Even though the term is "officially" over for CMC11 students taking the class for credit, the things I've learned in this experience / space will stay with me through out my life, in all aspects especially in how I approach and solve problems in regard to work and my education. During the break between terms, I hope to return to work full time with a new sense of creative problem solving that will make work more enjoyable and challenging for me. I hope I can reflect on this through out the break as well.
As far as my education, next spring will be my final term. As an Art major, it has been invaluable to learn about the different types of learning and how the beneficial the creative process, and creativity in general is. I loved the idea that you can learn to be creative. It was one of my favorite topics in the course and again one I will reflect on for a long time.
As far as the experience this term, I felt like by the end of the term I had just begun to learn my place and learning style in the MOOC. Collaborating with Brandy on our final assignment taught me so much about content curation and the different ways of finding information on the website. I was shown great resources and websites that I otherwise might have never found on my own.
The resources given in the outline of this class seem to be just the beginning in terms of guiding the students on their path to creativity, connectivism, and communication. In the end, I wish I had known more ways of expressing my opinions rather than the blogs and the occassional discussions. I think the Facebook Group for CMC11 is a great place to hold discussions and I hope students and facilitators both encourage the people registered in the class to participate and share on that group page.
Thats all I can think of for now, off to write way too many more papers before the end of the official ESC term.
Richele
Monday, December 17, 2012
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Final Reflections
Richele Young
Creativity & Multi-Cultural Communication
FA12: Final Course Reflections
When I first started this course
and started exploring the land of MOOC – massive online open course, I
immediately began looking for some structure and guidelines in regard to what I
was supposed to do in this type of learning environment, as I had never taken a
class like this before. I’ve learned that in this type of learning environment,
the concept of connectivism is imperative. Connectivism is being able to communicate
and share ideas effectively to other participants using many different outlets
on the Internet, whether it is through discussions, blogs, or social
networking.
Through my final presentation, I
have learned about an aspect of a personal learning environment, and that is
content curation. In my presentation, I went through different categories of
how content curation relates to connectivism in that it allows users to connect
and network based on similar interests. Through this presentation, I discovered
the www.scoop.it and that is a website that I
will continue to use through out my education and beyond. I will also always
stay connected with Facebook as another outlet of connectivism because I feel
it will continue to be a long lasting channel for people to connect and
communicate.
In the beginning of the semester, I
installed the diigo tool in toolbar of my web browser and had just started to
understand the concept of collecting and bookmarking data online. I did not pay
attention to the dates of the articles or postings I had found. As I will
continue to “lurk” in the CMC experiment, I will also keep my diigo more
current since I now know how to use the scoop it tool.
In terms of my blog, I believe I
showed progression in my actual experience of exploring and continuing to
understand all of the seemingly never ending ideas that come out of, and come
from, the MOOC. Blog postings for business or networking purposes are a great
idea to allow authors to explain and display their ideas while giving other’s
the options to comment and collaborate. Although many blog sites are changing
and evolving, with some even fading, I think blogs will always be an important
tool, especially the ones that allow for more interactivity and networking to
be made possible and user-friendly for its users.
Lastly and most importantly, my
experience in the MOOC has completely opened my eyes to a new way of learning.
Being taken away from the linear learning path after so many years and being
thrown into this wide open place where you are free to explore has definitely
impacted my creativity and approach to problem solving. I’ve not only learned
about so many different learning tools that make finding information easier,
but I’ve learned about the importance of connectivism and how much that affects
my creativity. I am excited to continue to lurk in the course and go back to
the sections on creativity because they were the most interesting to me. I feel
like I’ve been enlightened in so many ways and actually feel surprised that
such a different way of learning existed without my knowledge at all. I will
continue to use this class as guide in the way I collect and explore all the
information I gather on my educational and life long learning journey.
Thank you Carol for this opportunity!
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