I learned that I am not comfortable with online classes or to be more specific with online discussions.However I also learned to use a lot of tools that will surely help me with my career and my social and academic life,if I will continue studying after my graduation; and a few of these tools would be Google Docs, Slack, Google Slides, and Zoom. Mainly, because of the pandemic and not knowing how the future looks like and the possibility of working online is very high, so learning to use these tools efficiently was of a great skill that I am very pleased to have acquired mainly through this course. ( https://maha.art.blog/2020/05/22/tools-reflection/ )

One thing that I think is essential for my work life in general is time management and also to keep a good balance between social and career life, so learning tools to manage my time through various ways was very useful. Even though, the articles I read regarding this topic and the solutions they proposed, were very simple and to the point; but still I felt that reading about them has made things more easy and in my mind more.( https://wp.me/pbGmGp-S)

I would want to show people mainly the most important three things that I learnt in the course. This would be firstly the digital game that I created and at first thought was almost impossible to do but after I did it I was very proud of myself for completing it all on my own, with the professor’s guidance of course. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vR_gr4QUSuHWAZcQSLowEV-M5aXFx6gQ9ROgodI7C0ZFF3IIpvS9I1o-NI5IzgMbugFhuOAoSrHXOME/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000

Second thing would be all the the information I learnt, from the digital pathway I chose which was the theory path, it included very diverse topics and at the same time it was very interesting and entrating for me.( https://wp.me/pbGmGp-1y )

Third thing, would be Digital Literacy, which was a major theme or topic that we were able to learn about through many ways and also got to practice through exercises and discussions. The most significant event was the Digital Literacies workshop that I attended, as I learnt a lot of new things and started thinking differently after all these eye-opening discussions I heard.  ( https://wp.me/pbGmGp-p )

I would have liked if some of the reflections were done through different mediums like having questionnaires or something similar where I was more guided in the reflection and my answers would then be more to the point and direct. Also, I wanted more feedback on the game itself and how I wrote it rather than just how it looked or if any of the steps were wrong or on technical problems. Soliya, was another thing that I wished had more sessions because it took me time to get used to it and to the people I was meeting and by the time I got the hang of it, it was already my last session; so if it was more one hour sessions it would have been better as the session itself would not be that long but at the same time I would be meeting the people for more than just four times.

I would recommend this course for, Someone who is passionate about understanding the juxtaposition of technology and how it interferes in our lives.

I didn’t think there were many available options to choose from, however I deeply appreciate the flexibility and freedom of choice from these opportunities. As, I felt that for example when I had the choice of either attending the zoom class or writing a blog post, then I was more comfortable if I missed a class for any reason that I still was updated on what was happening and was not missing out on anything. However, sometimes I did not know how to choose from the different options, if I had little knowledge about the available options, so it was more of just finding the more convenient one;like the digital pathways

Starting with Google Docs,I discovered that they are useful in almost most of the courses I took and in any papers I want to write in general. Especially, as there are many practical features that help me a lot, like that things are auto-saved and that I can work offline; and because of these tools I I liked how user-friendly it is and it enables many people to edit ,comment and highlight on specific things; so overall it is not complicated to use or learn how to use which is something that I prioritize in any tool that I use.

The second tool,Slack, was a tool that I only used in this course,as it was very convenient, it was easier than sending emails and less informal.Also I would really like to use it for other courses for all the previously mentioned reasons.

Another tool, that I consider very essential in my daily life, is Whatsapp and when it comes to creating Whatsapp groups for courses that I take, then things become messy and unorganized.However it still is the best option available in the meantime, as not everyone has or know of Slack;but if I had the option I will always choose Slack as it is way more organized and there are many options within it, like having different channels to talk on as well as private chats and I feel that facilitates communication between me, the professor and my classmates.For example if I wanted to keep up with what’s going on in the previous classes or the upcoming assignments then I can easily go to “assignments” channel and I might as well find that someone has already asked the exact question before me; which also makes it easier for the Dr. to not repeat themselves.

Zoom was a tool that I had mixed feelings toward, firstly because I know that it is an essential tool now that we switched to online classes only, but still I don’t find myself using it comfortably because I am not used to interrupting people or getting in line to speak,as sometimes I will forget or don’t feel comfortable to join the conversation easily. Moreover, a huge factor would be that having a free space to open the camera and the mic in each class is not possible every time and that puts more pressure on me as a student as I feel that I am not being able to perform at the highest standards.

