Final Project
For your final project, you will explore this question: Is there a difference between a life online and a life offline?
Much of what we have discussed this semester is related in some way to the issue of reality. According to research, Millenials and Generation Zers (that is, people born roughly after 1980 or so) tend to see their online or virtual lives as extensions of their physical lives. In other words, who are you and what you do online is just part of who you are, along with what you do offline. Older folks (like their teachers) tend to see those lives as separable: you are (or can be) a different person online than you are offline. (Your own experience might not be the same as what these categories suggest it would be.)
As you consider this question, I want you to think about some of what you have read and written this semester. You may use any of these situations (or others) in helping your write your response:
The way employers look at social media and make a judgment about you based only on how your present yourself online.
The way a LinkedIn profile contributes to, or changes, the way you are presented online.
The way a single tweet (such as Justine Sacco’s humorous/racist one) can influence the way others see a person.
The issue of online anonymity, and whether or not others should know who they are dealing with. And if that’s even possible. And if it really matters.
The ways Second Life highlights the similarities and differences between online lives and offline lives.
The ways social media can be used to affect change in the world (change that might be easier or harder to affect offline).
The differences between learning online and learning face-to-face, and how those differences reflect other aspects about online and offline lives.
I’d like you to discuss some of those issues in your response, as other people have experienced them. But I would also like you to discuss your own experience, before and while taking this class, online and offline: the ways things change for you when you are online — your values, your sense of privacy, your sense of ownership, your way of communicating, and/or the image of yourself that you project.
Liberal Education Program Tier 3 Connections
Remember that our course is an LEP Tier 3 capstone course, which means your final project is the culmination of your work in LEP courses. Your paper should demonstrate mastery of LEP Tier 1 skills (Written Communication, Technological Fluency, and Critical Thinking), understanding of Tier 2 areas of knowledge (Time and Place; Social Structure, Conflict and Consensus, and Mind and Body), and engagement with Tier 3 Values (Ethical Judgment, Human Diversity, and Civic Engagement).
Important things to keep in mind:
Your paper should be at least 1500 words (that’s about 5-6 pages, double spaced, in Times New Roman font).
Your paper should be in proper MLA or APA format, and follow quoting conventions, and should be carefully proofread.
You should consider this an argument paper, with a thesis and evidence to back it up, not just a description of the work you did during the semester.
You should include discussion of at least one element related to the LEP Tier 2, and two elements related to Tier 3.
You may, and probably should, quote from course readings, but you may also quote from your own and from your classmates’ discussion posts.
You may choose to present this in a traditional paper, or if you choose, in some social media-related form (for example, a YouTube video, a Tumblr blog with images and words, a series of tweets/X posts, or some other format to be approved by the instructor).
Final project is due Friday, June 21, at 11:59pm, uploaded to Blackboard.
