More Reflections on my Digital Civilization Class

So, I find myself in the same situation as Ariel.  That is, unfortunately, this blog post is a little late.  What I find so funny about that is that Ariel made the kind comment that I am "frequent and timely" with my blog posts.  Thanks Ariel for your nice review.  At least I try to be frequent and punctual most of the time.  Anyway....


I have really enjoyed the semester so far in my Digital Civilization class.  The class has been a whirlwind of new information and concepts as well an examination of past people, places, ideas, and events (historical content).  Since my last reflective blog post, I have tried to do better at giving equal portion to the old ideas as well as the new.  I feel I have certainly given a lot more to research and learn more about the historical concepts that we are learning about.  From Romanticism to Evolution to Modernism, I have tried to continually improve in showing that I understand the historical concepts upon which this class is based.  My improved understanding of this historical concepts has been the result of two things.  First, I have simply work harder at it, especially since Prof. Zappala mentioned that I needed to during my interview with him earlier this semester.  Second, the historical concepts we are learning about are becoming more and more tied into the digital concepts and digital culture which is part of the second learning outcome of the class.

Image by Me

As far as learning the digital concepts of the class, I think I have been doing pretty well.  I really enjoyed Prof. Zapalla's lecture on the limitations of computers.  I never knew that there were limits that could be placed on the computational power of computers and humans alike.  As much as I feel like I am learning and understanding in these areas, perhaps I am not writing about them as much as before.  My tendency towards blogging about what was (or will be) discussed in lecture is apparent.  In the class schedule, there are computing concepts and parts of digital culture that I have skipped over, as far as blogging about them, even if I do understand them.  I just need to make more connections to the historical content and this is something that I intend on doing more of for the latter part of the class.

Image from Florida Center for Instructional Technology

Self Directed Learning!  Those seems to be the big buzz words in our class lectures (along with "getting caught up with your blogs" J).  I have done a lot of self directed learning while in this class.  The way the class is set up encourages self directed learning.  The readings are great, but they often leave me curious to go off and find more information.  I often default (Sorry, Prof Burton) to using sites like Google and Wikipedia as starting places for my learning (consuming).  Other places I enjoy beginning my content-consumption is by reading other students blogs using Google Reader or looking at others students bookmarks using the social bookmarking website Diigo.  Once I have consumed content, I try my best to bookmark things that I have consumed so I can share them with others.  Along with bookmarking, I enjoy commenting on blogs that I have read.  Although this is less visible from the teachers' standpoint (because we are not friends on Facebook, or Twitter followers), I have been sharing a lot of things via my Twitter and Facebook accounts.  


Consume, Create, Connect - the keys to vitality (and reputation) in the digital world.  From this class on, I really feel like I want to be somebody online so that I can make a difference in this ever changing technological world.  This class has been a starting point and I hope to make improvements along the way.  I am really grateful I followed the prompting I had about a year ago to take the honors version of my civilization 2 GE requirement.