Blog post 4

I decided that the PLN I would focus on for this course would be education, as most of my life right now is currently focused on schooling. With this in mind, I’ll be looking at my learning networks from this course, EDCI 338, along with two more courses I’m taking: EDCI 335 and EDCI 339, because I think it would be interesting to compare them.

• How diverse is your existing PLN?

I’d say it’s rather diverse from what I can tell. I have classmates from all over the globe. In all three of my courses, there’s a fair amount of people from Canada, China, and the United States, with everyone generally being from different places within those areas, and all having different experiences and genealogies.

• In your PLN, are you learning from a variety of voices or are you the loudest in the room?

I’m generally a listener, so I am typically quiet in class. During group discussions in EDCI 338, I feel like I should contribute more and that’s something that can be improved upon. In EDCI 339, we don’t have assigned groups or any groups in the first place. What we do have are tasks in which we have to engage with threads from other students. The ones we choose are up to us, which allows us to engage with threads based on our interests. In that situation I contribute a lot, although it is quite forced.

EDCI 335 I was brought into a group to work on a project. This group of 5 people had very few active voices, and as a result I felt inclined to make my voice heard so we could get things done. Unfortunately the person who brought me into the group dropped the course and now I’m the only active participant. I feel like had things gone well, we could’ve been an active and engaged group where everyone shares their thoughts, but now I’m the loudest voice in the group due to communication issues. Additionally it’s difficult to engage in discussions due to time zones, as the rest of the group members are in china and usually don’t say anything until 1am.

• Do you participate in a silo of information sharing (similar themes or wide-range of interests)?

My classmates in all of my courses have very different interests. I have classmates who are interested in psychology, computer sciences, engineering, and economics. The one thing that many students have in common in my EDCI 335 course is a minor in education, like myself. There are also a large amount of students doing a major in either psychology or health information sciences. EDCI 338 also follows a pattern of having students in psychology, health information sciences, and education. EDCI 339 has many students doing a minor in education. Aside from the similarities in educational interests, there isn’t much else in common.

• How can you use a diverse PLN to broaden your views of inclusion?

Becoming familiar with and actively engaging in coursework and collaborating with classmates who come from different backgrounds can break barriers that come from biases and stereotypes. When you know nothing about a person aside from their race and gender, it’s easy to make biased and unfair assumptions about a person. Working with people who are of different races, sexual orientations, gender identities, and religious backgrounds can help you realize how much you might have in common with others. Knowing more about a person helps you to be able to relate to a person despite the differences you may have.

These online courses seem significantly more diverse than the courses I took in-person and, although it’s unfortunate that online courses mean I don’t get to work with my classmates in-person, it allows me to collaborate with people from significantly more varied backgrounds. As we learn together, we also learn more about each other and can see people for their unique personalities and the good attributes they have rather than look at them as a person of a certain ethnicity, gender, or sexuality.

• What is the learning outcome of your PLN and how are you ensuring your exposure to diversity and inclusion?

As all three of the courses in my learning network require collaboration in order to complete assignments, it’s important to me that everyone can feel comfortable in voicing their opinions and sharing whatever information they would like with the group. If we don’t allow some people to have their voices heard or if we behave in such a way that might make people uncomfortable to share, then people won’t participate and can’t be included in course discussions, which may worsen learning outcomes for all parties, as we could miss opinions that could greatly change the path we take in our learning and limit the potential outcomes of our work.

• How has your thinking about inclusion and PLN evolved after reviewing the videos and readings?

One thing I noticed in the readings really caught my eye because it shares an opposite opinion from what I learned in a class last year. In a class I took on teacher education, we discussed inclusivity and how we shouldn’t simply look at everyone as the same. Yes, they should be included, but we need to recognize their differences because we need to recognize the unfair treatment some people have had based on their backgrounds.

When Shelley shared a diagram meant to represent inclusion, a student expressed her opinion on the topic, saying she didn’t believe that was proper inclusion, as it showed some of the circles in the diagram as being different, and meant they were bringing “the others” into the circle, when in reality there shouldn’t be “others”. In the end, they’re all students.

I feel like these two viewpoints, although polarizing, can both be used. It’s important that we see everyone as being the same in a learning standpoint, but we also need to remember that some students are treated differently based on racism, sexism, and various biases others may have. We need to recognize the differences but acknowledge that race, sexual orientation, gender, and other backgrounds does not change the personality and work ethic of a student. In essence, we need to acknowledge that there are biases against people and we need to not feed into those biases.

References:

Moore, S., & Schnellert, L. (2016). Introduction & Part 1: What Is Inclusion? Debunking the Myths. In One without the other: Stories of unity through diversity and inclusion (pp. 6-12). Winnipeg, Manitoba: Portage & Main Press.