Monday, 22 May 2017

Reflections of my discovery, learning and improvements



This reflective portfolio will outline my thoughts and experiences prior to studying, during and towards the completion of the unit, as well as the insights I've gained and any changes that I've gone through in my search for wisdom about the web.


Why?
I’m in my final semester of my Bachelor’s Degree in Business and Commerce – Marketing and I've 3 electives left to complete. I remember looking at all the options that were available to me and came across the unit: Living, Learning and Working on the Web. I was intrigued by the unit outline as it noted that it “prepares students to live, learn and work in a digital society… and provides students an opportunity to develop a professional online web presence and identity… relevant for the future of work”.

Since I’m in my first Marketing role, I thought that the unit would be beneficial for my career, especially since I manage our company website, interact with stakeholders via email and perform work-related internet searches. I also believe that we really do live in the digital world. Hence, I wanted to learn all about being on the online space. Also, I thought that it would be the perfect chance to challenge myself and do something I’ve never done before, that is online learning.


The Freedom of choice

Studying online is definitely unlike any face-to-face learning I’ve experienced before. I needed to be more disciplined, determined and responsible to ensure that I complete my work on time and to receive great marks. Online learning is a convenient way to study and to be accountable for my own independent learning (Sit et al., 2005). Because it offers the flexibility of learning at my own pace and from any location, I was required to make sure that I put aside the necessary time and effort that the tasks at hand required whilst juggling my work/life balance, if I wanted to do great. Appana (2008) stated that in order for online students to be successful, they need to be motivated, committed and have appropriate support. I know that there were times where I didn’t get a chance to study some of the weekly topics e.g. Relationships or perform the related activities in order to focus on a number of assessments. However, I’ve learnt that with the limited time I have in my daily life due to work and family responsibilities, I need to learn to prioritise better to ensure that I have my bases covered but I should also remember that some of the times, the more important things will prevail. 




Social Interaction

One of the requirements of the unit was to create a Facebook account and join the LLWW Facebook group. Based on past research, online courses are better equipped when communities of practice is developed as well as by incorporating social networking sites to assist in open discussion and community building among students (Brady, 2010). With my personal Facebook account, I simply became a member. I believe that the Facebook group was a great way to learn about the topics covered in the unit, to have access to related articles that Jenna (the unit coordinator) and other students have shared as well as to be able to ask questions and get instant response either from Jenna or from other students. It was also the perfect platform to post our thoughts about the unit or the weekly topics and to share our blog posts for other students to read and critique. During the first week of the semester, I posted about why I chose the unit, how social media is a huge part of my life and what I hoped to gain from the unit in terms of having a professional online presence. Subsequently, on one of the videos a student posted called “5 ways social media screws you over”, I commented with “I agree that social media has its pros and cons… keep in touch… get people’s identity stolen since most of us post about every single thing…” I have also read a number of blogs, which I gave my constructive criticisms on. Overall, I interacted with Jenna and other students to fully experience what it was like to study a unit through the social platform.

Interesting Topics and Insightful Activities
Some of the weekly learning materials that I was interested in included Employability, Surveillance, Information and Knowledge, Digital Inequalities and Lifelong Learning. After watching Eli Pariser’s video, I also learnt what the Filter Bubble meant, which is my own personal online world that have been decided based on my characteristics. Now I know why I seem to always find the same sort of posts on my Facebook newsfeed based of the posts I’ve previously “liked”. Eli mentioned that “the internet is showing us what it thinks we want to see but not necessarily what we need to see”. It’s a shame to learn that having online access doesn’t necessarily mean having access to everything online, but that my access is tailored to me based on my computer, browser or previous searches. This is a topic I’m definitely interested in exploring after this unit.



It was insightful to watch Dr George Simmens’ video about Connectivism as it made sense that we learn through a network world, where we link our current knowledge with new ideas in order to develop our perception and understanding. We also connect with other people through social media or mobile devices in order to find out about the things we don’t currently know. It’s something I didn’t consider before. Of course we learn through reading books, and watching online lectures and going through online articles but when I really think it through, it’s not just me learning on my own. I’m learning because an author has written a book, a lecturer has prepared a lecture and because someone somewhere has written articles that I’ve come across. In essence, we are all connected that way. 


First Time Blogger
Having read through the learning guide, I gathered that I needed to write blogs and possibly publish these for everyone to see. I must admit, I was a little scared as I hadn’t written, let alone, published a blog in my life! However, I pushed through and created a blog site on Blogger called Discovering Learning Improving – Making sense of it all. Then, I published my first ever blog post entitled Digital Autobiography. It was a good start. I was telling my story about how the digital world has changed the way I communicated with people, from putting pen to paper and writing letters, which would take weeks to get a response, to using my mobile device and getting instant reply, and questioned how much more changes will occur in the future. After receiving 2 comments for improvements, I learnt that it was a good choice to publish it on Blogger early and to share a link of my blog post on the Facebook group for others to see, so that I could make any necessary corrections prior to submitting it for marking.

