Learning Outcomes Revisited

I've been thinking about the different learning outcomes that we had as our goals for my digital literacy class, and it has me reflecting back on all the different things that I've been doing this semester to try to meet them.

• 1. Learn and Follow the BYU-Idaho Learning Model

  1) Prepare

  
  

  -I've done my best to be ready for discussion in each class period, and I've worked at making sure that I complete assignments on time. I've learned a lot not only from the things that we've covered in class but also from independent study. I studied Amusing Ourselves to Death and read pretty much anything that I stumbled upon that had to do with blogging and digital media, and I've worked to not just do what was required.

  
  
  

  2) Teach One Another

  
  

  -I've been consistent about contributing constructively to other classmates' work and have tried to post numerous comments on everyone's work throughout the semester. I contributed research materials and ideas to my cohort members and others throughout the research process. In terms of my own research and learning, I have shared my research with as many people as possible, as evidenced by the almost 1,200 blog views that I've gotten over the course of the term. I've shared things that I've learned in class with friends, roommates, my mom, and others, and I have advocated blogging to a number of writers that are working on getting their works published.

  
  

  3) Ponder and Prove

  
  

  -I've tried to make digital media a major part of my life, especially over the course of the term. I've thought a lot about the implications of digital media and tried to use digital media in new ways (E-books rather than regular books, Google hangouts instead of regular get-togethers, collaborative work through GoogleDocs). I have tried to embrace digital media in multiple forms in creating 2D art based on the premise of binary art, creating a video blog, composing and recording a song to Youtube, experimenting with various programs and engines (Wordle, Icerocket, Twitter, GoAnimate, Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Prezi), creating Wordles (and for various purposes) and GoAnimate videos, creating "Samemes," and in my blogging, I've really tried to put as much of myself out there as possible.

  
  
  
• 2. Write Substantially and Publicly About Literature
  In my writing, I've tried to address not just my class or my friends but the world as a whole. I've drawn from a number of academic and non-academic sources in my writing, and I've done my best to engage people from all spheres of influence through Facebook posts, Google+ updates and links, sharing of my developing research ideas, requesting feedback from scholars and enthusiasts through direct email contact, posting questions on Twitter accounts/groups, posting questions on online forums, and sharing my writing with family and friends through my blog. I have made numerous invitations to scholars to comment on my work, as I did in this letter to Dr. Kylie Peppler, a professor involved in digital studies:
  
  

  Dr. Peppler,
  I'm a student at Brigham Young University, and I have been studying Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead as part of an independent research project for a class on digital literacy. I recently stumbled upon your article, "Building creativity: collaborative learning and creativity in social media environments," and I was really intrigued by the things that you had to say there as pertaining to creativity and collaborative creation. It's something that I've been looking into specifically with Rand's 'ethic of creation' as a sort of lens through which to view the digital media culture. I wrote a blog post today about Quest Atlantis on my research blog, http://baylesgreg-eng295.blogspot.com/, and I would love to hear some more of your thoughts as to how digital media stifles and/or stimulates creativity and in which direction I might be able to go with my research. Thank you so much for your time.
  Sincerely,
  Greg Bayles 

   I wrote similar letters to the authors of every article that I read in my initial stages of research with the exception of one, whose email address I wasn't able to track down. I ended up revamping my research topic a number of times to make it more substantial and more engaging (more controversial, in some regard) so that it would be something that people actually cared about, and I shared that process through my blogging. I wrote mass emails to everyone in my contacts lists online asking them to read my blog and respond, and I got back lots of responses from friends and family (as well as a few from unexpected visitors!).
• 3. Develop Research Skills
  I used a number of different traditional and non-traditional resources in researching my topic. I went to the HBLL and looked on the shelves for pertinent books, and when I wasn't able to find any, I found a librarian who just so happened to be a Rand fanatic. She suggested some good books for me to check out. I used a number of academic search engines through BYU's subscriptions, and I contacted the authors of articles that I found to dig deeper into the topics that they address in their writing. Here's another instance of a successful scholar contact:

  
  

  Dr. Montmarquet,

  
  

