Photo by Mariia Shalabaieva on Unsplash
Social Media and Its Role in Education
Social media has been helpful in keeping connections with others as I have a lot of friends that no longer live in Victoria. If it weren’t for social media, it would be much harder to stay in touch with everyone. It’s also nice that social media allows me to keep tabs on what my friends are getting up to without necessarily needing to text every single day. In education, I believe that social media has its place to make learning more engaging, but it’s important that it is used appropriately. For example, to make learning more engaging, teachers could make TikTok’s about topics they’re teaching or make references to certain niche memes that their students would understand and relate to. This would add a fun element to learning and make students feel more excited about learning. The benefits of using social media for educational purposes is that it allows students to access a broad range of accounts that post educational content. This can enhance their learning and allow them to participate in different online discussions as well. However, there are also challenges that come with using social media for educational purposes. Misinformation is rampant on social media and it’s important to equip students with the digital literacy skills required to discern credible sources from false or misleading content, so they can engage with information critically and make informed decisions. When these digital literacy skills are paired with critical thinking, social media can become a powerful tool in education.
Personalized Learning and Digital Literacies
Personalized learning keeps me motivated because it allows me to use the resources that best suit my learning style. I often use YouTube for visual explanations of concepts and sometimes I need to replay certain parts of the video repeatedly before it finally clicks in my mind. Digital literacy is important in today’s world because as I mentioned earlier, misinformation is very prevalent online. As I’ve progress through my studies at UVic, I’ve become more confident in my ability to evaluate information online. Learning how to spot credible sources, understand bias, and research different sources has been a key part in my education thus far.
Digital Identity and Online Presence
For my digital identity and online presence, I try to be mindful of my digital footprint and how I present myself across different platforms. I separate my personal and professional/academic profiles accordingly and I am very intentional in how I maintain my online image. This is especially important as I prepare for potential job opportunities where employers may be running background checks on me.
Navigating and Using Online Platforms Ethically
In terms of navigating and using online platforms ethically, I believe it’s important to be thoughtful with the posts you make and the comments you leave on people’s content. I’ve noticed that people tend to be bolder with what they have to say when they interact with content online because they feel more anonymous behind their screens. We need to remember that the people we see online are real people with real feelings and that our words have an impact on these people. By practicing the ethnical consumption of media online, we can help make these platforms more inclusive and safer for everyone.
Hi Melissa!
Thank you for sharing! I really like your writing style – it is clear and engaging. It is true, there is so much misinformation out there so it is very important to ensure students are aware of this. I am happy that UVIC, especially in my major (Psychology), puts such an emphasis on using and relying on peer-reviewed research articles, as it is so easy to be captured by an engaging TikTok video, like you mentioned. You also made such a great point that people tend to be more ruthless in what they say online if they are anonymous. These hurtful comments can lead to long-term, irreversible consequences for some. Great selection for your feature picture as it is bright and eye-catching! However, perhaps a list or a table could be used to organize information and to break up the paragraphs? Other than that, I really enjoyed reading your post.