be reworked as more of an infographic.