Jesse’s Posts
ME: Feeling like it came together well, but it’s still very cold outside.
June 8th, 2026 – June 14th, 2026
AI and Social Media
Weekly reflective questions:
The Canadian Government launched AI FOR ALL – review the release and consider the following questions in your blog post.
What are the specific risks and opportunities AI introduces for digital citizenship within Canadian education?
What role does media literacy education play in empowering learners to critically assess AI-generated content, misinformation, and extremist narratives online?
How effective are current Canadian policies and educational initiatives at addressing AI-driven misinformation and online radicalisation?
- READ: “Wait… What?” Media Literacy Week highlights growing concern over AI-driven
misinformation https://tinyurl.com/yp89a2zu - Blog Post
Describe an example of AI-amplified misinformation observed on Canadian social
media, explain its potential impact on public opinion, and link your reflection to one
of the resources above. Propose and justify a media literacy curriculum segment that
teaches learners/employees to assess AI-driven social media content critically. - Support your thoughts with Canadian policy or research evidence.
- Privacy Compliance
- In Canada, privacy regulations like PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act) govern how organisations collect, use, and disclose personal information in the private sector. However, educational exceptions and patchwork provincial laws mean that data practices in PLNs often fall into unclear jurisdictional spaces.
- Educators and institutions must ask:
- Is personal data being collected without an explicit educational purpose?
- Are third-party analytics compliant with Canadian privacy standards?
- Do students have meaningful control over their own information?
- NO VIDEO OR FURTHER RESOURCES NEEDED FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT.
- Let me know if you need any help with your final project. If you haven’t added me to your group as of yet, please do.
ME: June 1st…feels like summer but it’s 12 degrees outside.
June 1st, 2025 – June 7th, 2026 – Course Video – I may discuss SWIFT, Taylor
Here comes the FINAL PROJECT… below.
| Who Needs To Know About Your PLN? Do you continue with your current content and your network? How do you use your skills in professional practice? READ: Digital Leader: 5 Simple Keys to Success & Influence Ch. 16 Qualman, Erik – Empower Others https://tinyurl.com/2afvzd7b Recommended Library Reading: Tell Everyone Why We Share & Why It Matters – Hermida, Alfred http://voyager.library.uvic.ca/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=3259154 Blog Post Reflect on your experience in the course, your development of PLN, your use of social media platforms and networked publics, and any changes in your perspective of social media in professional settings and personal use. Your PLN and the Evolving Internet Reflect on how PLNs and AI influence equity, accessibility, and professional growth. Consider how you would demonstrate the ability to synthesise academic research with personal experience and professional practice using social media tools. READ: Estaiteyeh & Mindzak — Building AI Literacy in Pre-Service Teacher Education in Canada https://tinyurl.com/2aythfd4 Blog Post Reflect on your current PLN: which networks, tools, or communities you engage with (e.g., BlueSky, LinkedIn, EdTech communities, provincial teacher networks). Reflect on how these networks support your professional learning goals. Include at least one Canadian source that discusses PLNs in the Canadian educational context (e.g., provincial or national teacher professional development). Critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of your PLN and the inclusion of AI. Consider aspects such as diversity of perspectives, relevance, accessibility, and quality of resources. FINAL PROJECT: It’s a group project reflective of 40% of your final grade. Group Work Contract Expectations: Your team should enter into a working contract divided into four major sections: • Establishing team procedures • Identifying expectations • Timelines and milestones • Specifying the protocol and consequences for failing to follow procedures and fulfil expectations Assign tasks to be as specific as possible, include a timeline, and specify who is assigned to do each step. Inform your instructor of who is in the final project group, and begin a conversation outside of the current course group work. MAKE A GROUP ON MS TEAMS AND MS TEAMS ONLY. FINAL PROJECT OUTLINE: Building A Personal Learning Network (PLN) Delivered via written submission, video creation, animation, or alternative media delivery (eg. Podcast over Zoom). The final assignment will consist of your group creating a walkthrough of PLN themes, platforms, and practices that you have explored during the term. Students should include a variety of discussions about how a PLN should be created, managed, and engaged, including dialogue about how a PLN interacts with social media platforms, highlighting aspects that were the most meaningful during their course trajectory, and any instances of personal experience devoting to a PLN within a professional capacity. Marking will be based on evidence-based examples, use of professional and engaging language, and quality of presentation delivery. You will include descriptions of the process and steps that a person would need to take in order to build a personal learning network (PLN) using a variety of social media platforms that would best support your professional and personal learning goals. Your completed media project should be between 10-15 minutes long supported by written outline and project discussion themes and goals. If you are choosing to submit a written submission, you will need to outline how group participants contributed to each written section. Things to Consider: • Describe the key characteristics (benefits/negatives) of any discussed social media platforms. • What features & characteristics of existing media technologies make it effective for personal learning? • How does the discussed technology allow you to enhance/develop your digital identity/reputation? • What