Wrapping Up

By: Christopher Robison

As the semester goes on and classes come to an end, it is time to look back at everything we've accomplished in Exploring Your Digital Portfolio. With twelve weeks of online material and daily tweeting for our PLN (Professional Learning Network), we've gained quite a bit of knowledge on each and every topic discussed in this uniquely styled class. I had never even used Twitter before and it was a little daunting at first and discouraging because I felt as if no one was even seeing my tweets. That is until I got my first like and retweet from someone I didn't even know. An immediate rush of excitement ran through my body as I realized that I was being noticed and felt significant for informing people about computer science. As a class, we've learned everything from the use of the internet in education to the hiring/interviewing process. As a whole, I really enjoyed this class and would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn about they're future and how to promote themselves.

Diving into the first topic we discussed, the internet as a tool for education was a very useful first class of the semester. This class pushed us to use critical thinking to debate whether it truly is a tool for education or a weapon of mass destruction. By going over the pros and cons of the internet, we were able to come to the conclusion that the internet, despite a few negatives, is an overall amazing tool to educate. The best example for education on the internet is Google because it has the most information of any search engine and is an incredible tool to find whatever you need to educate, entertain, and inspire. One of the biggest cons brought up was the online cyber-bullying. This is the price we must pay for the capability to find the answer to virtually any question we might have. Although the internet is very widespread and used so often, it is still a relatively new means of connection and needs time to grow and improve. There may always be a few negative sides to the internet but with enough time, the positives will greatly outweigh those few hiccups brought up before.


The next topic we learned about was content curation or finding websites to collect information on our specific majors or concentrations. The two main websites we used to find useful articles were Flipboard and Paper.li. Flipboard is an article based website that uses stories from around the web based on your personal interests and puts them into an organized visual feed. When you sign up for Flipboard it gives you a huge list of categories to pick from such as health, technology, art, etc. and this is what the website draws articles from to pique your interest. Paper.li is a lot like Flipboard but the difference is, Paper.li allows you to bring in content from various locations via social media, RSS feed, or youtube. Another great feature of Paper.li is its social media agent which automatically posts top articles to your social media as often as you wish.


After learning about content curation, we moved onto how to properly use Google and its features. When I say how to properly use Google I mean in a way that all of its features are being put to good use and even the most avid internet users my not know some of Google's useful features. The most basic of features is called Google Drive and is used to store files, pictures, videos, etc. while at the same time these files can be easily shared with anyone of your choosing and given certain permissions such as editing or just viewing. The next three features can all be found inside of the Google Drive as these are the files being saved and shared. The first feature is Google Docs, which is used to create mainly text documents as you would with Microsoft Word. The next feature is Google Sheets which uses a cell mechanism to create elaborate spreadsheets just like Microsoft Excel. Finally, the last Google Drive feature is Google Slides which is used to create beautiful presentations just as you would in Microsoft Powerpoint. Moving away from Google Drive we have another feature called Google+ which is Googles take on a social media platform that allows you to join various "communities" to connect with people that share the same interests as you. Google Hangouts is the final feature explored that allows you to video chat with anyone but is mostly used for educational purposes or business meetings. With all of these google software features it helped our class work together more efficiently.


In addition to working on group projects, we further advanced our methods of research and writing. Our first big writing project was coming up which provided us with an opportunity to discuss the APA writing format. We were taught the proper formatting, the ICE (Introduce, Cite, Explain) method for using quotes in your writing, and even ways to do research before starting the paper. When working on our Social Media Etiquette projects we had the option to use the Stockton Database for research on our topics as it is a well trusted source compared to some website you would find online. However, if you do happen to come across a well put together website with seemingly reliable information, you should check who the author is, when it was last updated, and if the information certainly is correct.


Once our class finished with APA, we switched it up a little bit and focused a little more on one of the books we started reading for this class. The book is titled 'Lol...OMG' by Matt Ivester and is about learning to become a conscious creator of content on the internet. The book talks about a digital footprint and how to maintain a professional digital profile. When creating content online you should be asking yourself a few questions first which are: why are you doing this, is now the right time, and how controversial are you trying to be? Once you are able to answer these question you'll know how to reduce your footprint and become a conscious creator of content.


