Experiencing J198: Start to Finish
At the end of the semester, I was amazed at just how far I had come. Reading blog posts from January remind of just how intimidated I was sitting behind a computer--something that I had been doing since elementary school! I was worried that I would never master Movie Maker or never fully understand what the @ or # signs meant on Twitter, but I can now sit here in May and tell you that I am fully confident in my abilities as a multimedia journalist.
A product of the first class of "multimedia reporters" to go through Coppee, I can truly say that I am proud of all that J198 has achieved. It all hit me when Professor Jirik sat in on our final presentations and commented that this class should be proud of all that we have accomplished because we (all of us!) are paving the way for great things to be done in this department. Not only did I receive an excellent education in journalism through this class, but our class helped to foster a small change that could have an even bigger impact in the future.
Thank you for this experience! I am sure that I will carry all of these skills with me into the future. And to the next class of J198ers: Gear up! The semester can be gruelling at times, but the education that you will receive is well worth it!
A product of the first class of "multimedia reporters" to go through Coppee, I can truly say that I am proud of all that J198 has achieved. It all hit me when Professor Jirik sat in on our final presentations and commented that this class should be proud of all that we have accomplished because we (all of us!) are paving the way for great things to be done in this department. Not only did I receive an excellent education in journalism through this class, but our class helped to foster a small change that could have an even bigger impact in the future.
Thank you for this experience! I am sure that I will carry all of these skills with me into the future. And to the next class of J198ers: Gear up! The semester can be gruelling at times, but the education that you will receive is well worth it!
Course Materials
Overall, I was pleased with the quality of the Kodak Zi8 cameras that we used. I thought that the additional microphones and tripods were helpful while shooting the variety of videos that we made throughout the semester. Quite honestly, I did not use the book, and I would not recommended suggesting one for purchase next year. The handouts that were given to us during class were thorough and helpful enough that no textbook was necessary! I think that the education here is in the hands-on experience, not in the suggested readings!
Other programs, such as Adobe Premiere Pro or Apple Final Cut Express, may be interesting programs to learn as students get further into the semester. I completely agree that Windows Movie Maker is a good way to begin learning the process of editing your own video, but I do believe that Premiere and Final Cut offer a few more bells and whistles that could enhance the final project. I know that the Digital Media Studio has a lab filled with Macs that have the Final Cut capability...maybe class could be moved down there for the second half of the semester? Overall, I do think that Movie Maker was a great way for me to jump start into learning the overall process of creating movies, but familiarity with other programs could be helpful in the future for students who plan to make a career out of multimedia journalism.
Other programs, such as Adobe Premiere Pro or Apple Final Cut Express, may be interesting programs to learn as students get further into the semester. I completely agree that Windows Movie Maker is a good way to begin learning the process of editing your own video, but I do believe that Premiere and Final Cut offer a few more bells and whistles that could enhance the final project. I know that the Digital Media Studio has a lab filled with Macs that have the Final Cut capability...maybe class could be moved down there for the second half of the semester? Overall, I do think that Movie Maker was a great way for me to jump start into learning the overall process of creating movies, but familiarity with other programs could be helpful in the future for students who plan to make a career out of multimedia journalism.
Multimedia Reporting: Self Reflection
Working in J198 this semester has taught me an incredible amount about the power of social media. I have always understood that, thanks to the Internet, we literally have the world at our fingertips. Through using blogs, Twitter and Facebook, I can now see the power that social media has to spread ideas and function as an advertising device to mass amounts of people. This course met every goal and expectation that I had entering the class in January. I expected to learn and master Windows Movie Maker and to become accustomed to Twitter and blogging. Multimedia Reporting has allowed me to become comfortable with social media in a way that I know will be very helpful to me in the future.
Thanks to J198, I was able to get a job working with CBS College Sports during March Madness. Had I not had the experience cutting and editing video and using Twitter and blog accounts, I would not have gotten the internship since it was geared toward marketing majors. I can attribute my success with the job to the skills that I acquired through this class. If I did not take Multimedia Reporting, I would not have even been a viable candidate for the job!