Lastly, a tool that I use in other courses is Panopto which is video recording the lectures and it really helps deliver the message clearly through the slides and the screen recording. This I find more fitting to use when there already clear and organized slides prepared for the lecture.Sometimes for drawing graphs and explaining them I find that it is really difficult to make sure everyone understands if the lectures are already recorded, but other than that I find that watching the lectures whenever it is suitable for you, and repeating/going through them whenever you want, is very suitable for me and many students.

Firstly, I choose the theory path, because I enjoy learning more through reading and I found that this would be the most beneficial method for me. Also, as I got to see the topics of the articles I was really intrigued by them and was curious to know more and get down to the answers of these questions.

“Decentralized” was a really tempting topic to read, and having all my thoughts confirmed by this article as they mention how in fact the internet is controlled mainly by a few American and Chinese companies. The internet connection problem in Puerto Rico, proved how till this day there are still environments that are vulnerable in this way and that this insecure internet connection can affect a whole island/country; which was completely shocking to me.Talking about the undersea water cables, I felt was to technical for me and didn’t grab my attention that much.This article showed me how one city can have such a huge positive impact on the whole world. I liked reading about ‘Smart Cities’ because that is something that I don’t get to experience in my country or hear about it.Also, it made me think about how there is a trade-off between technology and privacy; which is I think is a dilemma we are all facing one way or another in our daily life. I related that with the security cameras that were installed at AUC and how this is better for us for security reasons however it is invading our privacy!

Web Literacy, I felt was a topic that we got to discuss and learn a lot about in class, but still it included a lot of new ways of approaching this issue and other problems that are caused because of it; like how people can start to gather misinformation about sex through pornography. These false information led to way more serious things like adopting a violent attitude especially against women; and I can see that the only thing available to combat that in Egypt is through banning of sexual content in platforms like Facebook.Also how that is applicable to children in many different ways and how there is no consent being taken before posting a picture/information about them; this was discussed as well in the workshop I attended about digital literacies. Moreover, the information about collecting and documenting data about Syria and what happened there, showed how the internet can help human rights activists deliver their message.This was astonishing , especially the app that is called “Strike Tracker”, i never would have thought that there will be such thing that shows the dates before and after each individual building’s destruction in Raqqa. In addition, to discussing the different tools that emerged lately that help us benefit from the technology and the tools that try to help us achieve our goals; such as decreasing the time we spend online by tracking and alarms etc..

Finally, I read about “Privacy and Security” and again I was so happy that I knew some of these information because of the class discussions we had and the videos we watched.Moreover, the main problem concerning the internet security these days, is that it built around “gathering and selling data about us”. “What really needs rethinking today is the notion that digital ads can only be effective when they are targeted, and when companies know everything about everyone.” was one of the important sentences that I think sums up a major problem with the internet. As, also the apps you download share your data with companies and other platforms; and that can be disabled by the user but for me personally I sometimes feel that it is easier if I have the ads that appear on my feed to be closer to my needs. One of the most interesting topics/issues for me, was about DNA testing and why we shouldn’t do it through commercial websites, to know about your health, heritage etc. Also tips like keeping your software updated and having strong passwords and backup to avoid the dangers of having your data stolen and paying a ransom. Also collecting reports of data breaches and complaints by GDPR and acting upon it is great initiative that should be applied worldwide. I know that here in Egypt there is an internet police which helps victims who are being threatened by their personal pictures and information; and I think this really a great step and it already has helped a lot of people in gaining control over their privacy and lives.

At the end,this experience of reading the three articles was very beneficial to me and added a lot to my information about the digital world that we live in now and what is changing and how we can change or avoid what is not good for us in it.Moreover, I was extremely pleased that I already knew some of these information and that also the new things I learnt were really out of the box for me and I probably would not have got to learn them anywhere else.Overall, I felt more enlightened after I discovered a lot of the things that are happening all over the world that I have never heard of and how a lot of these things will affect me in one way or another, whether it be now or in the future.

https://www.instagram.com/karenwazen/

This Instagram account, is really joyful and helps me focusing on what is important like health,family etc and stop worrying about the future, and instead enjoy the moment. This account helps spread positive energy, by sharing a lot of diverse content and that keeps me entertained and distracted from what is happening around the world.Also, it sometimes inform me about new brands, products and activities.

Firstly, I learnt that not only do government officials impact the way our life is but that private corporations also have an equally effective role, which affect your access to resources and opportunities. Thinking more and analyzing the previous point, I have found it to make so much sense but still I am surprised that I never thought about before. One of the important things I learnt was that sometimes one decision can have a lot of impact on many things , than you think it is. So, the example of building a stadium was a perfect example that clearly showed that the people need to know all the information regarding the effects of the stadium to make the correct decision for them.Moreover, when it comes to Egypt, I think that due to the illiteracy rates and poverty, people in power are exploiting the lower class easily and withholding important information from them in order to pass certain laws or projects.