Your digital footprint is basically a giant storage container that saves every little click, drag, and save you've ever done on the internet. You can't see this information, but it's there, it will always be there, and let me tell you that it is a lot of information to keep in one place. With over 7 billion people on the planet and roughly 84% of those people having access to the internet, you can't begin to imagine how much total information is saved on the whole worlds digital footprint. With populations growing, this type of technology cannot keep up and storage is becoming limited. This makes it extremely imperative to attempt to lessen your digital footprint as much as possible to help the internet grow and expand without destroying the system entirely because face it, without internet this world we live in now would be doomed. And without the internet I wouldn't have been able to find the information I needed for my project this semester.

While working on our social media etiquette project, we also had to make a presentation that would last at least five minutes. Our professor showed us many different website tools that we could use to create a more exciting presentation. Rather than just watching someone switch from slide to slide and falling asleep in the process, the website we found made presenting more engaging and beautiful. The handful of websites given to us were Prezi, Haiku Deck and Microsoft Sway with each of them having their own special features. When using Prezi, your slides can move around, be set in a giant picture somewhere, be made into a collage, and basically set and designed to do whatever your heart desires. Haiku Deck is more about the artistic side of presentations by giving you limited room to write on each slide making the presentation more sleek, and by giving you a plethora of beautiful pictures to use. Microsoft Sway has more of a website look as instead of moving from slide to slide, you scroll up and down to make your presentation actually look more like a website. My presentation website of choice was Prezi and it helped me create my little social media project into something great.


The time finally came for our social media etiquette project which was basically about finding someone who has posted any offensive, vulgar, or just overall stupid content on social media that lost them their jobs or ruined their life in some way. My offender of choosing was a man by the name of Simon Chylinski who royally messed up on Twitter by posting multiple offensive tweets relating to immigration, transgender issues, and gender equality. Chylinski had been posting these hurtful 'trolling' posts for a while before it caught the attention of his boss at Unknown Worlds, the company he was working for. At that moment, Simon was fired from Unknown Worlds and was unable to continue working on their biggest project at that time, Subnautica. After giving my presentation on Simon Chylinski, everyone in class realized the importance of becoming a conscious creator of content for the sole purpose of keeping your job and life intact.


With the big social media project out of the way, our class was able to move on to some more fun aspects of the class like applications for education and some pretty cool "toys". As the world makes more and more technological advances, it is imperative that children these days are taught what these advances are and how to understand and use them. One of the best examples of this in education is the Google Cardboard used for seeing pictures or videos in virtual reality or 360 degrees. Using this product allows kids to see places and things they haven't even thought of before and to teach them the importance of this new technology in todays society. Another fun technological toy we played with was the Makey Makey circuit board that gives kids and adults alike the chance to experiment with circuits to teach them a bit of logic and how technology connects in weird and fun ways. Using the Makey kit and some basic play dough, our class was able to play games like frogger and guitar hero without even touching the keyboard or circuit board. With all of the work this class took, it was nice to be able to relax and play with some cool technology towards the end of the semester.

One of the last topics we discussed was about the hiring and interviewing process. This topic was especially interesting as we got to video chat with some professionals to talk about hiring and interviews and any experiences they've had regarding this topic. The three people we talked to were Antoinette Richardson, Rob Gurrieri, and Jerry (Last Name). What really made this class was when we used Google Forms to create our own interviewing questions for our classmates to answer. These questions and video chat really prepared me for those tricky situations when being interviewed. This class also helped me understand that all the interviewing side wants to know is if you are capable of helping their company succeed and that you should just be yourself but maintain good, presentable manners.


Our last class is nearly upon us and the last topic I will talk about is the art of making your own website as we need this to create our final projects for Exploring Your Digital Portfolio. This project is for our own benefit giving potential employers an easy to find and use website to learn more about us. I am using Weebly, to create my personal website as I find it is the easiest to navigate and the most attractive. Overall I have enjoyed this classes ups and downs as it helped me learn to be more conscious with my life choices and taught me some serious skills I didn't even know I needed.