Media literacy is an important skill that is necessary to have because so much of communication takes place online now. Even before when people got information from TV and radio, they still had to have a level of media literacy, but now with social media is more important. Furthermore, a lot of communication is created through blogs, videos, and social media language, so a person needs to have these skills to just interact with other people.

            As Sophie Lui in her video stated, there is a need for people to understand the way that there are stories framed in the media (Miller, 2022). Notable individuals will use social media to get their information out, but even more important than the information itself is how they are able to communicate and make sure they can attract people to view their content. For this reason, a person should go outside of the online tools provided by the employer because they can be limiting. The platforms that are available will be limited to being within the framework that the employer wants employees to follow. However, there are other kinds of platforms that a person can use to express themselves or to learn. 

            To build a PLN to rely on that requires verifiable information, it would be ideal to do research on the kinds of sources that are available and which ones have a good track record of being verified. When building a PLN, it would be a good idea to then integrate these good sources and platforms into it. Furthermore, a student can re-evaluate these sources as time goes on. As Hirst said, it is empowering for students to evaluate their own media and critically analyze it to produce their own message. By building a PLN, the students will be able to practice this skill throughout the time they are building it.  

References

Miller (2022) “Sophie Lui – EDCI 338.” YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfcXgKLzOVM