Live like a jellyfish

Another topic was about social media. Of course, the topic was not necessarily related to learning; however, I wanted to share a TED video I found on using social media features for learning. For people who do not want to play the video, here is a summary. This is the TED lecture by Luis Von Ahn, the founder of Duolingo. He wanted equality through education, and he found out that language learning could help people earn more money. He explains how he designed Duolingo, a language-learning app, to be addictive like social media: streaks, notifications, and notifications that there will be no further notifications (being passive-aggressive). Although I do not use any social media apps other than LinkedIn— I do not even post anything on the platform—, those features seem to make young generations come back to the app again and again. In this era, when people can interact with others and even with an AI, I think there will be more ways to attract learners. For example, when I practiced Eng...

This week’s topic was about how Generation C learns and acquires information. I would like to reflect on how they acquire information in Web 2.0 and 4.0. Whereas traditional learners were conveyed the one-way content, Generation C is familiar with both creating and consuming multimedia content when learning, such as reading and watching course materials and writing an essay or short-form videos of what they have learned. I am Generation C, but I mostly consume content created by others because I prefer not to disclose my presence online. However, I have written blog posts for Koreans about what I have done to move to the U.S., such as how to get a social security number and how to exchange a Korean driver’s license for an American one, so that other Koreans without acquaintances who live here can be helped. I felt connected to the visitors and encouraged by the comments whenever people thanked me or asked me more questions. This feature of Web 2.0 motivates more people who initially pr...