Week 12 Report & Reflection

Dear fellow classmates:

We have finally come to an end. This is officially my last post, and this wonderful course ADED 1p32 is coming to an end. I have personally learned so much as far as building a positive digital footprint and also being a positive digital citizen. Throughout this course, I was learning a new tool every week and trying to apply that tool to my life whether it would be academics or ever personal. Every single tool that I have learned throughout the duration of this course has benefitted me one way or the other and will have a positive effect in my life. This blog will not be like others, I will be talking about how this course has benefitted me as a person and how it has made me a digital citizen.

Building a digital footprint is very crucial and personally before I started this course, I didn't even know the importance of having a digital footprint. During my younger years, I personally never really understood the serious of the digital world. I would use the online world to connect with my friends and watch video and such. As I started getting older, I started to realize that there was more to the digital world then just connecting with people and playing games. As a second year University student,  and currently in the stages of building my resume and work experience, I realize how important it is to have a positive digital footprint. To illustrate, you can even be the most qualified candidate for a job, but if you have have a negative digital footprint, that could be a reason for you not getting the job that you always wanted. Having a digital footprint can be the reason to you either receiving a job or potentially even loosing that job. Expanding and contributing to your footprint in a positive way will always benefit you. Be sure to always be respectful and responsible when you're online and also think twice before posting anything online because it may reflect on you in a negative way. Creating a positive digital footprint will have a positive effect on being a digital citizen.

For anyone who still doesn't understand the importance of creating a positive digital footprint, I personally recommend exploring the digital world, because theres way more to it than just the social aspect of it. Follow blogs such as mine, that educate viewers on the online world. You can also search up what right and wrong when it comes to creating a positive digital footprint online. ADED 1P32 was a great course that taught me alot that I will personally carry on in my life and will have a positive effect on me as a person.  I hope throughout my blog, I have taught you guys and inspired you guys to be digital citizens.

Good luck to all my fellow classmates, and good luck on your exams

Thank you,
Suwattzen Nithiananthan

Week 11 Report & Reflection

Dear fellow classmates:

This week has by far been the my favourite week till date. This week I explored a webcasting tool. I explored one online platform also known as SoundCloud. SoundCloud is a global online audio distribution platform that enables the user to upload, record, promote, share and also enjoy audio created by other users for free. Im very familiar with SoundCloud but not really with the recording feature of the online tool. I personally have always used SoundCloud for listening to music. I was asked to create a podcast of one important thing I have learnt throughout the duration of this course. SoundCloud is a very simple and user friendly tool to use. By using SoundCloud, the user is able to create recordings into an mp3 by just a click of a button. There is absolutely nothing complicated about this online tool. After the recording is uploaded, the user has the option to upload a jpeg picture to go with the recording as well. I officially just created my first podcast and it was honestly a great experience. You can take a look at my first podcast right here PODCAST

This specific tool will contribute to my work in building knowledge as I can expand on a diverse way of learning and creating. With various webcasting tools such as SoundCloud, studying becomes effortless. By using SoundCloud, its a great way to study as you can record your notes and lectures and hear them later on. This makes it very convenient to take notes and study for exams.

I would personally add SoundCloud to my PLE under the sub category Creates, as this is a creative tool. I would use this online tool for various academic purposes. Due to the fact that SoundCloud is also linked to various social network platforms such as Twitter, Gmail and much more, it makes it very easy for the user to share their work.

This week I also learnt that when creating work online, it is very important that we apply a Creative Common License to all the work that you produce. I had to create a Creative Common License for the this online blog. It is very important that we always give credit for others work, but it is normal that we usually forget. We as digital citizens must know the rights and responsibilities to what is wrong and right in order to develop and produce and positive digital footprint. With the correct knowledge that we obtain from this course, we should be able to understand and make the digital world a safer place to be.

