final post

1. What has most surprised you when investigating the topic of digital literacy?

Before entering this class, I assumed that I knew what digital literacy encompassed, though if I had been asked to define it, I probably would not have been able to put it into words. And if I tried to describe it to someone else now, I would surely leave something out. I assumed that digital literacy was simply an extension of literacy into the digital world, but now after reading Bolter & Grusin, Kress and Sunstein’s works, that notion strikes me as far too simple. I certainly approach the digital realm differently now: I cannot watch a movie or sit down at my computer or read a book for that matter without thinking about the concepts and theories of remediation, transparency, hypermediacy, reading paths, etc.

2. What has been the most challenging part of this course (and by challenging, I don't mean that you didn't like it, I mean to ask what challenged your previously held notions or beliefs--what made you reconsider something you thought you understood previously.)

Kress’s ideas were difficult for me on two levels. Not only were the concepts he presented difficult for me to understand initially, but also once I understood what he was talking about, I struggled to figure out how to apply them and what they mean in terms of my own interaction in digital environments.

3. What has been your proudest accomplishment? What do you know now that you didn't know before? What can you do now that you couldn't before?

My proudest accomplishment is the work I did with my group members on the collaborative project. While I am excited that we figured out how to use Adobe Premier video editing software quite successfully, I am prouder of the steps we took to get that point. We had so many technical difficulties with hardware and software as we were developing and shooting our video, and we had to do a lot of troubleshooting. Although we had some outside help from MATRF staff, we relied a lot on trial and error to accomplish each step of the project. When things work, we tend not to think about how they work. But when they don’t we are forced to think about how things should work and why.

4. How will what you have learned here affect your life? (That's the real test of a class, isn't it?)

I will continue to think about the concepts we’ve learned in class and through the projects whenever I encounter anything digital. When I look back at all of the classes I’ve taken, the ones that stand out the most are those that have made me approach things from a new perspective, and I think this class has done exactly that. We encounter digital environments on a daily (hourly?) basis, and this class has offered new ways of thinking about the ways we use and interact with digital technologies and environments.