Gardner Campbell’s A Personal Cyberinfrastructure goes far beyond what an online class may be. Campbell explains progress in ways individuals don’t think of it as. He stated, “progress means looping back to earlier dieas whose vitality and importance were unrecognized or underexplored at the time, and bringing those ideas back into play in a new context”. With those words alone, I felt as if they gave motivation to others to explore what all an educational online class can be. I could not agree more when Campbell explored the idea of students making their own database; this would take them through it all: learning how to set up their own domains, explore seminars with educational leaders, complete the curriculum that their teachers have expected them to do, and nonetheless make their own name for themselves in the digital world and personalize their lives as it would be seen to the world. Although with the thought of having students create their own databases, there would have to be a range of librarians, instructional teachers, advisors, and various other faculty members willing to help the students along with this process as it would not come to them with the snap of their fingers. Having these cyber courses would help students not only with digital skills, but skills that could further their knowledge that would benefit them in IT work, knowledge management, instruction, and the well-known social networking.
The way Campbell has pursued his thoughts of cyber infrastructure, I could not agree more. Kids nowadays are constantly online and some even have more than half of the knowledge that would be needed in order to start and partake in these online courses, that would not only get them through different courses online, but also exceed their current knowledge of online services, actions, etc. If the students and the faculty were all on the same page, and yes this would definitely come in time, I feel like this would work outstanding for everyone. With the ways classes come and go in colleges and campuses now, their is not really any feedback given from teachers to students, unless asked, or otherwise setting up a time to meet with their teachers on the teachers’ time. With the idea of a cyber infrastructure for each student, discussions and open access to all work at all times, can give both the teachers and the students all the time needed to give and receive feedback, take it in and think about it, and have the amount of time given to look over and have the chance to change what may need to be changed.
After reading and listening to Campbell’s thoughts, I feel as if having my own domain name and online profile, so to speak, is now a top priority to me because I feel as if my class (ds106) can now know me not only personally but creatively and interact on a different level then sitting in a classroom, doing the same things day in, and day out. I also like being able to give and receive feedback with one another unlike how in classes, that typically is not permitted and things must be done alone. Since technology is becoming essential in life, having an online profile that is unique to yourself seems to be a necessity to me.
Ashleigh Marie 