This week on Feedly, I came across a very interesting article about SoundCloud. Introducing SoundCloud Go ; SoundCloud has introduced a new feature to their online platform also know as SoundCloud Go. SoundCloud Go is essentially the same as SoundCloud with an expanded catalog of tracks that are new to the platform, new features and new functionality. Visit the link to learn more about SoundCloud Go.

Thank you,
Suwattzen Nithiananthan

Week 10 Report & Reflection

Dear fellow classmates:

This week we were asked to create a slideshow based on Copyrights and Creative Commons. We were asked to make a creative 30 sec slide video on a preferred tool of our choice. The tool I chose to make the slideshow on the next page was ANIMOTO. I started to realize how unique Animoto was as I started to explore. Essentially, Animoto is a video slideshow tool that is created by picture, videos, texts and background music. Animoto makes slideshows more fun and creative. This tool can be used for multiple purposes whether it be, educational or even personal. You can visit my second page ANIMOTO to learn more about this tool.

These creative knowledge expression tools are different from other collaborative/communications told and collective knowledge building tool I have explored. Animoto is a perfect tool for a classroom setting to teach students visually by adding video clips and collecting classroom material and get the whole class to engage and participate. IT is very convenient if you want to share your video online for others to view. Animoto is a cool tool that contributes to my work knowledge and expanding my digital footprint and I can use this tool beyond academic purposes and for personal uses. I will personally add Animoto to my PLE under the sub category Collaborate, connect and Create. This tool is not only beneficial for educational purposes but also for personal purposes as well such as video slideshows of memories from special occasions and more. 

I came across a very interesting article regarding Animoto on Feedly. 5 Reasons to Use Animoto Video In Your Classroom; This article essentially talks about the importance of using videos in a classroom. There are five reasons as to why we should use videos produced by Animoto in class rooms. Firstly independent and active learning. Secondly; differentiated instructions, thirdly; real world applications, fourthly; student engagement and lastly peer collaborations.

Thank you,

Suwattzen Nithiananthan 

Week 9 Report & Reflection

Dear fellow classmates:

Week 9 has come to a great end. Three more week to go and I will be an expert in Digital Context. This week we were introduced to a very interesting and unique tool called VoiceThread. This tool allows you to share and comment your thoughts to other users. VoiceThread is a very efficient way to work on projects and presentations in a group as you can share and get feedback from you peers instantly. This is most helpful for teacher and instructors as VoiceThread is perfect for presentation as it engages everyone within the presentation. Some students may be shy to contribute their ideas, and VoiceThread makes it easy for everyone. It is important for teachers to engage the whole classroom and get everyone to participate, VoiceThread is a great tool to make everyone participate with ease.

VoiceThread can possibly help me in becoming a positive digital citizen. This week we were asked to comment on at least three slides on the VoiceThread and our comments and ideas contributed to the importance of digital rights and responsibilities. I personally would not ad this to my PLE as this is not a tool I would use to benefit my academics. If I were to add this tool, it would be included under the sub category Collaborative as it is a collaborative tool. I prefer Google Docs over VoiceThread as it is more on a professional base and it is easier to use. Also, since I already have a gmail account, everything would be automatically synced in one place. Check out my post to learn more about Google Docs below.

As I was going through my weekly Feedly review, I came across a very interesting article regarding VoiceThread. New Direct, Private and Threaded Comments ; VoiceThread has recently released three new commenting features for VoiceThreaders to now use. Now instructors can reply directly to students, give private feedback or enable threaded conversations on their content. VoiceThreaders now have the option to send direct comments, private comments to the user and last Threaded comments so it public. Visit the link to learn more.

Thank you,
Suwattzen Nithiananthan

Technology Use Scenario #15

Max is always on the computer. Except when he is at school, Max is on his social networking sites, video sites, or just surfing websites. He communicates with many people using his social networking sites or texting, but rarely leaves the house. His mother is becoming concerned that he is not seeing his friends or going out. What should Max's mother do?

