PLN: Process and Findings

As we are coming near the end of the semester, I am asked to write a reflection on the use and development of my personal learning network thus far.

Now that my exchange application is in, I occasionally have moments of cold feet — I get nervous about whether or not I am able to give up what I have here in Toronto and move across the Atlantic ocean to live in a completely new place all by myself. Over the last few weeks, I have put my PLN to good use and it has helped ease this anxiety. I’ve learned a lot about Glasgow, Scotland, and the UK and roughly what it’s like living there. I have been able to compile information on various topics that are useful to know so that I don’t arrive without any sense of what to expect.

I wish to share how my PLN has shaped up to date, my reflections on this assignment, a review of my learning objectives from my first PLN blog post, and three key findings that came out of my PLN.

PLN — final list of components (*added resources since first PLN blog post)

Websites:
Spotted by Locals – Glasgow
Pat’s Guide — Glasgow West End
Visit Scotland
People Make Glasgow*
Glasgow Life*
University of Glasgow*
University of Glasgow News*
University of Glasgow Library*
University of Glasgow Students’ Representative Council (UGSRC)*
Glasgow Guardian*
Taste of Scotland*
Top Universities — Studying Abroad*
International Student — Study in the UK*

Personal/Travel Blogs:
Girl in the City Glasgow
A Girl in Glasgow
An American in Scotland
Glasgow Mummy*

Twitter Accounts:
Glasgow University (@GlasgowUni)
Glasgow Life (@glasgowlife)
About Scotland (@AboutScotland)
VIsit Scotland (@VisitScotland)*
People Make Glasgow (@peoplemakeGLA)*
Glasgow Life (@glasgowlife)*
Glasgow Uni Events (@GlasgowUniEvent)*
Glasgow University SRC (@gusrc)*

Other resources*:

Peer-to-Peer
A U of T student who previously went on an exchange to U of Glasgow (met in person)
A U of T student who is currently on exchange at U of Glasgow (communicating via email)

Travel Books
Michelin Green Guide — Scotland
Lonely Planet — Discover Scotland

Reflections on this assignment

I really appreciate learning about what a PLN is and getting the chance to structure this assignment to a topic of my choice. I had the chance to read about my classmates’ PLNs and it’s incredible seeing the diversity of topics chosen and the approaches they are taking. I think it’s really neat to see what people’s interests are and how they plan to self direct their learning. I look forward to hearing about everyone’s findings and what they individually learned in our final class (we are each giving a 5-minute presentation about our PLN).

For me personally, creating a PLN that assists with my preparation for my student exchange has been extremely helpful in giving me a structure to organize what I learn. It also exposed me to discover topics that I had not known or considered researching about. I also learned about new platforms like news aggregators and social bookmarking websites which I did not know about before, but find extremely useful now (I am using Feedly and Delicious now for other blogs and websites that I personally follow). Not only has my PLN helped me organize what I find, but it has also allowed me to be efficient with my searches. It’s really neat when one resource leads me to another, thus expanding my network further and adding to my sources of information. Having an interconnected web of sources also allows opportunity to cross-reference what I learn to find out its validity.

There were some challenges when using my PLN for research on this particular topic. I found that some of the sources were on two extreme ends in how updated they were. Some sources, mainly websites focusing on events and news, were constantly updated with numerous posts every week. This became overwhelming because while it was interesting to read about what was happening in Glasgow in real time, most of the posts weren’t particularly relevant to me at this very moment. I did keep tabs of the ones that interested me so that I can have a better look at them at a later time.

Other sources, like personal blogs from people who had gone to Glasgow, were not updated as often, if at all. It was still enjoyable to go through all the posts from the past, but it became difficult to sift through everything and determine the relevant information. I think moving forward, I will make more of an effort to try to communicate with the blog users and perhaps have an email conversation about their experiences.

I also find that there is a lot of information to research on and learn about (ranging from city life and student life, to immigration and health and safety). It sometimes became overwhelming with all of the information being presented in front of me at once. While I appreciated having a interconnected web of sources, I had to tell myself to dedicate rounds of research on a specific topic and to focus on curating sources relevant to that topic for that moment. I felt this helped with my understanding of the information I was collecting it, as well as my efficiency in looking through all my sources.

I do plan to continue using my PLN to help with my preparation for Glasgow up until the day I depart (and then it would be interesting to see if it helps at all with my transition). I think what I hope to do moving forward is to make the times I research and read the sources a more structured practice (maybe once every week or two weeks) and continue writing blogs on each topic of focus so that I can organize and put a narrative to what I found.

Learning objectives — a review

Looking back at my original learning objectives, I am very happy to see that my PLN has covered most of what I was hoping to gain. So far, I’ve been able to learn bits of what life in Glasgow is like, as well as practical information I would need to know living in Scotland and in the UK. I learned more about U of Glasgow and what resources they provide to students, and specifically to international students.

My PLN also gave me insight to further expand these learning objectives to encompass more of my entire student exchange experience. For one, since exchange programs rely on partnerships between institutions across the world, I hope to be able to provide insight and recommendations to both U of T and U of Glasgow on my experience to improve their support for exchange students. I also hope to further structure my PLN and blog posts in a way that it is understandable to any student who is considering doing an exchange. While my PLN is specific to my experience (being a U of T graduate student hoping to go to U of Glasgow), I hope any postsecondary student around the world can use my PLN as a starting point to begin their research in their own exchange program experience (and maybe even create a PLN for themselves!).

