This assignment was less complicated than some of the previous ones I have discussed. It required me to download and fill out a review sheet PDF from unit 1. After completing it, I had to turn it in through an assignment link and had to make sure I turned in the correct document.

This review sheet was centered around the material I had learned in unit 1 assignment 3. It asked me to label 9 previous technologies or pastimes that are not currently feared but were previously. I was not allowed to include internet-based technologies.

After reviewing the materials from assignment 3, I compiled a list of these 9 technologies. These included the written word, chess, the phonograph, novels, newspapers, pencil erasers, bicycles, umbrellas, and pocket calculators. There were more technologies mentioned in the materials, but those were the most noteworthy, in my opinion.

Reflecting on this assignment, it started the trend of reviewing previously learned course information, which I think is a great idea. Although I did not learn anything new through this assignment, going over the videos and articles again allowed me to experience a repetition of the information, which I believe will allow me to remember this material for longer in the future. It was a great design by professor Gernsbacher because it forces her students to spend more time with materials from that unit before moving to the next. I look forward to completing future review documents to continue mastering the course material!

This assignment required us to read roughly 10 articles, graphs, excerpts and infographics. The first few readings were centered around skills that are valuable for life, as well as to employers. The second chunk of readings was also based on important skills and even included a skills self-assessment. The last chunk of readings included reasons why new college hires got fired and also provided strategies on how to perform well in this course.

Following all of these readings, I had to pick 3 skills from the first group of readings that I wanted to develop further, 3 skills from the 2nd chunk of readings that I want to develop in this course, and 3 strategies from the last grouping that I will follow to do well in the course. I then had to tell one other person about all of my choices. Next, I had to create a discussion board post stating my choices of skills and strategies, why I chose them, and cite who I told about them and why.

To recap what I learned, I essentially gained a long list of skills and strategies that I would like to improve upon and master to use not just in this course, but also life in general. I could list a ton of different random pieces of information I learned, but I think it is most effective to write about the skills and strategies I chose to write about in my discussion board post.

From the first section of articles, the 3 important skills I learned about and wanted to improve upon were creativity, computer skills, and self-confidence. I decided that creativity was important because it allows people to adapt to new situations and create ideas. I discussed how computer skills are important since the modern world revolves so much around technology. Finally, I thought self-confidence was important because it allows you to do essentially anything you put your mind to.

The second section of articles allowed me to learn about problem-solving, asking questions and taking risks. I talked about how problem-solving is important because unexpected things can happen in school or work. Asking questions is a good skill because it helps with learning new things and being comfortable with others. Taking risks can be important because it can lead to new discoveries.

Finally, in the last section of readings, I learned about the strategies of taking initiative, working ahead, and paying attention to details, and talked about how I will utilize these to perform well in the course. I plan on applying these to the course by working ahead on assignments as well as copying all assignment instructions into a word document and highlighting steps as I complete them.

I talked to my good friend about these skills and strategies, his initials are DC. We have great conversations about life and how to be better versions of ourselves, so I figured that applying these skills and strategies was a great way to connect our friendship and this assignment.

Reflecting on this assignment, I think it was definitely valuable. There were a ton of different skills mentioned, and reading through them is a good way to put them in your mind and think about how each skill applies to your own life. For example, when I go through my everyday life, I am not thinking about computer skills, but reading about it in an article makes me want to improve this specific skill, and can lead me to pursue a change.

Additionally, there was a lot of overlap within the articles. However, I think this is a good thing because different authors are reinforcing that these skills are important, which is a good indicator that they actually are important to have and pursue!

Also, even though there was a lot of overlap, there were also skills I never thought about or things that you wouldn’t expect. For me, the thing that sticks out is that employers don’t value GPA nearly as high as other skills, it is nearly 20th on their list! This just goes to show that the skills you expect to be important in the long run aren’t always super accurate.

