I've accumulated a large pile of readings. Picking out the readings that I enjoyed was a bit fuzzy at first since it is difficult to remember all of them. I've picked out five readings that I enjoyed the most. Most of them dealt with popular social media web sites that we use today. I found these to be the most interesting since I could relate to them.
I've learned quite a lot actually in regards to the class. Privacy issues and how people can be so shifty by portraying themselves as some person other than they are. I also enjoyed my research project. The final project. I learned a lot more than I assumed in terms of propaganda for terrorists. Both sides of the conflict are involved and control the media as best as they can. My favorite thing about the class though is the fact that these online courses are convenient. Convenient since I don't have to leave Santa Cruz. I have to say that my least favorite aspects of the class is that there is no human contact with this course. I like human contact. Also, the fact that some of the readings were a bit technical put me to sleep. They reminded me of hardware tech manuals. I think this class can be immensely improved if it were a "hybrid" class. Human contact and ideas that are bounced off each other is key. There is no substitute for it!
My favorite concept in this course was in an earlier reading. George Herbert Mead's "Me" and "I" theory. The "Me" theory refers to the social self while the "I" theory is the response "me". For example, the reading explains that the "I" would maintain a social network site. Your "me" would be how you would project yourself to others. I have chosen this concept since I had a difficult time grasping it prior to this class. It is clear to me at this point.
I completely agree with you! It was hard picking out my top of the top reading! I did enjoy reading all of them because I learned something new each time I read a reading. I liked reading about the articles that dealt with the social media websites we use today. I absolutely love online classes! I would much rather take an online class than going to school and sitting through a class. I agree with you about the technical of the readings. Some were a bit boring and I definitely didn't want to read them but I knew I had to.
ReplyDeleteI agree! One of the biggest “downfalls” of this class was the fact that we never actually met in person, but of course when taking an online class that is to be expected. I do agree though, and definitely think that making this class hybrid would be a great idea! Although, at the same time one of the things that was so convenient about this class as you said, was the fact that we could complete the work essentially on our own time without having to meet in person every week. In some ways though, I think the fact that this class never actually met face to face was a helpful learning lesson, especially in regards to what we learned about face to face communication and protocols of online presentation because it allowed us to weave in our own personal experiences with the content of our lessons. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this class and it seems like you did too! :)
ReplyDeleteDefinitely, the class would have a different sense and feeling to it had there been in-person meetings. However, with this being an online-only course, I expected that the interactions between us as classmates only stayed within the realm of the blog/wiki assignments, so I was not disappointed. I enjoyed reading people's responses to my write-ups, if only because my opinions were being paid attention to. I felt that the readings were a bit of a mixed bag, though, and I found out I was most interested in a reading when it related to something I already do (like visit Facebook or read news online). There certainly was a lot of content out of this class and the range of topics related to new media was something I looked forward to learning about each week.
ReplyDeleteThis class is convenient! I live in Morgan Hill, which isn't as far as Santa Cruz, but I also balance two jobs so having this be an online class really helped. Yeah, class would have been more interesting if we were able to see each other face to face and hear more personal stores relating to the readings, but we can't have it all! Lots of the readings were interesting, but some put me to sleep as well, an some even forced me to slightly skim certain concepts... :]
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