I will soon be coming to the end of my time with Royal Roads University (RRU), and so I’m beginning to look at the next stage of my learning journey. With that in mind, my goal is to build my own learning network, contribute content, and exert a positive influence in that space.
I was exceptionally nervous about starting a master’s program, but the whole experience has been outstanding. Difficult… and stressful… but also extremely rewarding. The whole experience has rekindled my love of learning and I’m looking to continue. Since Garrison et al. (1999) argued that a community of learners is valuable for higher order thinking, I aim to develop one of my own to both contribute to and benefit from.
Following a series of readings this week, I’ve come to the conclusion that the platform upon which this network exists is less important than the people who make it up. Anderson and Dron (2014) asserted that learning networks are defined by the needs of the participants such as “task performance, learning, advice, or interpersonal support” (p. 149) rather the physical or virtual space. So, what matters to me is the way in which I interact with people and communicate, and less about where those interactions occur. This idea reminds me to stay on brand with communications no matter the platform and be mindful of how the individuals in my network perceive my contributions.
Finally, I was inspired to participate in the conversation online, despite some of my misgivings regarding possible negative consequences of that interaction. I’ve been reading a lot of content from my classmates recently about backing away from platforms they find toxic, and I completely respect their point of view. But, Cormier (ALT, 2019) made an extremely good point when he presented the idea that if reasonable people turn away from the internet as a result of their fatigue with the culture, then the quality of the culture of the internet will only diminish as a result of their absence. Now, it’s a little arrogant of me to argue that my content will be a positive influence on the culture of the internet, but that certainly is my goal. Whether I achieve it or not, I suppose, remains to be seen.
References
Anderson, T., & Dron, J. (2014). Teaching Crowds: Learning and Social Media. In Teaching Crowds: Learning and Social Media. Athabasca University Press. https://doi.org/10.15215/aupress/9781927356807.01
Association for Learning Technology [ALT]. (2019, April 24). #OER: The participatory open: Can we build a pro-social / pro-societal web? [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D4tg1FnE_s&t=1223s
Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (1999). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2–3), 87–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1096-7516(00)00016-6