The addition of the strategy readings at the end was nice too, because it brought things from a large scale, like future employment, to a smaller scale, this course. It was nice to go over ways to succeed, especially early on in the semester, so that I could apply these skills until the end of the course.

Overall, I think this was a very good idea for an assignment. It provides so much information about the skills and strategies that are important to master for this class as well as in the real world. Even though people know about many of these skills, they often go unsaid. Reading about them allowed me to process them more and made me more dedicated to improving upon them going forward!

The fourth assignment of unit 1 started off by requiring me to read about how to reply to a discussion board post in the “Course How To”. Following this, I had to review the section of the course syllabus that discussed the best way to respond to other students’ posts. Then, I had to go to the discussion board that everyone posted on for assignment 2, read all of the posts, and respond to the posts of 3 other students.

From the “Course How To” and the syllabus, I learned that the best ways to respond to the posts of other students include giving a compliment, leaving a comment, citing a connection, or asking a question. More specifically, in this course, I learned that we are supposed to use at least 2 of those 4 response suggestions for every reply post.

For a reminder of what the assignment 2 posts were about, they discussed each person’s individual unique screen name, when they planned on working on the course, their favorite website, and their favorite video to watch.

I started by replying to a girl named Stella’s post. She likes history, works on this class during her peak hours of cognitive functioning, enjoys watching food videos, and is currently working on her senior thesis.

My next response was to a girl named Holly. She based her screen name on her real name, decided to work on the course at different hours on different days, likes the YouTuber named Ryland Adams, and loves Pinterest.

Finally, I responded to a girl named Erin’s post. She based her screen name on her dogs, she decided to work on the course at different hours on different days, enjoys the website Airbnb, and her favorite video is a parody of Ariana Grande’s “Thank you, next”.

Reflecting on this assignment, I responded to all of these posts in a positive way, giving compliments and agreeing with their choices. I realize that this was mostly a very opinion-based post in the first place, about things that each individual likes, so there was not a right or wrong answer. Thinking about the purpose of this assignment, I primarily think it was a way for us to get used to using the discussion board, not just with making posts, but replying to the posts of others.

However, I think this assignment was also a way for students in the course to get to know one another better. By sharing videos, websites, and other things that we enjoy, it allowed me to better understand some of my classmates, and I assume they better understood me after this assignment. I think it was a great assignment to include early on in the course since it has functional value but also brings people together.

There is not much else to be said about this assignment, but it definitely made the students more comfortable with the course and with one another. It allowed anyone who was stressed about the course to destress through funny videos and cool websites, which was an awesome experience!

The third assignment is where the true course material began to be introduced. This assignment required me to watch one of professor Gernsbacher’s online lecture videos, read 2 Clive Thompson articles, watch a CollegeHumor video, and read a Jason Feifer article. All of these articles, as well as the video, were focused around the topic of old and new technologies that people have feared. We then had to discuss one of the old technologies or pastimes that people feared, why people feared it, and how that parallels the fears people have today about the internet.

The lecture video talked all about the old technologies and pastimes that people used to fear but do not anymore. For example, the written word, chess, phonographs, novels, newspapers, pencil erasers, umbrellas, bicycles, and pocket calculators all used to be feared at different points in history for some reason! It reminds us that many technologies are feared at first, but now we hold them dear to us. So, for the internet, we will likely look back at it in the same way, wondering why people were so afraid.

The first Thompson article just discusses one of those fears that was previously mentioned, chess. The second Thompson article discusses how the internet is actually making kids smarter. Those who text also spend more time with friends in person, the internet allows people to wrestle with communication skills, and that student essays have gotten much more complex and impressive, and the internet can help people become more community minded.

The CollegeHumor video points out some of the same fears mentioned in the lecture video and also points out that the internet allows people to communicate more than people ever did before. It points out that we aren’t any different than we were before the internet, and that we should not live in the past. The Feifer article once again addresses old fears and stresses that new technologies integrate and improve different aspects of our life. It says that people always fear new things, but that luckily these new things still continue to emerge.