In the scenario above, it illustrates a young boy named Max who is not showing understanding the importance of digital health and wellness. In this specific situation, Max is spending all of his time on his computer, and there are many issues regarding this. Computer and related electronics are good once in a while; using the computer to talk to friends and surf the net is perfectly fine, however, you shouldn't dedicate all your time to just that. Sitting in front of a screen all day results in no physical activity, which end in a sudden increase in body weight. Furthermore, various studies prove the sitting in front of a computer for over a certain amount of time, decreases you memory and slows down your brain. Also, you may think sitting in front of a computer makes you more productive, but in reality it lowers your productivity. This is because, sitting for long periods of times causes fatigue and can trigger mood disorders such as stress and depression. It is perfectly normal for teenagers such as Max to spend time on the computer, however they should start spending their time on more important things. Max needs to take a break, and start doing activities that are physical and healthy to a growing boy like himself. It is vital to always have the perfect balance between social and physical activities. Max's mother should set a specific time every day for Max to get off the computer and go out and spend some time with friends. She should encourage him to join clubs and sport teams to interact with others and get to know the world more.

This week as I was exploring my feedly, I came across an article that ties in perfectly to this scenario: Obsessing over the perfect social media post is ruining your life. It talks about how people are more consumed about posting the perfect picture rather than enjoying the moment.


Thank you,

Suwattzen Nithiananthan

Week 8 Report & Reflection

Dear fellow classmates:

For week 8, we explored another online platform also known as Wiki. A wiki is a website that allows collaborative editing of it private content and structure by its users. One main wiki is called Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a free online platform created through collaborative effort of a community of users known as Wikipedians. Users are allowed to register and create articles for publication. Throughout my high school career, Wikipedia was a site I would always refer to when it came to school assignments, projects, papers, presentations, etc. However; I was told through various teachers, that wikipedia wasn't a liable source to collect information. The information from Wikipedia is published by random users, therefore the information that is being published isn't 100% accurate. Now you may ask, if the information of Wikipedia isn't liable, what the use of the site now? Well, the site is great to understand something quickly in a time efficient manner. But when you're doing in depth research, you cannot cite the site. You can not rely on wiki as it is not fully reliable; it is important to always cite your work and make sure the information is accurate.

Wiki's are very alike to Google Docs and Evernote. All these tools are platform of information that are published by a community of users. These online platforms have similar concepts which is working and sharing information to the public. I personally prefer Google Docs as it can be created by a simple gmail account instead of registering and making accounts for Evernote and Wiki. This makes more reliable and trustworthy when  sharing to others. Furthermore, Google Docs is great for academic purposes as it can be used to work on various assignments and presentations.

There are various rights and responsibilities that we as digital citizens must know as they are very important to a positive digital world. The three important right and responsibilities in my person opinion are: the right to privacy, reporting cyber bullying and avoiding plagiarism. Firstly, the right to privacy is very important as everything starting from personal information can be accessed online. Starting from email, phone number, email, banking information and much more. This information then can lead to possible identity theft; and even ending someones life. You must always be careful with what you share online and must always double check. Secondly, cyber bullying affects many people and this has become a huge issue within our society. This is currently a huge issue because there are many bystanders watching this happen. So it is currently up to digital users like us to stop this disrespectful act by reporting any sort of harassing and bullying online. Being another bystander will result in serious outcomes. Lastly, avoiding plagarism; with all this information that provided to us through the online web, we must be careful with what information we are using and whether or not this information is correct or false. Plagirisim is a huge no, for the one obvious reason, it is someone elses work and they should be given credit for that work accordingly. Plagiarism can also lead to serious consequences such as possibly getting kicked out of University. Always keep in mind that who ever's work you are using, make sure you always give them the credit by citing. 

In addition to our exploration in digital rights and responsibilities, I came across an article on feedly reader (Teacher's Guide to Digital Citizenship) that had more information on why digital citizenship matters. I would recommend everyone to educate themselves about their rights and responsibilities in the digital world as every one of us can make a positive difference. 