Subsequently, I learnt, from seeing others’ blog post, that I could make mine more interesting by putting my references using hyperlinks for readers to simply click on if they wish to read further and by adding colours or images, which I did with my next blog posts. Looking back at my first blog post now, I realise that, even then, I was “cautious of hackers” and of people knowing my whereabouts, as well as about the wealth of personal information I give everyone access to. No wonder why Week 4’s topic of Surveillance really struck a chord with me. I learnt a great deal about the possibilities of losing my privacy and about sharing too much personal information by being oblivious with my online activities. It also made me think about all the places where I’ve left my digital footprint, which now seems impossible to erase. Because of this, I was inspired to write about it for my second blog post, where I mentioned that the Power of Privacy documentary really opened up my eyes about online surveillance. It was a great piece, which I’ve actually watched several times now. Having learnt from my first blog post experience, I published my second blog post on Blogger and shared a link on the Facebook group again so as to make improvements to it before submission. This resulted in achieving a much better mark on my second blog post than my first. I am very happy on how I’ve expressed myself and my thoughts on my second blog post that I chose to submit it for inclusion to the Book of Blogs for this unit.




Change for the better and for the future

Before studying the unit, I was happily posting Facebook status about absolutely anything I thought of at any given moment, checking in at all the different places I've been to and uploading images and videos of my life! I searched for anything I wanted to know about, from what's a good nearby restaurant to visit, to where I can buy pink shoes, or how to be more creative. I absolutely relied on Google maps to get me from one place to another and to advice me on traffic updates. Towards the middle of the unit, and after coming across the Surveillance topic, I've limited my Facebook posts to the bare minimum; I think I've only posted about 2-3 times for the last 7 weeks when I would normally post at least that much every couple of days! I'm also wary about how much I use Google maps as I've found it saved my whereabouts. It's interesting how I actually don't feel lost by doing this; I feel a little more secure about my privacy and find that I have better relationships with my closest friends, since we actually have conversations in person rather than online chats with distant acquaintances. I'm not sure if I'll feel the same way in the future but I do know that studying the unit have definitely helped me become more aware of how I should safely conduct any activities online and am now more knowledgeable about the ever-growing online world.




References:

Appana, S. (2008). A review of benefits and limitations of online learning in the context of the student, the instructor, and the tenured faculty. International Journal on ELearning, 7(1), 5-22. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/210364167?accountid=36155



Sit, JWH. Chung, JWY. Chow, MCM. Wong, TKS. (2005). Experiences of online learning: student's perspective. Nurse Education Today, 25(2), 140-147. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0260691704001492



Brady, KP. Holcomb, LB, Smith, BV. (2010). The use of alternative social networking sites in higher educational settings: a case study of the E-learning benefits of ning in education. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 9(2), 151-170. Retrieved from http://www.ncolr.org/jiol/issues/pdf/9.2.4.pdf



Wednesday, 19 April 2017

The privileged and the underprivileged of the digital world








I’ve grown up knowing that there is a line separating the rich and the poor, the young and the old, the educated and the uneducated, the employed and the unemployed as well as those that earn high income and those that don’t but I didn’t realise the extent to which this division also exceedingly exist in the digital world! I’ve learnt that our demographic characteristics affect our opportunity to have access to or use the internet, making us either fortunate or disadvantaged.


I’m neither rich nor poor. I’m in my 30s, studying at university, working on a full time basis and earning a moderate income. I have access to the internet at home, at work, at university and anywhere there is Wi-Fi connection; using several devices I own as well as the ones provided by the aforementioned premises. However, I know that some of my family or friends experience varying circumstances. In Australia alone, only 86% have access to the internet in 2014-2015, whilst only 85% of 15+ year olds use the internet. 94% of ACT residents are connected to the internet whereas only 85% of NSW residents are connected. Moreover, 66% of low income households compared to 98% of high income households have internet connection. 77% of those that studied up to Year 12 use the internet compared to 96% of Bachelor degree holders (The Conversation, 2016).


It seems as if the rich are getting richer and the poor are losing out. First of all, people who can afford to buy technological devices and have internet connection are obviously better off than those who can’t. Secondly, individuals possessing modern devices, up-to-date software and faster connection enjoy more opportunity to search the internet than others. Finally, those that have access to the internet and have more experience with it are better skilled and are capable of making use of the internet in a more complex way to locate better information than those who don’t (Hargittai, 2003).


It’s very interesting to discuss the split between the advantaged middle school students’ access and use of internet in comparison to their lesser counterpart. Children that have insufficient access are only able to use the internet for a short time, which inhibits their chance to learn better online skills or obtain satisfactory information for their school work. In contrast, the advantaged experiences unlimited internet access. Unfortunately, this not only means obtaining useful online skills and vast online information, but it also provides children the option to stay online for an extended period of time for other activities apart from studying, that it’s becoming detrimental to their educational performance (Robinson et al, 2015). Which of the two situations would you rather your kids to experience?


Unmistakably, there are numerous ways in which our demographic attributes shape our digital participation and the benefits we can acquire through our use of the internet. I wonder if this discussion makes people reconsider whether having the ability to have internet access is actually beneficial or is it only paving way to amplifying the inequality we are experiencing in the society; offline and online.