Three key findings

I decided to keep these broad, encompassing all of what I’ve learned so far:

1. I won’t know what living in Glasgow is like until I am there… but this PLN project has really helped me get a head start
No matter how much I know about Glasgow and anything and everything relating to it, I know it likely won’t be enough until I am physically living in it myself. Reading up on places to eat or locations to visit or areas to avoid, while useful to know, won’t comprehend fully useful until I actually go see them myself and experience it. However, I feel this research has really helped with my preparation and has given me an advantage to know what might to expect. I now have a general idea of what I should do before departing from Toronto, and what I could expect when I arrive to Glasgow. It may not give me a perfect transition, but at least my PLN has provided me with some knowledge that can help with that transition.

For example, I have learned through my PLN that the danger factor living in Glasgow may not be as major as some made it out to be. When I told some people that I am applying to go to Glasgow, they had concerns about my safety because Glasgow seems to have a rep for being a sketchy and dangerous place. However, from what I’ve read and from the reassurance I received by those who have been there or are there now, Glasgow isn’t as dangerous as many say so as long as I am sensible to what I am doing (e.g. not walking by myself at night, avoid certain areas, etc). I think it helps that I am aware of this now and I will take appropriate precautions when I am there.

2. The Student Exchange Program at U of T needs more exposure, particularly to graduate students
When talking to some of my colleagues in my class about my PLN, I realized many were unaware that graduate students are eligible to go on an exchange and have their credits abroad transfer back to their degree at U of T. Even looking at the university websites, there is very little content on how they reach out to students about study abroad opportunities. There is also little on reasons why students should consider partaking in such opportunities. When I spoke to students who did go on exchange, they mentioned they learned about these opportunities from other students who had gone, or that they were somehow involved in the international office at their university. It seems like word of mouth plays a major role.

I think there needs to be more exposure about opportunities like these so that students are aware of all the possible opportunities they can partake in. Applying for a student exchange opportunity as a graduate student is also a long and time-consuming process, which may discourage students to try. While it may not be possible to shorten the steps of the approval process, the Centre for International Experience, School of Graduate Studies, and graduate departments (OISE, in my case) may want to consider promoting study abroad opportunities in ways that shows how students can benefit from such learning experiences (e.g. research projects, internships, presentation opportunities), and thus encouraging students to consider it and look further.

3. Travel books and travel websites may be best kept for travel purposes and not for if you want to have a “local” living experience
I think what I found most amusing was learning about things from people and online blog sources that contradicted with what the travel books and websites said. Most is subjective (e.g. best restaurants to eat in and best hotels to stay in), but there are tidbits of information that I would listen to the locals over the books (e.g. the Glasgow subway is nicknamed “The Clockwork Orange” but locals hardly ever call it that and instead just call it the “subway” or “underground”).

I may need to search for sources that focus on the living experience (like moving to the new city, for example) as opposed to the traveling experience. I have structured my PLN so that it contains some “tourist travel” resources, but this project has made me aware to be cautious of all my resources and the content I read. What I read from a source may not be applicable to my own situation and experience.

“Shakespeare and his World” — a MOOC

I started a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) called “Shakespeare and his World” offered by the University of Warwick and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-Upon-Avon, through Future Learn. For those unfamiliar with MOOCs, they are essentially online courses that are delivered via the web which are aimed at providing open access to course material and sharing of knowledge worldwide by having the courses open with unlimited participation. Most courses, if not all, are free and enrolling in a MOOC is entirely voluntary. While they are not often accredited, some offer certificates of completion to recognize the work that has been put into the course.

I decided to enroll in this class because I started to regain my interest in Shakespeare and his work recently. I did enjoy learning about different Shakespeare plays in my high school English classes, and I especially enjoyed watching live performances of the plays at Hart House Theatre. However, I feel my English classes did not cover Shakespeare in a way that would have gotten me to continue learning more about it. Most of the time, it was very focused on transcribing each line of to get the full meaning of the play, but there was hardly ever any discussion on things like character development, the historical period of when the play took place, or themes that are relevant and relatable. We also certainly did not discuss why Shakespeare decided to write such plays. I had the most fun learning about “Macbeth” in Grade 11 because my English teacher attempted to do most of that. I still can quote Act I Scene I because of what we discussed about the three witches and how powerfully symbolic they are in the play. But after high school, I let the study of Shakespeare become a thing of my past.

It wasn’t until I watched a documentary series called “Shakespeare Uncovered” when I realized there was so much more to learn about Shakespeare’s work. I was deeply fascinated by all the theories on when each play was written and possibly the back story as to why it was written. I was intrigued to learn about each actor and actress’ perspective on their portrayal of the characters in the play. And above all, I was amazed to find just how timeless and relevant all the plays are still to this day.

So far, I have completed the first class for “Shakespeare and his World” and I am enjoying it. The first class introduced the course — how each week will bridge Shakespeare’s life and the world he lived in with his plays. It also gave a broad introduction to the life of William Shakespeare and the important people in his life.

Next class will be focusing on the play, “The Merry Wives of Windsor” and I am very much looking forward to it.

Gotta Love Conference Calls

This video was brought to my attention by my colleagues In our “Internet, Adult Learning and Community Development” class when we were discussing about how online learning is facilitated and how we incorporate technology into our “classrooms”. I think what makes it super hilarious is that it is very accurate to what actually happens.