Course Portfolio

Coming into this semester my preconceived notion ,regarding digital writing, was that it was blogs or social media sites. Now at semesters end I have now learned that it is so much more. In the 21st century digital writing is essentially our society’s means of communicating with one another. Working on the course outcomes, I myself became a better digital writer.

Course Outcomes Via Jenkins

Play — the capacity to experiment with one’s surroundings as a form of problem-solving.

This is a outcome I could apply to many of the things we did this semester because, as a whole, many of the things we did was new to me and it was through the concept of play that I gained a better understanding of how do do different class assignments. The audio post card of project 2 was a example of this.

Performance — the ability to adopt alternative identities for the purpose of improvisation and discovery.

This is outcome I feel is very descriptive of project 3. We compared our identities to the digital ones we had and also to the the professional identities we seek.

Simulation — the ability to interpret and construct dynamic models of real-world processes

To me this course outcome is descriptive of the rhetoric on the town exercises we did. In all of them we attempted to interpret what message the advertisers were attempting to get across to their audience.

Appropriation — the ability to meaningfully sample and remix media content

Once again, this course outcome applies to project 2. The editing of the photo in our audio cards is the remix of media content being described here.

Multitasking — the ability to scan one’s environment and shift focus as needed to salient details.

This was a course outcome we applied throughout the semester. This class for most of us is one of 4 or 5 we are taking.  Also within this class due to hurricane sandy we at point were working on project 2 and 3 at the same time.

Distributed Cognition — the ability to interact meaningfully with tools that expand mental capacities

This screams to me C.R.A.P. We applied these tools in order to make our individual web pages a vehicle to get our message out to the audience

Collective Intelligence — the ability to pool knowledge and compare notes with  others toward a common goal

The best example of this was the wiki project. As a class we pooled our knowledge together and compared our definitions in order to define what digital writing is.

Judgment — the ability to evaluate the reliability and credibility of different information sources

To me this is the Diigo page. Prior to linking out sites for our classmates to view, we had to exercise proper judgement in determining whether or not the site we visited was a reliable source of information.

Transmedia Navigation — the ability to follow the flow of stories and information across multiple modalities

I think here in commenting on our classmates works throughout the semester you see how they form a different definition for what digital writing is through their audio post cards for example.

Networking — the ability to search for, synthesize, and disseminate information

This is Diigo again. With the bookmarking we were searching for information from reliable sources in order to share with our classmates.

Negotiation — the ability to travel across diverse communities, discerning and respecting multiple perspectives, and grasping and following alternative norms.

I’d have to say that this is the wiki project. We as a class had multiple people do the same page and negotiation had to take place in order to form the possible different definitions into one clear message.

I would have to say that the course outcome I applied the most was play. With the play most of the applications we used; animoto, photoshop, etc, I had never used before. I essentially did trial and error, I played with the programs until I got a handle on what I was doing.

With collective intelligence I wish I used more. In missing a class or not having a idea on how to do a assignment, I think viewing my classmates posts in order to gain a feel of what was expected for a set assignment would help me do the assignment better.

The most important thing I think I learned this semester was with thru the professional identity project. Not only did this apply what we learned throughout the semester but it applied it toward our professional goals. It kind of told me where I stand in terms of getting to where I want to be after graduation. If my identity doesn’t match my identity then I have a problem as in today’s job market interviews are not the only tool used to evaluate a person, your digital identity is used. Also in viewing my future peers in my desired profession I was able to see what holes I have and need to fill in my own  resume in order to get where they are at.

Rhetorical Analysis Project 3

traditional resume

For my traditional resume I chose a normal format. My font size was 12 and the font I used was Times New Roman. The reason I kept my resume plain is because the format for writing journalism stays the same. AP style is what news organizations use in writing their news stories. While the content may differ in different organizations, the style remains the same. For this reason I kept my resume generic.

scannable resume

For my scannable resume I kept the same format as the traditional for the same reasons listed above. The only difference was that I removed all bold and underlines from the resume and used spacing to dictate what my headings were. I did this because this resume is read by a computer and things ,like bolding or font size, can give the computer problems in reading my resume.

LinkedIn

My profile included all the mandatory  information. Additionally, I added a skills and courses section. The skills makes up for my lack of experience in the journalism field as they can be applied to the job I’m seeking. The courses section demonstrates individual courses I’ve taken that shows I have extensive knowledge on the course subject.

Video resume

I chose to do my video in the crowded and noisy Webb Center. My purpose in doing so shows that I can concentrate and get my message across even amid chaos. Chaos that is often present in the newsroom or at press conference where hundreds of people are asking questions at the same time. I kept this video short as in writing news the lead is the most important part, as it draws in your audience and summarizes the story. If your lead isn’t good then no matter how great the remainder of the story is, it won’t be read. In doing a short video I am simulating my ability to grasp the audience’s attention and giving them the most important reasons I should get the job.

Experience Timeline

For my experience timeline I included my education with images. This included graduating from TNCC, attending ODU, and listing a course I’m taking. Also I added items that I planned to do prior to graduation that would improve my strengths and weaknesses. I added joining the student newspaper and a sports writing class as my future events.