Overall Course Reflection

I signed up for IT 469 because it was one of the course required for my IT minor. I'm an English major, so it may seem like an odd minor to have but I'm planning on going into Library Science in grad school. So knowledge of both current and rising technology is imperative if I'm to do well in information services. This class was a great introduction and analysis of the technologies and programs that the Web is bringing to the fore.

This was a very fun class because each assignment presented me an opportunity to be creative, to have fun, and, in doing so, to learn more about the important, ever changing technologies available in our world. While we often think of information as being spread only through email and phone calls, this class has shown me the many different tools at our disposal for teaching and sharing information.

Probably my favorite assignments were the Audacity assignment and the GoAnimate assignment. Playing around with audio was just neat, and finding all the different ways one could mess with the sound always came out with interesting results. I also enjoyed Audacity because audio editing is one of the things I knew the least about coming into this class. So playing with Audacity has helped me see how narrations and music can be professionally created without an entire studio at your disposal. GoAnimate was fun because animation is an attractive multimedia element in and of itself. We always find ourselves stopping, even if only for a second, and watching quirky animation. It's a form of information sharing with a lot of potential and it's much easier to make than I had anticipated. I really enjoyed finding all the different ways I could play around with the on-screen characters, actions, and setting.

Having the notes online for this class was a real big help as I could access them anywhere. Plus, the many different videos and extra links were good because they were concrete demonstrations of how to use the new program properly. I also learned a good deal from the text itself, mostly about the project planning process and the way in which multimedia elements must work together to achieve their overall purpose. Using mixxt as our social networking site was a good strategy because the site has been overall very reliable and easy to use. Finding notes, assignment criteria, or asking for help was all streamlined and easy to do. It gave the feeling of never being alone with any assignment or task, because Dr. Yuen or the other students were always a click of a button away.

I've enjoyed my IT 469 class and would definitely recommend it to anyone with an interest in web-based media or technology trends. It was a fun but informative class and this blog will serve as a reminder of all the things I've learned over the course of this class.