Thanks to J198, I was able to get a job working with CBS College Sports during March Madness. Had I not had the experience cutting and editing video and using Twitter and blog accounts, I would not have gotten the internship since it was geared toward marketing majors. I can attribute my success with the job to the skills that I acquired through this class. If I did not take Multimedia Reporting, I would not have even been a viable candidate for the job!
Dont Call Yourself a Journalism Student Unless You Have Taken a Course on Social Media
A couple of years ago there was this pesty rumor that Journalism is dead. Nowadays, it becoming more of a fact. Oh no! I am a journalism major. What the hell am I supposed to do when I graduate.
Low and Behold, along came a J198 Multimedia course that confirmed Journalism is evolving into another being called Social Media.
Honestly, if it wasn't for the J198 course, I would have switched my major into something that gave some form of prospect of employment in the future. Now that I have taken this course, the possibilities have opened up again. There are a multitude of ways I can inform the public. For instance blogging, tweeting, making TV shot videos or documentaries, and etc.
And even if these skills do not help me get payed directly, they make me a more competitive candidate for the ever seemingly scarce journalism jobs. Because of this class, when I am applying for jobs, I have the confidence to walk into the New York Times employment office and be like BAM! take a look at my acquired skills and if that doesn't impress you, I can make a website. To prove it, I will give them the URL to my kick ass website on arts in South Bethlehem. http://www.southbethlehemarts.net/index.html
So how would I evaluate this course?
I would say that hence forth, for every journalism student, this course should be a pre-requisite.
Low and Behold, along came a J198 Multimedia course that confirmed Journalism is evolving into another being called Social Media.
Honestly, if it wasn't for the J198 course, I would have switched my major into something that gave some form of prospect of employment in the future. Now that I have taken this course, the possibilities have opened up again. There are a multitude of ways I can inform the public. For instance blogging, tweeting, making TV shot videos or documentaries, and etc.
And even if these skills do not help me get payed directly, they make me a more competitive candidate for the ever seemingly scarce journalism jobs. Because of this class, when I am applying for jobs, I have the confidence to walk into the New York Times employment office and be like BAM! take a look at my acquired skills and if that doesn't impress you, I can make a website. To prove it, I will give them the URL to my kick ass website on arts in South Bethlehem. http://www.southbethlehemarts.net/index.html
So how would I evaluate this course?
I would say that hence forth, for every journalism student, this course should be a pre-requisite.
Enthusiasm, guidelines and a good Professor is all you need
Multimedia Journalism is a very interactive course. The best way to learn or become familiar with social media is to personally explore it.
This is why I ended the course kind of annoyed at the fact that I dropped down $54 buying the course books: Journalism Next and Be The Media by David Mathison. Don't get me wrong, they are great books and everything. They honestly do give you an accurate picture of social media BUT Professor Littau does such a good job of informing us that it was not really necessary to sit there and go through pages of reading. I would rather spend the money on a more interactive software or put the money towards my own freakin personal camera.
Don't get me wrong, not all of the reading material in the course were unnecessary. Prof. Littau made step by step guidelines for almost every social media tool we used and those were so helpful! For instance, I wanted to make a video but for some reason I blanked. Was I worried. Hell No! because in a matter of minutes, I whipped out my guidelines and was completely capable of making a video again.
Speaking of video making.... In the J198 Multimedia course, we used Windows Movie Maker, which was at first relieving because it didn't sound or look too complicated.
However, a part of me wish we used a software more sophisticated that wasn't accessible to everyone who had a PC. That kind of sounds snobby but i am so serious. Think about it, Prof. Littau made some kick ass guidelines that made everything look like the ABC's so surely even if a software was complicated, he would break it down in a way that made it look so simple. This would allow me to gloat but more importantly put down on my resume that I can use BLAH!
This is why I ended the course kind of annoyed at the fact that I dropped down $54 buying the course books: Journalism Next and Be The Media by David Mathison. Don't get me wrong, they are great books and everything. They honestly do give you an accurate picture of social media BUT Professor Littau does such a good job of informing us that it was not really necessary to sit there and go through pages of reading. I would rather spend the money on a more interactive software or put the money towards my own freakin personal camera.
