Katie Bedke

It is amazing to think about how life has changed in the last 10-15 years.  When I was in school my digital footprint was not something I thought about and really hadn’t even heard about (granted I graduated from high school in 2002 which I don’t think is that long ago).   There are so many benefits for living in this digital age, access to information 24/7, connecting with people across the globe, acquiring knowledge, fostering creativity, etc. The advances of technology have happened relatively rapidly not allowing for much time to think about some of the consequences of our online activity.  One needs to realize that with every click we leave a trail of data and our footprints, some small and some big, of what we do online- also known as our digital footprint. Even with all the benefits of the internet, we need to be mindful of what we do and communicate online. Our digital footprint is a story of us, it can now serve as the first impression that others have...

Three main ideas were learned in this module: Connectivism, Communities of Practice, and Personal Learning Networks.  Through researching these three concepts I found that they are not only very similar and interconnected but do possess some unique qualities.  Besides researching, another goal in this module was to apply my learning and understanding of the key concepts and create a nonlinguistic representation.  In the above graphic I designed, using Microsoft Word, I depict all three concepts as individual items, but show how they are also interrelated. I begin in the center of my graphic with personal learning networks (PLNs).  A PLN is broken down and described in detail as "a group of people who you connect with to increase your knowledge of a particular subject" (Lynch, 2005).  Every individual possesses a personal learning network, which is represented by an individual thinking/learning using various platforms (Facebook, blogs, LinkedIn, etc.)...