Mirrored Posting: What have I learned?

All standardized courses in public education begin with objectives for their students, and a teacher's performance is measured (theoretically) on how well they meet the standards set for the subject, or student group, they left in their care. Having moved past grade school, I have found that courses here have a similar pattern for much the same reason: to record a student's progress through the educational system. Although at the university level learning outcomes reflect more on the student, and what they have learned, than on the teacher and what they taught.
"Gone with the Wind" are the days when learning was a passive verb, and personally I like this action a little bit more. In direct relation to the Digital Civilizations course, that serves as the spring board for this blog, I have reviewed my progress towards the established learning objectives below.
1.  Students understand western civilization across general historical periods in terms of themes, ideas, people, their works, and events. 
My favorite part about this objective is the word "understand". It makes me feel better about my seeming inability to memorize information and spew it back out on command, in a relatively short about of time, that is. For example, three years of seminary later I can tell you what 2 Nephi 2:25 says, but I could not have two days after we first went over it. But that's digressing, and the point here is to show progress.

The two historical periods we have covered thus far this semester include the Renissance and the Enlightenment, both of which I have enjoyed, particularly due to my ability to link them to learning in American Heritage,these time periods hold significance for us today particularly because of the parallel for today, in that we are experiencing a "rebirth" and challenge to commonly held ideas, as the internet expands our world.

Reading Alexis Tocqueville's Democracy in America, really helped bring all of my recent learning together to gain understanding. 

Therefore the gradual progress of equality is something fated. The main features of this progress are the following: it is universal and permanent, it is daily passing beyond human control, and every event and every man helps it along.

This quote for me links learning of the Renaissance, and a return to education to New Worlds and Worldviews and Humanism, as the very beginning of challenging the established authority on nearly every topic, especially in science and religion. Which then leads to the Protestant Reformation, as facilitated by Print and Print Culture. Nationalism, Empire, Monarchy lead to the capability of the world itself to expand through colonies and travel, while many of these people come from loss of lands due to the enclosure movement, and rather than struggle in established cities, many choose to come across the sea and bring with them all of the best bits of Europe. These ideas included politics by John Locke, and economics by Adam Smith. Which then, if you want to go the American Heritage route, culminates the fomenting idea of individualism in the birth of America the Beautiful. But to continue with Civilizations and the parallel to the modern century, we are the same as the people of the Renaissance, and indeed in a Renaissance of our own, as the new "communications medium" of the digital world forces us to reexamine every principle and see if it can improve in light of the digital world.


2. Students understand a set of basic computing concepts as well as characteristics of digital culture and can relate these both to history and to critical issues of the 21st century.

Understanding of computing concepts as well as digital culture has taken a bit more from me. One of the very first topics we covered in class related artificial intelligence to the Renaissance, and a "rebirth" in the sense that with computer intelligence, and capability on the rise, it is forcing us to rethink the nature of intelligence, and how much of what the computer knows is what we tell it and how much it can figure out on its own, or tell us.



This clip poses the interesting question of how smart should we allow technology to become even if it can indeed become smart. A similar question must have crossed the minds of the Catholics, other authorities and holders, of knowledge as the Renaissance and Enlightenment began to unfold. How much do we let the masses know? As Tocqueville noted earlier, there probably wasn't much the church could do. 

The internet itself has also helped to alter our World and Worldviews through the digital culture in a similar fashion to printing, and the Protestant Reformation. The idea of Open Access, stems from the availability that the internet provides, and has permeated the rest of the culture with various open movements. However, not only do the open movements relate to the flood of information, released through the printing press and the collaborative efforts of significant thinkers, during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. But these ideas relate to 21st century problems such as release of information by the government (open government), and copy rights. To what extent does a thinker own his ideas? This question and many similar to it plague our society today as we try to reexamine old answers to find the best new ones.

Actual Reflections

 
These are the "tip of the ice berg" in the things that I have learned, and through this class and communicating with others outside of the class have come to understand. As a Freshman in this course I find that I am still trying to quantize in some way what is expected of me, in regards to knowledge, as opposed to simply covering the basics and then finding a way to relate them to the rest of my life. In the absolute terms of these first learning objectives, I'll cover the third in the next post, I would say that I have come to understand and interrelate early Western Civilizations and their progression with the Modern Digital age, its culture and concepts, as demonstrated by my efforts above. However, I feel very strongly that there is more that I can do to relate these, sometimes abstract, concepts directly into my life.
Here I don't mean simply tying calculus limits to Newton to the Enlightenment, but rather, what does it mean for me and my choices that there is such a thing as truly free software? Should I fully support the newer open movements, or hang back and tag along on the edge? One of the most direct connections I have been able to make relates to the open government movement discussed in class. Here is something I have found that relates directly to me, especially as elections move closer. Although I can not yet vote,  I still feel it a part of my civic duty to learn about what is going on for the elections and how they will affect me when I can wield influence in my government. Through discussions both in and out of class, and around some blogs, I have come to see other opinions, and to more formally develop my own. For example, I was asked in a recent comment one of my posts, if I would consent to open government if it didn't involve military security. At first I questioned the level of openness that would be required, but now I believe, that yes, overall more openness would benefit the public at large, through allowing the people to make more informed choices and to speak to others about what is actually going on.
Therefore, all in all I would consider my grasp of the learning objectives of this course to be well on its way. I have very much enjoyed this class so far, and although I have not been the model student of finding and connecting vast resources to the weekly topics, or even been the most diligent in keeping on top of commenting and posting, I do believe that I have come a lot farther than the place I was at just over a month ago, in reaching out and researching on the internet to expand my Worldview. I can't wait to see what is outside the windows opened in the next months!

More to come on the 3Cs!