Explore the video provided and reflect on the themes of a PLN in a professional capacity.

Dr. Brad Baker is the associate super intendant of indigenous education for the BC ministry of education. He is also a district principal in North Vancouver and is the first educator of indigenous background in his district. He helps lead indigenous education programs and advocates for anti-racism in the school programs.

A PLN allows for individuals to network, share ideas and discuss important topics without having to be in a face to face setting. PLN’s prove to be very effective when also used in a professional setting and provide some unique themes. These themes can be providing a safe space to share ideas, tell stories and even bring communities together by sharing individual personal experiences.

Social Media in Education

Social media platforms are becoming more and more popular when it comes to education. Since Covid, we have been using more and more electronic communication as it has been improved and has been seen as an effective way of learning. Being part of a lab on campus, I have been able to see how effective it is to share ideas using social media in academia. This is shown from our lab sharing our publications, ideas, activities and other educational related resources online. The most effective platforms in this case for us are Twitter as it is widely regarded as a social media platform in a professional setting. A different use case of social media used in education can be with other social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok and Youtube where these platforms allow for awareness as well as being able to create educational groups of similar interest, networking and sharing resources.

Social Media Regulation in the Vulnerable Sector

Social media is overall positive in terms of allowing us to participate, collaborate and share our ideas but the security of this can all be quite concerning.

Often times, social media platforms will make you sign an agreement where they will be able to access what you’re saying and what you’re posting online. This is especially bad when it comes down to children because although companies like Apple make it hard for social media companies to access a lot of personal information on minors, there can be other complications such as privacy breaches that cannot be restricted. In healthcare this is also a problem as lots of health issues shouldn’t be shared publicly and should be a more private subject.

The last problem I see with social media in the vulnerable sector is that social media allows people to hide behind a screen and say some mean things. People will harass others as well as be able to post comment and share as an anonymous user because of the concerns of sharing private information.