Brad Baker has been working as an educator for over 26 years, and now currently holds a position as a principal. Having a personal learning network is extremely important to him because of the support he gets form his network. He uses his PLN to bring an understanding about his personal story, which is grounded in the Squamous Nation. He also uses his network to share his family’s story and his community’s story. He uses social media to get stories that would normally be silenced to gain public attention. Baker believes that social media allows you to contribute to society by supporting one another by having a healthy, respectful dialogue. Having a PLN and using social media appears to be the main way that Baker creates discourse with other educational leaders.
Educators create discourse by engaging their students in the discussion of class topics. They give students a voice to be able to communicate their opinions to the class and to the teacher. Although Baker uses his PLN to create discourse in education, a PLN can also challenge that discourse by challenging someone’s ideas, opinions, and even their stories. When someone engages in discourse in their PLN, they should make sure it is done in a supporting manner so that everyone in that PLN can learn from one another’s experiences, rather than challenge them.
Social media plays an important role in education. It helps students and parents learn about useful information that they may not know otherwise, and it allows people to connect with one another in teaching and learning when they would otherwise not be able to engage with those individuals. However, some problems with social media in educational settings is that not everyone uses it. If a student does not have social media, they may miss out on important information that the teacher is trying to get across. Some students may not have the technology to access social media, and some may just choose to not engage on it. One form of social media that is especially beneficial for the educational setting is TedEd. TedEd discusses important educational topics, and they are appropriate for viewing both in the classroom or at home, given that the student has the technology to access it.
Due to differing abilities to access technologies and certain platforms, using social media could actually cause an equity divide. However, if all students use the same platform to engage in dialogue, much more equity would exist. When only certain individuals are able to engage in dialogue, there will be important voices that are left out. Instead of hearing from a diverse background that shed light on stories and situations that one would not otherwise hear form, one would only hear from people who had access to that particular social media platform. This could ultimately leave out important voices from the community who have stories, backgrounds, and experiences that are important to be heard. In addition to creating equity when people have access to the same social media platform, it also allows for great diversity in a platform as well. If someone is going to use social media in education, it would be important for them to make sure everyone has equal access to it as well.
When working with a vulnerable population, like children, social media may not be the appropriate route to engage in discourse. There are strict regulations about children being on social media platform, and an educator would not want to break any of these regulations. An educator would also want to remain professional regardless of the sector they are working with, so exposing children to discourse on social media could also challenge that professionalism. It may challenge professionalism because the things that are shared and said on social media are not necessarily appropriate for children to hear or be a part of. There seems to be a higher level of professionalism when things are kept in the classroom.