Madeleine’s Blog

Blog Post #1

January 20, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Who Am I?

Hi there! My name is Madeleine, and I’d like to welcome you to my blog! I’m in my fourth year of learning at the post-secondary level. I’ve arrived at UVIC after 2 years of general studies in the university transfer program at Camosun college. I’m so thankful that this has been my journey, as it has meandered gently, allowing me to explore so many amazing fields. I have enjoyed courses in biology, religious studies, and psychology, but have ultimately landed in the Geography BSc program. I love the breadth of study offered by the field of geography. Learning about complex political land management issues, ecology, and geomorphology fuel my fire. The people closest to me can attest to the fact that I am a slow, chatty, and NERDY hiker. I love slowing down and appreciating mosses and fungi, as well as the many fascinating landforms and forest histories that this beautiful province has to offer. 🙂

In this blog post, I hope to reflect on some themes of module 1: Social Media, Personalized Learning, Digital Literacies, Digital Identity, and Ethical Online Practices.

Me (left) and my best friend Jayda hiking over a suspension bridge near Juan de Fuca, BC.

Experiencing The Power of Connection: How Social Media Can Build and Break Bridges

Social media helps me to connect and learn in my everyday life. I have learned about my niche acadmeic interests and skills in my personal life, like those related to cooking and nutrition. I have also used social media as a tool to connect with classmates and acheive course objectives throughout my educational career. Needless to say, there are countless advantages to harnessing social media in today’s learning environment. That being said, we should consider it’s wild nature when using this tool.

Navigating Treacherous Waters

I remember when I first downloaded TikTok. It was the early days of the pandemic, and I was all too willing to be sucked down as many digital rabbit holes as it would take for me to feel good, or normal, or just *better*. As I would find out, social media platforms have no interest in making their audiences feel better, and will work to disregulate audiences to boost engagement. This means an ocean of misinformation and emotionally charged content personalized to fit each individual’s neurosis.

Thankfully, I have since improved my digital literacy (and emotional regulation) skills. I am better suited to sail those seas now. It is important that as consumers of this media that we stay cognizant of our goals, and guard our own best interests. We can harness the benefits of these algortihms to boost engagement, encouraging others to stay sharp and analyze media critically as not to fall into traps of misinformation or negativity.

New Frontiers in Education: My Experiences of Personalized Learning and Digital Literacy

While I don’t have many successful exapmples of highly personalized learning plans to draw upon, I find it to be an inspiring innovation in educational paradigms. In my limited experience, having more flexibility with assignment topics has helped me todig deeper into the course material, and feel more accomplished in my learning.

On the other hand, developing skills like evaluating credible sources and using research databases has been crucial in academic success. These abilities empower me to navigate information confidently and make informed decisions in my studies and personal projects.

Digital Identity: The Inevitable Footprint

As people firmly planted in the digital age, we are faced with the daunting prospect of leaving incredibly personal, traceable footprints behind. It is vitally important that we recognize the importance of curating appropriate and positive profiles, as to maintain privacy. For this reason, I maintain a private, personal instagram account that is seperate from my professional life. Additionally, I am intentional about what I share on my personal account. Over the course of my educational life, I have adjusted to use tools like Brightspace and Google Drive. These were challenging at first, but they have ultimately made my educational journey more immersive and efficient.

Finally, by being mindful of sharing accurate and respectful content, I can foster trust and collaboration in digital spaces. These ethical practices contribute to a positive and inclusive online community. In this way, I can ensure my digital identity supports both my educational goals and long-term career aspirations.

image showing person walking in pre-painted footprints
Photo by Flickr user jfchenier under CC license: BY-NC 2.0

Welcome and Introduction

May 2, 2020 /

Before proceeding with this first blog post, we expect you to consider your privacy preferences carefully and that you have considered the following options:

  1. Do you want to be online vs. offline?
  2. Do you want to use your name (or part thereof) vs. a pseudonym (e.g., West Coast Teacher)?
  3. Do you want to have your blog public vs. private? (Note, you can set individual blog posts private or password protected or have an entire blog set to private)
  4. Have you considered whether you are posting within or outside of Canada? This blog on opened.ca is hosted within Canada. That said, any public blog posts can have its content aggregated/curated onto social networks outside of Canada.

First tasks you might explore with your new blog:

  • Go into its admin panel found by adding /wp-admin at the end of your blog’s URL
  • Add new category or tags to organize your blog posts – found under “Posts” (but do not remove the pre-existing “edci338” category).
  • See if your blog posts are appearing on the course website (you must have the the edci338 category assigned to a post first and have provided your instructor with your blog URL)
  • Add pages, if you like.
  • Include hyperlinks in your posts (select text and click on the link icon in the post toolbar)
  • Embed images or set featured images and embed video in blog posts and pages (can be your own media or that found on the internet, but consider free or creative commons licensed works). To embed a YouTube video, simply paste the URL on its own line.
  • Under Dashboard/Appearance,
    • Select your preferred website theme and customize to your preferences (New title, new header image, etc.)
    • Customize menus & navigation
    • Use widgets to customize blog content and features
  • Delete this starter post (or switch it to draft status if you want to keep it for reference)

Do consider creating categories for each course that you take should you wish to document your learning (or from professional learning activities outside of formal courses). Keep note, however, that you may wish to rename the label of the course category in menus (e.g., as we did where it shows “Social Media & PL” as the label for the “edci338” category menu.  This will enable readers not familiar with university course numbers to understand what to expect in the contents.

Lastly, as always, be aware of the FIPPA as it relates to privacy and share only those names/images that you have consent to use or are otherwise public figures. When in doubt, ask us.

Please also review the resources from our course website for getting started with blogging:

University of Victoria
Photo by Flickr user serdarkaya under CC license: BY-NC-ND 2.0

Test Social Media Post

May 2, 2020 /

This post  will appear in a few places:

  1. in the blog feed on the front of your website
  2. in the Learning Design menu on your website. This is because we have applied the “edci338” category to this post and the menu item “Social Media & Personalized Learning” has been created from the category “edci338.” For every post you make for this course, please assign the “edci338” category to it. You are welcome to use this blog for your personal hobbies or for other courses, in which case, you could create additional menu items and categories for them.
  3. if you give permission, your posts categorized “edci338” will be aggregated onto the Blog Feed on the EDCI 338 Course Website.

Feel free to delete this post once you understand this. If you have any questions, please reach out to your instructor.

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