Tuesday, 28 March 2017

To be or not to be online or off grid?





The Power of Privacy documentary was such an eye-opener! We don’t realise how much of ourselves we are sharing online just because it’s so easy and convenient. There are so many advantages of having online access as well as disadvantages. On the other hand, there are numerous reasons why we should go off grid and why we should not. Some of these are worth discussing in detail.




From the moment I open my eyes, I can grab my phone, which rested on my bedside table overnight, and start searching for absolutely anything at all, such as, cafés, today’s weather, traffic update, or photos my friends from London posted on Facebook. Before I leave for work, I use Google maps to see what the traffic will be like and how long it will take me to get there. Throughout the day, I could check my emails, get on Facebook, pay bills through online banking, browse Hoyts for upcoming movies, buy shoes online or send messages via Messenger (Johnson, 2007; Weiser (2001). No wonder I have to charge my phone each and every night!




However, with this convenience comes the consequences of not only consciously revealing information about myself via social media, but also disclosing information I thought were private or only I and the company I transacted with will ever know, e.g. credit card details provided through online shopping. If, for some reason, hackers search the online space for information about me or my family, or decide to steal my identity, they would be able to piece together a great deal of information off the web, just like what happened to Aleks Krotoski on the above-mentioned documentary (Guardian, 2016). Lyon, (2017) also noted that personal information or data, which governments or others have access to, are those that online users freely or reluctantly impart online.



Because of these, I ponder whether I'm better off going off grid or at least minimise my online presence. I don’t even remember the time when I was totally off grid so I definitely think it would be such as challenge to do (ABCNews, 2013; DiMaria,2011). Actually going to the post office and bringing my printed invoice to pay for bills instead of quickly paying for it online in a few clicks, going to retail stores and shopping for clothes instead of shopping online in my pyjamas using my credit card, or going to the bank to deposit cash to my bank account instead of receiving prompt payment online seems like hard work in today’s busy society, especially if I can complete these errands using my phone anytime and anywhere.




What are the benefits I wonder? Is it the fact that I can keep my information private and I don’t have to worry about whether my credit card details are safe, or that I can talk to people face to face or actually hear their voice on the other line instead of typing what I want to say (Lee, 2009)? Would I have better relationships with friends and families, as according to Weiser (2001), authentic and important social connections are interrupted by using the internet? Similarly, Simon Sinek (Crossman, 2016) mentioned that we are capable of having relationships that are profound and significant by putting our phones down and actually converse with other people in person? Also, is it beneficial for me to exercise and make time to go to Australia Post or Westpac to make transactions with people instead of my phone?


I’m not entirely sure what the answers to these questions are until I truly do go off grid. What I know is that there are benefits to having easy access to a considerable amount of information online but there are drawbacks of unintentionally sharing my details to anyone and everyone who wants to profit from it. In contrast, there are numerous grounds to going off grid and keeping things private but there are many reasons why I should keep using the facilities that make my life easier.

Saturday, 4 March 2017

Digital Autobiography

I often wonder how much knowledge is out there. The fact that men like Mark Zuckerberg can just turn an idea, like Facebook into something massive is incredible (Business Insider). How much more ideas can be turned into something that helps so much people around the whole world connect; talk to each other face to face through video calls, send instant messages, upload family or holiday photos online and generally share memories and spend time with people across the globe any time of day.

When we first moved into Australia 20 years ago, I had so much trouble getting in touch with my family and friends back home as quickly as I had hoped. I actually put pen to paper and wrote letters, then after posting it I had wait weeks to get a response. Thinking back, I laugh at how much patience I actually had back then. I guess we have to cope and adapt with the resources and capabilities that we have, right? Even so, it was a great feeling, checking my mailbox and seeing an airmail envelope addressed to me. I could never wait to read my letter so I used to always start opening the envelope as I walk through the door!

Nowadays, it’s so easy to send a message by Messenger to my sister in Canada as soon as I open my eyes. How awesome is it to be able to celebrate my relatives’ birthdays with them through video chats (Age UK)? In saying that, I would actually call myself a laggard when it comes to being socially active, compared to younger people in today’s society, where 95% of teens are online; 90% of teens are on Facebook; and 70% of teens spend almost 17 hours a week online (Socially Active). I didn’t join Facebook until 2009 and even then I wasn’t so sure if it was a good idea. I was cautious of hackers and of people finding out about what I’m up to that I didn’t start sharing photos or events in my life until after the following year.

Since then, I don’t think a day passes by without me picking up my phone and going on Facebook to check out what my friends are up to or what photos my families abroad have posted. Although I’m a bit of a passive participant as I usually click on my Facebook friends’ posts or photos but only sometimes do I like or comment on them, I still love how we can all keep in touch with what’s going on in our lives. The scary part though is how much information is actually out there about our lives that others have access to and can use to their advantage and at our expense, just like the movie, Eagle Eye (YouTube).


I now wonder how others have used social media like Facebook; as a tool to connect with people or as a means to steal someone else’s identity...



References

Age Scotland

Business Insider

Socially Active

Youtube