After watching the videos of my classmates I feel that I know them much better and realize that I if I had revealed more about my personal journey to this point in my life then my profile would be more, well, personal. I really enjoyed learning some things about their journeys and feel more connected with them as a result, so I’m really glad I’ve been forced out of my comfort zone and made to be more sociable online in this way.
In terms of pros and cons, I can’t see any cons to this activity other than perhaps revealing more than one might want others to know. This is something we must remind ourselves and our students about whenever we post information online. Even within a secure and closed group someone could copy your information and publish it to a broader audience than you had intended and without your permission. On the other hand, this sharing of personal stories through video has contributed to the connection I feel for my online classmates, one that is much stronger than I have felt in most of my face-to-face classes. I will certainly try to make introductory videos for my online classroom and will encourage my students to try it in some form as well. I’m really glad I was pushed to debut my video-selfie skills and hope the worst of my stumbling is behind me.