are social considerations that should be accounted for? • What are the ways the technology tracks and uses your data – how can this be used to benefit a PLN? • What are the strengths and weaknesses of the privacy, security and acceptable use policies for the social media platforms. • Provide examples of individuals who have used a PLN to become leaders in a field of interest, discuss their presence in the platform? • How do they use the social media platforms to build their reputation/presence? • How will you know that your PLN is a success? • Provide references and resources to your opinion and team consensus. FOOTNOTES TO BE INCLUDED: • How has each group member contributed to the PLN project (please complete peer review once project has been submitted) • Reference list of any mentioned articles, studies, or notable social media instances. • The end goal of this project is to engage the PLN you have created in this course and open discussion and engagement about the connected world we live in. Do not hesitate to include your learned and lived experiences with social media, gaming, professional development, media production, social commentary, and online engagement with others. • The more you share and provide connection to course resources, social themes, and considerations of positive community engagement, the more your final project will reflect the learning outcomes of the course. Feel free to reference blog content from yourself or a classmate, reference course materials, or third-party materials that you think are of note. You as a group decide how you want to shape the final project – we live in a media-driven climate where PLN plays a large role in how we curate, engage, and participate in mediated communications, being reflective of your blogs will help open themes of conversation that may resonate in the project. Although a written submission will be accepted, consider the modality of this course and consider creating something that reflects the media-connected experience we are all sharing. This term was difficult to deliver content and schedule, as an asynchronous class, we took time to support one another in a variety of mediums, and my effort to use my PLN to bring resources in for learning and discussion reflected what a PLN should be relied on to do – open dialogue, ask for time, and rely on another person with faith that they will accommodate and help. Not a single guest speaker asked for reciprocal time or financial remuneration to meet with us virtually – consider how you will develop a similar PLN in your professional endeavours, and give examples in your group discussion about your understanding of PLN from that vantage point. GRADING RUBRIC |
ME: BLOGS SORTED…maybe?
Blogs are like 90% reset. If yours isn’t working by Monday at 6 PM, please let me know.
May 25th, 2026 – May 31st, 2026
Video for the week and interview with guest Sophie Lui
Public PLN – Balancing PLN, Media Literacy, & Public Discourse
• How do notable individuals use social media?
• What are the benefits of being in the public eye and having a PLN?
• Building community with online tools provided by the employer can be limiting. What are the perceived restrictions and benefits?
• Delivering information in a connected society requires verifiable resources. How to build a PLN to rely on?
• How do those who are veteran storytellers minimise risk in sharing misinformation?
• What is media literacy?
• Why is it important?
• Why is it dismissed?
• Why should you aim for varied views but factual consensus in your PLN?
Watch: Media Literacy – Facts Matter – Course YouTube Channel
Read: 21st Century Skills – Learning for Life In Our Times Trilling, B & Fadel, C –
Digital Literacy Skills – Media Literacy pp.66 https://tinyurl.com/4n2cn89n
Watch: In the Public-Eye – Social Media and Evening News – Course YouTube
Read: Navigating Social Journalism: A Handbook for Media Literacy and Citizen
Journalism by Martin Hirst Chapter 4. The Political Economy of Fake News – pp.78
http://ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/login?url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315401263
Blog Post
• Explore the video provided and reflect on the themes and questions above
• Reflecting on how you would curate your social media with a critical public audience.
• Identify the risks and benefits of engaging with a public audience in a media space
• Consider what the risks for a public figure or person in a position of trust (educator, lawyer, government official) may be?
• How to best address negative replies and critiques reflective of your personal values and employer’s social media policy?
• Open dialogues about media literacy and factual information can create conflict. Why does this happen?
• What is the benefit of having a PLN that values media literacy?
PLN & Education
Community communications go beyond blogs and social media shares. How does a PLN help and hinder the development of thoughts and ideas in education discourse?
• How do educators create discourse?
• What is the role of social media in education?
• What are some problems with social media communications in education settings?
Watch: Incorporating & accounting for Social Media in Education
Read: Developing Personal Learning Networks for Open and Social Learning / Alec
Couros- Chapter 8
Blog Post
• Explore the video provided and reflect on the themes of a PLN in a professional capacity.
• Which social media platforms are beneficial in education?
• When working with the vulnerable sector, how does social media fit into professionalism and regulations?
/END
ME: MAKING SURE WE ARE ALL IN THE BOAT AND READY TO PADDLE TOGETHER
May 18th, 2026 – May 24th, 2026
WEEK 2 – Personal Digital Identity vs Professional Digital Identity https://youtu.be/4rHnix0eU94
Read: PLN space through Social Media platforms (Developing awareness)
Privacy, Ethics & Security in Digital Spaces Developing Awareness of Privacy
https://digitaltattoo.ubc.ca/quizzes/privacy-and-surveillance/ Regan, P., & Jesse, J. (2019).
V and R Mapping
What is a Visitor/Resident (PDF)
Visitor & Resident Maps
https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/7802/6515
Blog Post – Share your Visitor & Resident Map with your group.
