Learning to Observe

1/28/07: One thing I have learned from this online course so far is to be observant, and to stay observant. This means always referring to the syllabus before beginning an assignment and noting all the detailed instructions. It also means to not only refer to the syllabus but to refer to the Course Materials section in Blackboard before beginning an assignment.

I realized this today when I received an e-mail from Dr. Woods saying that I needed to include my three web searches in one document according to the format outlined in Blackboard. Although I had referred to the syllabus for this assignment, I did not refer to Course Materials in Blackboard, so my format was way off! Instead, I submitted each web search separately, not in APA style but in Vanessa's style.

I don't know if I have ever had to be so attentive to detail and various forms of communication and media in my life. In a way, this is difficult for me to get used to, and I know I will need to train myself to consult the syllabus, announcements, class discussion board and course materials for each assignment and on most days of the week!

I'm experiencing that this way of learning, communicating, and receiving an education is very different from the traditional college classroom. Rather than being attentive in a classroom and writing down the instructions the professor speaks aloud in one class period, I need to train myself to search, find and read the instructions the professor has already written in various sections of Blackboard and on the syllabus.

Sure, I don't have to drive to campus and walk to class, but I have to electronically "walk" to Blackboard, find my seat in the Course Materials or relevant section, and read the instructions the professor gives.

A Basic Need

1/24/07: I read the article "Blogs: A Disruptive Technology Coming of Age?" by Phillip D. Long. Although I think this article is mostly generic information that left me asking more questions that weren't answered, it brought up some thought-provoking points. First, the author writes, "The desire to communicate is powerful, and technological innovations are frequently driven by our basic needs." The author gives the example of e-mail being invented so that engineers could communicate -- and that is the key word: communicate. Communication is a basic need -- self-expression is a basic need. The private, personal diary is no longer as popular (or so it seems) as the online diary -- the blog. Now our diaries are not only shared, but they are written on the world wide web for all the world to see! It's as though now that blogs, online diaries, are possible and accessible, millions are taking advantage of it, which proves human kind's great need for for communication -- for sharing and feedback -- with others.

Yet I wonder if this kind of communication grows increasingly popular because, as people communicate online more, their need for personal contact increases because their need is not being completely filled. Perhaps communication online is not as personal, and therefore not as fulfilling, as face-to-face contact and interaction. I could be wrong about this, but the thought has crossed my mind a few times.

As our society grows busier, people spend more time online, and as people are busier and spend more time online, their need for personal, face-to-face interaction increases. To substitute for that need, folks express themselves online more.

The growh of bloggers is amazing. Long writes that the New York Times estimated "there were now over half a million Weblogs, with the number growing." Why the hunger? Why such rapid growth? It all goes back to our need for communication, for contact. Entrepreneur Jacob Shwitz "likens this growth to the digital equivalent of sharing stories around the campfire, almost a primal urge" (Long). Our needs have not changed, but the mediums of communication have. And as the mediums make contact perhaps less personal, I believe our need grows, and so does our use of technology to pacify those needs.