According to the interview with Baker Brad, Personal Learning Networks (PLN) are important for teaching and learning among people and communities. Brad Baker cites that through PLN, such as social media, people like him, an antiracist official, push forward the fight against racism and support indigenous learners to understand the world around them (Baker 03:15-05:21). According to the coverage by (Veletsianos 110), personal learning networks help people and communities to explore and negotiate suitable knowledge and information concerning the world around them. This, according to (Baker 03:15-05:21), could only be equated to a girl talked of by Miller, who expressed that she doesn’t spend most of her time with her phone but rather uses it to tell the world that they exist. The girl in question expressed that tourists visit her place to see the northern lights because she runs and posts her moments on Instagram to attract them, which earns her community an income.
The incident above tells us that PLN has given people the power to express themselves by acting as a catalyst whereby the power of learning has shifted from the potentially mundane way to be an engaging series of events with people across the world, thus eliminating the concept of being routed to only a particular scope of knowledge. According to (Veletsianos 129), social media is important in promoting education by sharing free and open content for teaching and learning. Other advantages are promoting copyleft content license, advocating for free and open-source tools and software beneficial for learning.
one of the problems associated with social media is victimization, whereby one group of people may be victimized at the expense of others, something that Baker affirmed that it is right to be victimized to configure out the voids in the world we live in (Baker 03:15-05:21).
Baker, Brad. “EDCI 338 – BRAD BAKER.” YouTube uploaded by MILLER, 4 Mar. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy63SmEpvCw.
Veletsianos, George, ed. emerging technologies in distance education. Athabasca University Press, 2010.