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Reflection

We are living in the era of digital citizenship and getting familiar with different kinds of social media platforms that can improve our skills regarding this new form of citizenship is essential. We can truly learn more by engaging in these platforms, not only by exploring or reading the content online, but also by being the creators and managers of the content itself (Richardson and Milovidov, 2019.) In their study, Xu et al. (2018) found that on the sample of 772 college students, in general, the students were seen to acquire only average levels of both SMC and digital citizenship skills. I found these results very surprising, and a a bit concerning, and have an urge to improve my digital citizenship skills as they are particularly important now, in the 21st century. Using tools such as Pinterest, Pocket, My Maps and Youtube has helped me immensely in this journey of becoming a better digital citizen.

Most importantly, in my experience of using Pinterest and Pocket I have learned how to find information faster and more efficiently, which is one of the biggest perks of the concept of digital citizenship, (Impactotic, 2020) improved my digital literacy, as well as overall learned more about different, interesting subjects by reading through various pieces of information on platforms such as Pocket and Pinterest. Both, Pinterest and Pocket, allow us to effectively find, create and share content found on the platforms, and the features of these tools, such as an ability to save, bookmark and pinpoint the content, has helped me to better organise information online. This was particularly important as I have lacked in organisational skills previously. Most notably, Pocket offers many different ways of storing content, and allows me to read through articles on app rather than a web tab, which Nahman (2020) argues, is hugely impactful when wanting to efficiently organise information online.

On Pocket, I have discovered various important newspieces regarding political contemporary issues, that have not only supported my overall learning, but, also allowed me to engage in important political discussions that have reinforced my political identity and values. According to Karantzeni and Gouscos (2013), ”eParticipation”, the use of social media as a communication tool promotes active involvement in essential political issues, that young people seem to have lost interest in, in the past years. This is why I find it immensely important to further educate myself through these tools, use their functions to share information online and subsequently promote eParticipation.

All of the tools that I have used in this module so far have had very easy-to-use and engaging interfaces, allowing me to manage and share useful content to my other social media platforms, friends, and family. Identifying fake news, and replacing the mis- or disinformation spreading online or in your personal groups, with verified and accurate information is one of my roles as a digital citizen and these tools help me to better exercise that role (Gleason and Gillern, 2018.) Additionally, and unsurprisingly, communicating with other people and building these social media communities and networks is associated with enhanced wellbeing (University of Minnesota, 2022.)

Finally, the experience creating My Maps and a short video that I later published on Youtube was immensely impactful as I had never created my own content on any social media tool before. I also learned how to simply edit my Youtube videos. Through these tasks, I developed new, useful skills regarding the creative dimension of digital citizenship (Mainsah, 2017.) An experience to create my own personal content was also very useful in terms of developing my professional skills as a digital citizen. These tools were a bit more complicated to use than the ones mentioned previously, as the process of creating and publishing content includes more steps and was unfamiliar to me. However, with the guides provided in Brightspace and UCD Library, as well as the quizzes we needed to complete for this module, I was able to finish the tasks and, additionally, had an enjoyable experience doing so. After completing all of the tasks, I recorded this work in my own personal Padlet. Without this module, and the tasks that I completed for this E-Portfolio, I would not obtain such diverse digital citizenship skillset. I have learned a lot about finding, creating, managing, and sharing information online and on different platforms.

Receiving and giving feedback on my personal reflection, on PeerScholar, was an extremely helpful experience. I received feedback from one of my peers saying that I need to concentrate more on reflecting the recently completed tasks to my previous knowledge on skills, that being a digital citizen requires. With the help from their feedback, I modified my personal reflection, strenghtening my reflective writing skills and composed a new, finished version of it.

Bibliography

Gleason, B., von Gillern, S. (2018) Digital citizenship with social media: Participatory practices of teaching and learning in secondary education. Educational Technology and Society. 21, 200-212. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322733013_Digital_citizenship_with_social_media_Participatory_practices_of_teaching_and_learning_in_secondary_education

Impactotic - 10 benefits and characteristics of a Digital Citizen. (September 11, 2020). https://impactotic.co/en/digital-citizen-benefits-features/

Karantzeni, D., Gouscos, D. (2013) eParticipation in the EU: Re-focusing on social media and young citizens for reinforcing European identity, Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy. 4, 477-500. https://doi-org.ucd.idm.oclc.org/10.1108/TG-01-2013-0003

Mainsah, H. (2017) Social media, design and creative citizenship: an introduction, Digital Creativity, 1, 1-7. DOI: 10.1080/14626268.2017.1306568

Nahman, H. (February 21, 2020). The App That Made It Possible to Actually Read Everything I Want To, Repeller. https://repeller.com/pocket-app-review/

University of Minnesota (2016) How Do Our Social Networks Affect Wellbeing?, Taking Charge. https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/how-do-our-social-networks-affect-wellbeing

Webwise – 10 Themes of Digital Citizenship (2022). https://www.webwise.ie/teachers/10-themes-of-digital-citizenship/

Xu, S., Yang, H. H., MacLeod, J., & Zhu, S. (2019). Social media competence and digital citizenship among college students. Convergence, 4,735–752. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856517751390

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This was my first time using Screencast-O-Matic and Youtube editor. I found the Screencast-O-Matic software very easy to use, recorded my video and uploaded it to Youtube through Screencast-O-Matic directly. I watched a video about editing on Youtube Editor and learned how to add music to my new creation. It was an overall fun experience creating something new online and a very educational one, as I had never created any sort of video content before. I feel like the skills that I learned throughout this task are gonna benefit my professional life as well.

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I was not aware of the Google My Maps function before attending this module. Following UCD Library's instructions, I created My Maps of the best ski resorts there are in Finland. I decided to pick this topic not only because I am a fan of winter sports myself, but also to demonstrate the variety of great ski centers we have in my home country, Finland, that offer you an affordable and fun experience with winter sports. My experience creating this map was enjoyable and educational.

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Best ski resorts in Finland - Google My Maps

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Here are the best ski resorts to visit in Finland

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My experience using Pinterest was inspirational. I have used Pinterest in the past for discovering different DIY's as well as  style and decoration artistry. This time, however, I used Pinterest to search for different tips for writing a motivational letter for an exchange programme as it is topical now when the 2nd stage students have made their applications for next year. I found a lot of inspiration from Pinterest, and it was very positive to see how easy it was to organise your themes of interest on Pinterest. Additionally, you are able to use Pinterest on both, a web browser and a mobile app, and it is all free.

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Pocket was a completely new platform to me. After signing up, I explored the front page and came across many interesting news pieces regarding topics I find most interesting; contemporary politics. It was very easy to save different news pieces on my page, permanently bookmark them in my device as well as share them to my friends. I also found the option to read the pieces later very useful, as there was such a huge variety of interesting pieces and I did not want to lose them. Thus, I think Pocket's interface was one of the best I have ever experienced and I was thrilled to find out that I have an option to use it for free.