Examine the application of social media to support learning

Through the study of EDCI338 this semester, I have gained a better understanding of the content of “Social Media and Personalized Learning”. One of the most obvious things I learned was how to use Github to connect with my learning Pods members and professors. It can let me establish and maintain long-term connections with others. I can share my posts and ideas within WordPress and Github. This reminds me of the Discussion function on Brightspace. Although we can share our views and interact with teachers and classmates, it can only be maintained until we finish the study of that course. In addition, Red is the social media chosen by our group as the Major Project. I almost use this application every day. It may not be the most professional learning tool for the learner, but I get a lot of content I want to know from this platform, which gives me good inspiration in life areas, education or interest. At the same time, I think the only thing that Red didn’t succeed in after learning EDCI338 is that it covers a vast area, and we need to judge which information is controversial or false when we go to find the information we want.

Explain personalized learning and its relation to learning theory

Based on Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, I know the difference between Connectivism, Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and Constructivism. Connectivism points out that learning in society is not just an internal, individualistic activity like we used Github and WordPress to connect with other learners. As mentioned in my showcase, with the development of science and technology, we can use much different software to establish our platform. However, how to use personal accounts to create long-term contact and interaction with other learners is also the problem I will analyze in this class. It also brings up some questionable messages, such as the experience that I mentioned in the analysis and Insights of some financial bloggers on TikTok. In short, informal learning is also an essential aspect of our learning experience. Traditional school education is no longer the most important part, we will not only use the content of books in our work or life in the future. My father always tells me that school study is very important, but more important is the way of learning, whether in school or informal learning, how we summarize our learning results is the most important. Besides, even after we finish traditional school life, we learn all kinds of things outside of the textbooks, regardless of our status and age.

Recognize that the Internet is not a neutral or equal space for everyone

In White and Cornu’s article, they talked about Prensky mentioned that elders are defective while young learners are relatively privileged. Before reading this article, I have to say that I also think it is more difficult for the elderly to learn than the young, which may be a kind of bias. Why do I believe that? Because I remember when I was studying EDCI337 and EDCI339, I have learned Cognitive Theory which is limited working memory. If you overload working memory before you have time to encode and store it for the long term in the brain model, things get forgotten. And most older people like my grandparents have very poor memories. Every time I teach them how to use Wechat to send messages to me, the next time they forget. My experience leads me to believe that young people have an advantage than older people in learning. However, I changed my mind by reading White and Cornu’s article. They noted that some learners can quickly acquire the necessary skills, while others struggle regardless of age. Now I think that learning speed depends not on age but background and acceptance. However, there is bias in most platforms. For example, when some game companies or mobile phone companies advertise on PLN, their target must be young people. I have asked my grandparents; they are rarely exposed to this type of advertising.

Apply social media to develop a personal learning network in support of your personal and/or professional development

To complete my major project, I created an account on RED, where I shared my lecture notes about microeconomics103. Although I only get some comments or likes, but I still got recognition from my friend. My friend Josephine thought I was doing an excellent job of learning and helping others who might be watching. At the same time, I also made a tutorial video on making Chinese chilli oil and published it on YouTube, which gave me a great sense of achievement. Through this experience, I have added some knowledge for my future as a Vlogger or Blogger(How to do a targeted and professional account) It gives me a specific and basic understanding.

Identify privacy issues and practice online behaviours that are legal, safe, consensual, and ethical

In my Wow and Wonder #3, I base this on the fact that “residents spend all their online time socializing and never use the Internet to collect information, leaving important evidence of their existence.” I raises a question which is If we visit, we usually leave traces. Does it will affect our privacy? The answer is yes. Based on Reggie’s #6 Wow and Wonder, I was inspired by his different ideas from the mine through Tresdancing. When I saw this video, I thought that the way of thinking of artificial intelligence could never replace the way of thinking of the human brain. At the same time, my classmate raised his opinion on another aspect which is the issue of privacy. He thinks the glasses spy on the heroine every day. It reminds me of experiences that happened in my daily life. Whether I am talking to my friends verbally or searching for anything, the next thing that will happen is finding the related information on other social media that I often use. It happens more than once, 98 percent of the time. And it’s not just me; everyone around me has said it. It’s extraordinary and shocking. We should pay attention to protecting our privacy when using social software. For example, we can turn off GPS and don’t fill out our real personal information on social media. Or, we should make a distinction between professional PLN and personal account.

