Moving Forward

I failed to record the lessons of this academic year, in part because I probably missed them along the way. My intention was to log events on paper and then post deeper reflections to my blog. 

Unfortunately, I think it will take me a few years to realize what I have or haven't learned in the classroom.

However, I have learned a great deal out of the classroom.

As a graduate student in the field of composition and rhetoric, with an emphasis on technology, I learned how much I truly despise the online system employed at the university. This system, Blackboard, is apparently quite popular. I must admit a bit of envy; the co-founder of Blackboard was a sophomore in college in 1996 when this online system became a corporate product. I more amazed that this system, which I dislike intensely, is a major success.

Software doesn't have to be great or even good to win market share. That is what I tell myself every time I use a Microsoft Windows PC. But, like most people, I am somewhat comfortable with Windows and its annoyances. I am comfortable with most applications. In two years, I haven't grown the least be comfortable with Blackboard.

And so, the system I despise has become the topic for my thesis research. It seems only fair.