Reflecting on this assignment, it was very insightful and informative. The media in modern life always talks about how people are worried about the internet and smartphones, and how they will somehow make us dumber or worse people. Not only did the videos and articles provide positive effects of the internet, but they also reminded me that fearing technology is nothing new. For hundreds of years, it has been thought that certain technologies would ruin people, would make us worse in some way. However, as time passes the technology tends to have a positive effect, either functionally, or for entertainment, and people wonder why it was ever feared or objected.

This is likely how the internet and smartphones will be viewed in the future. They bring such great possibilities and opportunities and allow people to do things that many never imagined to be possible. I am looking forward to seeing how opinions over these technologies evolve, and how they can bring about positive change. This assignment gave me a great view on the life cycles of technologies, from foreign and feared to necessary and respected. I would never have a know a lot of this without reading these articles and watching these videos!

The first two assignments in this course involved familiarizing ourselves with how the course will work and setting ourselves up for success. The first assignment required me to thoroughly read the course syllabus, and fill out a course contract, in which I had to find and fill in information from the syllabus. I then had to sign and email my completed contract to professor Gernsbacher.

From this assignment, the content I learned was all functional knowledge about the course in general. I learned why I should take the course, what and how I will learn, how much time to spend on the course, how to do well in it, how points will be earned, important dates, how to respond to discussion board posts, how to take advantage of the flexibility accommodation, what to expect from my professor, and who to contact with questions or concerns.

Reflecting on this assignment, I think it was a great idea. In general, most professors will tell you to read the syllabus, and in most in-person courses, they will discuss it with you on the first day of class. However, it rarely ever goes beyond that, and students will often forget the information very quickly. However, being required to fill out a course contract required me to go back through the whole syllabus again to search for answers. Doing this allowed me to be much more familiar with the syllabus and the course in general. After completing the assignment, I felt more prepared and more confident that I could do well in the course.

Assignment 2 started off by requiring me to read in the syllabus about how to take advantage of the flexibility accommodation. I then had to learn about 5 different skills for the course, in the “Course How To”. Next, I read Wiki How’s “How to Make a Unique Screen Name”. Following this, I had to go back to the “Course How To” and learn 4 more valuable skills for me to use throughout the course. Next, I had to make my first discussion board post for this course, including what screen name I created, when I plan on working on the course, embedding my favorite YouTube video and website, and explaining why they’re my favorite. Finally, I had to read about how to find out which discussion section I am in, and find that out.

This assignment taught me a lot more about the course but also taught me about how to create strong screen names for me to use in the future. For example, some of the skills I learned for the course include how to control display size on my screen, how to access the course website, how to upload a photo to my discussion board profile, how to control discussion post notifications, how to create and edit discussion board posts, and how to embed URL’s and videos into discussion board posts. Some of the tips I learned from the Wiki How article include using unique characters, using other languages, using your favorite pastimes, and playing with your name.

Reflecting on this assignment, the information I learned was valuable for both the course and for the future. For example, the screen name article taught me information that I can use to make screen names for accounts I make in the future. For things such as videogame accounts, websites, and social media, now I know some helpful tips about good screen names, and I can apply this going forward. Additionally, learning how to control display size is a skill that I can apply for the rest of my life with computers. Learning about the discussion board and how to properly use it was important to learn because it will allow me to succeed in this course! I may even be able to use those skills for future online courses if I take any. Overall, although this assignment may not have been super exciting, it was very functional and allowed me to gain valuable skills I can use to succeed going forward.

Professor Gernsbacher’s inclusion of these first 2 assignments was really a great way to start off the course. In order to succeed in a class, it is important to know a lot about it, and how to do things you will need to do throughout the semester. Completing these assignments allowed me to gain confidence in myself in the course, and got me excited for everything I was about to learn!