Dr. Marc Bousquet’s English 138 has been quite the learning experience. I have always wanted to create my own personal webpage but I never took the time to teach myself how to do it because it seemed so intimidating if I had to type out all the HTML text by hand. After taking this class and looking back, I now understand what the true definition of a practicum is. A great way to receive guidance, practice and experiencing how if used correctly, technology plays an immense role in educating the society of the 21st century. Through this class I was able to learn first hand Jenkins idea of literacy. If everyone in the U.S. took this class as a student, the U.S. could potentially close the literacy gap and ultimately, the digital divide. Although Dreamweaver seemed like a difficult program to use, it really was not hard to use. My first experience with Dreamweaver was creating my splash page. Because my first time using Dreamweaver, it was really engaging but frustrating. I was just trying to learn the basics of making tables, inserting pictures, changing font size and style, alignment, formatting a consistent template and linking webpages together. The set of skills learned while making the splash page were imperative for making my first hypertext.
My first hypertext, entitled “Yookoso” was a personal hypertext about my numerous study abroad experiences in Japan that made me fall in love with the lifestyle, people, culture and language. I was really excited about this project and I had so many ideas of how I wanted my site to look but I realized, my Dreamweaver skills were insufficient for some of my ideas. Even though this hypertext was very basic, it too me more than ten hours to complete. Thinking back, I did not have to do any research or find pictures on the internet so that means I spent all my time making the skeleton of my website. The hardest thing for me was choosing which webpages to put in the menu bar and how to link my webpages together.
After completing my first hypertext, I felt like I was getting more comfortable with the software and how to use it. This made the transition into writing my second, analytical hypertext entitled, “The Digital Divide: National Broadband and Literacy” a lot smoother. I was inspired by Jenkins detailed plans on how to establish literacy. Jenikins not only recognized the digital divide but he also believed that without literacy, the digital divide could not be closed. In my hypertext I wanted to further research the digital divide what measures have been previously taken to close this digital divide. National broadband seemed like the answer but like I said, without literacy, this will not close the digital divide. I was also interested in how the U.S. could learn from other countries experiences in closing the digital divide worldwide and how it is affecting the youth. In many Australia and European countries like the UK, they already have National Broadband yet the are still unable to close the divide because they lack Jenkins definition of literacy. In this hypertext I spent a lot of time trying to organize and link the webpages together. I also spent a great deal of time making the title template for each page to show uniformity throughout my hypertext, I got the title template idea from a student last year. After creating a linear draft, I was able to edit and delete a few tangents that seemed too far from my main topic. In addition, I was also able to think critically about how I could link my pages together for better organization and easier for the reader to understand. It really helped to go through it with a friend to make sure every thing was linked together in a logical way that most readers could understand.
I wish I could have spent more time working on my website but making the Machinima too SO much time. Because the Machinma script was already written, it did not take much time to edit. I really liked the editing process via wiki because it was a collaborative effort that tracked the changes however, I do not think the author liked this because she was no longer in full ownership of the script. I really liked the idea of using wiki because although the author could loose full authorship, they are getting constructive feed back and possible ideas from other people thus making wiki more helpful than detrimental. The overall filming of the Machinma in Secondlife was very difficult; I wish we could have had more training on it.
After much difficulty of finding a solid final hypertext topic, I finally settled on the Japanese Internment camps. I was really excited to make my final hypertext entitled, “The Japanese Internment Camp: Breaking the Silence.” This is about the racial discrimination and unlawful treatment that Japanese Americans faced for nearly 100 years. This unethical and unimaginable experience led to a silence where Japanese Americans refused and never wanted to talk about their experiences during the times of WWII. Because this text requirement for this hypertext was lengthy, writing the annotative bibliography helped organize my thoughts and ensure I had the proper research for all elements of my topic before creating the hypertext. Organization by linking pages was very difficult because due to the large amount of webpages but creating a linear version of my hypertext really improved the linking of my pages; making the connections each webpage had with others more concrete. Also in revising my website, I noticed that all the design templates looked similar so I wanted to have a new look to my final hypertext. I looked at many of my classmates hypertexts and I really liked the way Melissa made her navigation bar so I decided to emulate hers.
Critical thinking is "a process which stresses an attitude of suspended judgment, incorporates logical inquiry and problem solving, and leads to an evaluative decision or action." NCTE Committee on Critical Thinking and the Language Arts. Overall, I realized that making hypertexts allows for a different way of critical thinking that we are not normally exposed to. My critical thinking was always used in linking the webpages together; ensuring there was a logical pathway from one page to the next. I think of making a webpage like making a web, except you have to make sure there are not too many tangents and that each page has a direct connection to your main topic.
I discovered I like writing hypertexts better than typical writing projects because it uses new and different way of critical thinking that doesn’t require the standard organization skills needed for typical writing projects. With hypertexts I can use a combination of art and creativity to organize my hypertext.
The online forum was a first for me. It was hard to keep up with other peoples responses because there were so many and I found it extremely difficult to participate in during class because everyone was hacking away at the computer and I could not concentrate. However, writing in the forum as homework forced me to find a deeper meaning to the readings and make connections to prior readings.
In conclusion, I have learned so much from this class. Most importantly how the internet can be used as means of education, influencing society and enhancing critical thinking skills. |