I’m a Media Production major and I cannot overemphasize the importance of the knowledge and application of new media in todays changing world. If you use a computer for anything at all, own a mobile electronic device, have a task to promote of market anything or simply just watch television with an interest in current affairs, then you must have heard or come across social media at some point. Social media is literally new media, which is founded on the web 2.0 concept – all hands on deck.
This Web Publishing and Social Media course – COM 336 is not mandatory for my graduation. Besides this, I require only 120 credits to graduate and I’ve already earned 139. I had the option of taking electives, which will also fulfill graduation requirements, but I sensed the need to take this course and update my skills towards what will surely be required in the near future. Clearly, I went out of my path in taking this course. Now to the question of whether I gained what I was looking for in the course – I did. I wish I could even learn more, but a semester has just but a limited time span.
During the semester, we learnt and applied web 2.0 concepts in a number of ways. We practically created accounts for publishing to social media sites like BlogSpot, wiki sites, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. We then created content and we published. We were enlightened to know that since all hands were on deck, we will surely find unprofessional posts on such media and we also learnt what good practice is. We were also made to pick publushed posts to analyze and that helped me to understand what to guide against. We eventually learnt some fundamental HTML codes along with the fundamentals of designing our own website.
Altogether, I clearly endorse this course as useful to most communication students. We had an intense hands-on approach from our professor – Maria Pabico. We were made to work so hard and fast that I personally felt the pressure and reacted to it at times, but at the end, I believe the work paid off. What I believe I got is a good foundation. It’s now up to me to further build on what I’ve gained.
