week #5

Week 5 of ADED 1P32 has definitely been a shift in the way we are learning throughout our online journey. Learning from respectable and credible sources such as accredited websites is a really great way to gather facts. However, the interesting and also unique factor is that we sometimes miss out on others opinions. Not only can we learn the factual information that is important to us, we can delve into individual opinions that help us gain a new perspective. The most interesting factor that I noticed in my exploration of Twitter is the use and meanings of hashtags. Although tweets on twitter are limited to 140 characters, hashtags provide a wealth of information and add to the usefulness of Twitter. Onceateacher.com stated “Basically, anyone that you interact with is apart of your PLN, whether they are social contacts, professional peers, or experts in their field.   Most of the ‘learning’ takes place on-line now, because it is simple to find and connect with others with similar interests from around the world.” (Klingensmith, 2009). Twitter, which is now an essential part of my PLN, can contribute significantly in my quest to build knowledge. Twitter can let me see others opinions and build a customized and streamlined network that I can access anywhere such as my laptop or mobile device. I can also use hashtags to see other Tweeters who are talking about similar topics. Gaining digital literacy is a really essential part of developing your PLE and PLN. It is important to consider other digital citizens opinions because this is how we learn. It is extremely important to develop our own opinions, however the only way that we can really shape a complete and educated opinion is to consider all angles. Using curation tools that we have explored in previous weeks, we have been able to gain a thorough understanding of how others interpret and learn information. The greatest advantage that students have in the digital age is the ability to work and collaborate with others all over the globe!