Learning Outcomes: What I've Learned, in Summation

These are some things that I learned this semester:

1. Learn and Follow the BYU-I Learning Model

During the semester, I have done my best to follow the guding principles of the BYU-I Learning Model. Before every class period, I have tried to complete the assignments that have been given and also prepare myself for the class discussion that day. I am usually afraid to give comments or ask questions, so I took some time to think about the discussion that we were going to have before class and note things that might contribute to the class that I could talk about. Another form of preparation that I have tried to do this semester is spiritual preparation. I think this was more manifest when the drafts of my paper were due. I made a point to say my prayers and ask Heavenly Father for guidance concerning how my paper should go. I also asked him for a lot of strength to be able to tackle the many tasks I had to get done this semester so I could balance my studies with work. 

Along with personal preparation I have sought to teach others along the way and learn from my fellow classmates. Through the many discussions with my cohorts that we have had this semester, I have made a point to listen to my fellow students and learn from them about how I could improve my research. An example of a learning experience that I had was when I met with Jen Winterton and Ashley Lewis as a cohort on the roof of the JFSB. We sat and discussed the directions of our papers and decided that we wanted to have a Google hangout to continue to discuss our ideas. Throughout these meetings, both Jen and Ashley were full of ideas of where my topic should go. They really helped me organize my first idea about how blogging can influence politics and social development, as evidenced in this post, "Records of Rebellion..." Most of these sources were recommended by my cohorts. Their added knowledge helped me to create more.

I also remember one day that Jen and I were trying to figure out where her topic of collaboration should go. We were throwing around a bunch of ideas and I brought up some ideas about how online pornography and gambling were sucking the life out of people just like the main antagonist of her book of study, Dracula. With those ideas we had a great discussion about the possibilities of where her paper could go. Even though this did not end up being the final idea she ran with for her paper, she was able to go deeper into the power of collaboration and create a really good paper. 

The last part of the learning model talks about pondering and proving. I think one moment where this really hit me during the whole research process was when I had to make a trailer of my idea for the class. I remember thinking about my topic and wondering why Orwell's book, 1984, was important to me. As I thought about all the research that I had been doing, my thoughts focussed on Winston, the main character, and his journal writing. Winston wrote to express himself and his ideas about the world around him. He was able to experience freedom through his act of creation. Those thoughts made me tie together a lot of ideas that I had been receiving from Dr. Burton and my other classmates and I was able to make this video on YouTube. It was a great experience for me to share this video with others and find out how much they liked it. This really proved to me that the research I was doing had worth. 

           

2. Write Substantially and Publically About Literature

Having to produce material every day for this class has made it easy for me to be able to write substantially and publicly about literature. I have enjoyed getting to blog this semester and come up with new material for each class period. Getting to create my blog, "Bravely Becoming Part of the New World,"  really helped me find a way to write a lot of concise material about my feeling on the literature I was studying.  Also, writing on Google+ in response to my classmates has helped me to expand my understanding of the relationship between literature and the digital world because of the varied topics we were researching.  

3. Develop Research Skills

I guess one of the greatest adjustments that I experienced this semester was having to develop new forms of research skills. From my previous college classes, I had been taught how to do traditional scholarly research. It entailed going to the library, searching the library website for articles on other databases, using JSTOR for everything, etc. We had a fun day in class dedicated to these forms of research when we went to the library and had one of the librarians give a guided tour of the Harold B. Lee Library's online catalog. 

Dr. Burton then opened our eyes to the vast world of knowledge that exists in the digital world, from Goodreads, to Twitter, to Facebook, to Google+, to SlideShare, to Prezi, to YouTube, etc. This list goes on. I felt that this less traditional research opened my world up to social proof. I was amazed at the different blogs that I looked at, like the Theos Project, which gave me ideas for my paper. Another thing that really made me think differently about research was the focus on not just searching for research on our topics, but focussing on people who were interested in our topics. This led to a lot of interesting social discovery with enthusiasts on my topic and some back and forth discussions that helped flesh out my ideas. 

4. Perfect Ideas Socially

Everything about our class has been geared to perfecting our ideas socially. Researching in a box shuts out so many possibilities. Throughout the term I have done my best to give feedback and accept constructive criticism on my own topic. An example of this came when I received some feedback from Jonathan Erdman about a post I had done concerning the article, "The Death of Post-Modernism and Beyond." We had some good discussion back and forth about our different ideas. 

Something else that I tried to do was always have meaningful discussion with my classmates about my topic. Greg Bayles gave some really great feedback on my paper after I linked the draft on Google+. I have some many other wonderful discussions with others in my class, especially with Jen Winterton and Ashley Lewis who were in my cohort. In fact, we even tried to have a public Google+ hangout to put out some of our ideas socially and it was a crazy experience. The most recent experience I had trying to perfect some of my ideas socially was giving a draft of my paper to the assistant editor that I work with at Deseret News, Matt Hartvigsen. It was a bit intimidating allowing him to look at my paper, but he was happy to look it over and he gave me some great feedback that helped me organize the final draft of my paper.    

5. Gain Digital Literacy

I think that the greatest thing I have gained from this semester is becoming digitally literate. With all the links I have given earlier, it shows that this class has expanded my view of the ways I can interact with literature. In fact, I downloaded a Kindle App to my computer and have started reading ebooks of some of my favorite classic literature. I love using Google+, something I had never used before this class and I also have started a blog. This class really has helped me in this area. 

6. Address Changes to Literary Study

I think this post of mine shows how digital media is affecting literary study. It is titled, "Seeking to Create a Fellowship of Ideas." The world is changing around us and the ways that we do research need to evolve with the way that the world is changing. We can't just use traditional methods of research anymore to find all the valuable, timely knowledge that exists in the world. I felt that I have been exposed to so many different mediums of how to experience literature. Holly from my class wrote a great paper titled, "The Social Text," which gives great incite into how our perception of literature is changing with the prevalence of movies and other forms of media that classic works are translated into.