My first day in Honors 202 was full of surprises and questions. Being introduced to blogging and digital culture at the same time, being invited to consume, create, and connect, and being challenged to find online sources that could be better than the professor's material were all new concepts to me. I mean, "self-directed learning"? What kind of class is this? However, my views on this class have drastically changed over the past semester. From this class, I not only learned about historical concepts, but also actively integrated these concepts in my daily life through digital culture. I am excited to share with you a few of my last thoughts about this class.1) Historical Context
In Honors 202, Dr. Burton and Dr. Zappala stress the importance of taking course content and personalizing it. For example, my college career has been devoted to preparing for medical school. I love science and biochemistry, and love even more patient care, volunteering, and the miracles of science in medicine. When we learned about technological advances, I was able to do research on the history of heart diseases and miraculous discoveries of the atomic age. The development of evolution and how it plays in with Mormonism was another one of my favorite subjects. Sharing my passions on the web has been enriching and I learned so much more writing about the subject. More recently, we learned about Web 2.0 and Education 2.0. This led me to wonder if science was also headed towards the 2.0 direction. To my delight, I came across Science 2.0, which Dr. Burton further shared links of other scientific communities headed towards this new method of science.
While interviewing at med schools, I was asked many questions which led me to ponder on how everything became the way it is. In my blog post, "what makes me unique?", I share some of my thoughts about how America has developed into a nation that treasures uniqueness. Some aspects of uniqueness also comes from the principle of capitalism and the invisible hand of Adam Smith.
Oh yes, before I forget. History came alive as we read literature and saw fruit of those time periods. My group read Frankenstein in order to better understand romanticism. It truly came alive for me. Please look at my book review for a more detailed description of the impact it had on my life.
I have never experiences such rigorous application of historical content into my life.
2. Computing Concepts and Digital Culture
One of my most favorite aspects of this course was the lessons on digital concepts. Not only do we learn about history of the past, we learn about the history we make! Topics such as hacking, algorithms, and computer development all held my attention. Each and every one of the computing concepts related to my life.
Algorithms are a part of everyday life. The more perfect the algorithm, the more efficient we are. This applies to science, as scientists try to solve for protein structures just based on amino acid sequences. It's like predicting how a building will look just by looking at the blocks you start with. Really neat.
Realizing all of the possibilities and the great discoveries we live in invigorates me and increases my passion for discovery spiritually, physically, emotionally, and scientifically. I wanted to find out more about missionaries who work online. Who would have figured that one of my best friends has a brother who is involved with online missionary work!?
When Dr. Zappala shared about unsolvable problems, I related that to another unsolvable problem, that of L-amino acids.
I loved learning about open source and saw the fruits of open source in my Cell Biology class, where students shared a googledoc with the entire class instead of hoarding information to themselves. Everybody was able to benefit by finding problems quickly, reporting answers quickly, even the professor helped out with this effort :) I loved this portion of the class
3. Self-Directed Learning
I have been constantly improving and learning from others as I direct my learning. I love reading the blogs of classmates, as well as following their links. Even this blog is patterned after the blog of one of my most respected classmates, Sarah. Because my peers all come from different backgrounds and specialties, I can take their experiences and re-live them through their blogs. From these, I learned about passionate humanitarian service from Jeff, what it's like to live close to radioactive waste from Danny, first person view of the Tibetan situation from Kristen, and much much more. The professors keep their blogs updated and I try my best to show my passion as well as they do.
CONSUME:
I begin by reading the course material and reading assignment. Once I get an idea of the direction we are going, I read the blog of the professors, then move onto the blogs of my fellow classmates. Reading their opinions helps me formulate my own and I direct my studies towards interesting things to me. Consume labs I have created are: Boolean Searching and Academic Research.
CREATE:
Once I know where I want to take my studies, I write a blog addressing the issue and my opinions. I post many links to my classmates blogs, as well as my sources. I love writing and have developed a comfortable style and balance between my opinion, previous research, and the opinion of students and professors. Create labs I have created are: How to use Twitter and Flyers!
CONNECT:
This is one of my favorite portions of this class. I have been able to make so many friends and discuss issues with my classmates. I love commenting on other people's blogs and ask many questions to people both physically and online. I have over 1,000 facebook friends ;) Connect labs I have created are: Google Calendar and Skype.
One of my best experiences connecting was as I was at an interview in New York. There, I made a good friend, Elly, who was also interviewing at the same medical school. She is a student at MIT, and I brought up the MIT hackers Dr. Zappala showed us. She shared more insight on the group, supporting what Dr. Zappala taught. In fact, this group is exclusive. You cannot just join them, but you have to be invited. Only the most professional and skilled people are in the group. She was so excited to talk to me about that, and showed interest in me. Soon, we were talking about Mormonism, and she asked the golden question, "Why are there so many churches?". Though I didn't have a Book of Mormon, I was able to show her the website and she is learning more.
GROUP PROJECT
I learned a lot about microfinance and applying Web 2.0 principles into our Club 2.0. My team and I all had similar effort into the club and we are excited to see it grow.
I am glad to be able to learn so much in this class from two excellent teachers. I will continue to keep using these principles of application in my life. I am excited to try to make a website for my sister, a young and ambitious concert pianist. I am excited to help BYU Microfinance grow and network. I am excited to see the many ways this class impacted my life, just like it did Shauna.
I put my all into this class and I gained so much. And if I get an A in this class, I will be on the 4.0 Deans list! :) So please, vote for me!
I'll miss all ya's! See ya online!
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