How diverse is your PLN?

My life and the community that I surround myself with often consists of my family, friends, work and school. I feel that my PLN often feels like it is quite diverse, however, it is not, and actually lacks diversity in certain aspects. For example, I would say that my personal network includes people who I may have never even met in person before, in which some could consider this diverse. However, they are still people I share something in common with such as attending the same school, working in the same company, etc). This makes my PLN not very diverse because the people involved are all within my personal communities that I identify with. In order to expand my PLN in becoming more diverse, I would need to make it more inclusive. I say the term ‘inclusive’ based off Shelley Moore’s definition in which inclusivity should “just be”. Rather than looking at people as diverse from one another, we should recognize that diversity is normal and not something that separates us from one another. Relating this to my PLN means that I should not think of things that are different as diverse, but rather recognize the differences and embrace it; this will help me to build inclusivity within my PLN and allow for more diversity.

Are you learning from a variety of diverse voices and are you expanding your understanding of the views of others?

I am learning from a variety of diverse voices by having different perspectives of myself to others. For example, I am a daughter, sister, friend, colleague, teacher, student, and more. From each of these responsibilities that I have, I learn from a variety of diverse voices because it allows me to expand my understanding of the views of others. By knowing different perspectives/diverse voices, I can empathize with others and understand where they are coming from. I think this is extremely significant because as a future teacher, it is important for me to understand where my students are coming from and reasons for their actions. Most of the time, actions are influenced by the roles that we play/our diverse voices. For example, if my friends knew all my diverse voices, such as that I am a full-time student with a stressful workload, they can better empathize with me when I may be in a rush or not able to hangout. Therefore, having these diverse voices allow us to understand other peoples’ emotions which helps us understand their views.

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

The learning outcome of my PLN is to be more inclusive where it reaches a diverse range of individuals rather than just the people related to my personal communities. To ensure my exposure to diversity and inclusion, it would mean that I am actively engaging with all different types of activities rather than just ones I normally would prefer. This means that I should be engaging with various individuals who come from different backgrounds and have different stories than me. This will allow my PLN to become more inclusive as it reaches various individuals rather than limited to only those who are similar to me. By reaching diverse individuals, it will allow me to be continuous learner with a growth mindset who gains knowledge from a variety of perspectives. This will ultimately also help with expanding my understanding of the views of others in which I can show greater appreciation others’ knowledge.

How likely individuals are going to continue with their created content and their network?

I believe that individuals are likely to continue with their created content and their network if they are passionate about their work and have a growing and supportive community. For example, during COVID-19 many people in their young adult ages started to create content in order to feel a sense of community and belonging during a time of such uncertainty so that they could feel connections with others, though it was all done online. When COVID-19 became less severe, a lot of these people still continued with their created content and network because they genuinely enjoyed the attention and community they had built. I believe this helped them to become passionate about their content as they saw how it was relatable for so many other people, that it encouraged them to continue. By continuing their content and network building, individuals can learn from their community as well in which they could show the same support to others as their own supportive community did for them.

Are the skills that they developed applicable in professional practices?

I believe that the skills that they developed is applicable in professional practices because they learn not to give up and to keep trying. This is significant because in the workforce and professional practices, when things get hard, people often want to give up. However, individuals who continued to create content and their network know that hard work does pay off in the support and community that they build for themselves. In professional practices, the same dedication should take play in which they do not let people who try to bring them down win, instead, they stand tall on their own two feet which they problem-solve for themselves as well as understand how to empathize with others who may be struggling as they once did.