” How diverse is your PLN?“
My PLN is diverse because it includes academic, professional, and personal relationships made through formal learning, informal learning, and social networking. By studying in many countries and interacting with diverse individuals, I have been able to develop and expand my personal learning network (PLN). When I discover something new, I’m typically inquisitive, so I do some research, connect with individuals who are more knowledgeable than me, and learn from them—whether it’s on social media platforms like Reddit, Discord, or Quora, or through friends. By doing this, I often meet more people or establish acquaintances that I can learn from.
“Are you learning from a variety of diverse voices and are you expanding your understanding of the views of others?”
As I indicated above, growing my personal learning network (PLN) enabled me to learn from a range of various voices and improve my understanding of other people’s points of view. Even though I have strong beliefs about some things, including religion, I don’t dispute or try to persuade people to agree with me. I frequently pay attention to and respect the opinions of others, and in order to fully understand them, I further explore their perspectives and views. I try to avoid posting anything on social media that would make someone uncomfortable or offended.
“What is a learning outcome of your PLN and how are you ensuring your exposure to diversity and inclusion?”
My PLN has allowed me better access to a diverse range of educational resources and views relevant to the themes I was interested in. My PLN enabled me to learn more, engage more and improve.
I am ensuring my exposure to diversity and inclusion:
- By expanding my PLN and establishing connections with diverse individuals from various backgrounds and fields of expertise.
- Through having dialogues and chats with my networks in order to grow, learn more and expose to different viewpoints.
- Through having an open mind and respecting other people’s opinions.
- Through participating in events, forums and conferences on the topics I am interested in.
Hi Abashir,
I love how your PLN is diverse because you include a unique niche of different types of people that you meet. I also agree with you about how important it is to keep a diverse PLN because then you are able to have exposure and understand the ideas and thoughts of different people that come from different backgrounds. I am also trying to grow my PLN and I think your ideas about participating in events, forums and conferences is amazing. I am currently working out of a lab at UVic and am looking forward to being able to have the unique experience of participating in a conference.
Thanks for the feedback, Kevin. Good luck!
Hi, I found your blog post very insightful. I understand that Reddit, Discord, and Quora are the main social media platforms you gravitate towards. I was wondering what types of communities within those platforms you engage in to develop and expand your PLN, and why those specific communities?