Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration

Just taking some time today to marvel at the countless opportunities that we have with the technological tools that we possess in our day and age. I can contact people on the exact opposite side of the world in less than a minute, even instantaneously! I can publish my thoughts and feelings online to a worldwide audience if I want to. I can keep in contact with people that I have met from all over the world through tools like Facebook and E-mail. I can surf the internet from the palm of my hand! Do you ever just sit back and think about how much of a "science fiction" world we live in today? If you would have told the inventor of the internet that we would be able to surf the internet on a device no bigger than the palm of your hand 3 decades later, do you think he would have believed you?

And how is it all possible? Why do you think that so many wonderful technologies have been developed within the past 50 years? One answer is that we have the resources and some AMAZINGLY smart people who use those resources to better the world around them. But I think there is an even deeper reason to this jump in technological advancement. I truly and honestly believe that God has inspired men to develop these technologies in order to further His work here on earth. Yes, the Adversary is going to use those technologies in any way he can to his advantage (pornography, violent games and movies, etc.), but all good and all truth come from one source, and that source is our Heavenly Father. The technology we have today is a huge blessing, and it gives us so many opportunities to connect with people from around the world. It gives us the opportunity to continue friendships all over the world. And, most importantly, it gives us the opportunity to spread God's word and the love of God to all of His children on the earth today. It just boggles my mind, and it makes me so grateful for the wonderful blessings and opportunities that we have here in this digital age.

Just as a small example, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has already posted the Joseph Smith movie on the internet! I was waiting for it to come out on DVD, but they have done something even more productive, and instantly more global by posting it online. This is an amazing video for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and those who don't know anything about us. Watch this video, and you will see why it is not very hard to believe that Joseph Smith was a living prophet on the earth, and that he restored the fullness of the Gospel to the earth.

Plea for a Grade

I have to admit, when I have to do a reflective essay or write to the professor(s) at the end of the semester, it feels like I'm pleading for a grade. It's almost as if all I'm doing is trying to justify why the teacher should give me an A. Do I like doing this... not really. The problem with these kind of assignments is that I can be extremely rough on how I would grade myself. And, especially in this Digital Civilization class, I would have a hard time judging what grade I should receive when I compare myself to other students in the class, mostly because the posts of all the students in the class have been so different from each other.

However, reflect I must, and reflect I will do.
I did my best in this class. I spent as much time on it as I possibly could. I did the required reading for each class period. I kept up on all the blog posts we were supposed to do. I focused on my own self-directed learning and learned many tools to help me Consume, including Google Reader, IceRocket blog search, and other searches like Curriki. As I used the many different tools that I learned for Consuming, I learned how to tie in History into the world of today. I have never been able to do that in a history class before. The self-directed learning of this class was wonderful! Because of it, I actually enjoyed learning history, which has never happened before. With the assigned readings, and my own studying, I learned more about, and will be retaining more information about, the historical content of this class.
The computing concepts that we learned in class were wonderful to learn as well, because they are concepts that are important in our day and age, and that tie history to the Digital World we live in today. With the computing concepts, I have learned many new ways of creating content on the web, and many new ways of connecting through the internet.

Now, as far as the class event went, I thought it was great! I thought there were a lot of people there who benefitted from the things shared. As for my contributions...I WORKED HARD! Dr. Zappala and Dr. Burton said that I should try to do more digital literacy labs, and with my group doing Backpack 2.0, that came extremely naturally. The Wiki site was definitely spearheaded by me, and I was able to contribute to every part of the Backpack 2.0 project. (Just check out my blogs about the project updates: This one, or That One)

In all honesty, I worked really hard on this class. Out of all my classes, I devoted the most time to this class. I loved this class! I wish it was going to be offered again to give others the chance to take it. I believe that I did the very best I could. It might not have been as incredible as some of the other students, but for the time available, and the time I devoted to this class, I truly gave it my best. So, what do I think I deserve? In all honesty...

Or just an A will do :-) Thanks so much Dr. Burton and Dr. Zappala! This class was awesome.

P.S. The things I have learned in this class will continue to be useful for the rest of my life. I hope to do more research in the future on how these digital tools and the things we have learned online can be used in teaching mathematics. I also hope to keep up on this blog, because it is a wonderful way to express my ideas, and for others to learn from the things that I have learned. Happy Blogging!

Oh, and

Digital Revolution Event

This is no final project presentation. This is an event and a showcase for showing how learning in the digital world we live in today is very different. Even this event will be different. Here are three reasons why:

1. This event will be HIGH energy. Those giving the presentations only have 5 MINUTES to present their material. It makes it very fast paced, and very engaging. Each group will be presenting on a way they have used the Digital World and History to enhance their own learning in many different topics. (Plus, there will be refreshments served at the end... How can you go wrong with that?)

2. For those who might not be able to make it to our event, we will actually be broadcasting the event LIVE on JustinTV. The Event will be tomorrow, Thursday December 9, 2010, from 7:00pm to 9:00pm in room 3108 of the Jesse Knight Building on BYU campus. If you can't make it, but would still like to watch the event, go to http://justin.tv/digiciv. This should be really cool.

3. We will also be giving people the opportunity to Backchannel, or carry on a live conversation on a separate, "chatlike" projector screen. We are using Poll Everywhere to accomplish this. Those attending the event or watching the event online will be able to use their cell phone to send a text message to Poll Everywhere, which will then appear on the "chatlike" projector screen in the room we will be in. People will be able to use this service to talk to each other, ask questions, or even make simple comments. 

This event will not be just a bunch of presentations. It will be an EVENT of EVENTS to help you learn how to become more digitally literate. PLEASE COME! You won't regret it.