Mapping my Learning Ecology
While mapping my learning ecology, I discovered that I learn more from technology than formal learning. I would say if I had to put a ratio on it, that 30% of my learning is from the formal learning I received, such as university and high school, while technology takes 50% and family members 20%. I also discovered the topics I learn about have diverse sources. For example, when I’m learning about History, I can learn it from a video game about a certain historical event, or a documentary on YouTube or Netflix, or even a story from my older family members.
-Documentaries
I learned a lot about history from Netflix Education Documentaries like Rise of Empires: Ottoman
. And I also learned a lot about history from formal learning like middle and high school. I realized I learn about a topic using many different platforms instead of just one. I found that I comprehend and memorize information better with documentaries. Since before I got access to a smartphone or a laptop, I was watching shows on national geographic, so maybe I just have a better understanding of topics when it’s presented in a documentary-style format.
-Video games
I found a few similarities with the platforms that I learn from. For instance, I got interested in History first when I played a game called Total war Medieval 2.
It’s a game about historical wars between 1080–1530. The game was a broker for my historical learning of that time period. Videogames especially helped with my English vocabulary. I saw myself being better and better in English talking to people from all around the world while playing World of Warcraft or Call of Duty. When I understood English, I started turning to other media like YouTube and Twitch. I watched many different English videos and learned different things. I was watching different stuff from my friends and family as they were not watching English videos. For that, I gained a unique perspective learning from English-speaking people at an early age.
-News sources
The news I get comes from the Twitter/YouTube news page. That is if I was browsing for general news. When I’m browsing for specific news, I prefer using NBC or New York Times. The downside of this is that the news on social media is easily forged, and rumors can spread fast. To counteract this, I double-check the news that I get so I do not get misinformation and learn wrong things.
-Health information
I found that health has been the most difficult thing to learn about. The main reason is that everyone has their own opinion on health and how to stay healthy that it is difficult to get a universal answer. Nonetheless, I found out that the best way to handle this is to learn about health from diverse sources. My brother-in-law and brothers taught me a lot about how to work out and what things to do to stay healthy. I have also bought different magazines from bodybuilders and I read a lot of online articles. My favorite websites in which I learn about health are Healthline and Men’s Health.
-Twitch
I learned a distinct media literacy watching twitch from a younger age. There are unique emotes that can only be used in this live streaming website called Twitch. People use them to communicate with the streamer in the chat, but each one means a different thing. It’s very hard for a person to learn about these emotes and what they mean when they have been accumulating in the culture for so long. A person just starting to watch Twitch would have a harder time understanding the chat than a person who knows all the metaphors.
Sometimes, something exciting or funny or note-worthy would happen on a Livestream. What would happen then is a viewer would take a clip of what happened live on stream and post it on Reddit so other people can react and enjoy it. The more likes the Reddit post gets the more “Karma points” the Redditor gets. You can’t redeem these Karma points at your local Mcdonalds or Starbucks, the Karma points are just an indication of the contribution that you provide the Reddit community with.
Some people set a goal to attain more Karma. As you have more Karma, more people on the platform know you, maybe that’s the reason people want Karma points, or maybe they just like to see that number rise. Some streamers however dislike the clip posted on Reddit, as it may contain something they said out of context.
Anyone can make a twitch clip and post it on Reddit. It provides people who watch streams a way to participate in the community. Making twitch clips and posting them on Reddit, joining the streamer’s discord, and chatting, there are many ways to participate and change the streamer’s content based on the fan’s participation.
