Reflective Post for Week of 2/19

This week in class we learned about online learning as communication, and we heard presentations by class members on different aspects of CMC, including blogs, social networking sites, the use of CMC in the work place, and online dating sites. It was a very interesting week. Discussing different colleges who primarily instruct students online is kind of mind-boggling for me, even in this current age of advanced technology that we live in. I think it's definitely a good thing that people like Mr. Corso, who have other things going on in their lives, can earn a degree completely online. However, I can foresee trouble in the future if we would ever reach a point when instead of any physical campuses, all college education is online. I think for students just coming out of high school and wishing to earn a degree eventually, a four-year college at a physical institution is definitely still the best plan and always should be. Physical interaction that comes from dorm life, activities on campus, and FtF communication with teachers and other students is critical to the college experience, and I think our world of higher learning would be drastically changed for the worse if colleges one day were entirely online.

As for the presentations covered in class, I found those highly informative and eye-opening. I think it's really interesting that so many companies nowadays use IM within the office. I guess I've always thought of this technology as more like a way for middle-school girls to gossip, or lazy college students to talk to their friends next door about what time to go to dinner. (I'm not making a judgment here, because I too am guilty of this!) I guess IM has just never struck me as professional enough for the workplace, but the presentation showed me that it can actually be highly effective for communication in the office without unnecessary interruptions or distractions.

One decision that I made this week, partially influenced by this class, was to give up facebook and IM for Lent. I think it's going to be very hard, because I waste so much of my day using these technologies, but in the end I think it will be worth it. I think I will see just how much I take these forms of CMC for granted, and how it is possible to survive without them. Also, I'll get so much more done, because they are huge distractions while at college, since my computer is always within view on my desk. Everybody whom I've told this to has had the same reaction: "You're going to die!" I think that is a noteworthy reaction, because it shows how attached we are to certain forms of CMC and how most people just take them for granted...me included, until now.