That was the line that stuck out to me the first time I read our class syllabus. “We’ll write code. Absolutely zero previous coding knowledge or experience is necessary.” For a few minutes, I thought I had made a huge mistake signing up for this course. I’m a creative writing student; my thing is words, not computers and code. “Literature and Literary Study in the Digital Age” sounded to me like just exploring the impact of digital archives and modern technology (like social media) on the literary world. I was only anticipating analyzing these sources, not downloading unfamiliar coding software and learning the different commands and file extensions. The first week of class was beyond intimidating and I debating dropping the course several times, but I’m honestly happy to still be here!

I’ve definitely become more comfortable playing around with basic code. During the first few weeks of class, I kept meticulous notes on every single command brought up in lectures and referred back to them every time I inputted anything into my command line. I was terrified of hitting the wrong key and somehow deleting half the files on my computer. Now it almost feels like second nature to jump right into GitBash every class and start setting up and navigating my journal files. It feels a little silly to be so proud of myself for only knowing a few commands or file extensions by memory, but considering I came into this class with zero coding knowledge, I’m allowing myself to celebrate tiny steps.

It’s also a pleasant surprise to see how quickly I’ve gotten comfortable working with HTML. I was working with WordPress and HTML last semester as part of an English project and I was very nervous because this was so far out of my comfort zone. I recall copy-pasting every use of the paragraph and body elements each time I needed to use them instead of actually typing them out because I didn’t trust myself to input them correctly, even if I thought I knew exactly what I was doing. Had I done that project now with the HTML knowledge I have from this class, I would have felt more confident in physically typing the elements out and likely less inclined to rely on copy-paste.

This class has given me significantly more respect for those who understand and work with computer code on a daily basis. I always knew that code was intricate and demanded immense attention to detail, but seeing firsthand just how much truly goes into making sure a code runs as intended leaves me with even more appreciation for those who work with it all the time. I’ve also realized that I like working with code more than I anticipated. While it’s a little frustrating at times to figure out what’s incorrect about my command inputs, it’s exciting when my code works the way it should, especially when experimenting with HTML.

Let’s get started, shall we?

• I’d say I’m new to code, but that would be a bit of a lie. There’s a few things I knew already coming into this class, and suffice to say, I’m a bit of a techie- Basically, I’m far from unfamiliar with my computer. However, it’d be a disservice to say I haven’t learned anything. Efficciency, history, and impact are probably the biggest things I’ve struggled with when it comes to actually utilizing this stuff. Coding is neat because it’s okay to be a bit messy. Sometimes.

Precision is not = Perfection

• Look, sometimes it is, but something I’ve gotten to know is that code isn’t really ever perfect- people are bound to make mistakes. This class has really helped me have a bit more confidence in what I write, code or just whatever you might call writing.

• Obviously this is pretty important to someone who has a particular interest in game design. And while we’re more focused on website/text coding, this is all important information to know. What if I wanted to use these coding techniques for making a marketing website? Or for even writing a witty and self-reflective blog post with a metacommentary lurking in it? Point being-

• This information has spilled over into my daily life, I’d say. I’m looking at what I can do with code far more often. I’m playing around with stuff in VSC, Git, and the likes more than I did in the past. Just for the hell of it. Pretty cool!

Let’s look at Humanity

• This class has really hit me in the “humanities and history” department too. Let’s talk about that, shall we?

• Honestly, the biggest thing for me is the social critiques I have of tech now- not in the ways you might expect. See again, I’ve always been a techie and I think this class has made me respect my PC a hell of a lot more. Seriously! For someone who already had a ton of respect for their machine, to develop even more of it for what’s essentially been my child for a few years now- it’s heartwarming, but scary.

• But this respect is actually my biggest critique of that very same tech- it’s sort of like… if you have such deep respect for someone you start to notice even their tiniest flaws. And therein lies the problem with tech and how society has used it as of late (and even in history) it’s the tiny things- things that slip through the cracks- that make it really hard to call it an excellent tool. Social media for example is used on a daily basis to criticize each other, to antagonize each other, to really zone out the “others” of us (like me). It’s sad.

• We use one of our most valuable resources as a society to torment and place liabilities on each other. It’s… not my favorite thing about tech. And society. Moreso society, right?

• Anyway, this class talked about it only briefly and I think it’s a really important detail.

Generative AI and my… confusion about it.

