As I look back at the semester, I realize how far I've come as a digital citizen. I think the most important thing I've learned this semester is this: "I CAN." I can be in control of my education; I can direct my own learning; I can be current and knowledgeable about what is going on in the world; I can keep up with the digital age, and I can contribute to the world around me now in meaningful ways. This is what I call "digital confidence". I have developed digital confidence throughout this semester, and I feel empowered. Digital Civilization was much more than a class for me; it was a paradigm shift.
I must admit, the style of the class still gets me. I thrive on positive feedback on how I am doing in the class, facilitated by test scores and grades throughout the semester. I'm really not ready to have all my classes run the way this one was. Still, there are some incredible things that I have gained through this class that could not have been gained any other way. (This image is Creative Commons Licensed by Adalberto.H.Vega.)
It was amazing to me that in the first half of the semester, each of the groups came through with really creative, awesome presentations to teach the class. I was quite impressed. It was then that I first noticed a change in myself. We were not given a grading rubric, nor were we even given a visible "grade" after our presentation. Still, I was motivated to create a quality product, despite the lack of a tangible grade attached. I fully participated, and sometimes acted as a leader in my groups. I felt driven because I felt responsible to teach the class.
The second half of the semester was even more incredible to me. It seemed like everyone wanted to do their part, and help where they could, for the sake of the project. It did take some grades to motivate us. The first release was a bit of a shocker to everyone... After that, however, I was excited about our project simply because we were doing something that would meaningfully contribute to our school, and hopefully our society. I felt a great connection and investment in our eBook, such that I felt sad and disappointed when we realized we would not get it finished in time to publish it by the end of the semester. This experience was not a bad one, though. It taught me other lessons in itself: accountability and team work. I realized that I could have done more to make it happen--there is always more that could be done. Still, it also depends the group, and everyone willing to do their part. I am glad that our eBook will live on, since some of the students will be finishing it. I am planning on working with my group to get together the Library Research 2.0 video and lesson plan after the semester ends.
Through the course of this semester, I have become both digitally savvy, and digitally responsible: from learning about TED Talks and Social Bookmarking websites, to using Creative Commons-licensed works.
Following is a list of the learning outcomes for the class, along with links to demonstrate my learning and development in these areas.
History
I was assigned the 20th Century, and my book was Globalization: A Very Short Introduction. My book mostly covered the present era, but I used self-directed learning to discover more about the other centuries.
Core Concepts
- Control
- Information
- Predicting Technology's Effect on Society
- Presentation is Everything--Especially in the Digital World
- The Truth About Alternative Energy
- Openness
- Participation
- Consume
- Getting Started with Inquiry
- A Counterargument For Inquiry: Making our Project Stronger (A narrative of of my personal experience with "consuming")
- Connect
- A Proposed Tweethis (Using social proof to refine our Tweethis)
- Spreading the Word--Inviting People to Our Event
- Create
- Inquiry: Consume (My portion of the eBook chapter)
- Federal Research Public Access Act (I stumbled on this article that I thought would be useful for the Openness group. Even though the internet was invented in the U.S., the WWW was invented by CERNS to share academic articles.)
- Coding a Better Government
- My groups have used Google Hangout, Prezi, and Google Docs to collaborate, as well as email, texting, and Google+
- Information Group Presentation
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