Recognize data ownership and licensing (Creative Commons, Copyright, Fair Dealing, and Public Domain) as a core practice when creating, sharing, or using resources online

Data ownership and licensing are the most important in online social networking platforms. For example, the platform we chose, RED, is a sharing platform. The atmosphere of the community depends on the user’s behaviour. Serious copyright issues may involve legal issues. Otherwise, it related to ethical. Respect for originality is not only found in multimedia and social platforms but also traditional learning. I know that plagiarism is much more serious than low grades as a university student. Therefore, we should not only protect our rights and interests but also avoid copyright problems on social platforms. Make sure we have access to it when we need it. If you are necessary to reprint, it must obtain the original’s consent and indicate the source.

Practice digital, networked, and open literacies in support of learning about social media and personalized learning

Opening up my social platform was my first step in digital, networked, and open literacies to support of learning. I set my PLN like WordPress, RED, or Tiktok as a public vision and interact with other learners. In this process, I constantly improve my weak part and find out what I do well. I think this might be the attraction between personal learning and social media.

The most challenging thing for me in this course is learning a new PLN, Github. I was new to this type of platform. What confused me about it was the code and the confusing names. However, it is also where I think I gained the most this semester. When I got familiar with it, I thought the platform was successful. It allowed me to connect with my team more than just email or Brightspace. I’m also happy to have a group of people who inspire me. They gave me a lot of encouragement and recognized my ideas for the Major Project. I also appreciate Colin’s concern and focus on my study. All in all, I think the knowledge I have learned and the friends I have met in EDCI338 will be of more help to my future study.

Resource：

Siemens, G. (2005). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 2(1).

White, D. S., & Cornu, A. L. (2011). Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday.

Week 6: Wow and Wonder

#6 WOW AND WONDER

#1 Showcast

#3 Wow and Wonder

Team member: Jingjing Jiang, Reggie, Jialin He, Jia

Chapter 10 RED

10.1 Personas

10.2 Demographics

Target Audience RED is a Chinese social media and e-commerce platform launched in 2013 with more than 300 million users and monthly active users on RED exceed 200 billion on 2021. Of RED’s 300 million users, about 80% are female and 70% are Millennials or members of Generation Z. Typically those using the app have higher than average disposable income. RED is used by Chinese people in China and around the world. We describe RED as a combination of Instagram, Pinterest and Amazon, where people can review products and share their shopping experiences with a vast community. Users post product photos with reviews and tips for other users to read, comment, and save to their boards as you would on Pinterest. Also, you can follow influencers and shop online within the RED app.

10.2.1 Can non-users browse or search content?

For non-users, if you download the app RED on your phone, you are required to create an account in order to browse and search within the platform. However, if you are using the RED’s website, you can have a quick browse of a few selected posts, but it is limited to 1 page, if you wish to browse or search more, you need to download the app. You can browse a post without creating an account only if when an existing users share the post as a link to you.

10.2.2 How are users connected?

On RED, if user wants to be connected to another user, you can simply follow them and you can follow anyone without them reciprocating. However, in terms of messaging, if the user you follow did not follow you back, you can only send three messages in total until they follow you back.

10.2.3 Can content be shared privately and how is content shared?

Yes, on RED, users can only the content privately use the following options: 1. Directly message to user you follow Users can share the content as a direct message to any user you follow 2. Generate a link or QR code Users can also generate a link or a picture of QR code of the content they wish to share There is also an option to share publicly: 1. Share via another social media platform You can share the content via three Chinese social media platforms: Wechat, QQ and Weibo, RED will first get approved to connect itself to the app user selected, then user can select if they want to share to the social media as a private message or a public post. 