• We all know about the AI push in recent years- we discussed this in class recently- and honestly… I see the value, but it presents an interesting dilemma for me. My reasoning for refusing to use it is pretty clearly defined- It lacks human creativity that makes “creativity” what it is. Look-

• I’m a creative- I write, sing, do silly things with my voice, and I love art. This type of stuff is directly threatened by the presence of AI (see the recent SAG-AFTRA strikes that have been challenging AI in the Acting and Voice Acting space for stealing from them, basically). That’s why it’s confusing.

• I can directly see the efficiency of it, but I simply cannot support something that threatens creativity and ingenuity. It’s sad. I don’t find myself even wanting to support it because of people who make their livelihoods from being creatives- Voice actors/actresses, artists, and writers are very notable for suffering this- and to place the restriction that they could lose their jobs to a machine… yeah. If I could stop AI’s development where it is, I probably would.

Impactfulness- My desires as a “Person”.

• I want to know where I can take these skills to really, really have an impact. So much so that I think overall, that’s my main goal as an English major. To be able to perceive where the future will take me, what is expected of someone to let them have an impact on the world.

• This class HAS given me a perspective that, no matter where I end up going I can still trust in my own knowledge. To a certain extent, that’s important to recognize- to recognize that this class gives us the tools to do so- showcasing our own skills, learning capabilities, and experimentation. As any good class should.

• And while I do think it’s a childish desire to think that I can actually “change the world”- no lone mind can do that- I do think I can make something happen with the skills I’m learning here. I’ve got stories I want to tell, and places I want to explore. Journeys that should be explored. I hadn’t realized I could really, truly, just sit and do it until now.

So I ask myself, “Are We Cool Yet?”

• Haha, NO. Writers could be cool, but instead we spend our time doing stuff like this, right? Realistically this course has made me realize a lot about myself- as mentioned. Confidence about any one class has never been higher and I plan to take that in stride- to push past the limits I set myself to (maybe only a little bit, though).

• I think that’s all I have to say, really. I think I hit the points I wanted to hit. It’s fun to reflect a bit. Thanks for reading this far- if you have. I appreciate it!

Here’s to the rest of the Semester!

• Niia “Sniiadoodle” Conklin :3

With all my classes, I have always would attempt to connect myself to the content and find ways that the material could be importat or valuable to the increase in my knowledge. I had signed up for this class unsure of what it would be about or what I would do as I saw it said digital and wondered is this working with AI or writers working with AI. I never thought it would about my computer or learning different codes because connecting it with a english I just assumed AI but learning it was much more than that has been very interesting to learn. With no knowledge of coding or about computers has made me face challenges through this class and has made me have to adapt to it and be able to learn new skills. It has created a new perspective on computers, coding, or the hsitory fo books and computers and immersed me in something I lacked knowledge on.

Things I had Trouble With

Git Bash

• I had trouble in the beginning with downloading git bash and other apps that were associated with the journals but with the assistance I was able to download and access git bash. I was nervous to ask for help but writing it down in one of my journals, the professor saw and reached out to me to make a meeting in order for me to get help in downloading those apps. When I finally downloaded the app and I started being able to access amd do everything that others were doing. EVen having trouble with it, I have found it very interesting to learn about the different codes on Git Bash and what they correspond to because through the different topics we’ve discussed I had seen many ways to do things on it.

Files and Folders

• I originally couldn’t create a folder on my own and I think I was doing something wrong at first with typing it in wrong but as soon as we did it in class I followed the professor’s instructions and was able to create a scripts folder. Once I saw how to do it and followed along it was pretty straightforward, I think I just had a hard time doing it on my own with messing it up somehow. It’s cool to know how to do it because I never knew these codes or apps that we use before so it’s been interesting to learn about them. Even creating a file was a bit difficult for me at first because it didn’t have a directory and I didn’t know how to fix it at first but I kept trying to get it. I also did it wrong at first but following instructions in class I learned how to do it and now it has come second nature to do it everyday for class which is weird because I couldn’t remember how to do it for the first few classes doing this. But now that I know I can do it everyday for class out of instinct which is so cool I learned how to do this because I could easily use this for another class that I simply just want to note take on my computer.

