Like Dwight here, I'm gonna miss it. My favorite thing about Digiciv is that I believe it asked me to change my mentality. After the first evaluation, Dr. Zappala invited me to put my personal voice into my entries and into the class projects. Before then, I had been writing blog posts in a robotic fashion, failing to synchronize my semester goals with the class assignments. After the evaluation, I changed my pace and focus a bit. I challenged myself to learn first, and then let the grades result as they should from application and work.
As far as this Honors Civilization credit goes, I would say it was well spent. As Kristi mentioned in the documentary, I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. It was a stretch in my learning and studying habits. For the Learning Outcomes:
1. (Create) The blog posts were a great assignment. It was about learning a general theme, but customizing our learning to our own personal interests, as I did with my Algorithms and Art post. think it taught me the value of streamlining all of my classes together--because this class was all about education systems, I was able to incorporate my photography via learning how to make a widget, and to use my illustration skills to strengthen my presence in the classes' blogging group.
2. (Connect) It valued and utilized teamwork effectively. The outcomes for our group projects were clear enough and our fellow classmates all hard workers (at least mine were), so that I feel each member's work load was fairly balanced. The blog commenting system also connected us to each other as students, which is something I can't say for some of my other classes this semester, where I hardly know anyone's name in a class of only 20.
3. (Consume) Most importantly to me, I think it questioned the status quo of the university system in a thoughtful way. We were taught that knowledge is evolving and changing everywhere, especially in the "cloud," so we need to get ourselves updated. This also had me asking questions about the internet and its capabilities for storing memory, as I did in my post Google is Watching You. All of this technology was balanced with the historical content, which I really enjoyed studying. Diigo was a useful tool for bookmarking our finds as well, and I used it quite a bit.
I know blogging is going to a big part of my future, because you can't be a successful artist nowadays without knowing what's out there. I am in the illustration major to become a self-entrepreneur of sorts, and I need to know my peers' work through the great venue that is the internet. The illustration blogs that I read are not only a huge source of inspiration, but they have allowed more connections in my career so far than any other commission-seeking effort. I really benefited from the instruction that was given about entry brevity and focus, which I value greater than before I took this class.
This class focuses on the true purpose of learning, and I know the message will stay with me for the rest of my undergrad experience. Thanks for your innovation and your careful consideration for why we are all here at a university, even in this digital civilization.
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