One of my favorite parts about the class was the structure, and really learning about each medium individually and in order. It really put stuff in perspective of how far media and has and how far it can keep going. I learned a lot of vocabulary in my high school class, but it was nice to have a continuous timeline as well. I always liked having guest speakers in high school and I liked having them in this class. I think they bring helpful information of what it is like to really work in these professions and share some of their stories with us. Another thing I thought was super creative was using Twitter and blogs for class. I've had a blog and hardly used it and this gave me a reason to remodel and try to post more stuff in the future. I've also had a Twitter for a while, but did not get into it as much until this past summer when I got my android phone. I like Twitter because, unlike Facebook, it is not changing what it is and I can see it being used for leisure and professional uses more and more in the future. The studies were also something new to me, but I liked those as well because they made me feel more involved and gave me something to relate to when we talked about the media studies that were done in the past.
The only thing I really did not like about the class is that it could be very mundane at times. I know the class was big, but I think the University could benefit in adding one more class and spreading out the number of students in each. I think learning the book work part of media history is very important, but I also think that having more hands-on activities with the types of media would be a good way to learn too. I guess I was expecting to learn about the University's side of each medium since we have a newspaper, radio station, TV news station, etc. I think talking about how each are changing and having someone from each department come talk to us would have been good to learn about as well as see how students could get involved.
I love the internet and I love my android phone. I do not think I could imagine a day or even a week when I could not talk to my friends. I think social media is very useful to keep up with people, but I also think it keeps trying to change to become more complex when it does not really have to be. As far as newspapers and books go, they will never die. Yes, the internet is good, but what if there is a fallout? People want a hard copy of news and events. And in my opinion, I do not like eReaders. The constant back light strains eyesight, and I am sure future studies will show that too. But of course, it is like that with computers and phones too. News will be news and advertising will be advertising. They both will always be more biased to whoever gives them more money. I do not agree it should be like that, but this is a business and businesses revolves around money. The class did not necessarily change how I view media since I already have a pretty set mind about different things, but I did get more insight. I want to go into Public Relations, and I was excited that we spent a day talking about it. It kind of gave me a taste of what I will be doing since the only information I ever got about it is from my own research. I do not really want to work with politics, but rather a small firm that communicates between businesses.
I am looking forward to what the next few years at the University will bring and I am very happy that the school of communications has so many opportunities for students.
I am looking forward to what the next few years at the University will bring and I am very happy that the school of communications has so many opportunities for students.