Something I Have Learned

Computers

• I also have enjoyed learning about the evolving and create of computers and the system its made of through the book “Broad Band” as its been fascinating and new for me. I have never known the history of computers as it’s not a common thing or topic we learn in school but for this class it’s been interesting to learn and has brought me new knowledge from it. I also want to add how I had no idea that many women were involved with computers, how they worked, or the math involved.

AI

• Even discussing AI with computers or electronics has been an interesting topic because in a lot of my classes it’s connected with as I’ve discussed the pros and cons of it as well. I’ve never read an article about it but reading the articles about kind of shown a little more light on the dangers of it all and how it can be very bias because of the company who owns it or is associated with it. In some of my classes we’ve discussed how it can be useful in aspects of grammar or spelling check but in class we discussed with Thoreau how it can make it more bland or flat with the tone and diminish meaning. Now considering both aspects I can see the help it can have but can see it could take away the creativity or originality you had in your writing.

Transcribing and TEI

• Learning about transcribing and TEI was something totally new for me and something I had never experienced or really know much about it. It gained me new skills and knowledge on the importance and care that goes into decoding older works, as well as the significance that technology can have such as Douglass Day that brought many people together to transcbribes many works.

Overall, this course this far as taught me and introduced me to many different ideas, history of things, and new skills that I now have the abiltiy to use in the future. It also has shown the relationship between technology and literature, and the impact it has made or improvements it has created.

New Connections

Before this class, I hadn’t thought much about the relationship between computers and the humanities. I had seen it simply as a tool for drafting/translating works into a digital format, primarily for neatness and assignment submission. Following our classes and our exploration of/introduction to the fluid text edition of Walden (and its accompanying HTML file), I’ve begun to see the greater importance of computers as a tool to make works more accessible. Computers, firstly as machines, enable us to translate manuscripts into a uniform digital version and font that is easily readable by most people. With the aid of servers and programming languages, they enable the creation of websites that anyone can access and, thereby, read works of the humanities. Considering the fluid text edition of Walden, the use of computers/programming enables readers to see the development of the text through its different drafts by isolating the changes (shown through the green words and strikes throughs) side-by-side. Without this edition of the work, which was made possible by computers, readers would have to go one-by-one through each manuscript and painstakingly try to locate all the changes.

Personal Impacts

The most significant impact this course has had on me thus far is how it has completely changed my relationship with my computer–how I approach, think about, and interact with my device. I’ve found myself frequently using Terminal to navigate my computer and make new documents rather than going through Finder, which I’d been doing basically my digital life. In many ways, it’s made small tasks more efficient (not having to go through the opener page of Word before making a new doc or scrambling to save it in the proper file/location at the end of class). Alongside this, it’s also changed how I visualize the form/organization of the computer in my mind: how everything is connected and the language I use to interact with it.

This new knowledge has also changed my notetaking practices. I’ve started using markdown when taking notes for other classes, utilizing the basic “language” to section off and organize them as I go. I also learned how to add/modify the basic journal script we used in class to create an automatic/pre-formatted outline for my class to fill in as I go. It’s helped me stay organized without the pesky task of repetitively copying & pasting or typing out a new outline every time I want to take notes. I’ve also started using it to draft poems and papers because I can divide different drafts/versions using leveled headers.

Future Ambitions

This new knowledge and understanding has catalyzed my newfound obsession with coding and using Terminal. It’s introduced me to a new subject and set of skills I can learn. I’ve always wondered about the inner workings of computers and what exactly “coding” meant, but had previously relegated it to the collection of “questions I have, but probably won’t understand the answer to.” The things we’ve covered so far have provided me with the basic tools and understandings to start rooting through my computer. It’s also instilled in me the confidence that I’m capable of learning/understanding programming and web development. Now, in my spare time (and sometimes when procrastinating), I’ve started rooting through my computer: I’ve taught myself how to move files more efficiently, how to root out pesky software/apps that I’ve been trying to find and delete forever, and how to override permissions (of course with the help of google).

Another one of my new curiosities/ambitions is to learn about how binary relates to code and the mechanisms/information that enable our computers to work. I also want to know more about writing/modifying the code on (?) my computer to achieve things that aren’t possible (even with the advent of Apple’s new “Shortcut” app), particularly with the multiple keyboards/languages and special characters (the options in system preferences sadly hasn’t given me the power to do what I want). In general, though, I’m interested in learning about/starting the journey to discover the limits of computers (what can and can’t be done? What can I mess with? What can’t I? And why?).

