Following this course on personalized learning and social media, I believe I will utilize my personal learning network (PLN) I have developed to seek out further business and career opportunities. I am now aware of how useful having a PLN is for finding out about available opportunities and being discoverable for them, and for forming connections and maintaining relationships. Now especially, I realize the significance of social media. It is a great platform to find information quickly, as well as to connect with others. It is also a very valuable place to maintain current relationships and stay connected with others.
My only hesitations, as touched on in a group discussion with Shalan, Maddy, and Maika, would be the sheer amount of misinformation and fake news out there. Additionally, I would strive to protect my privacy and safety by keeping my social media somewhat private and only available to those I would like to network with. Although, this is a fine line because I would also like my social media to be open to networking, opportunities, and connections.
Taking my PLN from a local community to a global community would be very valuable to me. As of right now, I only really engage with others in my local community, however, following this course I realize how many more opportunities there are if you expand your PLN globally. To boost my professional skills and knowledge I may seek out professional connections around the world, join groups and forums, and search for information and events globally to give me more perspective and knowledge of what is going on around the world.
In our group discussion, we went over how we can all benefit from taking advice and following global examples of success. Especially for urgent issues such as homelessness, climate change, etc. As well, when we share our own global experiences it may inspire others to expand and seek out global opportunities, thus developing networks further.
Overall, I think the course has taught me a lot about what I can do to personalize my learning network to seek out the opportunities I would like and how important it is to form connections to gain opportunities and learn.
To help professional-development post-course, I will focus on keeping my online presence active, discoverable, and professional while striving to maintain my safety and privacy. Additionally, I will seek out professional opportunities and this may include engaging on more social media platforms and globally as well.
For my PLN to be reliable, I will engage with those with reliable reputations and credentials, keep my information accurate and up to date, be open to new connections and networking, and always own up to any mistakes to stay trustworthy and accurate.