Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

As you may know, this blog started as part of my university class, Fundamentals of Computer Science. Over the semester, it has been a haven for expression and learning. And now, the time has come to reflect on the course and what I take away from it.  

Firstly, one of the class requirements was to make different posts about different subjects on our blog. The topics were mostly related to computer science, but we also had the opportunity to create posts based on our blog’s theme and our personal interests. All these posts helped me explore different sides of the Internet and express my thoughts or opinions on them.

Here is a list of all the homework posts I made for the class:

1. The Essential Role of The Web 2.0 In My Life

2. A More Personalized Blog

3. The Impressive Power of The Web

4. Feedly: An Organized Reading Experience

5. Entertainment Recommendations

6. Privacy on The Internet: An Illusion

7. Bitcoin y Moneda Digital (Referencias)

8. About Me

And here is a list of some of the posts I created based on the theme of my blog and personal interests:

  1. European Series for Your Entertainment
  2. The Magic of Learning A Language
  3. 5 Italian Artists to Listen to Even if You Don’t Know Italian
  4. Puerto Rico’s Enchanting, Yet Underrated Music Scene
  5. La Strada And Its Message About Life
  6. Historical TV Shows on Netflix To Travel Back in Time

As part of this final reflection, our professor asked us to see how many visitors we had had on our blogs. I found out that throughout the semester my blog amounted a total of 65 visitors and around 163 views. This is very impressive, since I was not promoting these posts at all.  

Now, lets talk about what I take away from this course. Firstly, I will continue writing on this blog. I have always wanted to create a blog. I’m a Journalism student and I love to write, so I always thought I needed an outlet to express my thoughts and ideas. Being in this class required me to create a blog as part of the grading. Therefore, I finally created my blog and it has been amazing writing, creating and learning from this experience. Because the professor encouraged us to post the assignments on our blog, I was able to create a routine of posting almost weekly in my blog, not only the assignments but posts about other topics, as well. This routine is going to be useful in the future of this blog.

Although this semester has been a different one and hard one at that, there have been some highlights, as always. This class was one of them. For me, this class was enriching and not a source of stress like some of my other classes. It was a chance to learn and create in a fun and dynamic way.

Moreover, the class did not just teach me about the creation and managing of a blog, it also taught me about many of the diverse worlds that lie inside the internet. It was enlightening to acknowledge all these worlds and tools that lie at our fingertips and that we have the opportunity of using almost every day without even realizing. Nonetheless, we also learned about some of the dangers that lie within these worlds as well.  

During the semester, the two things that interested me the most, apart from the creation of the blog, were the understanding of IP addresses and how they work and the discernment of privacy on the internet and/or lack thereof. Before this class, I had no idea my IP address could be discovered, and I did not know I could discover IP addresses from other websites. Because of this, learning about privacy on the internet became even more important and interesting. Deep down I always knew that privacy on the internet was little to none, but I think that society as a whole has become oblivious to this fact because of all the benefits the internet provides. It was so interesting, and somewhat concerning, to learn what Google and other websites know about us, but it was helpful to learn how to protect ourselves against these dangerous aspects of the internet.

In addition, the two tools I take away from this class are the use and understanding of the Feedly website and the tips and lessons on how to create good PowerPoint presentations. Since I learned about Feedly, I have been using it to read articles daily. It has been so useful in grouping articles of my interests and making it easier to read them. Likewise, learning about the creation of powerful PowerPoint presentations was a very useful tool that I will certainly use in the future. Of course, as a university student I have worked in the creation of presentations, but what we learned in the class made me look back at past presentations and recognize those little things that could be improved to have more compelling presentations.  

Furthermore, knowing how much this class has taught me, I cannot think of anything I would change. If anything, I would add more opportunities to explore our blogs and the different tools they provide, but that’s just because I loved using the blog so much. I believe the class has a good balance between exploring the world of blogging and learning about computer science at the same time.

Lastly, I would say that this is one of the most important classes I have taken in my university journey because of the opportunity it has brought to me. It has given me the opportunity of creating a place to express my thoughts and ideas. I will definitely continue to cherish this knowledge and use it in the future with my blog or any other opportunities that present themselves.