Blog Post #3

Personalized Learning Network Spaces

Throughout my life, I have consumed a lot of media, whether it be youtube or video games or.. well…. mostly just youtube. However, I have discovered and added a few specific content creators to my feed that are mostly there for education purposes.

HealthyGamerGG is an online sub clinical counselling service, which provides informational self-help videos and other resources to find mental health help. The videos the Dr. K makes are very informative and backed by science and researchers.

This channel has provided to me innumerable assistance and guidance for my life, in almost all aspects. There are career opportunities throughout the organization, of which I am aiming to become a part of.

Interpersonally however, the content of these videos are extremely informative and provides many resources to the audience. Once such video that I really appreciated is this one

Dr. K outlines here the systemic issues around the application of therapy to someone who has been raised male, with toxic masculinity. The video goes in depth and I won’t get into it here, but I would highly recommend it if you dear reader are wanting to be a therapist, or even just learning more about the socially constructed male experience of therapy.

Inclusivity and Universal Design Principles

Effective learning requires flexibility on the part of the teacher and of the educational framework. This is very different then the school system we have here today, where there is very strong structure and really only one way to complete tasks.

When I was a kid, I had a lot of trouble learning. With my Autism and ADHD, my teachers were not equipped to meet my specific needs. There was only one way to do things, and I hated learning.

If the school system I was in had implemented principles that allowed a wider range of ways to engage with the material, then I would’ve learned more and be provided a more solid foundation of knowledge and experience.

Challenges and Importance of Diversity in Digital Learning

Image by Solen Feyissa at Unsplash

Onto the application of the these principles into digital learning. I am going to take this moment to explore this idea. My first thought is to question the feasibility of accommodating everyone’s specific learning needs. This would raise the bar for many platforms to such a degree that it could drive out educators who know what they are talking about, however are not versed in the specific requirements of the multitude of individuals engaging with their content.

Those thoughts above are definity worth questioning, as when people are saying they are having difficulty learning, my response is to question the feasibility of accommodations. This reeks of capitalistic programming of which I will be doing more introspection into.

Regardless, there are many digital learning platforms that have numerous barriers to many different communities. For example, most if not all text based platforms are not at all friendly for those with Dyslexia, where critical information is buried deep within a paragraph. This is something that platforms should keep in mind when designing their platforms.

https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/dyslexia-toolbox/gpjbfckicpmdjmhgcjoecomooejngkam

I found this chrome web store plugin that help users with dyslexia engage with content that would otherwise be difficult to learn from.

Tools like these are critical for individuals to access the massive amount of information that exist on the internet.

I believe that integrating systems to assist diversity in education is fantastic and wonderful, and I also think that its important to educate individuals in finding tools that transform pre-existing inflexible content, into a format that can be interpreted for ones learning needs.

The Google Chrome web store is only effective for users of google chrome, however I believe there are options for different browsers. This hub provides numerous addons to the browser experience that can make learning much more accessible to those with more individualized needs.

That’s all folks!

Thanks for reading my blog post #3!

Cheers!