This experience was really new and exciting to me; the dialogue in connect express was truly unique and different from other types of online communication that I use and am aware of. The difference was mainly that I got to talk with many people from extremely different cultures and backgrounds and the talk was facilitated by two communicators rather than everyone just talking randomly or having a professor/teacher with us in the conference call. I never experienced talking to people from different countries, at the same time, and talking about a lot of controversial topics that we as a group get to choose and that made me feel more engaged and not forced to talk about something I do not know or that I am simply not interested in. Also, I got to here the diverse point of views of my group. Moreover, the facilitators made me more comfortable to share my thoughts and feel included in the conversation, and at the same time I didn’t feel the pressure that I would have felt, if I was having this conversation in class with a professor grading me for discussion; the conversations went much smother and easier for me because of this. Also, meeting my group four times for two hours each session, has helped me build a connection and a bond with them and by time, each session I was becoming more myself and I was more comfortable with opening up and discussing things with them without feeling judged.

I was able to discover myself more through these sessions , as I noticed that I need to be asked questions directly to feel included and that sometimes I will hold back from sharing my opinion if it is not similar to that of the majority of the group; but then again when we take turns in sharing our thoughts, that helped me gather my courage and speak what is on my mind without the hesitation of whether I should share my thoughts or not.Furthermore, I discovered that to have constructive communication both online and offline, it is best if I have an open-mind to the things that are being said. Also, I should try as much as possible to listen carefully to what is being said even if it apposes my thoughts or beliefs, because that will make me aware of the person’s exact points and thoughts so that, if I want, I can tackle\challenge them effectively and have the conversation to be a two-way one where each person is able to express themselves clearly and easily.Moreover, I learnt that I have to be more considerate of the other person’s emotions and try to portray my thoughts in a subjective, calm and unoffensive/not aggressive manner, bearing in mind that it might be a more sensitive topic, for some people, than I thought it is.

Overall, I really enjoyed this experience and found it to be eye-opening not just because of the aspect of having students from different countries but due to the point that I also got to learn about myself more and about how I present my thoughts and how sometimes I can be quick to judge people/cultures without knowing them truly.Also, I really appreciated the fact that we had different controversial topics to talk about freely and that we are the ones that got to pick them in the first place.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vR_gr4QUSuHWAZcQSLowEV-M5aXFx6gQ9ROgodI7C0ZFF3IIpvS9I1o-NI5IzgMbugFhuOAoSrHXOME/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000

My final game is about a graduating-senior college student at the AUC, and how you have to adapt your daily life routine after a pandemic has completely shifted your daily chores and switched the remaining of your semester,online and you are forced to stay at home until all of this is over. I modified it by adding “NEXT” to each slide, which links to the slide that they should be on after viewing this slide,so that the player will not be confused and will now exactly which slide he/she should go to. I would have probably added a video and/or a link to scientific facts and information about COVID-19. I learned a lot while making this game, as while the scenarios were mainly based on my own personal experience, I found that even if I thought they were unique experiences but while writing them down I figured that many people could have went through the same exact situations and feelings. I also learnt that it is not an easy thing to pour out your thoughts and emotions and expose your true feelings to a lot of people. Also, I felt that I couldn’t easily explain throughly the scenarios that I had in mind and that I am not the best at explaining myself/situations I went through; as before I started creating my game, I was really inspired by many of the games I played and wanted to have each scenario and consequence to be very detailed in order for the user to feel more connected, to live the moment as if they were there with me and to imagine/visualize the scenarios as much as possible.

