Reflective Essay
The following is a reflective essay on the social initiatives I have taken up personally in
response to the things I have been learning in the Masters of Science in Education
program. I have gotten to learn alot of things and also affirm beliefs and values that were
introduced to me at the undergraduate level of my studies. The bulk of the coursework
was academically and theoretically oriented but there was also the issue of contemporary
applications of education and how to overcome the challenges facing today’s education
sector.
To the end of social change, the learning has prompted me to become an advocate for the
widespread dissemination of accurate information both at an academic level and also for
the purposes of personal or general knowledge. I have been on using two main platforms
for these, the first one is in the face to face interactions I have with people within my
sphere of influence. The other approach I have been using is the use of the different
social media platforms available to me as a means of further pushing for change inn the
way people approach, create and share information (Cochran-Smith and Zeichner).
Within my social sphere of influence on have been regularly encouraging my peers as
well as relatives to use resources available to them as a means of bettering their lives and
those of others. If someone is for instance a foreign language student, I can urge him to
get into situations hw/she will be forced to speak the language or at least hear people
speak it. If another friend is a car enthusiast, I would tell him to research about
automotive associations or clubs in his vicinity and make an effort of joining. These are
not just empty activities but rather social situations that place the individual with others
who have a similar interest. The concentration of knowledge within these settings will
make a person’s studies or hobby more worthwhile as they will get to learn and also share
the knowledge they have.
I have maintained this theme of social change in my online behavior. On the internet, my
reach is much wider but the size of the audience tends to diminish the message.
Nevertheless, this breadth also serves a very important purpose; it gives me a wider scope
to operate on. Social networks such as a Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have at least s
third of the world’s population interacting. The ‘share’ feature that allows one to post a
link to a given story or article has been of great importance to me. I use my online
accounts to continually advocate for social change in the way people use the internet. My
hope is that I inspire people to move from merely consuming knowledge but also sharing
it, developing it further and refining what they already know through social networking
with like-minded individuals.
I have a strong belief that my advocacy in both face-to-face and social media platform
will bring about change in the way people interact with information. Once people realize
the full value of crowd-sourced information, they will be in a position to expand the
horizons of their knowledge. Students will for instance not be limited to the knowledge
their instructors have. Hobbyists will find new ways of engaging in the various
recreational activities they love doing. Professions will benefit more due to the exchange
of ideas and the refining of existent good ideas (Marzano, 2010).
References
Marzano, R. J. (Ed.). (2010). On excellence in teaching. Solution Tree Press.
Zehm, S. J., & Kottler, J. A. (1993). On being a teacher: The human dimension. Corwin
Press, Inc., A Sage Publications Company, 2455 Teller Road, Newbury Park, CA 91320.