Thank you, 
Suwattzen Nithiananthan 

Week 7 Report & Reflection

Hello fellow classmates:

This week, we learnt about a very well known platform also known as "Google Docs" I was always aware of  Google Docs but I never really took the time to learn or use the platform. I must say Google Docs is by far my favourite and the most useful in my personal life when it comes to academics. Google Docs is a free Web based application where various documents and spreadsheets can be created, edited and arranged online. Various files can be accessed from any mobile device or desktop by some login information. This tool is very user friendly, not too difficult to use. I thought it would be difficult making a presentation while communicating with group member at the same time. I basically had to learn the whole tool myself, because my group wasn't really cooperative. I had a hard time getting a hold of my group, therefore I just completed the presentation myself.

Google Docs is a very beneficial tool for my educational activities in various ways! Google Docs offers many option within one platform. I can work on document, spreadsheets, forms, drawings, and presentations. I can also share whatever it is that Im working on with other Google users online. This tools saves a lot of time. This is perfect for group assignments, because you get the option to meet your group members online and work and share the assignment at the same time. This is results in getting a lot of work done in a very efficient manner. For this weeks assignment we were asked to prepare a group presentation online using Google Docs.  With having the option to set the viewing to be public, you can link your work to your personal twitter, Blogger, Facebook and various other social media platforms. Google Docs essentially offers everything in one place whether it be presentations, word documents etc.....

Google Docs is obviously being added to my PLE under the sub category Create and Collaborate. There are many changes I would make to my PLE. I haven't still updated my PLE yet, but when I do I will remove Pintrest, TagCrowd and Popplet as those application don't come in great benefit to me academically compared to the other tools.

Week 7 has been a great week! Learning new tools that can help you work and communicate together while saving time both make it easy and expands your digital literacy as it did for myself.

This week on my daily Feedly review, I came across an article related to Google Docs. Through Google Docs Blog I learned that you can type, edit and format with the command of you voice on Google Docs. This is a new feature Google just implemented. Through the voice command technology making changes to documents, have never been any more easier. There is now no need for a keyboard and its a quick and easy way to get ideas out of your heard and onto an online platform.



Group Google Docs Collaborative Presentation:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tU-CwhaCN3RQ9ladbWeh8unoBzbhGTXax4FT6eTl790/edit#slide=id.g742e3e7cd_1_16

Thank you,
Suwattzen Nithiananthan

Week 6 Report & Reflection

Hello fellow classmates:

Week 6 has come to an end, half the course is already complete. Can you believe it?
This week we learned about a new online platform called "Evernote". You may wonder what Evernote is, not a lot of people are familiar with this online platform. Personally this was my first time getting introduced to Evernote. Evernote is an online app thats compatible with computers and smartphones that basically stores everything on an online database without losing track. Evernote is essentially an app to keep everything organized and uniform. Evernote is an amazing outlet for academic, business or personal use. Evernote is contained with many interesting features. One feature Evernote contains is that the user is able to share your personal notes through Facebook and email or a direct link to your note. You have
the option to edit or delete you notes, and you can clip videos and web clips and attach them into your notes. Evernote is an app mostly focused on keeping everything together and organized.

This tool has many more benefits other that keeping the notes organized. This tool will be very helpful for academic purposes. When it comes to hand written notes, sometimes that may be a hassle. Having all your notes on papers may get a little frustrating. In addition to that, to maintain notes that are taken on paper. With Evernote, I can type all my notes in a uniform manner and maintained all in one place. I can categorize my notes by course and various sub-categories, so when it comes to studying for a quiz or test, all related notes are a click away. Furthermore I can use specific key words to navigate through my notes. Evernote would save a lot of time when it comes to study. You can study and get more work time in an efficient manner.