Credited Women

There are many things I have learned about computers since the start of the semester. However, a major key point I have learned is that computers are not capable of creation or independent thinking, but rather respond to a set of instructions for computation. From the Book “Broad Band,” I’ve learned about Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper, the ENIAC Six and many other women who fought for the use of computers in everyday life. From these women, I found that computers are merely machines that read a set of code that it is given and they heavily rely on humans to create the code for the machines to understand.

Connections Between Computers and Humanities

The connection between computers and humanities is extremely valuable and is responsible for our consumption of various media. Computers allow communities to find and connect with each other, and they allow for human connection and further creation. Social media platforms, blog posts, and many other platforms allow everyone to have a voice and an opportunity to have their voices heard throughout the community. Further, various important works of literature were transcribed and brought to the internet. In class, we are discussing Henry David Thoreau and his works that were transcribed from paper to a digital platform. This digital platform has made his works widely accessible and ensures that his works will continue to be studied and understood for time to come.

Conquering the Terminal Window

Before the start of this semester, I had used the terminal window on my Mac only a handful of times. I knew that the window was a means of controlling the computer with direct communication, but I was unsure about its higher use. But, with the knowledge I have gained from class, I have a greater understanding of the window and how it works. I learned that the window is used for direct communication with the computer and it often overrides the general interface that is offered to the user. Instead of clicking through apps or finding documents in the finder, there are various codes that can be written to pull these items directly from the computer. In class, we set up Visual Studio Code and we access this through the terminal window. Additionally, each of our journal files from class is written in markdown using Visual Studio Code, and this is accessed through the terminal window. Typing “cd scripts” from the home folder will take you to the scripts folder that was created in class. Then, typing “./journal.sh” will bring the new journal file for class. Due to the things I have learned in class, I have a greater and wider understanding of the terminal window and I feel confident in controlling my computer.

Technology in the Classroom

My new understanding of computers and technology is a great resource to have for education. I am an English Education major, and each of these learned tools will be extremely beneficial for my classroom. Students can read works that have been published to a public domain, students can share their thoughts and ideas on an online forum, and I can share my knowledge of computers with students. Computers are powerful machines and they should be more widely understood to promote growth and a sense of comfort with the individuals who use them.

When I reflect on what I have learned in ENGL 340: Literary Studies in the Digital Age this semester, I think the most easily identifiable “hard skill” that I have acquired so far is how to use applications like GitBash and visual studio code. Though I am far from being able to innovatively use GitBash and VS code, I feel like I have a good grasp on how basically to use them. I think that the experience with VS code will help me personally with understanding my own computer and organizing my files. I feel like it could also matter in whatever career I choose to pursue whether I have experience with hard skills associated with digital humanities because it feels like most (especially most non-teaching jobs) prioritize hard tech skills.

More than that, though, I feel like my understanding of digital humanities and the possibilities of digital literary studies has grown significantly. Before this class, I had had a little bit of experience with digital studies in history, but I didn’t really have an understanding of what digital humanities looks like, especially for literature. Our reading and engagement with Walden has been really interesting conceptually. I had not had the chance to read any of Thoreau before but had heard about him a bit in my history classes. His anti-materialism is really striking and compelling to me, and I have mulled over a lot of thoughts–whether the personal decision to let go of materialism is for me (ideally it would be; it is just really hard in practice to do that), and whether it is realistic for anyone in the context of the present United States to do what he did. The Walden Fluid text version, our learning of TEI, our learning of different markup languages, etc. has clarified a lot for me, but I am still really curious to learn how, for example, html turns into, like physically turns into, text on a screen that reflects exaclty what you told it to reflect. I do not think I have to understand that specifically to understand how to use html, but it is a curiosity I have.

I was really glad to have learned, so far, about applications to what we might call “real life”–so here, I am thinking about our discussions of generative AI, our work with the African American Perspectives in Print collection, and our readings of Broadband. I didn’t use AI to make this post, but I was interested in class to learn how people and professions are adapting to include AI in regular practice. I have hesitance towards that, and I am also curious how these practices will leave people who aren’t part of white collar work spaces or academia. Additionally, I really enjoyed our class’s work on Douglass Day and will continue to look to the LOC’s website and other online transcription campaigns when I have downtime and want to do something meaningful. Moreover, our discussions about Broadband have been really helpful because I didn’t know much about the history of computers or the internet beyond Alan Turing. To probably no one’s surprise, we owe a lot to women before us who built the internet who aren’t usually properly credited with it. Overall, this class has unlocked a part of literary studies and introduced me to a lot of soft and hard skills that I think I would not have otherwise had experience with, and I am really grateful for that.

