Building Knowledge Networks

This week I finished teaching the PODetc course Tech Literacy 102: Building Knowledge Management Systems.

One of the students, Ruth Timbrook, posted the following reflection on the course. I asked her if I could share this as I think she did a great job of capturing what the course was about.

This course has definitely changed the way I see my own relationship with technology in the micro and macro sense. On the micro level, I can now better grasp "good" ways in which to get information I need. Previous to this and other courses, I always went to Google to search for things, every time I needed them. Sometimes I spent hours looking through search results. This has been a great lesson in learning to cherry pick only what I need. It is a big sea of info out there, and the trick is to swim the the correct direction. On the macro level, I better understand my own (and everyone else) role in the "world" of technology. I understand how my own creations or edits will affect others information searches. It is really great to be able to tap into the minds of people around the world and learn from their experiences as well. Previous to these courses, I probably would have searched for "published" material to get info, and never would have looked to things such as blogs for help. The exchange of information between all users is an incredible opportunity. It makes me appreciate the knowledge of others much more, and I will implement this exchange with my students in the future.