In this week, we discussed the following questions.

  • Community communications go beyond blogs and social media shares, how does a PLN help and hinder the development of thoughts and ideas in education discourse?
  • How do educators create discourse?
  • What is the role of social media in education?
  • What are some problems with social media communications in educational settings?

PLN can enable educators to easily access resources and information, share knowledge, and provide feedback on results. It can also promote communication among scholars, stimulate new creativity, and promote educational progress. However, as the quality of PLN depends on individuals, the acquisition of knowledge by each individual also depends on themselves. If educators are not inclusive, PLN can actually lead to their ideological blockade. Furthermore, maintaining PLN may be a new type of work pressure that interferes with the daily work of educators.

Generally, educators can explain their methods and achievements through publishing papers, reports, etc., and can also use social media to share their practices and insights.

Social media can provide flexible communication methods and spaces for education, allowing everyone to attend classes, share knowledge, and give feedbacks anytime and anywhere. The classroom videos recorded by educators can be reused, reducing the workload of educators. At the same time, their videos can also be seen by more people, so social media provides rich resources for education.

Not all educational resources are effective considering the time and knowledge updates. The copyright protection of educational resources is also an important issue. Anyone may plagiarize and publish the results of others on the social media platforms. The authors would find that the process of safeguarding their rights is also quite troublesome. Therefore, it is best for social media platforms to have more effective restrictions on publishing content.

Based on the above content, we are going to discuss further about the topic.

  • Which social media platforms are beneficial in education?

Many mainstream social media platforms are beneficial in education, such as TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and so on. As long as these platforms are legitimate, respecting laws and regulations, protecting intellectual property rights, and prohibiting rumors, discrimination, insults, etc., they can all be beneficial to education. We can communicate with educators on these platforms, try new content and perspectives, share knowledge with everyone, and achieve common progress.

  • When working with the vulnerable sector, how does social media fit into professionalism and regulations?

The original intention of creating social media is to facilitate people’s communication and promote social participation, benefiting humanity. From a professional perspective, social media platforms should consider promoting the social participation of vulnerable groups, creating a safe and convenient way to provide services to the groups, as they may need platforms and channels more to obtain convenient communication methods and social assistance. In terms of regulations, respecting the personality and dignity of vulnerable groups and prohibiting all discrimination and insults against indigenous people, gender, and religious beliefs are laws promulgated by many countries.