I would include Evernote add this to my PLE under the sub-category Organize. The complete purpose behind Evernote is organization. This is a great tool and I am eager to use this platform to work on future assignments in my academic career. I have already shared
my Evernote with my course instructor.

This week the article I came across was Feedly related. https://blog.evernote.com/blog/2016/02/08/4-effective-strategies-to-organize-evernote/. Through this article I learnt four effective strategies to organize notes on Evernotes. This article includes allot of smart tips to organize notes. You guys should take a look at it.




Thank you,
Suwattzen Nithiananthan

Week 5 Report & Reflection

Hello fellow classmates:

Week 5 has already come to an end. These weeks are just flying by. This week we learn what and how to build a (PLN). Personal learning network is a learning network that consist of people that derive knowledge from a personal learning environment. The first step I took in building my PLN was to create a Twitter account. I personally have never used twitter, so this was a very new and interesting experience. Twitter is an online social platform which allows the user to send and read short messages also known as "tweets". Twitter is a great platform to start building you PLN by tweeting message, posting pictures, and direct messaging people. You can use hashtags and form groups while tweeting. Since I never had a twitter account, this experience was very new to me. I realized that twitter has many benefits such as always
being connected to the real world. Twitter is a great way to give you an outlet to many things. Also Twitter is an amazing way to build a network whether it be school or work related. One main benefit is, Twitter can be used to build and upgrades ones PLN; its a great outlet to learn about interesting information, learn about their idols, stay updated on current world news and and market various businesses. Twitter can never get boring!

I have built my PLN in many different ways using Twitter. I started off by creating my own twitter account and uploading a profile picture of myself. Then I started tweeting messages with the hashtag #ADED1P32 following it. The use and importance of a hashtag followed by a tweet is to connect with a specific group that your tweet is related to. This is a very effective and fun trend to use to build your PLN. Twitter is one social network I would recommend for everyone because it has many benefits. Despite all the benefits, Twitter is a fun way to entertain yourself and not see time go  by...

Twitter will be included in my PLE diagram under the sub category Connect as this social network serves to connect and build a personal network. Through my Twitter account, I have reached out to many of my group member and classmates. With Twitter, by just a click of a button, I will learn so much about my classmates. Week 5 has been very interesting, and has had a positive impact in my digital literacy and digital footprint. Twitter is one tool I will use in my day to day life.

As I was going through my daily Feedly review, I came across an article Twitter Related.
"Making Customer Service Even Better on Twitter" Twitter has recently introduced two new told to help businesses provide even better service to their customers service on twitter. Twitter is already an amazing platform for marketing businesses. Many advertisers state that over 80% of the inbound customer service request occur on twitter. Twitter makes it more convenient for customers to online shop. One new tool twitter introduced is called "Tweets to Direct Message" This tool allows customers to have a private conversation with businesses. The way this tool works is, a normal tweet to a business can now transition into a private channel where personal information is then required. That transition is as easy as a single click. A business can now add a link to their tweets that automatically displays a call to action button which now allows customers to send the business direct personal messages. The other tool that Twitter has introduced is called "Customer Feedback". This tools enables the user to privately share their opinions with a business personally. This gives the the business and customer to build a personal relationship. Twitter has received many good reviews regarding these two new tools and continue to currently keep it.

Follow me @NSuwattzen
Thank you,
Suwattzen Nithiananthan

Week 4 Report & Reflection

Hello fellow classmates:



This week, we learnt and explored bookmarking tools and the importance and use of tagging. The two online platforms we learned about are Diigo and Delicious. These two online sites are social bookmarking, research and knowledge sharing tools created to make note taking while providing a network for sharing and discovering information. I personally chose to learn more about Diigo.




