“None of us were really taught about our history, what Indigenous knowledge looks like.”

Brad Baker

Dr. Brad Baker, Associate Superintendant of Indigenous Education, BC Ministry of Education, is a proud member of the Squamish Nation and carries the ancestral name Tsnomot, which he shares with his late grandfather and father. As SD44’s director of Indigenous education, Baker has spent much of the past decade working to bring an Indigenous perspective into the school system. That’s involved creating an environment where Indigenous students can be supported, as well as providing resources to educate teachers and the wider community (Seyd, 2021).

Themes of a PLN in a Professional Capacity

PLN could be a resource base for professional educators or researchers to obtain information, or communicate and contribute learning resources to the community they are in. Just like the Typical Teacher Network that was mentioned in the book Emerging Technologies in Distance Education, in a professional capacity, PLN could serve as a “package” or base of a teacher that performs these functions.

Typical Teacher Network from Emerging Technologies in Distance Education.

However, a “networked” teacher could use the PLN for so much more. Reaching out and connecting to academics internationally, reading and posting personal views, expending networks in different fields of study and research, as well as using the multimedia to further the impacts of one’s study are all a networked teacher could do with PLN. Here, the capacity of PLN is more than a package or base for storing but a tool that could actively extend one’s learning, research and networking.

The networked teacher from Emerging Technologies in Distance Education.

Which Social Media Platforms are Beneficial in Education

Social media platforms that are beneficial in education have these features:

  • They are open to all users/learners with internet access.
  • They are easy to share information on and communicate ideas on.
  • They have features that allow the users/learners to connect it with other platforms and share on multi-platform.
  • They support multimedia forms of resources.

These features could be utilized by learners or teachers in storing and sharing information, connecting, communicating and collaborating. With the feature that supports cross-platform information sharing, the users could have more opportunities to engage with people of the same field of profession or to be exposed to online communities or groups of interests. The platforms that are beneficial and are commonly use include Twitter, YouTube, WordPress, TikTok, etc.

Adding Social Media Teaching to an Industry of Interest

I’m personally interested in science subjects such as chemistry, and I would use video-featured social media platforms such as YouTube or TikTok to present interesting phenomenons we could observe in life, or interesting experiments that have to do with chemistry. I would also post videos of chemistry used in practical areas such as food and drink.

How Social Media Fit into Professionalism and Regulations (Education, Healthcare, and Messaging to Minor Children Via Social Media/Gaming)

Social media could be used to advocate for professionalism and regulations, as well as to provide space for discussions and deeper understanding on such matters. In education, just as what Dr. Baker is doing, people from minority groups are given more voices to engage in conversations, debates and decision-making processes to represent their unique views and advocate for their values. This may not happen in other methods but social media could provide a great platform for such voices and values to be discovered and viewed by more people.

For healthcare or messaging to minor children, social media could play similar role in making the voices heard. Certain views could be presented and certain cases could be viewed by a greater amount of people and with the connecting ability of the internet and the power of the platform, small and rare cases could gather and make bigger voices to be heard.

Reference

Seyd, J. (2021) North Van District Principal to take on provincial role in Indigenous Education, North Shore News. Available at: https://www.nsnews.com/local-news/north-van-district-principal-to-take-on-provincial-role-in-indigenous-education-4800556 (Accessed: October 16, 2022).

Veletsianos, G. (2010) Emerging technologies in distance education. Edmonton, Edmonton: Au Press.