Well, Media 1 is officially finished. What a rollercoaster it has been. I admit that there are a lot of things I could have done to make this course an easier ride, but nevertheless I have enjoyed myself.
I really enjoyed the structure of this course. Although I was unsure of it at first, I have come to really love the blogging experience. Not only is it a great place to store you notes but it also lets you explore your own ideas. I must say that I had a real difficulty at the start. I found it to be a bit of an awkward platform and I had trouble trying to find my own voice to use. I feel like over the past 12 weeks I have developed my internet identity so that now I feel very comfortable creating these posts. I actually really enjoy making them – they help me get my thoughts in order. As I was reflecting on my progress as a blogger I remembered one of the first readings we did Blogs in Media Education. I remember reading this and thinking “well its all good in theory but how am I suppose to actually do it?” But re-reading my thoughts on that reading now, I actually feel kinda proud of myself. I can go through my blog and see all the things that I read about put into practice. And from this outside perspective I can see how much each of these things have helped my learning and improved my understanding of each of the topics covered.
Having the blog there to help me reflect and think about the media that I saw outside of class enabled me to have a broader understanding of what we were learning in class. It also allowed me to have a practical understanding of the theory. Which personally I think is really important. Its one thing to know something in a classroom, but to be able to go out and actually have experience and knowledge of it in the industry or even just in life in general is really important. I think that was one of my favourite aspects of the course. It got me thinking about the content everywhere I went. It became a natural reflex to see media and think about it and then want to blog about it. For example when I went to Sydney, I ended up a large chunk of time blogging! The beauty of the blog was shown to me that weekend, as I could discuss my own ideas and relate it to discussions in class and hopefully be the catalyst for further discussion. The blog post I ended coming up with on fly, George Orwell’s ‘2016’, ended up being on of my favourite posts on this blog.
The fast pasted nature of this course is probably something that I have had the most difficulty with. Not only was there a lot of content in each of the lectures as well as extensive readings and workshop activities but the assignments were also particularly challenging. I think that the “go go go go” style of the course took me by surprise and I honestly wasn’t ready for one assignment after the other without any breathing time. Hence me Falling off the bandwagon. I know that this is mostly my fault, this is a university level course and that I should have been prepared for the high workload. However, I am kind of glad that it happened when it did. Better to struggle first semester year 1 then in year 3. This also have me an opportunity to learn from my mistakes and actually improve myself as a learner. Improving my study habits has been a huge focus for this second part of the course. I have done my on individual research as well as referring to readings throughout the course including Study Hacks and Hyper and Deep Attention. This gave me the opportunity to grow as a student which I missed in my other classes, so I guess its always good to be challenged. My dad always said it builds strength and character, which can’t be a bad thing.
Without a doubt my favourite part of this course was the inspiration I felt each week. After every lecture I would think “wow this is so interesting! I can’t wait to try this”. It led me to find my own examples of the techniques we discussed in class. Which made me even more excited but everything I looked at related to topics I was passionate about. Throughout this course I literally felt like I could create anything – which is an exciting prospect for a young adult.
The reality of actually creating something though is a lot darker.. I had a lot of technical struggles with pretty much every practical part of this course. But as my friends told me, its all down to practice. I know I need to be more vocal when I am having issues and not to be so scared of my tutor! They are there to help me after all. I actually found the final Project Brief to be the most productive and honestly I think that was because I was working within a group. I just seem to work so much better in group environments and I seemed to learn a lot better too. I am lucky in that respect to be studying what I am, there will always be collaborative work in media!
Overall I have loved this course. It has certainly been a challenge and there have been many aspects I have struggled with. But I feel like I was able to grow from these mistakes more than I have in my other classes. I am looking forward to next semester and the challenges it will bring!
Until then,
Rose @)—