Diigo is an online platform which allow you to take personal notes from various web pages. The user has the option to bookmark and save the information the discover for further review while also adding tags to keep everything uniformed. The bookmarking feature allows the user to share information with friends and colleagues through Facebook and Twitter to allow them to access and view your personal notes. This information is saved online in the cloud, therefore; this information can be accessed through any computer, tablet or mobile device with browsing capabilities. As far as educational activities, this tool will be very useful and beneficial for students. This tool will be very helpful for various school assignments, homework, research papers, basically any work school related. This tool essentially act as a database. For example, if I'm at school working on a research paper and there are a few pages I found on the school computer, I can bookmark it and later view the same pages on my personal computer and complete my research paper.

Furthermore this week we were also required study 5 tools. Google Alert, Paper.li, Storify, LiveBinders and Scoop.it. I chose to study Google Alerts a little more in depth. Out of the five curation tools given to explore, I found Google Alerts to be the most beneficial to my needs! Google alert is easy to use once you have explored it; it is a tool that is automatically connected to your Gmail account so you do not need to sign up for it unless you do not have a Gmail account. Google Alert is a tool used to stay up-to-date on your topic of interest(s). This tool monitors the web and updates you instantaneously to your inbox according to the alerts you create. The pros of Google Alerts is that you can use it for your personal life or for academic purposes, it will keep you up-to-date and you will not miss any information on the web about your topic of interest. The disadvantages to this tool is that you will have an abundant amount of emails as the web is always expanding and it might be too much to go through all at once, so I would recommend to keep your list of alerts updated. Aside from the downfall, the pros do outweigh the cons and I would recommend Google Alerts to everyone who loves to stay up-to-date!

I would add both online platforms Diigo and Google Alerts to my PLE forsure. I would personally add Diigo under the sub category Organize because Diigo is a tool mostly intended for keeping all your information organized and uniformed. Google Alerts I would personally put under the sub category Connect as it is a direct connect to my gmail and I would personally use this tool in my day-to-day life as I this would benefit my daily life.

Through the various  tools and all the others I have gained knowledge in the past four weeks, I have gained so much digital literacy tips that will benefit me in many ways from my personal life to my academics. 

As I scrolling through my Feedly reader, I came across this article related to Brock University Goodman School of Business. "Johnathan Holland, a BBA student in the Goodman School of Business, is Brock University's first student to land in Canada's The Next 36 program" This article is basically about a national program and a current Brock grad placed top 36 entrepreneur in Canada. Feedly is a great way to update my knowledge with current events and news occurring around the world!

Thank you,

Suwattzen Nithiananthan

Week 3 Report & Reflection

Hello fellow classmates:

As I stated on my last post, we were introduced to a new platform called Feedly where we mange RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds. RSS can be used in various ways to connect distributions, it's most widespread usage is in distributing news headlines on the web. RSS is a platform the contains  content from news articles to blog entries to almost anything! However; not all websites are compatible with RSS.

One interesting article I came across while exploring Feedly was 7 Reason Why Students Need Technology This article talks about how the students of the twenty first century are at a huge advantage with technology. Due to the technology growing day by day, the future for education looks very bright. The younger generation can make use of more learning tools than ever before and endless information from various databases. From smart phones to the internet, theres various resources can enhance learning in the classroom and the knowledge of the future generations to come. This article states seven ways why technology is vital for student through Engaging, Practical, Transferable, Self-development, Knowledge, Convenience and Safety.

RSS is growing platform that delivers fast feeds on everything. The huge benefit to RSS is the individuals can chose content of interest, having full control of the flow of information that they receive. If the quality of the content isn't in their interest, users can simply remove the feed from their RSS. The RSS reader act as an aggregator, this allows the user to view and and roughly go over multiple content in a timely fashion.

Feedly is one platform that I should add to my PLE diagram that I created in week 2. Although Feedly is a tool used to search various content, I would personally use it to connect my RSS Feeds to my Feedly so I can view content later on in the future.

