At the begining of the semester, and as a first time blogger, I felt very unsure about what I was writing. Especially since I knew that not only my professor would be reading it for a grade, but the blogs were open to the entire world to view and criticize. I’m not at all insecure in my writing, but in doing these blogs I have let go of any remaining doubts I had about my writing.
On top of writing weekly blogs in my Electronic Communication class, I had several assignments that requried me to step outside of my boundaries and create projects with software programs I had no previous experience with. I was proud of every grade I got, even if they were less than perfect. I would rather get those grades than receive full credit on assignments that didn’t test my comfort zone. The unfamiliarity and time limits of these assignments boosted my confidence level with every finished project. The newly aquired skills weren’t so bad either.
Soundslides, Fireworks and Garage Band were just a few of the unfamiliar programs I gained knowledge in during this class. In addition to doing my project correctly, I had to export them to my blog and/or Youtube. This required organization, using correct file extension and embeding it on the website. These three steps are, in my opinion, the heart of this class. If you can master those, then you will do well.
I have taken two graphic design class in the past five years. Neither of the teachers from those classes taught me the easy basics of touching up a photo (which I partially learned on my own) like Jory Burson did in less than 10 minutes. This helped me further my experience with Photoshop immensly.
Although I may not have a future job touching up photos, writting blogs, making slide shows or podcasts, I learned how to properly distribute these things at the correct places on the interent for your viewing.
The things I learned in Electronic Communication I will use as tools in the future in any field I go into.
