First of all, I have a better understanding of PLN and the importance of PLN in our daily life. As Jane(n.d.) said: “A network of trusted connections with whom an individual interacts (and learns from) regularly.” In today’s society, people can easily access information through distance learning. 

The individual learning network model, as many factors influence the decisions individuals make when learning a network. Three important tasks need to be completed before further activities: building connections, maintaining connections and activating connections with selected persons for learning (n.d.). When I add friends to social media apps, I will choose those who have common hobbies with me or those who have mutual friends. This is because people who have the same hobbies have more common topics and are more comfortable to get along with. However, when I finished reading this week’s articles, I suddenly realized that everyone’s thinking is different and has merits, and you can’t veto those who have opposite ideas to yours. 

Also, I have a better understanding to identify the concept of the visitor and the resident. White & Cornu (2011) said: “Visitors are unlikely to have any form of persistent profile online which projects their identity into the digital space.” I found that I am more of a visitor and I don’t leave my personal information on most sites. If personal information is required, I will leave it once and not let the site remember, such as “check out as guest”. I think it is a way to protect personal information to avoid cybersecurity issues. Here is my own Visitor/Resident map:

However, people leak a lot of personal information when they use various software. For example, when I open the shopping software, the network will guess my preferences through big data and recommend goods to me. Also, I always use “face id” and “fingerprint” to fill the password. This is a quick and easy way to log in to different websites, but it makes me very dependent on this function, which leads to many times I cannot remember the password.

Moreover, after reading the post from AlirezaI, I have the same wonder as him that the effectiveness of offline versus online interactions in learning networks. Due to the pandemic, students have to learn online. I think the pandemic develops personal learning networks that people have to learn online, and it is important for them to find their way in e‑learning to be more effective.

References:

Gutierrez, K. (n.d.). What are personal learning networks? What are Personal Learning Networks? Retrieved January 23, 2022, from https://www.shiftelearning.com/blog/personal-learning-networks

View of understanding personal learning networks: Their structure, content and the networking skills needed to optimally use them: First Monday. (n.d.). Retrieved January 23, 2022, from https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3559/3131

White, D. S., & Le Cornu, A. (2011). Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement. First monday.