Thank you,
Suwattzen Nithiananthan

My Experience with RSS Feeds

Week 3 has been a little different compared to the other weeks that have passed by. This week we are required to have two blogs. This week we were introduced to an application also known as Feedly. Feedly is an application for various web browser and mobile devices. Feedly is mainly used to manage RSS feeds. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication which is a web feed that is updated with blogs, news events, podcasts and much more.

While I was exploring on Feedly, I came across a very interesting article about a new Brock led research discovers that lizards create body heat. (new Brock-led research that discovers lizard that creates) Scientist have recently discovered and classified lizards as reptiles that depends on sun light or shade rather then internal metabolism to warm or cool their body. Brock University Prof. Glenn Tattersall and his team showed the tegu lizards are able to generate the own body heat during mating season which usually last for two to three months. Prof. Glenn's research team raise two groups; adult black and white tegu lizards in a captive colony at the State university of Sao Paulo in Brazil. The results of the study stated that one group stayed outdoors for a full year, while the other group was studied under outdoor and indoor conditions over three reproductive seasons. The group that was outdoor was allowed to behave naturally. Its actually really cool how their bodies can adapt and change under extreme changes.

Feedly is a great platform to gain knowledge in various things that occur in the world. As a university student, I will make good use of this tool as it will benefit me to gain more knowledge in various topics!

Thank you,
Suwattzen Nithiananthan

Week 2 Report & Reflection

Hello fellow class mates:

Week 2 has come to an end. I can't believe that week two is already over, feels like the course just started. This week we looked at personal learning environments(PLE); the importance of PLE's and how it relates to us. Also got to explore and learn about two sites, Pootle.com (to make a PLE) and Tagcrowd.com (to make a word cloud).

Where am I headed? 
In 5 to 10 years from now, I see my self as a Accounting major Brock University Graduate, with a related job to my degree. I see myself working in the finance department of a bank or and private firm dealing and building new relationships with current and new clients. After working a couple years, I would like to return back to school to complete my MBA and hopefully obtaining the same job I left. Slowly work my way up the ladder and plant a manager position of a department. Also on the side, I would like to get a real-estate license and work as a property manager on the side. Invest in sever small properties and manage them to potential renters.


Where am I now? 
I am currently a second year Accounting major student attending Brock University; Goodman School of Business with only two more school years to go. I attend school for eight months every year, and work at a bank as a part time summer coop student. One major difference I personally will see in my self is not being in school anymore. In the future, I see my self as a more confident and humble individual. Usually I tend to get nervous and am very scared to try new things.


Changes In My Learning Environment: 
In order to achieve my goals and get to where I want to be, I need to make a few changes with my work ethic. I need to work and improve my communications skills, I personally feel like this blog is a good way to improve that skill.

Nithiananthan, S. (CC) 2016.

As you can see, the following is my personal learning environment. I use many application to assist me while I create, connect, organize and collaborate. My PLE will always be changing; I have a few new tools that I have added. As it was stated in the presentation by Steve Wheeler, my PLE is "just for me"; its a platform I use to help me in my daily learning activities. Every person has a different PLE according to their personal interest and thats what makes this while concept unique and interesting.

One of the tools I experimented with this week is the word cloud tool Wordle.  I noticed when I entered my first week’s blog that I tend to repeat the topic of my blog throughout the post.  Last week in particular was the term "digital footprint".  As you can see below are the largest words in the word cloud indicating the most frequently used words.  I have also noticed this week that I keep saying PLE over and over.  I suppose when you are talking about something, you are going to keep mentioning it throughout your report. 

Week 2 has finally come to an end. I am looking forward to week 3. I hope I inspired my fellow classmates with the material I learnt this week.