My daily routine and responsibilities has definitely been altered, just like most of the people around the world, to adapt to the current situation of the pandemic. These changes range from having serious problems related to corona virus, to other things that are less critical. I will take you through a day in my current life and show you what my thoughts and struggles usually look like. Starting the day with what seems to be a lazy attitude, questioning whether its worth it to wake up early or should I just sleep in and ruin my sleep cycle just because there is nothing to do, there is no more university or morning outings that I will miss.Moving to what my family and friends are going through,as having one of my family members suspecting that they have caught the virus and cant seem to breathe properly, is probably not the best thing, especially as I am still in denial of what is happening around me. I am trying to distance myself and blocking out any news or facts about the Corona virus so as not panic. So in a situation like this I wouldn’t know what to do or how to act, there is only a hotline for information about COVID-19 but I dont think there is much information about where to go or what to do, without using this hotline, that might not even answer the call. Some of the people around me and even in my family, were not quite taking the issue seriously and were ignoring all the regulations and precautions that were advised, claiming that there are very few cases in Egypt and its only a matter of days that we will go back to our normal lives. So the people I was surrounded with, were either carless and going out without bearing in mind what is happening in the world, or they were over-worrying about the whole situation and cant seem to adapt to how their new day is; and I am not sure how to exactly help either of them get through this time safely. Online teaching, is whole issue by itself, starting from not being able to keep track of what is happening in your classes,and what is due soon, to not knowing how the semester will pass by and how the grading is going to be and whether all the courses will be easily understood by just watching the lectures, so I am stressing over the vagueness of the whole situation.Moreover, another very important topic would be me trying to keep my sanity, and making sure that with all the things on my mind, I am still being able to calm myself and be in control of my emotions, or seek help in doing so, in order for me to not get panic attacks or have constant anxious thoughts that will take control over me and my whole body.Moreover, having my mental health and education as my top priorities I find myself torn between wanting to relax and exert less effort in my courses but still wanting to get good grades that will look better in my CV or help me graduate with honors. Also trying not to obsess over the missed opportunities, my last days in the University that I was very excited about, and the progress in my strength and flexibility, that I am no longer able to maintain without having a scheduled dancing class. Also, not knowing wether to be optimistic and start laying out plans for myself or just living the day as it goes without having any expectations for the future,so as not to get disappointed; as I am a graduating senior this was supposed to be the time for me to consider my options after college and I was thinking of traveling to work but that doesn’t seem to be an option anymore. Overall, I am not able to fully grasp what is happening and let it sink in just yet and that is only possible through distracting myself with few available activities such as watching tv shows and cooking.

When reading this chapter, I felt like I already know most of the information/techniques that are being said.As simple and basic the information was, yet I found it be useful to be reminded of how to manage your time and organize your mind. The photo of a student’s schedule, made me have a better picture of how an organized schedule will look like and what I should include in it.However, I found the videos to be not as entertaining or eye-catching as I would have wanted them to be.

I also learnt that a task should be something that you are able to do in an hour or less, and that one something requires more work than you should divide it into smaller tasks; I feel that this will motivate me more and help me feel less overwhelmed by the work I have to do.Moreover, dividing a big project for example into smaller tasks to do everyday, will help me finish it by the due-date without procrastinating and overloading my schedule in just week to finish all the assignments and the projects due. This way of organizing has in fact helped me feel more relaxed and producing better quality work. The one thing that I thought to be hard to apply, is adding social events and plans to my schedule, as I think this will be hard to do and unrealistic to an extent, as most of the time I find myself going to outings or social events in an unplanned manner. So I think that time management schedule are limited in that sense and for me they are just away of keeping track of due dates rather than a way of having everyday planned out.

Sleep-deprived mom game, I felt like I could not relate to this game a lot, yet I was curious to know what are the challenges that a mom usually faces in her day to day life and what are her options to overcome them. I learned that you can not always avoid doing something, and that you always end up with the burdens of the child no matter what. I wish there were more options and different scenarios that were added to the game, along with visual aids.

Game on responsible partying I felt like I connected with this game, as at this age I was put into very similar situations where I had to make these very same decisions and so I related to this game very much as it was very realistic to me.I learned about consent and binge drinking, and I found the consent video to be a very out-of the box idea on how to explain consent. However I felt that the first video about binge drinking was a bit long and could have been to the point more.

Depression Quest while playing this game I was able to imagine the situations clearly due to the descriptive method used in writing, and I learned how a lot of the times we do not understand how the struggles of a depressed person can be unseen from the surface and that it is not at all easily fixed by “unwinding” or just doing any simple activity to distract you. Also, I learned that even the activities that would usually bring pleasure to a normal person, can be unbearable and not pleasurable for someone depressed. However, I felt that the game needed to be shorter as towards the end I was not able to concentrate and read every single word written.

Factitious game, I really enjoyed playing this game, as it was short, to the point and fun to guess whether the news was fake or not. Meanwhile, I also learned to check the source for credibility of the news.I think just that they could have sometimes removed the source and made us guess using other errors only, such as spelling mistakes.

The four games that I played were extremely different from each other, as each game had a different style in using visuals,the first game had no visuals at all, the second was only one picture but there were 2 videos to watch,the third sometimes had small pictures inserted , which I felt did not add much to the experience as the game was descriptive enough for me,

and the last one had the pictures that came with the article. I wish they all had visuals as I feel this adds to the overall experience of the game and includes me more while playing the game.