ITC What? So What? Now What?

WHAT?

I did the ‘Connect Quiz’ and I was surprised at my lack of knowledge, despite the fact that I used social media on a regular basis. I’m  It goes to show the huge difference between the professional use and the social use of web 2.0 tools for connection.

Since I started university I have been learning how to use my social media understanding in order to create a professional profiles and connections. For example I now how a Linkedin profile where I have connected with people who are in my field of interest. I am now involved in two discussion groups with people who have similar professional goals to me and one involving art, which is a hobby of mine. I’ve also started to use Facebook in order to connect to my classmates in general studies. We use it to talk about assessments or if someone missed a class, they can get updated on what we covered. I am improving my skills and have become more confident but I still have ways to go.

SO WHAT?

Online learning and connecting are a vital part of our society as it gives us access to a world of opportunities, whether it be access to information or job opportunities or meeting people that have experience in your field of interest. Technology is ever-growing and we must grow with it, and learn how to use it to our advantage, such as using web 2.0 tools. They make professional and learning collaborations much easier, giving us both synchronous and asynchronous  tools. For example you can use chats and forums such as Facebook and Pinterest to share information with others and these can be accessed and viewed at any time (asynchronous) where as you can use video conference tools to view classes in real time (synchronous). I’ve learnt that through the use of the web 2.0 tool Linkedin I can be a part of groups with other students who want to go into policing or are already in it and can discuss subjects related to policing and I’ve learnt how to make a professional profile that I can use to get a job, I never knew you could use an online profile for anything other than connecting with friends and family. As the internet broadens, more and more of our lives will have to be online so knowing how to create our own PLE’s and professional profiles is very useful as soon that will be our resume.

NOW WHAT?

I have learnt so many new things since I began this course, such as a month ago I would not have known what a web 2.0 tool was and now I not only do I know that they have been a part of my everyday life but now I know how to use them to my advantage to collaborate professionally. I have actually been using Whatsapp for a long time now to collaborate with my coworkers about our shifts and now I am using Facebook to connect with my classmates, I am using Linkedin to find out more about my chosen career goal through others experiences, and now I am using this blog to reflect on my own experience and knowledge. I admit I’m still not completely confident with using these tools for professional reasons as I definitely struggled to initially connect with people on Linkedin and struggled to get this blog up and running, but I am improving and learning. The more experience I get the more I get the hang of these tools.