10.2.4 How does content go viral?

Content on RED can go viral if the post is in the Explore section, which means there will be more users can see the post because most of the users will only browse the Explore section. Also, including a hashtag in the post can also help content to go viral. The screenshot below is an example of the Explore section, and you can tell most of the posts went viral. 

10.2.5 Company details

RED is founded in Shanghai in 2013 as a user-generated content community, and RED completed Series D fundraising with a valuation of over 3 billion on 2018. The main investors are listed below: 

10.3 Privacy and Surveillance

10.3.1 Privacy Protection

https://www.xiaohongshu.com/en/privacy_protection

10.3.2 Privacy Policy

There are only Chinese version available and I still list the link below https://www.xiaohongshu.com/privacy

10.3.3 ToS

There are only Chinese version available and I still list the link below https://www.xiaohongshu.com/terms

10.3.4 Key takeaways

After the authorization, RED allows to record image, voice, or video. According to the Xiaohongshu Intellectual Property Protection Policy, when others try to download my post images or blogs, it shows my own logo on images or blogs.

10.4 Social Media and your PLN in Education

10.4.1 How do people interact on RED?

RED is a platform for people to share and record their lives. The blog is based on their experiences and daily life. Visitors could double click on the images to express their liking of the content or leave comments in the comment section. Most of the creators love to reply to the comments and discuss.!

10.4.2 How do educators use the platform?

An example of a music instructor He Juan is a vocal instructor. She usually posts her content as a video. It is more convenient for her to show how to pronounce words and how to breathe properly. Since she teaches the pronunciation of each word, her audience is more suitable for beginners. The comment section is dominated by compliments or anticipation of her next instructional video content that is to her liking.

10.4.3 Posts and feedback

When we posted a note about a statistics class, one third of the reviewers were interested in the helpful post, such as which textbook the note was from or asking questions about the ununderstood part of the problem solving process. The rest of them say thank you.   We also did a post about restaurants in Vancouver. Comments on this type of post fall into three categories. One is to collect our posts; the second is the affirmation and love of people who have been to the restaurant; the third is their dissatisfaction and complaint based on the experience they once visited, but the third group is in the minority.

   In Red, the chances of a post being picked up are driven by likes and location. So most people respond differently to similar types of posts. What they respond to depends on the content of the post. If it’s the same post, they may not respond to the same post twice. Because of this mode, the way they reply is not based on a Persona of account.

10.4.4 Concerns that educators should be aware of regarding RED

As for my platform, educators should pay attention to copyright issues. As my answer to the last question, we can find many similar posts, such posts may be by some public accounts to transfer other people’s work for profit. It’s so common that visitors don’t really care who the original post is. Unless our account is one with a lot of followers, that might be a bit of a deterrent.

10.4.5 Things we notice that a curious educator might want to know about RED

Because our platform is a kind of sharing platform. Anything you want to know will be posted by a relevant person based on his experience. But one of the most fascinating things about our platform is that different people, different identities and different ages give different summaries. For example, when you want to remember a word, a professional will tell you what the word means. But in Red, there are also non-professionals who may be students or homemakers or whatever, who share their own ways of memorizing words. Learning about different summaries and experimenting with different approaches is perhaps the most attractive aspect of the platform.

10.5 Balancing your PLN and Public Discourse

10.5.1 How do notable, high-profile individuals use social media?

As we all know, there is not only one person running the account on the social platform of well-known celebrities. Behind each well-known account there is a team, one part is responsible for publicity, one part is responsible for video editing and manuscript editing, one part is responsible for business docking, and the most important one is responsible for the “performance” in front of the screen.

10.5.2 What are the benefits to being in the public eye and having a PLN?

Celebrities use social platforms for profit and business. By accumulating a certain number of fans to obtain the cooperation opportunities of the brand side.

10.5.3 Building community with online tools provided by an employer can be limiting, what are some possible restrictions and benefits?

