Before taking INTE 2500 digital media learning, when I would think about leaning and education the thought that comes to mind is institutions such as k-12 public schools and universities. Now gaining some insight on what education and learning are, I now know that my leaning and educations have spanned more than just the education I obtain form the formal schools I attended. As seen from the map above my leaning ecology spans extensively and that the formal institutions are just one part of a mulita layer system. A system that is interconnected and influences other branches of educations and affinity groups.
My leaning ecology begins like most people attending public school. Learning traditional literacies such as math, reading, writing, and science. Acquiring the basic literacies for me to easily participate in society. After graduating high school I further my education not by going to college but by joining the United States Army. This was my first instance of leaning new literacies outside of a traditional learning environment was the military. The literacies that I acquired there was shooting, land navigation, movement tactics, and etc. . . What I also learn, was how to navigate a new affinity group. The military itself has its own affinitygroup and subculture complete with its own technical vocabulary. Be in the Army acted as a springboard, exposing me to many different affinity groups that I joined and I still participate in today.
Once being exposed to one affinity group that affinity group would open the door and expose me to other groups. These groups added to my learning, teaching me how to become a better soldier refining m skills in shooting, fitness, and craftsman skills. While the Army has its own institutions to teach these skills, being able to be my own broker of learning allowed me to become a more effective soldier. Being a broker of my learning does not stop there, working in construction going onto YouTube would help expand my skill and knowledge of construction, without having to rely on other brokers to my learning. Before the internet, brokers in the construction were usual coworkers or supervisors on a job site. Now with the internet and forms like YouTube and blogs no longer do works have to rely on those brokers for learning.
Participating in these online affinities helped with the collective leaning of this online community. I may not add videos or post blogs myself, but liking and sharing material that I see add to the collective learning. By sharing and liking a video or blog post, it acts as a social validating system. With enough likes and shares, people will feel confident that the information being presented is accurate. Participating and collective learning does not stop there, while following certain social influencers on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube I was introduced to other influencers that they follow. This further explains my social circle on these online networks as well as expose me to affinity groups otherwise that I would not know of.
