There's an App for that!

>>Fast forward to 2020: a 27 year old – YIKES - who has completed their Undergraduate Degree as well as received their Graduate Certificate for Public Relations. After graduating and several job interviews, she has finally found the organization that's right for her. Whose that chick?

Confused? The 27 year old is where I hope to be in 5-10 years. The main difference between where I am today and where I hope to be in the future, are the accomplishments I hope to achieve. In order for my career goals to come true I must continue to work hard and remain focused on my end results. One way to remain on track is by embracing my Personal Learning Environment, P.L.E. if you prefer.

What is a P.L.E. you ask? (aren't you forgetting the rest like *PLE...ase pass the fries). Your P.L.E. is how you take control of your learning. With access being stressed in today's society, it's amazing how much the Internet can support academic learning. Through reflection and the proper tools, the Internet has helped people accomplish their goals. After brainstorming I decided to put my P.L.E. into perspective using Popplet (flow chart below). Note: something I was able to create WHILE building upon my P.L.E. 

Borchuk, L. (CC) 2014.

I broke it down into 3 main sections; social, direct communication and scholarly. As you can see, Blogger is the sole one marked in blue. The reason being that Blogger is the only tool I created in the social aspect of the digital realm, for a scholarly purpose in order to communicate with my peers. **gasping for air- that was a mouthful** When I hear blog I do not usually think school. In fact, I usually think of Carrie Bradshaw. That being said the 'Networked Student' put the Web 2.0 into perspective. Social networking has transformed and been incorporated into the school curriculum, as well as emphasized in the workforce. I am comfortable on social media and confident with how it works. Being able to combine my ability to network with school will definitely help me with accomplishing my main goal. 

Each tool has its purpose. I use Google, and its many features, to gain a solid foundation before starting any school project. Once I establish the basics I go into the Library Search Engine to gain the Scholarly Journals for my references. Now, the social aspect. One thing I love about my Program is the involvement of social media. Most of my assignments involve contributing to the conversation on Twitter, or finding communication trends on Facebook. 

McKenzie, Jamie. (2002). “Instant Messaging” (cartoon drawing). 

Retrieved from: http://www.fno.org/apr02/aprcartoon.html

BUT: proceed with caution. It can be distracting to mix business with pleasure (school with social networks). The best way to remain on track is by creating a positive environment in which your learning can benefit. 1) Have a game plan going into it 2) Communicate with those who are there to help push you forward, not pull you back 3) Understand the tools you are using and the benefits they can bring 4) Expand- don't be afraid to experiment and find which apps or tools work best for you! Every tool has its purpose, what's in your tool belt? 

<<Rewind to last week: Remember that word, POSITIVE, from last week? Using one more social media tool, Wordle, I was able to compress my last blog post into a collage. I was happy to report that it captured my main points from last week. After a little tweaking and an adjustment to the colour scheme, I was happy to see how fun and captivating it turned out! It's a great way to keep track of your involvement online. 

II PAUSE: I have a task for you. Take a few comments from Facebook, a few tweets from Twitter, maybe even an Instagram caption. Put it together with Wordle and see what stands out. Are you embracing your P.L.E. or leaving a negative foot print behind?

Borchuk, L. (CC) 2014.

XOXO