Building a community using employer-provided online tools may involve copyright issues. Some platforms cannot have politically relevant content posted, and the content posted can be partially restricted. Content posted on employer-provided platforms needs to be vetted or authenticated and does not allow you to post what you want as a private user, and more needs to match the employer’s requirements. Some restrictions include copyright issues and the need to sign a contract for the content posted. For example, if you have already set up an account with an online tool provided by the employer, the content you post on this platform is not allowed to be posted elsewhere under the contract terms. The advantage of using an employer-provided online tool to build a community is that you have a regular group of followers. The platform can provide certain guarantees and policies to protect your interests and privacy. Compared to employer-provided platforms, your private community is relatively unstable. The content posted may be stolen, copyright issues may arise, and there is no formal platform to protect your rights favorable.

10.5.4 Delivering information in a connected society requires verifiable resources, how can you ensure that you build a PLN you can rely on?

This can be done by providing relevant information to obtain official review and certification or reliable copyright. Accurate name authentication, identity verification can be a source of account reliability. For example, on Red, you can prove your professional background or identity by providing professional certificates such as documents and information. The certified icon will be shown on the homepage to prove the authenticity and reliability, thus ensuring that the PLN is dependable. In most cases, reliable users have many followers, as these certified accounts are more reliable than private accounts. However, it is not possible to judge an account’s credibility based on the number of followers. Quality accounts are more likely to attract followers.

10.5.5 How do those who are veteran story tellers minimize the risk of sharing misinformation?

Before releasing information content, you can obtain reliable sources through regular channels, first self-audit, and then go to the relevant authoritative information. For example, on Red, most people share their personal experiences, and if it is health-related, the publisher has a formal nutritionist, fitness coach and other professional qualifications. Alternatively, when releasing information, they also share reliable information to ensure the reliability of the content. Most storytellers focus on sharing content related to their professional background, reducing misinformation through self-vetting and professional knowledge.

10.6 Digital Identity, Access and Inclusion, and Media Literacy

10.6.1 Digital Identity

We choose to show a more positive side of ourselves on social media by sharing our daily interests, such as desserts, food, landscape photos or favourite movies. All of our team members have multiple social media accounts, the social media we all use for sharing school and study-related content including Facebook, Messenger and Discord, and in terms of sharing our daily life, the social meadia platforms we use are RED, Wechat, Instagram and Weibo. We separate our personal and professional identities and use different social media when dealing with different people. We are more likely to use Facebook to communicate with classmates at school and WeChat to communicate with friends in our daily life. To conclude, We choose different platforms for different use, and what we have in common is that Facebook and Messenger are usually what we choose for study-related content.

10.6.2 Access and Inclusion

The platforms do not limit the people who use them, giving equal opportunities and access to the general public. Some social media nowadays will provide extra help to people with disabilities, such as voice broadcasting and sign language videos, which improves the principle of inclusiveness and accessibility in using the platforms. Moreover, nowadays, people with disabilities are treated very well on many platforms because some platforms will help promote content related to people with disabilities and encourage people to help these disadvantaged people because on online platforms actively, people are more sympathetic to people with disabilities, and when you go to search some homepages or personal accounts of people with disabilities, most of the comments underneath are from people who are encouraging and supportive. When consuming or producing on the platform, people can meet accessibility needs through sign language videos, voice broadcasting, or there will be professional service providers to help. Those who may be excluded can be helped by providing exceptional services such as a special hotline or service staff. Some anchors will post videos that encourage people to help people with disabilities to support them actively. By appealing to people through their traffic, they can include people who may be excluded.

10.6.3 Media Literacy, Trust, and Disinformation

The content published on Red needs to pass the audit, and each platform has a particular audit policy. In order to avoid spreading false information, the content that needs to be published needs to pass the verification of accurate and valid information. There is no way for false information to pass the audit, and if you need to buy goods on the platform, you will be provided with direct links to reliable and regular resources for purchase. In order to ensure that false information is not disseminated as misinformation, the content must first be vetted before it is posted to ensure that the source of the resource is reliable and regular and that certain guarantees are in place. After guaranteeing reliable resources and audits, publishing the relevant content can largely avoid false information.

