Reflection Essay: Learning and Communicating Online, COM10003, 2019

This essay reflects on the student's experience in the "Learning and Communicating Online" unit, focusing on the development of future work skills, particularly within the context of digital marketing. The student, aspiring to a career in digital marketing, explores how the unit has shaped their understanding of online communication, source credibility, and ethical considerations such as plagiarism. The essay details the evolution of the student's ability to critically evaluate online sources, the impact of group discussions, and the integration of learned skills into academic work and personal life. The student also acknowledges the challenges of time management and the importance of approaching online communication with caution while highlighting its benefits. The essay concludes by affirming the student's career choice and the enhanced preparedness for digital marketing, emphasizing the skills gained in critical thinking and ethical online practices. The author is a student who has contributed this document to Desklib for use as a study resource.

Running head: LEARNING AND COMMUNICATING ONLINE 1
Sociology
Student
Institution

LEARNING AND COMMUNICATING ONLINE 2
Learning and communicating online
Online communication is the newest and fastest growing medium of communication
in recent years, and as such is a critical aspect of work skill development. I aspire to get into
digital marketing, a field that is currently driven by online communication, particularly social
media. More than three out of ten marketing jobs require skills in digital marketing (Burning
Glass Technologies, 2017). This unit thus forms a solid base for my future work skill
development. I have so far acquired vast knowledge on how to navigate online
communication, which is not only helpful for my future career, but also my personal
development. This is evident in my use of online facilities in the course of my academic
journey, a skill that has shown continuous progress since I started this unit. This paper,
through theory and evidence, will demonstrate how this unit has helped in shaping the course
of my future career and impacted on my personal life.
As a potential digital marketer, my future work skills have vastly developed as a
consumer, producer and sharer of online sources of information. As aforementioned,
marketing and advertising have seen a major shift towards a heavy reliance on social media
(Patrutiu Baltes, 2015). This requires analytical skills where data is derived from people’s
online habits. As a consumer of online sources of information, I have learnt to question the
credibility of some sources. Previously, it was not uncommon for me to use Wikipedia
citations in my academic work, unaware of its obvious lack of credibility. However, in the
course of this unit I have come to appreciate the importance of rigorous research to ensure the
knowledge I consume from online sources is both credible and relevant to what I seek to
learn. When seeking personal information online, one has to be careful in assessing the
credibility of online sources, more so since it impacts on decision making.

LEARNING AND COMMUNICATING ONLINE 3
As a producer of online sources of information, it is imperative to adhere to integrity
and to create concise and relevant content. This not only creates a sense of satisfaction among
consumers of my online sources of information, but also encourages repeat visits to my site.
Professionally, this skill will come in handy when I need to maintain a social media presence
(Oyza & Edwin, 2015). Credibility and relevance are tools that will help retain potential
consumers and in turn improve communication with customers. Online communication has
become one of the fastest ways to reach a large group of people (Mangold & Faulds, 2009).
This implies that sharing information has been made easier, although sharing online sources
of information may not be as easy as consuming or producing the same. This is because of
the ethical implications involved, such as plagiarism and privacy violations (Neher & Sandin,
2017). In particular, plagiarism has been a source of concern for me in the course of my
academic work, although I have since developed better writing skills. The implication of this
professionally would be copying someone else’s idea or sharing information I have not been
given permission to.
Despite its widespread use, information from online sources is not always credible,
and it is equally hard to determine trustworthy among sources (Keshavarz, 2014). Handling
academic tasks has become both interesting and daunting due to the wealth of information
present on the internet (Keshavarz, 2014). Generally, students have a heavy workload yet are
always expected to produce top standard academic work. It is thus easy to fall prey to
distorted information on the internet. In this unit, we have used several informational
resources, including discussion boards, videos and PowerPoint presentations, in the course of
which we have had to work with various online sources. Evaluating these sources has proven
to be very insightful, especially for me. I have witnessed tremendous growth in the manner in
which I evaluate my online sources. I had earlier mentioned my previous tendency to rush to
Wikipedia, thinking it to be credible.