Don't get me wrong, not all of the reading material in the course were unnecessary. Prof. Littau made step by step guidelines for almost every social media tool we used and those were so helpful! For instance, I wanted to make a video but for some reason I blanked. Was I worried. Hell No! because in a matter of minutes, I whipped out my guidelines and was completely capable of making a video again.
Speaking of video making.... In the J198 Multimedia course, we used Windows Movie Maker, which was at first relieving because it didn't sound or look too complicated.
However, a part of me wish we used a software more sophisticated that wasn't accessible to everyone who had a PC. That kind of sounds snobby but i am so serious. Think about it, Prof. Littau made some kick ass guidelines that made everything look like the ABC's so surely even if a software was complicated, he would break it down in a way that made it look so simple. This would allow me to gloat but more importantly put down on my resume that I can use BLAH!
Confessions Part 1
I believe Boyz II Men said it best: .
Yesterday actually came a couple of weeks ago, when we presented our final projects in the very last #J198 class. (I've gotten so used to that you should probably just go ahead and rename it that for next semester, Jeremy.) It was a great recap of the semester, showing all of our hard work to each other and to interested LU faculty, while live-tweeting the whole thing. It was also the last class of my Lehigh career. I'd say it went out with a bang.
Here I am blogging on May 9, well after when I should have gotten these done, but that's beside the point, right? After all, my pledge to consistently blog sort of went out the window weeks ago. You know what happened: Senior things, job things, life decisions, the whole deal. Point is: Thou shall be neglected no more, good old friend. Let's go out in style.
What's on tap for the end? How about some good old fashioned evaluations? That's right. I'm talking about ME, I'm talking about #J198 and I'm talking about #J198 COURSE MATERIALS, Y'ALL. Check it:
THREE-PART SERIES FINALE!
Okay, let's do this thing.
I'll start off by saying that this class, for me, was maybe the best one I've had the privilege of taking during four years at Lehigh. Hyperbole? Maybe. My enthusiasm can't be dampened, though. #J198 was a game changer. But enough about the class itself -- that's coming with my next post. This one should be all about me. "Goals and expectations vs. what I learned." Gotcha.
Going into the class, my goal was to become a better journalist. I sorta feel like I had a mastery -- or at the very least, a great understanding -- of traditional journalism in the scope that Lehigh presented it to me, and I had already toyed with multimedia and social media for the purposes of entertainment and curiosity, but rarely for telling a story. So that was my biggest goal prior to starting #J198: Use these new, strange tools around me, couple them with what's already in my arsenal, and spread some good old fashioned information around.
Did I do that? Yes. We all did. But again, I'm talking about me, so who cares about everyone else? (Just joshin' ... the class was full of straight up all-stars.) I learned how to take cool, little things I wouldn't have thought twice about before, like Gowalla, and use them to enhance an existing story. Want to see that in action? Check out our Web site, read up and then go take the walking tour. The full package, right?
How did I change personally? I learned how to not be a selfish pig, for starters. I love being creative, and I love doing things my way, so it was tough letting other people be privy to my creative process, and tough taking some of my hands off of editorial decisions. But working with a group was huge. It let me see how other people - I'm looking at you, Lauren and Opi - get creative and attack problems, and gave me inspiration for how to apply some of their choices to my own decisions. In the end, even if our group didn't always agree on what to do, we all learned from each other and delivered one hell of a final product, methinks.
I learned how to become more technically proficient, I learned how to look great on camera and ape Jack Nicholson, I learned how to ride my bike around the South Side and get college credit for it, and most of all, I learned how to appreciate the art of storytelling.
I'd say I learned a lot.
Coming up in Confessions, Part II, Andrew totally trashes #J198 the class. Just terrible.
Yesterday actually came a couple of weeks ago, when we presented our final projects in the very last #J198 class. (I've gotten so used to that you should probably just go ahead and rename it that for next semester, Jeremy.) It was a great recap of the semester, showing all of our hard work to each other and to interested LU faculty, while live-tweeting the whole thing. It was also the last class of my Lehigh career. I'd say it went out with a bang.
Here I am blogging on May 9, well after when I should have gotten these done, but that's beside the point, right? After all, my pledge to consistently blog sort of went out the window weeks ago. You know what happened: Senior things, job things, life decisions, the whole deal. Point is: Thou shall be neglected no more, good old friend. Let's go out in style.