10.7 Reference

[1] https://www.xiaohongshu.com/en

 [2] https://www.latmultilingual.com/blog/understanding-red-the-chinese-shopping-app/

 [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiaohongshu

WOW：

Through the chapter Emerging Technologies in Distance Education, I know that Emerging Technologies follow the hype cycle. As our awareness of emerging technologies rises, they are being used in all areas of modern society, from education to healthcare to the public. My latest is the span between multimedia learning and traditional learning. Online learning was not popular at the beginning, and it was believed that some tasks could not be completed through virtual networks. However, with the compulsory situation of the epidemic, I gradually found some convenience and benefits of online learning. Although the emerging technology is still different from the traditional technology, with the development of technology, part of the traditional technology is gradually eliminated.

WONDER：

If there are some phenomenon with the development of science and technology will be eliminated or project, this is understandable, so whether human will eventually be eliminated, although the existing knowledge, science and technology cannot completely replace the human, but we did find along with the development of science and technology the unemployment rate rise, how do we go to a balance of technology and human civilization？

WOW:

Through watching # TresDancing, the Fourth Film in the Screening Surveillance Series, I found it interesting that she chose not to turn her friend in for the final reversal. It all started when she lost the chance to take the exam because of the stereotyped behavior of computer monitoring. What amazes me most about this short film is that it shows the benefits brought by the development of science and technology as well as the charm of humanity. The way AI thinks can never replace the way a human brain thinks. Just like not all jobs can be replaced by robots.

WONDER:

Does the development of science and technology bring more benefits or disadvantages? Will one day, with the development of science and technology, we can convert the code of AI brain into the thinking mode of human brain, and then the work of human will be replaced by AI？

The dissemination of information on the Internet has become more and more extensive with the increase of technological power and users. No matter which platform the user exists, there will be anonymous information or propaganda. We can’t judge the accuracy of the information, but it drives the public opinion of the news most of the time.

WOW：

In many cases, suspicious activity on online accounts consists of fake personas. It’s easy for tech platforms to make the case for cracking down on fake accounts. However, when some extensive information is spread, it will also produce some negative effects, such as falsity.

WONDER:

Are many of the unified opinions and comments necessarily manipulated behind the scenes? So why do people tend to believe statements that have a certain number of people?

Related Course Links:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/10/disinformation-propaganda-amplification-ampliganda/620334/

Wow:

Watching Shelley Moore’s video on Transforming Inclusive Education, he gives an interesting example of the phenomenon of bowling. Use the bowling phenomenon as an analogy to students who are less talent. I probably have a right to say that my teacher didn’t care that much about me since I was a kid because he thought it was more important to manage the majority of the class. The point of this video is instead to call attention to the students who need more care and attention first, even though they are the most time consuming part. Just like bowling balls, when you hit the hardest part, you hit more balls.

Wonder:

Although some people have begun to pay attention to the topic of diversity among students, how should we implement this measure and whether it will cause resentment and dissatisfaction among ordinary students?

I read the article Connectivism by Siemens: In A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, the way knowledge is acquired and the concept of knowledge mentioned in the article gave me some new ideas. Combined with the arguments raised in this article and my second WOW and Wonder blog, let’s offer some ideas about how knowledge can be reformed and updated. There are many ways to obtain current information, such as short videos on the Internet, school libraries, newspapers and interpersonal communication, all of which enable us to get the information we want. Connectivism, of course, refers to the knowledge we acquire through the learning experiences of others. The difference is that each person has different learning methods and understanding levels of cultural background, resulting in different results. There will be some ambiguity and bias when we get some information through short videos such as TikTok. For example, when I wanted to learn some methods about fund investment, I searched Tiktok for the analysis and insights of some financial bloggers. While researching and reading the information, I also found some personal accounts that gave a different perspective than the financial bloggers and maybe even a completely different idea. This information may have created some ambiguity in my analysis of the same fund.