Feel free to create a similar map from the provided PDF using Canva, clipart, or hand-written.
Each participant must respond to one other person in the class group.
• What digital platforms are students currently using to develop their professional network?
• What could the student consider in expanding their professional learning network?
• Consider in your blog submission how an employer would respond if you applied for a job with them and they assessed your social media presence via your digital identity.
Thread Discussion: How does data privacy and security limit and/or promote a PLN? In your network how can you create a digital identity/reputation?
Your PLN – Inclusion & Community Engagement.
• How diverse is your PLN?
• Are you learning from a variety of diverse voices and are you expanding your understanding of the views of others?
• What is a learning outcome of your PLN and how are you ensuring your exposure to diversity and inclusion?
WATCH: PLN DIVERSITY, INCLUSION, AND SOCIAL MEDIA – Course YouTube Channel
READ: One Without the Other: Stories of Unity Through Diversity and Inclusion Shelley Moore and Leyton Schnellert Introduction & Part 1.
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/reader.action?docID=4832579&ppg=11
READ: Media & Social Justice – CHAPTER 4 A New Vision for Public Media Open, Dynamic, and Participatory Jessica Clark and Patricia Aufderheide
Blog Post – How has your thinking about inclusion and PLN evolved?
Create a blog post on inclusion in a professional setting of your choice – reflect on how social media can play a role in helping you establish messaging and themes that are inclusive and diverse.
In context of employment, having a PLN that is public and engaging requires risk assessment and policy understanding, consider the following:
• How does social media engage communications?
• How does social media challenge communications?
• Is it inclusive?
• Does your PLN amplify the views of others?
• The policies of employer social media communication expectations.
What are the benefits of a diverse and inclusive PLN in social media sharing that understands where you are coming from with messaging that impacts the community?
END/
ME: FEELING EXCITED TO GET THINGS GOING – please read the post below, but here’s my intro video
May 11th, 2026 – May 17th 2026
Welcome to the first week of EDCI 338 A01 with Jesse Miller.
I trust the lead-up to the start of the summer term has been somewhat restful. I will have an intro video to share as I confirm our class list and curriculum – feel free to watch it at your leisure once sent out.
We will be communicating using MS TEAMS; log in via your UVIC email. We’re going to ease into this.
Please sign up via computer or mobile device (available in the app store) and message me @jessemiller when you have set up your account profile.
| In the first week, you will start to connect with your classmates as you begin to form your personalized learning network with the participants of this course. You should also take some time to reflect and consider the themes of this course and complete some readings to introduce yourself to the concept of Personal Learning Networks (PLN). Review course outline & overview (link below) Review privacy and confidentiality expectations (below) Blog setup Open Ed – Clone EDCI338 Template *REALLY IMPORTANT* Establish MS TEAMS communication profile Set Up WordPress & Class-Specific Social Media Accounts (Threads, Instagram, YouTube) Personalize your blog Create an introductory post & video Organizing content with categories Coordinate & Organize learning pods |
I will be assigning Learning Pods as we confirm participants; please make an effort to complete your introduction on your blog, personalize your blog images/video etc.
A reminder, any images, videos, or content you source from the internet should be attributed to the source/creator of the content (even if the creator of the content is you).
Course Outline Here
FIRST ASSIGNMENT: Week One in the outline.
PLN & Public Communications & Digital Identity
You will participate in a class discussion using online communications tools on Personal Learning Networks and digital identity, based on the readings below.
As well, you will work within your network groups, and complete a digital identity exercise in your blog exploring the following:
• What does it mean to network using social media?
• How are we motivated to participate in networked publics?
• What are the risks & rewards of public communications?
Digital Identity
• What is a digital identity?
• How do personal versus professional approaches to digital identity affect social media use?
• How do digital identities converge in networked publics – what are the impacts and/or benefits?
Blog Post #1 – Your first blog post should include reviewing the questions above and ideas on Personal Learning Networks and digital identity, based on both the readings and videos provided.
Additionally, in your network group on MS TEAMS, complete a digital identity exercise. You are encourage to reflect on your controlled and uncontrolled social media presence – this requires you to privately source and identify your social media content that you have either created or have had shared – this discussion exercise is reflective and designed to help you curate a professional digital identity while controlling private content (note – if any content is uncomfortable to explore or discuss openly, please consider reaching out to myself or support networks).
READ: Course Introductory Conversations
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/learning-network age/0/steps/24644
https://bright.uvic.ca/d2l/le/content/68182/viewContent/363492/View
https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3559/3131
https://ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/surveillance-and society/article/view/networked
• How do personal versus professional approaches to digital identity affect social media use?
• How do digital identities converge in networked publics – what are the impacts and/or benefits?
READ: Identity-Making and Social Media – Spracklen, Karl
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137405876_6
Digital professional identity: Dear Internet! Who am I?
WATCH: ERIC STOLLER – What is Digital Identity?
The Value of Digital Identity for the Global Economy and Society
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Useful Links
- Your portfolio on Opened.ca
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