What's on tap for the end? How about some good old fashioned evaluations? That's right. I'm talking about ME, I'm talking about #J198 and I'm talking about #J198 COURSE MATERIALS, Y'ALL. Check it:
THREE-PART SERIES FINALE!
Okay, let's do this thing.
I'll start off by saying that this class, for me, was maybe the best one I've had the privilege of taking during four years at Lehigh. Hyperbole? Maybe. My enthusiasm can't be dampened, though. #J198 was a game changer. But enough about the class itself -- that's coming with my next post. This one should be all about me. "Goals and expectations vs. what I learned." Gotcha.
Going into the class, my goal was to become a better journalist. I sorta feel like I had a mastery -- or at the very least, a great understanding -- of traditional journalism in the scope that Lehigh presented it to me, and I had already toyed with multimedia and social media for the purposes of entertainment and curiosity, but rarely for telling a story. So that was my biggest goal prior to starting #J198: Use these new, strange tools around me, couple them with what's already in my arsenal, and spread some good old fashioned information around.
Did I do that? Yes. We all did. But again, I'm talking about me, so who cares about everyone else? (Just joshin' ... the class was full of straight up all-stars.) I learned how to take cool, little things I wouldn't have thought twice about before, like Gowalla, and use them to enhance an existing story. Want to see that in action? Check out our Web site, read up and then go take the walking tour. The full package, right?
How did I change personally? I learned how to not be a selfish pig, for starters. I love being creative, and I love doing things my way, so it was tough letting other people be privy to my creative process, and tough taking some of my hands off of editorial decisions. But working with a group was huge. It let me see how other people - I'm looking at you, Lauren and Opi - get creative and attack problems, and gave me inspiration for how to apply some of their choices to my own decisions. In the end, even if our group didn't always agree on what to do, we all learned from each other and delivered one hell of a final product, methinks.
I learned how to become more technically proficient, I learned how to look great on camera and ape Jack Nicholson, I learned how to ride my bike around the South Side and get college credit for it, and most of all, I learned how to appreciate the art of storytelling.
I'd say I learned a lot.
Coming up in Confessions, Part II, Andrew totally trashes #J198 the class. Just terrible.
Farewell my Beloved
I cant believe I am saying this, but I am actually sad that my J198 course this semester will be ending.
That's right I still want a college course to go on and No! i am not a nerd.
To be quite honest, I initially only signed up for the course because I thought it was like a tv news anchoring training course. After all, my lifes goal is to meet Anderson Cooper and be the next Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
However, I was pleasantly suprised. Not only did we do some news anchoring but we really dug deep into Multimedia Reporting.
Because of this class, I have caught up with the rest of the world and started !
Because of this class, I have learned some videotaping techniques. For instance, the fist time I did filming, I cut off someone's head (MATTHEW Harris)
Flash forward toward the end of the semester and I can honestly say I have improved tremendously.
On top of that, we learned to podcast, set up a Gowalla tour and even better (in my opinion) explored Google Map. Check out what I made
View in a larger map
In the end, we compiled all that we learned into one Fabulous website that came up as the first website when you Google South Bethlehem arts in a shorter time than Professor Littau, my group members and I expected
TA DA!!
http://www.southbethlehemarts.net/index.html
That's right I still want a college course to go on and No! i am not a nerd.
To be quite honest, I initially only signed up for the course because I thought it was like a tv news anchoring training course. After all, my lifes goal is to meet Anderson Cooper and be the next Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
However, I was pleasantly suprised. Not only did we do some news anchoring but we really dug deep into Multimedia Reporting.
Because of this class, I have caught up with the rest of the world and started !
Because of this class, I have learned some videotaping techniques. For instance, the fist time I did filming, I cut off someone's head (MATTHEW Harris)
Flash forward toward the end of the semester and I can honestly say I have improved tremendously.
