From Scrolling to Strategizing

 Hi, all! I'm Aastha—a second-year graduate student who enjoys learning, storytelling, and building profound connections. Like you all, I spend a considerable amount of time on social media. Facebook links me to home, Instagram feeds my visual and inspirational soul, Threads enables me to participate in conversations, and X (formerly Twitter) is my go-to for hot takes and scholarly updates.

But until now, I never really gave much consideration to how these sites actually impact the way we learn, teach, and grow professionally.

Which is why I'm so excited about the course I'm enrolled in this semester: one that delves into Web 2.0 technologies and their effects on learning, community building, and performance. It's a fantastic mix of theory and practice, and it's already transforming my thinking about what I do, not only as a learner but as an aspiring instructional designer.

We're experimenting with everything from community participation and individual learning networks to learning experience design with the tools that we use every day. It's incredible to see how the sites that I scroll through mindlessly can be transformed into potent learning spaces when approached with intention.

This blog will be where I think out loud during that process—how I move from simply being someone who uses social media to being able to create with it. I'm looking forward to seeing where this course takes me and to sharing what I find out along the way.

Here's to learning in public, post by post.