I was pretty nervous to take this class because my strengths do not include technology or math. Coding requires both! However, I have been pleasantly surprised. I am coding and enjoying it! Now I understand my computer more fully and the impact technology has on the humanities.

Learning about My Computer

I had no idea you could do so much with your computer because I assumed that my Windows interface held all its features. I did not question it, and the majority of the time, people interact with technology in this way. For me, I never felt inclined to investigate coding because it always seemed too hard. After all, hackers in tv shows often have multiple screens with computer languages on them that might as well be foreign. Even when learning about technology, we are taught about how to use it regarding programs like Word or pdf or email. The focus is never on efficiency. Education simply focuses on necessity when teaching technology since it drives much of our world. However, this concept is slowly starting to change for me.

Gitbash and Virtual Studio Code

The more I learn how to use Gitbash and Virtual Studio Code (VS Code), the more I realize that computers hide features under the surface that most people do not understand or notice. I had never heard of Gitbash or VS Code before a couple months ago. Sure, I may not be doing crazy things, but fiddling around in Gitbash and VS Code has made me feel like a hacker. Not only have I learned how to navigate, create, and delete files in Gitbash, I also learned that VS Code can be used to create webpages. I was even able to play around with webpage formatting. As a result, I have come to realize that computers can be used for so much more than what is originally installed in Windows. Their mystery is fading.

Computers and the Humanities

Transcribing Manuscripts

I always viewed computers as a detriment to the humanities. Although computers do spread information, they erase physical copies of books and manuscripts. Now I understand that making manuscripts digital, like Thoreau’s, can actually assist researchers in understanding documents. When I worked on transcribing manuscripts on Douglass Day, I played around with the toggles to adjust the zoom and brightness of documents. Without those features, I wouldn’t have been able to complete transcribing certain documents. In addition, online documents allow more people to help with humanities’s projects. It helps to get the word out about it. On Douglass Day the site was crashing due to so many people trying to transcribe on it!

Website Creation

In addition, coding allows people to create websites. For one thing, if writers are able to code themselves, they can present their work on a website in the way they wish to present it, instead of relying on others to execute their vision. This gives more artistic freedom to writers while allowing them to spread the word on their projects. Again, it also makes it so that more people can find and contribute to humanities’ projects like the zooniverse.org website, which collects data for projects, ranging from the sciences to the humanities.

Disadvantages

Despite the advantages, using technology in the humanities does cause some harm. For one thing, when people write using computers, their editing is not captured. Decisions about word choice or sentence and paragraph placement are simply lost. This thought process is intruiging to researchers because it provides insight into writers’ minds. How do they work? How do they edit? How do they think? Unfortunately, technology makes it more difficult to examine modern writers.

Why Is This Important?

Learning about the advantages and disadvantages of using technology in the humanities is helpful to me because in the future I want to write. I am still figuring out what exactly I would like to focus on, but in this instance, the subject does not matter since technology has penetrated the humanities and will continue to do so. Thus, learning about technology in the humanities is pertinent to my future field. Who knows? Perhaps one day I can create a website for my creative writing!

Conclusion

In the end, learning to understand my computer more fully and to appreciate the impact it has on the field of humanities has helped me to realize that technology is not always bad. Like everything else, there is a time and a place for technology in the humanities. For one thing, it enables researchers to study manuscripts that were too difficult to read before, gathering valuable information. In addition, learning how to code your own website is important so that your projects are seen by more people! So, technology is valuable to the humanities in certain areas.

This course has helped me grow as a person. Before taking this course, I knew the bare minimum about computers because that is all I really needed to know. I have never been good at figuring out new technology, especially involving the computer. So, when I first realized this course was going to be based on coding with the computer, I was not sure if I should stick with it because I assumed I would be bad at it, and it would be very difficult. But I am glad I did stick with it because I realized that just because I am not good at something does not mean I cannot learn how to be good at it. I have surprised myself with my capability of being able to work on a computer through coding and it has made me want to try other knew things as well that I previously have not because I didn’t think I would be good at it.