On top of that, we learned to podcast, set up a Gowalla tour and even better (in my opinion) explored Google Map. Check out what I made
View in a larger map
In the end, we compiled all that we learned into one Fabulous website that came up as the first website when you Google South Bethlehem arts in a shorter time than Professor Littau, my group members and I expected
TA DA!!
http://www.southbethlehemarts.net/index.html
Remorse: The feeling I have leaving this Course
You know when people tell you about the one teacher who had a significant impact on their college career, the one teacher who really helped them? Yea well, I never felt that way. I mean I have liked teachers, but since I have left high school I have not found a teacher that I have deeply respected and genuinely liked conversing with.
..... that is until now.
In my eyes Professor Littau is one of the best things that has happened to Lehigh's journalism department in years. Before his presence in the department, most if not all the classes were tailored towards the idea of print journalism and theories/concepts. Professor Littau has designed a class that I think should be a requirement for all journalism students in the future.
His class was innovative, interactive, and enjoyable at the same time. It wasn't just hours of lecture from the professor and silence from the students like many of the courses I have taken here at Lehigh. It was thought provoking and hands-on, which enabled us to truly learn what were being taught.
As media is now looking more and more towards the internet, I believe that is it necessary for all journalism students to learn the ins and outs of social media by gaining experience from directly working with sites such as Twitter and Blogger. I also think that is is necessary to learn how to use a camera and edit film. All these skills will inevitably be practical down the road at some point in all our lives.
Let’s Take a Look at the Materials, Hand-outs, and Books!
While I believe that most of the material in this class was valuable, I do believe that some material was more valuable than others.
I'll take a different approach when evaluating the materials and start with the ones I think that we could have done without. After reading through some of my classmates posts, I have to agree with Allie Rolnik when she said that we could have done without the books. I think the books would have been a good suggestion to buy, but I don't think that they were necessary when pertaining the the actual coursework. A lot of our work was hands on (which I loved!), but because of that we really didn't need the books to guide us along the way since we were essentially guiding and teaching ourselves day by day. However, I will say that if anyone wanted learn and read more about today's media that the books would serve as a great guide.
Hand-outs, however, are another story. I think the handouts are absolutely essential to the proper functioning of this course. Without the handouts, I feel like we would have been asking Professor Littau one million questions a day and therefore probably drive him up a wall. The handouts enabled us to properly work with Windows Movie Maker, blogs, and twitter. They were extremely detailed so that very few questions needed to be asked during lab time. So keep the handouts coming Professor Littau!
Finally, when it comes to the Kodak camera we used I absolutely loved it. I know some people say that we could have had a more expensive camera or maybe one that looked more professional, but I think this camera was just fine for what we were trying to accomplish. And yes, while the sound wasn't always completely clear that was easily fixed by attaching the lapel mic to the camera in one quick and easy step.
Self-Evaluation
Me: Mom, there is a new class being offered at Lehigh and I'm not sure if I should take it or not.
Mom: What's it about?
Me: Well the title of the class is Multimedia Reporting, it seems like it is going to cover a lot of information. Here I will send you the link the professor posted on Youtube, I think it will give you a better understanding of the course.
Mom: Ok, I'll call you back after I take a look at it and let you know what I think.
........................................ 2 minutes later....................................
Mom: Alyssa, are you serious?
Me: What are you talking about?
Mom: Of course you should take this course! Why would you even question it? If you don't fill out an application I will be very upset with you. This class has something different to offer and I think you will get a lot out of it.
Me: I guess your'e right. I just wasn't sure since it is a new class but I guess I will never know unless I give it a try.
.... Thank god I decided to call my mother that day.
On the first day of class I wasn't sure what to expect. I actually don't think I had any expectations at all. And maybe that was for the best. Because whatever I could have expected to gain from this course could never compare to the copious amounts of skills that I have learned.
The thought of me editing film and audio with little to no supervision before this class...... no way.
The thought of me starting, designing, and maintaining my own blog before this class..... no way.
The thought of me producing and publishing a website before this class..... no way.
The thought of me being technologically and social media savvy before this class.... no way.
I didn't necessarily have any concrete goals before starting this class, but I can tell you one thing now. I know feel that I can reach my goals much easier because I know have concrete skills that I can offer to a potential employer. I know have something to show them when they ask for a sample of my work. But most importantly, I can now honestly look a potential employer in the eye and tell them that I am indeed fit for the job.