The excitement of walking into your first class at university is a feeling indescribable. Anxiety, fear, excitement, curiosity; it envelopes you. Lucky for me I had the chance of walking in to my first class at SMU in the School of Accountancy for Technology and World Change (TWC) with Prof. Gurinder Shahi. Everything about that room and the atmosphere suggested that it was going to be a different and exciting learning experience. And boy was I right about that!
Prof. began the class by introducing himself and a little bit about TWC, and then asking each and every one of us to introduce ourselves through "Ice breakers", which in the most literal sense, help us break the ice between new, tense faces. With a couple of jokes and learning about different people and their opinions and interests really helped me feel more comfortable about the class. Along with a short background and interests of ourselves, each of us were asked to answer the question, "What do you know about technology?". The reason I chose to go into detail about this point is because the name of my blog stems from this incident. When it was my turn to answer, I simply said that I feel technology is "Viral". On asked to elaborate more by Prof, I went on to explain how technology is everywhere around us from the roads to the rooms we sit in, to the communication we use, to even capturing our memories in the form of photos, its everywhere, and its spreading!!! Henceforth, I do believe that this is the most apt term to describe my TWC blog.
The rest of the session included Prof. going into details about a very important aspect of human development, the timeline of inventions and rise of civilization.
One thing I understood very clearly form the moment TWC started was that this class wasn't about technology and I wasn't here to learn how to become a "tech savvy" person, or get good with computers; but actually understand the larger picture through the immense application of technology in our lives.
Some notable moments of the session included watching two videos:
- Shift happens (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdTOFkhaplo)
- Guns, Germs and Steel (Documentary)
These topics drew my attention immediately as it is interesting and important to understand how change in inevitable. While Prof went through a list of important inventions including fire, gunpowder, etc., another important observation I made was that even though technology has helped transform the life of million people and helped our world advance; it has caused equal or significant amount of damage and destruction, which brought me to my next notable learning point- that technology has to be balanced. Too much or too little can be disastrous. Prof. even gave us examples of how ignorance causes lack of development and invention of ideas and very soon I felt like I was sitting in a history or psychology class. :)
What interested me the most about this class was the variety it had to offer, inculcating so many different areas, aspects and perceptions. It was amazing how within those four walls, I could capture information from all over the world to study and learn about. What I do look forward to is learning more about future inventions and also the harm technology can cause. I believe it is necessary to look at everything with a holistic view, and can't wait to discuss more on that.
Overall, I was nothing but amazed when I walked out of that classroom. Feeling excited and enthusiastic about everything that TWC has to offer this term. TWC has also given me the unique experience of writing a blog for the very first time. I am truly excited and hope this works as a forum for not only sharing my knowledge, but gaining much more from others.
Ratings : 8/10
Waiting for the Viral to hit again :)
Prof. began the class by introducing himself and a little bit about TWC, and then asking each and every one of us to introduce ourselves through "Ice breakers", which in the most literal sense, help us break the ice between new, tense faces. With a couple of jokes and learning about different people and their opinions and interests really helped me feel more comfortable about the class. Along with a short background and interests of ourselves, each of us were asked to answer the question, "What do you know about technology?". The reason I chose to go into detail about this point is because the name of my blog stems from this incident. When it was my turn to answer, I simply said that I feel technology is "Viral". On asked to elaborate more by Prof, I went on to explain how technology is everywhere around us from the roads to the rooms we sit in, to the communication we use, to even capturing our memories in the form of photos, its everywhere, and its spreading!!! Henceforth, I do believe that this is the most apt term to describe my TWC blog.
The rest of the session included Prof. going into details about a very important aspect of human development, the timeline of inventions and rise of civilization.
One thing I understood very clearly form the moment TWC started was that this class wasn't about technology and I wasn't here to learn how to become a "tech savvy" person, or get good with computers; but actually understand the larger picture through the immense application of technology in our lives.
Some notable moments of the session included watching two videos:
- Shift happens (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdTOFkhaplo)
- Guns, Germs and Steel (Documentary)
These topics drew my attention immediately as it is interesting and important to understand how change in inevitable. While Prof went through a list of important inventions including fire, gunpowder, etc., another important observation I made was that even though technology has helped transform the life of million people and helped our world advance; it has caused equal or significant amount of damage and destruction, which brought me to my next notable learning point- that technology has to be balanced. Too much or too little can be disastrous. Prof. even gave us examples of how ignorance causes lack of development and invention of ideas and very soon I felt like I was sitting in a history or psychology class. :)
What interested me the most about this class was the variety it had to offer, inculcating so many different areas, aspects and perceptions. It was amazing how within those four walls, I could capture information from all over the world to study and learn about. What I do look forward to is learning more about future inventions and also the harm technology can cause. I believe it is necessary to look at everything with a holistic view, and can't wait to discuss more on that.
Overall, I was nothing but amazed when I walked out of that classroom. Feeling excited and enthusiastic about everything that TWC has to offer this term. TWC has also given me the unique experience of writing a blog for the very first time. I am truly excited and hope this works as a forum for not only sharing my knowledge, but gaining much more from others.
Ratings : 8/10
Waiting for the Viral to hit again :)
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