As a student who has spent the majority of her undergraduate years taking science based courses, I’m not really sure what made me decide to pick up a Professional Writing and Editing minor without ever having taken an actual English course at WVU.  Furthermore, I’m not entirely sure what made me decide to start with English 303: Multimedia Writing.  Maybe it was that I picked it at random, maybe it was that I thought it would be interesting, or maybe it was that it was the only thing that fit into my schedule, but now that the class is almost over, I can honestly say it’s not what I thought it would be.

When I hear the phrase “English class,” I think about lots of reading, lots of writing, and lots of reviewing.  And while we did our share of that in this class, I was surprised to see how much time we spent discussing, collaborating, researching, and creating, as well.  The interactivity was probably my favorite aspect of this course.  From discussions, I got to learn something from every member of the class, and from collaboration, I got to learn something about every person I was working with.

Before picking up the minor, I was looking into some information about PWE and found this description of the Multimedia Writing course online:

English 303 Multimedia Writing. Study of communication and design issues in multimedia composition focuses on communication, creative expression, persuasion, interactivity, and rhetorical principles. Practice in composing multimedia documents such as online publications, interactive literary works and tutorials.

At the time, it didn’t mean much to me—not that I really understood what it meant anyway.  But reading it again now, I think the class has accomplished all of these things.  I can look at each part of this description and think back to a time during the semester when we practiced it.  Whether tweeting or blogging, reading or discussing, bits of information managed to make their way inside my head.  They made me think.  Just as multimedia writing combines the use of several different content forms, I thought that this class combined the use of several different teaching methods.  And what do you know?  I may have actually learned something.

The first project was an eye opening experience for me. I have never received such a low grade on a first draft in my life. Mini panic sessions set in and I thought there was no way in the world that I could pass this class. But once some edits and rewrites were done, I figured out that everything was going to be okay. It was very interesting combining two people’s thought processes and interests together to create a cohesive project.

The second project allowed me to learn new programs to create a presentation. Learning to use new programs can be very frustrating, but once you are able to master the basic functions there is no better feeling in the world. Right now I’m trying to figure out how to put a voice recording with a PowerPoint presentation. It’s not going so well so now I’m branching out and trying some other alternative programs. In the end I may even be able to say that I am competent with new software so not all is lost!

It’s hard to believe these past couple of months have passed by so quickly! It doesn’t seem real. I’m excited to take what I’ve learned while doing these last two projects.

The use of Prezi was something I took away from this class that was very useful. Using it in my blog response as well as the multimodal project really opened my eyes to the concept of moving text and made it apparent how much better it is then a regular PowerPoint. I had never used it before and now it is something I will look into incorporating in future classes. More than just applications, however, Multimedia writing helped me to realize how the Internet can be used to tie a class together outside of the classroom. It was very interesting to see all of our assignments pooled together, like our blogs or our upcoming collection. With the World Wide Web, all projects were made more convenient and accessible.

I can honestly say that I learned things in English 303 that I will use in the future. This course gets the recommendation from me.

Most importantly, the 2 assignments brought me out of my comfort zone. My first assignment turned into a website, pushing me to think beyond the simplicity of the wording of the text to the appearance of it and how people would react.

With my second assignment, I’m podcasting, something I’ve always wanted to do, but have never had the opportunity. I’m editing audio, creating visual imagery to match and pairing the two together so that they produce a coherent message.

Both assignments made me think about the effects of social media, particularly in my field of study. I think that’s been one of the best parts of the course. Because the criteria for the assignments allowed us to incorporate our personal interests, the assignments have not only been fun, but applicable to our core education. And in a field where social media is booming, where being in the know is the only way to go, it’s important that you understand all aspects of this technology.

All-in-all, I think I’ve benefitted from the course. It definitely was not what I expected, but I’m glad it turned out this way. If it hadn’t, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to partake in the things I have.

Another part of class that I really enjoyed was the part about the Multimedia Project.  I have never done a project this way before.  I’ve always written papers, done power points, and I’ve even worked in groups to make power points and papers but, to create a project that wasn’t something written was a challenge I’ve never been given before.   Granted, the outcome of my project isn’t as good as it could be thus far, but I am still proud of the work my partner and I have done.  It’s a different project with different approaches and different results.  This project, more importantly, this class has made me think in a way that most classes don’t have me think.  I’m able to use the tools of today to create something that, well, looks like or sounds like it belongs with something created in todays society.  Papers are good an all but they are out of date.  Multimedia writing is the future and I’m glad I got to take the class to be apart of it.

I know that before this class I definitely wouldn’t know how to make a website, or use iMovie. Now I can successfully make and use both which may ultimately help me in future classes. I also feel as though our class atmosphere also adds a lot of excitement to our discussions. We are a smaller class, but the feedback we give each other and topics of discussion that arise make things a lot more interesting.

It is sad to think that we have already worked on our final project and the class is almost over. Alyssa and I are currently revising our iMovie and hope to get all our revisions done soon. We decided to make a cyberbullying PSA in regards to social networking and the effects it has on some individuals. We thought it would be an extremely effective topic because of how serious it’s been lately so we hope to revise everything soon and make a good video!

Take a listen. SN Podcast