However, one of these benefits is that our access to knowledge has become faster and more diverse. When we want some information, we no longer need to go through a lot of data to find it. The simplest example is the meaning of a word. For example, “bias,” the traditional model requires a paper dictionary and a series of lookups to find the word’s meaning. However, due to technology innovation, we can directly type in some translation tools to get its meaning. Of course, we can also use the fastest way, such as asking people around you the meaning of this word, but does it mean people should eliminate the dictionary. The obvious answer is “no.” So I don’t think a lot of the new knowledge mentioned in the text is the product of old knowlege. We’ve just changed the way to get the answers we want to know in a much faster and more convenient way. In other words, the pace and technology of modern society are too fast for us to waste time on unnecessary steps. So think about older people who don’t know how to use technology. Through White and Cornu’s article, I also found that they mentioned that some learners could quickly master the necessary skills while others struggle to master them, regardless of age.

At the same time, according to my third article Wow and Wonder, I developed new ideas. When we, as residents, leave traces of ourselves on the Internet, will it pose a threat to identity information. I think there are a lot of people who are wondering. I think it might be. We often find Instagrams where people post stories, and they post their location(like the picture I showed), and it’s not just that. Many of my friends will tag their friends. It means anyone will know their lifestyle and relationship. To add, some people will post their business and their information on their page on some platforms. And we often see some people for making profits on some websites by coping some bloggers video from  another PLN to make their accounts. The profile pictures and videos are all the same, and some netizens fall into the trap when they can’t tell the difference. I think this is also some of the negative disadvantages when technological innovation changes and is different from traditional.

References:

Siemens, G. (2005). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 2(1).

White, D. S., & Cornu, A. L. (2011). Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday.

Here is my R and V map.

“Wow“

Based on Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement, I was shocked that individuals might have a higher or lower aptitude for using technology. The article states that some people will never go beyond a low level of participation in selecting a small range of tools for a limited purpose. More interestingly, another advantage is that the continuity of residents and visitors is uniform.

“Wonder”

Through article, “Total” residents spend all their online time socializing and never use the Internet to gather information, yet leave essential evidence of their existence behind. Does this mean that we often leave traces of our existence behind when we date online? Does this affect our privacy? What if someone with an ulterior motive uses us to leave evidence on the Internet and replace us as “us”?

Reference:

White, D. S., & Cornu, A. L. (2011). Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday.

“Wow”

This week I read the article Connectivism by Siemens: In A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. I was surprised to learn what is “half-life of knowledge” is, which refers to the span of knowledge from acquisition to elimination. I’ve always thought that everything in the world has a shelf life except expertise, but as explained in this article, half of what is known today was not known many years ago. I think the idea surprised me. But I don’t see it as obsolescence. I see it as innovation. Now, of course, most of the knowledge acquired through the power of technology that we can’t get through traditional education, which still surprises me.

“Wonder”

However, I also wonder if PLN can replace traditional learning if knowledge is obsolete. Why do you ask this question? Because the efficiency of multimedia learning is often shorter than the cycle of conventional understanding, the information network on the network is far more and more convenient than the traditional school. At the same time, I also want to know why knowledge is eliminated rather than updated. Isn’t knowledge extended from the base?

Reference:

Siemens, G. (2005). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 2(1).

“Wow”

With the rise of more and more network platforms, we can publish our content through multimedia learning platforms. But are there differences between these online learning platforms? I’ve always thought that people do a professional platform just to make money. Through this article, I was surprised to find that a professional PLN has strong and weak connections. Finding and connecting with experienced people is essential in a learning career. Combined with this characteristic, I found that no matter what multimedia learning platform, data will analyze the field you are interested in or the blogger when you register an account. For example, on Facebook and Tiktok, when I frequently search for some content and comments or like some posts, the network data will automatically promote professionals in specific fields. We connect with these professionals through comments and retweets, which is a process and result of personal and social interaction. Professionals can also accumulate fans through PLN to find their professional partners and improve social recognition.

“Wonder”

After having some basic knowledge of PLN, I am baffled about distinguishing which information is proper and effective through a multimedia platform. After all, many platforms have a lot of seemingly professional knowledge and content, but how can we distinguish professionalism through an account without so much knowledge? By the number of followers or the number of comments? But it is well known that many fans and comments will have a lot of uncertainty; how do we judge?