Digital Literacy Wrap Up

My Digital Literacy class wrapped up a couple weeks ago. In short, the class was definitely not what I expected going into it, but I did learn how to kind of use iMovie and there was a couple of interesting videos that were assigned to watch. The interaction was the class was almost nil however and I would have liked to see more networking being done. I want to say that it was just because it was the first set of classes and everyone was getting acclimated so hopefully I can make make some connections in my next class.

Digital Literacy Week 4 Review

This last week of classes went by fairly quick and smoothly except for a couple of snags. The topic was online privacy and your personal online reputation. The project was to be done with either Garage Band or iMovie, both personally confusing for me (new Mac user). The assignment was to make a time capsule-ish presentation on your future goals and what you have learned. There were iMovie and Garage Band guides provided, but this was one of the times I wished I attended on-campus where there was a physical instructor. Overall it was a good week.

Digital Literacy Week 3 Review

I cannot lie, I totally procrastinated this week and turned in my project like eight minutes before it was due. We had to do a multimedia presentation on Copyright Protection… yawn. I would start this project, and then stop to watch Game of Thrones, then start again, but then wonder about what was happening in Winterfell… All bad. But alas, it is submitted. This week was pretty uneventful. I got my digital download for Storyboard Pro, BeeDocs, and Final Draft earlier in the week. I cannot wait to learn Storyboard Pro. It did not work when I first downloaded it, it kept crashing, but Full Sail already knew about this issue and Tech Support helped me out quite quickly. Copyright protection is boring, but for future Digital Literacy students, DO NOT PROCRASTINATE. Get this shit done as soon as you can.

Disconnect

I am currently wrapping up the third week of DGL and there is definitely a clear lack of enthusiasm for this course. Discussion boards are stale and forced and the Community Board was empty until the instructor pointed out that networking was important. I have tried to reach out to fellow classmates, but it seems that no one is really interested. I hope this gets better as we move into the courses specific to our field of study because I cannot physically attend the campus.

Digital Literacy Week 2 Review

This past Monday wrapped up my second week in the Digital Literacy course at Full Sail University. It was tedious to say the least. The topic was citing sources and determining whether or sources were credible or not. I don’t know about you guys, but I hated this exercise in high school and I still hate it now. I know how to do it, it has been ingrained in my brain since ninth grade. I realize not everyone receives the same academic experience, so maybe one of you guys will find this topic fascinating. 

The project was a simple worksheet where you pick a pioneer of the industry (from a list) and write about him/her and then cite your sources. It was easy, but some of the pioneers I kind of rolled my eyes at. 

This week you will dive into the waters that are Diigo, an online bookmarking site. Diigo allows you to cache websites and make doodles and notes on them, highlight important text, and join groups with people who share similar interests. I will probably never use it again. It’s not that it is not useful, but it’s extra and not vital in my success. 

Digital Literacy Week 1 Review

Sunday wrapped up the first week of my online Digital Literacy class. It wasn’t really that much work… a couple discussion posts, a Wimba lecture, and a brief “project” (really a worksheet that ensures you read what you were supposed to). Realistically it could all have been done in one day, but a discussion post is required on two separate days. 

Each week there is a Wimba lecture, which is live, that is required viewing though you do not have to attend live (you can watch it in the archives). You want to make sure to visit Wimba a few minutes before class time the first time because it checks that your computer is up to par and then finding your room may take a bit getting used to. Wimba is neat, but if you have already read the required reading and watched the videos then it is really just repetitive (my Wimba sessions are on Wednesdays).

Off topic, my Mac is overheating all the time, so you want to make sure to do your work on a well-ventilated surface.

Digital Literacy: Day One

Today was my first day of online classes (Digital Literacy). Honestly, I do not foresee learning that much in this class. I have gone over the syllabus and read through the downloads, etc and it’s mostly getting acquainted with your Mac and with the FSO format. I was also under the assumption that we would all be in the same program, wrong again. It does not upset me or anything, but as a writing student I cannot tolerate poor spelling skills when there is a spell check. I know I probably sound like an asshole, but we’re all guilty of judging other people’s poor grammar… No? Just me? Ok.

Only a couple people posted their discussion answers today. Hopefully the class is not filled with procrastinators because I like to get my work done in advanced when I can because I have a five-month-old daughter and I never know when I will have the time. 

The only real issue I ran into today was creating my me.com account because the instructions were outdated so things were not matching up. Then aim.com wouldn’t recognize my password from me.com, but me.com accepted my password… So, it was just this big back and forth. I am fairly certain I have my iChat set up properly now. I hope to network with my fellow students both past and present because I realize how important that is going to be… As long as whoever is reading this is not some crazy, stalker, creeper… Feel free to contact me via iChat: erarose@me.com.