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.