  I'm a student at Brigham Young University, and I have been studying digital literacy through the lens of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead as part of an independent research project for a class on writing (digital) literary criticism. I recently stumbled upon your article, "Prometheus: Ayn Rand's Ethic of Creation," and I was really intrigued by the things that you had to say there as pertaining to the demise of the ideal of the 'Promethain creator.' This is something that I've been looking into specifically as I've sought to understand better the ethic of creativity and the ways in which digital media stimulate and facilitate creativity. I feel that the internet is a great enabler of creativity and is, in some sense, rekindling the dying fire of creativity. The rules of creativity are changing, and the digital media, it seems, is at the heart of this, especially in matters of collaborative work. I am still very much so in the first phases of research, so I've been posting some of my findings and thoughts on my research blog, http://baylesgreg-eng295.blogspot.com/; I wondered, though, if you might be willing to share some of your thoughts as to how the internet has changed the creative process. Is the role of the great modern creators still more so individualistic, or is creativity becoming predominantly a social, collaborative process? Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. I hope to hear from you soon.

  
  

  Sincerely,

  Greg Bayles

  I began my searches in social media, searching through Google+ and finding communities of online Objectivists. I found an Objectivist dating service in addition to tons of people talking about Objectivist ideas, especially with regard to politics and economic philosophy. I found an enthusiast named Patrick, or rather, he found me when I posted a shout-out to Objectivists. YouTube yielded another few enthusiasts, two of whom responded through YouTube message services. Facebook yielded similar finds, among them an enthusiast whom I contacted on accident and whom I asked to write a guest blog:
  
  
  

  Robert,

  So sorry if I caught you off guard. I was looking for some way to contact Dr. Powell, and when your name popped up on Facebook with references to Objectivism and Ayn Rand, I thought to myself, "How many Robert Powells can there be that are posting about Rand?" Apparently the answer is more than one.
  
  I really like what you said as to the role of the creator and the implications of digital media. It's amazing even to think that we, two seemingly random strangers, are able to carry on a conversation through digital means. It is, in some regards, a miracle.
  
  This is maybe a shot in the dark, but would you be at all interested in contributing content to my research blog? I've been thinking of having a guest enthusiast blogger talk about his/her experience with Rand's literature and his/her thoughts about creativity and the internet, and I really like the direction of your ideas. Don't feel pressured or anything, but if that'd be something that you'd like to do, I could set it up, and I'd be really glad to hear some more of your thoughts. In any case, though, thanks again for your response. Have a great day!
  
  -Greg

  
  
   He agreed, but I haven't heard back from him in a little bit now. Not really sure what happened, but he hasn't been active on Facebook since we last talked, so we'll hopefully hear back from him and get things going again. I used Twitter and found a bunch of people, also talking primarily about politics or economics, and I asked questions there in Objectivist groups to try to get people talking about creativity and digital media. I posted on an old video game forum that I used to frequent to see if I could get any response there, and that yielded some interesting opinions.
  
  
  My research extended as much as possible into real person-to-person interaction as well. I talked with as many people as I could about my research topic to hear their ideas, and I even managed to set up a face-to-face interview with a Rand enthusiast here at BYU! I sent lots and lots of emails to scholars and enthusiasts and actually had pretty good response rates. I got back responses of some sort from five different scholars, three of which responded more than once over the course of my research. For non-scholarly contacts, I got the most feedback from friends and family members, who actually contributed pretty regularly.
  
  4. Perfect Ideas Socially ,  5. Gain Digital Literacy, and  6. Address Changes to Literary Study
  The last three learning outcomes, I think, are covered pretty well in my responses to the first three, but I'll reiterate and add a couple of things. As I've mentioned above, my research focus changed a lot over the course of my study of digital media through The Fountainhead. I began with the intention of covering the topic of the power of one in bringing about chance, as augmented by digital media. I then changed my focus to the Randian virtue of self in creation, which, based on feedback from classmates especially, eventually evolved into the self-actualization of the individual creator through digital media. Then evolved into the power of the individual creator but with emphasis on how digital social environments influence and contribute to individual creation.
  I've already listed a bunch of things that, I think, manifest that I have grown in digital literacy, but some resources that I haven't mentioned yet are Diigo and Evernote, both of which I began using as part of the class. I also got a re-introduction into RefWorks, which is a really valuable citation resource. I've been active and open about expressing my thoughts as to digital literacy and how literacy is changing as a result of modern technology, and the process of researching and blogging has really helped me to become knowledgeable about the topics on a first-person basis.