• Community communications go beyond blogs and social media shares; how does a PLN help and hinder development of thoughts and ideas in education discourse?

Education discourse refers to the communication among people that is either spoken or written. PLN is an effective method to conduct education discourse that it facilitates communication and knowledge sharing among educators during the education process. As educators connect and network with other educators shared the same interest and teaching direction with them, they are able to learn different perspectives of knowledge and the latest industry information. In this case, their knowledge level becomes higher, angles to view the issues become more diverse, and educational discourse ideas such as content and ways to teach students are generated and opened by obtaining insights from their peers. They are not only limited to their own knowledge, but could combine theirs with others’ into the discourse and better deliver it to students. However, PLN also contains some drawbacks that educators may rely too much on the knowledge sharing by others, which prevents them from thinking and developing their own ideas. The information is already digested and concluded by others, thus, may prevent them from independent thinking and processing raw material. They may gradually lose their ability for education discourse, such as teaching valuable knowledge and meaningful contents to their students.

  • How do educators create discourse?

Educational discourse is basically the transfer of knowledge between all the participants during the education process using various forms of teaching language. For example, textbooks and presentations are both forms of educational discourse. Educators deliver knowledge to students through speech form. Besides, educators also create discourse for students, including assigning group projects and debates to students. By this way, discourse among students occurs that both group projects and debates allow them to exchange information and discuss their ideas with each other. Take myself as an example, my major professor hold debates surrounding the course topics among us every month. The debate enables us to communicate different ideas and our own understandings towards the course content through the form of competition and opinion collision. Our team expressed our knowledge to the other team and they also absorbed knowledge from us, achieving a transfer of knowledge and ideas. As a result, apart from the traditional way of discourse, teaching via speeches, professors also create education discourse among students by organizing discussion events.

  • What is the role of social media in education?

Social media is a tool and a platform for inter-professional communication and networking among people who share same interests and professional direction, facilitating professional knowledge share and information exchange by seamlessly bringing people from all over the world together. No matter where they are located, as long as they registered in the social media, the digital platform provides them with opportunities to learn from each other. Thus, social media creates a new form of education, which is technology-based, by facilitating the professional communication among people, even they are from long distances. For example, Linkedin is a great example that it allows people from all over the world to connect with each other for the purpose of information exchange, professional development and career path seeking. By networking and communicating with people from the similar industry with the help of Linkedin platform, people gain education from their peers and improve their knowledge level.

  • What are some problems with social media communications in education settings?

One major problem for education through social media communication is the potential improper use of social media. Since there are many fun posts on the platform, students may be distracted by other information instead of focusing on professional learning communication. In this case, it is social media that prevent the effective education from being delivered. Another problem is the knowledge transferred through communication and chat on social media might be very abstract and fragmented. Not every student is able to integrate pieces of information into an organized knowledge system and utilize it. The difference from traditional education can also prevent effective education from occuring.

Reference

E. Reeder Last Modified Date: January 01. (2023, January 1). What is the role of discourse in education? Language Humanities. Retrieved February 8, 2023, from https://www.languagehumanities.org/what-is-the-role-of-discourse-in-education.htm