LEARNING AND COMMUNICATING ONLINE 4
Other than the ability to adhere to a specific topic, online sources can be evaluated for
their credibility based on various aspects. For the purpose of academic work, online sources
are mainly evaluated based on whether or not they are scholarly. Scholarly sources are
evidence based; peer reviewed, impartial and mostly rid of spelling and grammatical errors.
The fact that most online work lacks vetting and authors are not clearly known makes
information from such sources doubtful (Baildon & Baildon, 2012). Additionally, the
availability of vast resources online such as video making, editing and sharing means that
anyone has the capability to produce information and make it seem credible. Nowadays,
anyone with an online platform can write about anything online, whether or not they are
conversant with a particular subject (Kiili, Laurinen & Marttunen, 2007).
It is imperative to engage critical thinking in evaluating the author of a given online
source to gauge their grasp of what they are producing (Kiili, Laurinen & Marttunen, 2007).
Several questions have to be asked, such as “Are they qualified, have their credentials been
provided for confirmation, and if there are affiliations to recognized institutions, and can this
be verified? (Lavoie, Childress, Erway, Faniel, Malpas, Schaffner, & Van der Werf, 2014)”
The work involved in this unit has enabled me understand the importance of being cautious
about the sources I include in my academic work. This is because lack of credibility of
sources used impacts negatively on the information provided in my academic work
(Westerman, Spence & Van Der Heide, 2013). This ultimately affects not just my grade, but
also my personal communication online.
My main goal at the beginning of this unit, which I had hoped to achieve by its end, is
to acquire a practical knowledge of online communication, which I can incorporate into both
my personal and professional lives. By this I mean merely learning how to navigate the basics
of online communication throughout the course of my academic work, and grasping essential

LEARNING AND COMMUNICATING ONLINE 5
skills for use in my future career. However, I had not anticipated that online communication
was much more than sending emails and submitting academic work, or producing, consuming
and sharing information online. So far, I feel like I have already achieved more than my
initial goal, despite the unit not being complete. The lessons acquired in this unit thus far
have affirmed my desire to pursue a career in digital marketing. I have acquired additional
skills in critical thinking and evaluation, developed when scrutinizing through online sources
to establish credibility.
Group discussions have been instrumental in helping me achieve progress in my unit
goal. The online discussion boards created for this unit made me realize that my colleagues
were experiencing the same challenges as me. Additionally, being able to post questions and
share thoughts concerning the unit made learning easier as it was done as a collective effort.
However, the unit is quite involving, and as such has impacted on my ability to aptly plan my
time. This is something I have to personally work on to avoid laxity in my academic work
and implications on my overall grade.
My goal for this course is to integrate aspects of this unit to my academic work going
forth and also my future career. I feel that this unit solely affects general course work because
of how it can be applied in academic work. It is not just this particular unit that requires the
adaptation of online research and subsequent use of online resources. Similarly, the unit
advocates for better use of online technology in academia, including placing emphasis on
credibility of information. Thus, my performance in this course will be improved by positive
learning outcomes from the unit. Another personal goal for this course was to enhance my
interpersonal skills, something I have achieved through group work. The only factor
hindering my progress thus far is the bulk of time spent on individual units. I have been
struggling with time management but I am actively seeking solutions for the same.

LEARNING AND COMMUNICATING ONLINE 6
There is a lot I have learnt from this unit that bears implications for both my academic
and future professional life. I have learnt that online communication should be approached
with caution. From an initial point of view, it probably appears to be a subtle way of
communicating, but producing, consuming and sharing information online without
knowledge of its implications could be detrimental. These are implications that can affect
anyone in varying ways. However, this should not deter or in any way take away from the
benefits of online communication. Going forward, I intend on being more intentional in my
use of online communication. In my academic work for instance, I will be more critical of
what I consume and share online, all the while adhering to integrity in the information I
produce. Regarding my future career, there is definitely more to learn, although this unit has
reinforced my choice of career. Given that digital marketing requires me to remain true to the
integrity of what I produce and/or share, I feel better equipped to do the same, much so than I
was prior to taking up this unit.

LEARNING AND COMMUNICATING ONLINE 7
References
Baildon, R. & Baildon, M. (2012). Evaluating Online Sources: Helping Students Determine
Trustworthiness, Readability, and Usefulness. Social Studies and The Young Learner,
24(4), 11-14. Retrieved from
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Burning Glass Technologies. (2017). Demand for digital marketing skills doubles. Burning
Glass Technologies. Retrieved from
http://www.burning-glass.com/wp-content/uploads/demand_digital_marketing_skills_dou
bles_2017.pdf
Keshavarz, H. (2014). How Credible is Information on the Web: Reflections on
Misinformation and Disinformation. Infopreneurship Journal (IJ), 1(2).
Kiili, C., Laurinen, L., & Marttunen, M. (2007). How students evaluate credibility and
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Neher, W., & Sandin, P. (2017). Communicating Ethically: Character, Duties,
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Patrutiu Baltes, L. (2015). Content marketing - the fundamental tool of digital marketing.
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Source: Recency of Updates and Credibility of Information. Journal of Computer-
Mediated Communication, 19(2), 171-183. doi: 10.1111/jcc4.12041