Throughout the course of the quarter I have learned how to very superficially use advanced software, which will be possibly very useful in the future. Since now I have Dreamweaver as well as wide range of video editing software under my belt, I feel more confident to play around with these programs. Even though the class seemed very appealing at first, the amount of work needed in order to be successful in this class was very intimidating at first. Most of the projects were targeted as “fun” and “creative” giving us the freedom to express ourselves and research whatever topic we had a compelling interest for.

As the class progressed I had a blurry idea of what to expect and what to do in order to be successful in this class. I never considered myself to be technologically impaired, and as the technological challenges came I confronted them without hesitation. Now I feel I can design better web pages, not only using Dreamweaver but other software as well, such as Microsoft front page. Something I really appreciated from this class is the availability of previous projects by students who had already taken this class on the electronic syllabus. This allowed me to compare and contrast my project as well as getting a physical idea of what the professor was looking for. Sometimes the explications in class seemed too broad and confused me even more, but then by checking how other students surpassed obstacles, motivated and reassured me that what I was doing was ok.

The online class discussions were a new experience for me, even though I strongly disagreed with this method of teaching. As the class progressed I learned to accept and give an honest attempt to engage with this new form of participation. Even though most of the time the forum was filled up too quickly with an overwhelming amount of information. I tried my best to engage and create an atmosphere of “class discussion”. This class is very peer oriented expecting the student body to contribute for the welfare of the class. However I feel there is too much pressure thrown at the students, the readings, discussions, projects it all seems to overwhelming at certain points.

The texts for this class were very appealing to me; they showed a wide scope of views towards technology and its role amongst our society. Since the internet is an issue of my generation it felt appealing to read and study these scholars. However at times their discussions and arguments seemed very one-sided and I found myself disagreeing with most of the premises and thesis these writers made. However this motivated me into researching the topic even further and creating an essay were both sides are presented in equal terms and in a balanced manner. This is the essence of these readings I believe, the professor is trying to make us abandon that traditional conception of essay writing in which you establish your position and then give evidence proving your point. Now I have learned to write essays in a more scholarly manner, in which I determine an issue and develop it through questioning and argumentation.

The hypertexts even though they presented a large amount of work, managed to teach me their main idea. Now I can map out essays, I no longer need to proceed in writing an essay by creating a thesis or an outline. Now I can map out essays, making it easier for me to identity links and common characteristics amongst the literature being used for the essay as well as common patterns amongst ideas. Even though this class teaches me an entire new way of writing, which goes against years of my education, I have learned to adopt this technique and use it when needed. Since it is only natural for every teacher to want a particular form of writing from his students.