Living and Working on the Web was definitely a way of learning that I have never encountered before and it gave variance and freedom to my otherwise fixed timetable. I am a strong believer that working when motivated can produce much better results. The fact that I was left to choose when I wanted to learn as part of this module made it feel less like work and more like a hobby, even though what I have gained in terms of knowledge is huge.
I would say the thing I found most challenging was the small word limit to cover a sometimes very large topic; fitting all my ideas into 400 words seemed impossible! Yet, as I progressed I feel I found ways to condense my writing and add other media in order to convey my opinions. The topic I found most interesting would probably be Topic 5 about free online content as it allowed study into areas of my particular interest and by that stage I was more comfortable writing blogs.
As a first year student employment seems so far away yet in reality it will almost definitely creep up on me and this module has taught me the importance of having a strong professional online profile and being able to separate this from your personal social networks. I encountered statistics of an increase in employment due to online profiles alone during my research and I can see this way of recruitment becoming the norm. I have learnt that having a solid, professional online presence is vital to increase your employability in the competitive job market. For this reason I have created a new Twitter profile that I will use to share topics of interest related to my degree and a Linkedin profile that I will continue to update and develop.
I completed a self-assessment at the start and end of the semester to see how I had changed over the course of the module. It is obvious from the results that I’ve gained skills and confidence in not only blogging but in posting online in general. I have also learnt about the dangers of sharing views and information publicly in addition to the benefits. I have placed the table below and have shaded areas of improvement in green.
Overall I scored a total of 20/35 before and 25/35 after, showing a 25% increase in how confident I feel in those areas.
Confidence is just one of the qualities I have gained from the module as the following presentation shows:
This module has lead me to use several different websites for the first time to create images and media for my blog posts. By using a learning by doing approach, I feel reasonably comfortable creating infographics, Powtoon videos and Prezi presentations. I’m sure these skills will be very useful with the rest of my education and even into my career.
Ultimately, I have had a very positive experience taking this module and would like to thank all of those involved.
(499 Words)
My Twitter – https://twitter.com/ChrisRSyder
My LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-syder
References
Cloud Image – http://www.sindoh.co.za/
Chris Syder's Blog (USOM2033) 