Thankyou,
Suwattzen Nithiananthan

Week 1 Report & Reflection

Hello fellow classmates:

Week one has finally come to an end. One down, 11 more weeks to go. This week has been a very interesting experience. Throughout the course of this week I was introduced to two social networking sites known as Pintrest and Blogger. The whole concept behind Pintrest was confusing at first but I started to understand as I kept exploring. Pintrest is on an online platform where users can upload, save, sort and manage various images which are also known as "pins". Through these various pins, users are able to personalize their board with media they find interesting. This created a personal media platform full of pictures and videos that relate to the user. I found this concept to be very unique. The other platform we learned about was known as Blogger. The concept behind blogger.com was straight forward. Blogger is a personalized platform which gives the user the opportunity to blog about what ever the topic is. I have never blogged before, so this was very new to me. Even though the concept behind blogging seems simple, i found myself self having and think about what to write next. As I keep blogging I will be an expert. The concept behind both social were very interesting and there is still a lot more to learn about the two.

Furthermore aside from learning about Pintrest and Blogger we got a chance to look into our personal digital footprints. "Digital footprint" is term used to describe the trail that users leave behind in the online world. This type of information is transmitted online through various sources such as forums, emails, uploading pictures/ videos on social media and any other form of personal information being transmitted online. 

When talking about digital footprints, not all are good. Personal digital footprints are very serious because you don't want a negative trail online that lead to you. Having a positive digital footprint is ensuring that your digital footprint is appropriate and well maintained. This is includes pictures, videos etc... Personal media that is uploaded on the web should always be appropriate, because whatever it is that get uploaded on the web is there forever. Just because you delete doesn't necessarily mean its off the web, it will be in you digital footprint. I currently have a positive digital footprint. There are sever basic steps that are needed to maintain a positive digital footprint. Always keep your social networking up to date. Make sure that all media that's being uploaded is appropriate and user friendly. Do not share personal information such as numbers, addresses and bank information. Maintaing a positive digital footprint if straight forward for the most part. 

Some netiquettes that are crucial in maintaing a positive digital footprint is to always respect other people's privacy and don't misuse authority. Always make yourself look like a good citizen to the online world. In conclusion, I have learned a lot about being a digital citizen and maintaing a positive digital footprint. 

There are plenty of netiquettes, however I don't want to make this blog too long. This is a link to more netiquettes: http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html

Digital Driver's License Exam:

I completed the Digital Drivers license exam and my final mark was a 19/20. The question I got wrong was on purchasing products online. For that specific question I answered saying that it is not necessary for student to purchase online goods. The reasoning behind my answer was because I personally don't see the need for students to be purchasing online, however that is incorrect because that is a very biased answer on my part. In the twenty first century, everything is dependent on the online world, so it only makes sense that students should be able to purchase goods online. As years go by, everything will be done online instead of in person.

Hopefully throughout this blog, I have inspired and taught my fellow classmates. 

Thank you,

Suwattzen Nithiananthan

Introduction

Hello fellow classmates, welcome to my blog,

My name is Suwattzen Nithiananthan and Im currently a second year Accounting major at Brock University. I was born and raised from Brampton so my choice in moving to St Catherines for school was kind of scary at first. I'm a simple, kind hearted guy for the most part. Aside from school, I have plenty of hobbies such as reading and playing football. As a second year university student, I always have the urge to seek and learn new things to better myself as a person. My future plans are to finish my undergrad and hopefully also complete my masters aswell (MBA). I hope to live a simple life with my family and be happy!

The reason behind this blog is for an online course called, learning in a digital context, where I interact with my fellow class mates and engage in related activated to further my knowledge in using digital tools for a variety of activities. This course would be a great way to educate myself on the digital world. I hope to broaden my knowledge in understanding digital context and the various platforms in order to improve my online learning skills. Through my blogs, I hope to learn more as and inspire others throughout this course.

In the current twenty first century we live in, we are all entirely dependent on digital media. Im personally not very active on any social media but I have always been interested and this course is a great way for me to learn. I wouldn't call myself a "know it all" when it comes to computers but I know more of the technical side to it. I think it's time for me to start educating my self in the current digital world that we live in!

Wish everyone good luck, and hope every one has a good year!
Happy New Years!