Learning Outcomes

Today, I'm going to reflect on the course learning outcomes, and see if I met them.

1. History

I think I learned a good deal about history from 1500-2000.  In the first posts of this blog, I wrote a great deal about each historical period.  I sometimes got more specific, talking about Marxism, Modernism, and the Gutenberg press (though that post was lost in cyberspace) in later posts.

2. Core Concepts

I also applied history to our digital civilization.  In my early historical posts, I related each period to something contemporary, such as the 17th-Century power struggle and SOPA and PIPA.  I compared Occupy Wall Street to the French and American Revolutions.  As we wrote the eBook, I talked about JFK's fireside chats and compared them to Obama's google+ hangouts.

3. Digital Literacy

I had to do a lot of consuming and research because I didn't know much about many of the digital concepts we covered.  I think I could have done a little better about filtering my sources, though.  Sometimes I just used Wikipedia, but I think as time went on I learned to research through professor's blogs and found new websites that were helpful in our eBook.  As far as creating, google+ and blogging were totally new to me, and I felt like I was taking a huge leap ahead in my digital literacy in that aspect alone.  But, I think I could have done a better job at communicating and connecting with other students in the class.  I often was just in my own little world and forgot that I needed to try discussing with my peers.  I did attempt to write to Senator Orrin Hatch and do a little social proof.  He didn't write back, but I've never tried anything like that before, so that was good.

4. Self-Directed Learning

I definitely learned a lot while researching on my own.  One of my favorite self-directed learning experiences was when I used a Redbox for the first time.  I did something hands-on and it got me thinking about disruptive innovation, and it was a new experience.  

5. Collaboration

The eBook was one of the best group projects I've ever worked on.  Our government group was small, but we all learned a ton as we shared our thoughts and ideas and then added them to our chapter.  Each week, we talked about what we'd done, what needed to be done still, and made assignments.  Also, our history presentation worked well because all of us were passionate about what we were talking about (the 19th Century).  We went a little long because we all loved each of our sections.

The Results / How Digitally Civilized Am I Now?

I’m the kind of person that likes going back to the beginning.  I think it’s easiest to see how you’ve grown from an experience by looking at who you were at the start and who you are now.  I know you’re probably thinking, “Wait, you already did a reflective post on what you’ve learned!”  You’re right, I did.  But this isn’t a post about what I learned.  When this all started, you may remember, this blog was an experiment.  Having never done much in the way of creating or consuming online, I was testing the waters.  Are there that many benefits to contributing to the internet?  Or is it just disconnecting us from the real world?  So this post isn’t about what I’ve learned; it’s looking at the results of my experiment.

One of the reasons I called this blog an experiment was because I was a little paranoid about putting my name out there online.  Years of computer-classes focused on internet safety convinced me every tap on your keyboard led the pedophiles closer and closer to your house.  I’m happy to report that I am not as afraid of creating online, and I have learned that there is a balance between openness and control.  You have a right to keep your information safe.  You don’t have to put your entire life on the internet to create something.  But, if you don’t add your voice online, it will never be heard. 

Many of these posts, you may have noticed, are about the e-book chapter my group was writing about Open Government.  Again and again I encouraged readers to find out about how they can change legislation by looking at blogs and forums and government social media sites, and interact with others interested in making a difference, including government officials.  Our civilization is moving towards the web; that’s where things happen these days.  That’s where grassroots movements start.  If we don’t contribute, we won’t make a difference.  So keep yourself safe online, but don’t avoid creating something great because of fear.

Which brings me to the next question of my experiment: what are the benefits of contributing online?  Already we’ve seen it can cause changes in government.  That also applies to the sciences, arts, business, etc.  We have the world at our fingertips, and we can learn anything we want if we know how to look for it, and then we can transform the world with calls to action. And if nothing else, blogging lets me get my ideas out.  I enjoy creating, and the internet lets me do that in a fast, easy way.  

By the way, I liked blogging so much that I started another one where I teach Spanish once a week.  I haven’t done a lot with it in the last little while (I got busy), but if you’re interested I’ll hopefully start working on it again.  Here’s the link:

 http://weeklyspanish.blogspot.com/

So, blogging has allowed me to create and even help others.  I started the Spanish blog because a friend of mine wanted to learn but I lived too far away to teach her in person.  I hope that she and other people can actually take something from my blog and learn a language.  Cool idea?  You know it.

Finally, since everything seems to be moving online, and we truly have a digital civilization, what happens to our physical world?  Are we becoming disconnected from each other in our electrically connected society?  I think it depends on how you use the technology.  I’ve said it before, but I’m saying it again: technology is amoral.  You can do great things with it or bad things.  So, some people might be so into their Facebook account that they forget to talk to their friends in person, while others will use Facebook to organize events to get together with friends, or to stay in contact with someone who is too far away to see talk to otherwise. 

I used to think technology was an expensive waste of time.  And there are some things online that I think I can do without for now.  Pintrest, for example, is obviously helpful to some, but I’m not sure I would actually use it for good reasons; I think I would just use it to procrastinate homework.  But, I also see how technology is part of our culture, and if you aren’t participating, you aren’t really a part of it.  Don’t think of the digital world and the real world as separate things, because the digital world makes up the real world.  Culture is reflected in and created by the technology we use.

This has been a successful experiment, in my opinion.  And I'd say I'm a little more digitally civilized now.  But I have a ways to go.

What Have I Learned?

In response to Brandon Robison's post about what he has learned from this class, I thought I should do the same.

1. I have learned that I know nothing about digital civilization.  I still hear words in class that I'm like, "What's that?" and someone explains it to me like it's been a part of their life forever, and I think, "Where do you people hear about this stuff?"  So, I've obviously got more to learn.

2. I have learned about self-directed learning.  I, like Brandon, have had a love-hate relationship with it.  It's become apparent to me that I am very dependent on my professors to hand me information.  The hardest part of this class was knowing where to start each day.  I felt I didn't know enough about the subject to even search for blog topics.  How do you find out about open government if you don't even know it exists?  So, I disliked self-directed learning because I didn't know how to learn on my own.  On the other hand, I liked it because I realized I didn't know how to learn on my own.  I don't want to be forever dependent on someone else's knowledge to increase my own.  I want to be a self-directed learner.  I'm still trying to find out how to do that; it seems to take more time than just listening to a lecture.  Maybe that's why I can't bring myself to hate it: if something makes me stretch, that means I wasn't growing before.  And lack of growth means lack of life.

This is what I need to do.

3. I am more aware of how technology affects me in every aspect of my life.  I used to see it as something that took up money and time, but now I see it is something that influences the culture around me, influences my future work and family life, and even influences science, government, and education.  It is amoral, which means its effect on my life and on those around me depends on how I use it.

4. I have learned that I can make a difference in the world.  Our huge class project seemed so impossible when I first heard it proposed.  A book?  We're going to write a book?  This is going to go down in flames, guys.  I suppose we have yet to have a nice, finished copy, but I've been proven wrong: we can do something amazing, and it can influence other people.  It makes me want to get more involved online, write a blog or e-book or something that challenges others to act.  The internet has given us something empowering and I feel excited about creating.

5. I have found patterns in historical examples that apply today.  We live in a digital civilization, but we've really just inherited what already existed.  We have many of the same attitudes that our predecessors had towards openness and control and finding the balance between the two.  On the other hand, I've also found that we live in a time that is unprecedented.  Never before have we been able to connect in the way we can now, and our influence over others has increased exponentially.  We must, however, learn from the past in order to use this influence for good and avoid the failures of history.

Overall, I'm excited about living in this time-period and the potential we have to make a difference with the tools available to us today.