Week 2 Reflection

This week's readings helped me reflect more deeply on the significance of learning and participating within the online world. I found this week's material truly captivating, as I learned how people consume, create, share, question, and sometimes even resist information across social media and online networks. 

One concept that impressed me is the "hive mind," or collective intelligence. Our knowledge can be enhanced by others' knowledge. For example, if I don't understand a concept, I can search for explanations, watch tutorials, or ask questions in online communities. This makes learning more convenient and flexible. However, the hive mind is not always reliable. Often, online knowledge contains misinformation, superficial explanations, biases, or content influenced by algorithms. According to Dai et al. (2025), recommendation algorithms may overload users with repetitive or overly personalized content. I realized that collective intelligence still requires individual judgment and critical thinking. Students who actively evaluate, connect with, and contribute knowledge can benefit from the hive mind. However, if students only passively accept information filtered by algorithms without questioning its credibility, the hive mind can actually restrict learning.

Another important takeaway is that being young or active online doesn't automatically make someone adept at digital skills. The "digital native" label assumes that students who grew up with technology are naturally adept at using it. However, this week's readings challenge that assumption. According to Sorrentino (2019), the digital-native metaphor can be misleading because it implies innate ability rather than learning. Kirschner and De Bruyckere (2017) also mentioned that students have grown up with digital media, but that doesn't mean they're information-skilled. Reflecting on this made me think about my own experiences. Even if I am comfortable using social media, search engines, and messaging apps, that does not mean I am familiar with every academic or professional technology. For example, using Instagram or TikTok is very different from using academic databases, citation tools, Excel, Stata, or professional networking platforms.

Overall, my greatest realization is that while networked learning is undoubtedly powerful, it does not happen automatically. Students require more than just access to technology; they also need support in the various processes involved in handling information. For educators and instructional designers, this means we must not assume that students know how to learn in digital spaces simply because they use technology daily. Instead, we need to design learning experiences that help students become more critical, proactive, and reflective participants within networked environments.

Reference:

Dai, Q., Zhang, J., Zha, X., & Gao, Y. (2025). To be mild or be severe? Digital natives’ algorithmic resistance behavior in the mobile social media intelligent recommendation environmentLinks to an external site.. Aslib Journal of Information Management, 1-24.

Kirschner, P. A., & De Bruyckere, P. (2017). The myths of the digital native and the multitaskerLinks to an external site.. Teaching and Teacher Education, 67, 135-142. doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2017.06.001

Sorrentino, P. (2018). The mystery of the digital natives' existence: Questioning the validity of the Prenskian metaphorLinks to an external site.. First Monday, 23(10). doi: 10.5210/fm.v23i10.9434