Upon entering this class, I figured it was going to be learning about social media and how to connect with other people. While this is part of it, I find myself realizing that I’m getting a lot more out of this. I’m learning different ways to express myself and I’m being allowed to create my own identity via the internet.

The tools this class uses have helped in large part. Gardner Campbell discusses this in both his essay and his presentation on cyberinfrastructure. In his presentation he defines cyberinfrastructure as: something more specfiic than the network itself, but it is something more general than a tool or a resource developed for a particular project, range of projects, or, even more broadly, for a particular discipline. He wishes to use this in higher education to make learning more hands on. The more a student is able to contribute to their learning, the more they will learn. I agree with this wholeheartedly. The world is becoming more and more dependent on the internet and communicating via different mediums like Facebook and Twitter. The more you learn about it and how to use it, the more successful you are going to be in the long run. Too many students don’t care about school, they are just doing it because that is what they are “supposed to do.” The idea that Campbell uses to put the learning on the student via the internet and creating their own website, blog, Twitter, etc. will allow students to learn more than they school. Students become more open to the world and themselves the more they are able to identify themselves and put themselves out there. The internet allows them to create their identity and show it to others.

Michael Wesch touches on this idea in his presentation. He discusses the different between being knowledgeable and knowledge-able. He defines this as going from just learning things to being able to create new information and knowledge. The mediums on the internet allow for people to do just that. In the context of higher education and the classroom, he discusses that teaching is linear. The teacher dictates what is to be done and the student does it without question. The student is absorbing information and writing it down, but not necessarily creating knowledge. When Wesch discussed this it was like a light bulb went off above my head. Classes are exactly like that. I tend to ask, “what needs to be done to turn in this project or paper to get a good grade?” That isn’t learning necessarily, it is doing work in order to get a specific outcome with no new information or knowledge. Wesch shows how the internet can create new ideas and generate creativity throughout the world by his example of his video going viral. His little video was seen by thousands, probably millions, of people throughout the world. His ideas were new and people were absorbing that. Social media needs to be put into the classroom as a way for students to be creative and learn outside of the classroom.

These two videos were both intriguing and inspiring. I’m excited to see what is in store for us next.