Everything in this course that has been taught has been new information. I did not know how computers were created, how to do basic codes or that you even could do basic codes on any computer, I did not know much about Arifical Intelligence, and I had never heard of Thoreau and his book “Walden”. I surprised myself with how interested I was in reading the sections of “Broad Band” because before this course I never cared about learning the history of computers, but I found the beginning chapters of this book the most interesting. It amazes me that six women were able to create codes for a machine they had never seen before and how they received no real credit for their hard work and dedication for beginning something that is now used widely and daily.

One of the most important things I have learned in this course was about Artificial Intelligence (AI). When AI first became open to the public, I never used it and was scared about what would come of it. I have since learned that I feared Super AI and that there are different types of Artificial Intelligence. Our discussions on AI have also made me reflect on other classes because of what I have been told about AI. In my other classes, specifically in my English courses, we have only been taught about how AI is bad for writing and how it does not teach you to write and organize your own thoughts/ideas in an essay. After reading the AI articles, watching the videos, and looking at ChatGPT versions of “Walden” compared to the originals, I do see some benefits with AI. When reading difficult texts like “Walden” where some sections are harder to understand because of the dialect used. I was able to better understand the ChatGPT version of Walden compared to the original, but it does remove key elements from the original like tone. After doing this activity it has slightly changed my view on the use of AI when it comes to writing. It is a tool that should not write essays for you, but it is helpful with comprehension and organizing your thoughts, especially when you are stuck.

Overall, I have learned a lot in this course. I am not sure if I will continue to code after this course is over, but the value in being able to do something I previously had no knowledge of and being able to execute it is far greater than the coding itself.

From the start of this course, I was not very familiar with my computer, how to use certain applications, and was not at all familiar with coding. I was quite nervous about what this course could bring, if I could handle and understand it, and if I would be successful. So far in this course, I have proved myself wrong. I have learned how a computer works, how to be more comfortable when using my computer, and learned concepts of coding. At the start of this course, I was a bit nervous about using my computer, downloading certain applications, etc, since I didn’t want to accidentally get a virus on my laptop, and mess something up significantly. Especially since at the beginning of this course, I was a bit behind from being out with an illness, I was behind and unaware. However, with a little bit of help and catching up, I was able to quickly learn how to input command lines into my terminal and open files using codes. This course has taught me how to experiment with my computer, and learn more about topics that I was unfamiliar with, and hesitant to try.

One important thing that I did not know before this course was what my terminal was and how to use it. When I first heard the word “terminal”, I thought I would have to download it and would need a lesson on how to use it. Once I found out how easy it was, following the scripts and command lines we would practice in class, I eventually got the hang of it and never imagined myself using this. Another important thing that I learned from class that I was unsure of before was how powerful Ai is. Before this course, I felt neutral with Ai. I didn’t hate it, but I also didn’t love it. I still feel this way, even though I have learned a lot about it, have analyzed texts with it, and more. Ai is such a unique tool, unless used irresponsibly, which is why I am glad we have had the chance to learn about its mechanisms, and discuss with our peers. Additionally, I did not use generative Ai to help me with this blog post, but I have in the past to assist me when creating outlines for papers for other courses I have taken, and have found it to be very useful.

Something I found to be interesting while taking this course was how it aligns with another course I am taking this semester, which is Introduction to Communications. We had a discussion about how Ai is ruining our communication skills with one another, since we are just asking the internet to do everything for us. We discussed how we now have features on our iPhones called “Apple Intelligence”, where it will give you an automated response to the text you just received, just in case you don’t want to type out your own message. This made me think back to our discussions that we had in our groups a few weeks ago, where we talked about our opinions of Ai, and see if they changed from the first day of class when we first asked each other this same question. I remember telling my group that I thought Ai was cool if used correctly, but it is also scary how it is slowly taking over our world.

I would say that enrolling in this course has only helped me become more familiar with my computer, and the applications that come along with it. When I first started this course, I was unsure of what was to come and what was expected of me. Now I can confidently say that I feel more confident with coding, inputting applications and journals into files using codes, and so much more. I find these skills to be important to learn since it involves my future career, which is a teacher. I should be more familiar with the computer I am using, the software I am on, etc. With the help of this course, I feel a lot more prepared for becoming an educator, and operating technology that I will encounter. This course has only made me more excited to use my computer everyday, and connect with those who feel the same way.