Pinterest & Twitter....Real Learning?

Hmmm...Pinterest and Twitter...I must say that I had mixed emotions about the complexities
of this form of learning.  Never had I tweeted or pinned nor Facebook or Instagram either.  I was apprehensive at the beginning of this class, but it was a requirement. Now I am truly glad that it was required for the class. On many occasions, I found myself thinking, reading, or encountering something relevant to the class and was able to share via twitter or Pinterest. As I review the Pinterest page there were many pins that challenged my learning or sparked my curiosity to search for more information. Each pin was important as my peers personally chose them. We all pinned what interested us or would helped expand our knowledge on certain topics. Listed below are some of my favorite tweets. I have embraced social media. Thank you, Dr. Whitney. 

Favorite Tweets:

Rahael ‏@rahaelmrosario  Jul 15

Change does not have to be big/loud to be significant. There is power even in the quietness of a change in perspective and attitude #csl490

Robin Rich ‏@rrich201224  Jul 14

SA professionals must also seek to build a strong educational culture that promotes well-being and growth in both staff & students. #csl490

Alicia F ‏@aferrar5  Jul 14

Teaching and learning are no longer top priorities in higher education 

AnaVictory @AnaVictory1 June 22

We change our minds because something has changed in our brains as a  result of a learning experience

...#csl490 ah-ha moment. 

Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world. -Nelson Mandela

I was told this quote as a freshman in college by a professor. I knew than that I wanted to be part of positive change in the world and education would be the way. Although I have no recollection of how to compute algebra, percentages, or linear equations. I can recall the few professors who challenged my thinking as an undergraduate student. It wasn't until reading, "We're Losing Our Minds: Rethinking American Higher Education" and discussing it in class that I understood why I felt that my undergraduate studies was a sum regurgitated information for exams and passing grades. It was comforting to know that the class shared in the dissatisfaction with higher education. While  reading WLOM I had many ah-ha moments that explained the failure of the system to the students. Before this class, I attributed my graduate enlightenment to being older and wiser (ha). It might be that I am older and wiser however I truly believe that it is a testament to DePaul's effort to transform students. 

The readings, We're Losing Our Minds: Rethinking American Higher Education and Learning Reconsidered  intertwined many themes: development and history of college student personnel, transformative education, rethinking learning/teaching were the most prevalent. There was an emphasizes on educating the student as a whole: mind and body. WLOM urged that the failure to solve the broke education will weaken our nation's political, social, economic, scientific, and technical leadership. It was a huge burden to take on in a semester. Especially when higher education institutions are managed as bank or conveyor belt systems, which do not prepare graduates for life. This system of teaching/learning is similar pouring water in a net not much information in retained by the student. Much to my surprise the final chapter of WLOM did not offer a solution to fix the broke system. None was explicitly given, but as I reflect in our class discussions we began to work through possible solutions more importantly we identified the problems. As a class we reflected on readings and looked to twitter and Pinterest to work through our dissatisfaction with higher education. We discussed advocating to creating allies with faculty members to best serve students. As well as creating an all inclusive campus that promoted diversity and a safe environment for students.   

I thought academic advising would be my path, but CSL490 provided me with a glimpse of different paths that I had never considered: assessment, residence life, diversity and equality, athletics and many other departments. The class with guest speaker, Laila McCloud, challenged my thinking. It was the first time that I had gone home uneasy about a class. This class sparked many different conversation with my coworkers, family members, and friends, which I am completely grateful for since I think that it can be categorized as transformative learning.


-Ana Reyes