This was the first online class that I had ever taken, so I was really nervous and quite honestly I had no idea what to expect. I had friends take other online classes before and they told me how they had to meet in an online chat room x-amount of times a week, and that it was not really that much different then a regular class except it is harder to remember to do your work. So basically my initial expectations for this class were that it was going to be like any other college-lecture type class, but online. But boy oh boy was I wrong, and I am glad!
This class ended up really being about getting comfortable with all sorts of different media outlets. I was able to create and upkeep my own domain, get active on flickr and twitter, and learn a lot about the free resources that are available on the internet (and even already on my computer) that I did not even know existed! It was a lot more laid back then I expected to be as well. I mean it was a LOT of work, but it was not like your standard read a textbook and take a test kind of class. I was able to learn so much more through actually working hands-on with what I was learning. I also become aware of copyright and creative commons issues that I did not even know existed. I was able to create my own opinions and be enlightened about how I think ideas should be shared, and was able to take part by allowing my published worked to be used by others as well.
It is actually kind of ironic because about a month before this class I was trying to edit a video for a different class project and had NO idea how to do it. Now I can edit photos, videos, and sound clips no problem. I mean I am not an expert, but I can don it. I have really learned a lot in this class and I know it is going to come in handy in the future for me.
If I could pick my absolute favorite assignment it would have to be the Silent Video Assignment. I mean it was a lot of fun and I spent a lot of time working on it, not to mention I think that it is one of my best pieces of work in this class. I had to incorporate massive video editing along with audio. Here it is if anyone wants to take a look:
I think if I had to choose one thing in this class to go back and do over…it would be all of the design section. I don’t think I fully grasped the concept of the design projects, I mean I get the basics, but I think there was a lot of information about it and I wished I (and we as the class) had spent more time on it.
Well this class was definitely more then I had expected (in a good way of course) and below are my top tips for future DS106ers:
