Exploring Digital Media

Well, here it is. My final blog post for IM 260. I truly cannot believe how fast this summer block has gone. At the start of the course, I was extremely apprehensive. I had never taken an online class or a summer class so the very essence of this class was completely foreign to me. Looking back, this has been one of my favorite classes. I was expecting it to be a ridiculous work load because of the amount of projects crammed into a short amount of time. It turned out to be full of projects that mostly didn't even feel like homework. I was able to do them on my own time - which often meant at the last minute because that's just how I operate. Because of this freedom, I was able to find time before or after work, or on the weekends to get it all done in a few hours. It significantly reduced the amount of stress I had going into my first online summer class. I think my favorite part of this course is the emphasis on our own majors. It made the class personal and more enjoyable b...

I think this is the project that scared me the most to start. I had no idea what I was doing or how this would turn out. I can now say that I look forward to writing my reflections because of how personal this is. I can write how I'm feeling about projects and I'm not afraid to say what I disliked about any o them. We all have our likes and dislikes so why not be honest? I was originally not very excited to do this. I had fun creating the page because it fits me so well, but I did not want to have to write at all. I'm usually timid when it comes to writing for class because I get uncomfortable knowing people are reading it. With this, however, I felt different. I felt like I could express myself and truly write about my experiences with the projects we were assigned.  This has been a blast and I hope I can use this as a future teacher to provide updates for my students and their families. Thanks for reading!  For now, Taylor

Oh man...I just have to say it: Tweeting as a professional profile is SO difficult for me. Every time I need to tweet, I have to wrack my brain to see if I have anything meaningful to say. I made it work, but it was not easy. Most of my tweets are clumped together so I have about 5 for one day then 0 for the next 3 days until I remembered the assignment again. It was difficult for me because I have a personal Twitter account so I'm used to being able to tweet freely on that. On the professional account, however, I really struggled with finding things to say or retweet. I think the most exciting thing about making this professional Twitter account was when the MN Senator Amy Klobuchar followed me back. I got to meet her in 2010 on our family trip to Washington D.C. so it was cool to have her follow my account. Even though it was such a challenge for me, I think professional Twitter accounts can be incredibly useful. Maybe I'll reboot mine when I start teaching... I ha...

Just a warning, I have a few blog posts to complete today so they'll all be posted relatively close together. Anyways... I finished the last of our assignments: LinkedIn. Woohoo! I wasn't sure how to feel about starting an account on LinkedIn. I didn't really understand the concept of getting connected to potential employers. Now, after completing my profile, I'm excited to see who I am able to connect with. Creating a profile was a lot easier than I was expecting. It only took about 10 minutes to add everything. I think this is going to prove to be an effective way to network with those in my field. The only thing I don't like about LinkedIn is the difficulty in actually connecting with people. If you have a basic profile like me, it's difficult to reach out to people who have a premium profile. I'm sure it's beneficial to those individuals for their privacy but it makes connections less attainable. Overall, I feel pretty impressed with LinkedIn...

I figured I should probably reflect on my experiences with website designing while I'm at the whole blogging thing, right? The whole idea of creating my own website was foreign to me. I decided to make my website like a portfolio for the time being. I hope I can change it and eventually use it as a resource for my future students and their families. I was completely lost when I first started this project. By the time I finished watching the tutorials and completed my wireframe, however, I felt a little more informed. I got started on Google Sites and I just went for it. I'm a fan of consistency so all of my pages looked the same: layout, font, resources, etc. I wanted to make a website that was easy to navigate and pleasing to the eye. Creating a website wasn't nearly as difficult as I was expecting. It took a very short amount of time to get it the way I wanted it to look. I would probably give myself a little more time for research before diving right in if I had to r...

Well, here I am. Sitting in my bed, working on the last of my IM 260 projects. It's absolutely insane how fast summer classes seem to go by. One would think they would drag on since it's summer and all but I can't believe tomorrow is the last day. The last project is to create a LinkedIn profile and provide your resume. Luckily I went to the Career Services office on campus in March to get help with making my resume. I don't have much experience but I understand the concept of developing an effective resume. The world of LinkedIn is new for me, however. My dad has used it but besides that, I don't know a whole lot about it. I think it's time for me to watch some tutorials and try to figure it out. Hopefully it's not too hard - If my dad can do it, then I definitely can too. My resume is all finished up so now I need to just create my LinkedIn account and go from there. I plan to learn how to navigate the website so I can use it in the future. I hope th...

This class continues to challenge me. I guess that means I'm learning, right? The next of our projects is to make our own website. I think the only time I've ever done this is for a class in middle school - which definitely means it was a disaster. Hopefully this time around won't be so bad. I know how important it is to make sure your website functions properly. Otherwise, what's the point? I've seen my fair share of horribly designed and low functioning websites. They're infuriating when you're trying to locate information or complete a task. I want my website to be easy to navigate, appealing to my audience, and appropriate for my field of study. I plan on taking my time and putting effort into this because it's something I could continue to use once I'm further along in my education or in my profession. I think I need to do some preparation for this so I can ensure it's done correctly and effectively. I want to read about web design strat...

Initially, I was nervous to create my own survey. I find them to be slightly personal when you are making them in regards to your personal field of study. I had some trouble coming up with questions that made sense and flowed with the survey. It took some time but I think they turned out OK. During the research for the Annotated Bibliography assignment, my research question was in specific relation to different kinds of Augmentative and Alternative Communication devices. For this project, however, I changed my scope just a bit. I geared my survey more towards what the general population knows about technology and how important it is. Overall, my survey received 89 responses! I was blown away! I originally posted the link to the survey on my Facebook page and welcomed others to share it as well. Five of my friends shared it and many of their friends also participated. I also posted the link on my personal twitter account. Most of the people who responded were from Minnesota, as expe...

The idea of creating and distributing my own survey is a little intimidating to me. I don't know where or how to create it, what kinds of questions to ask, or how to get it to reach an audience. I've taken plenty of surveys but I've never had to come up with a professional one by myself. This will be a learning experience for me. Although I'm a little apprehensive about it, I'm excited to see what my responses look like. Since I've never done this before, I really need to watch the videos on D2L so I can understand how to operate Google Forms. It looks like there are plenty of worthwhile links on there so I plan to take some time getting myself comfortable using it. I know what demographic questions are but I'm not sure which ones are appropriate for my survey so I will have to do some research about that. I also don't really know which questions I want answers for. I will likely create about 15 questions and choose from those based on which I think wi...

Okay... So as a 19 year old who grew up while technology has been evolving continuously, a large portion of my life involves the use of technology. This project, however, wasn't nearly as hard as I was expecting. On Friday, May 26th, I flew to Chicago, Illinois to stay with my boyfriend and his family in Cary, Illinois. I used my phone on the plane and until I connected with him at the airport. As soon as we got to his house, I was exhausted and overwhelmed from the long day I had (awake early for an early flight). I ended up ditching my phone in one of my bags and left it there for the rest of the day. I wasn't planning on having that first day be the day I would disconnect but it seemed to work out best that way. I got settled in and took a nap for a little while. Around dinner time, some family friends came over for dinner and a little party. I got to meet these new people and I didn't even notice that my phone, which is usually like another limb, was upstairs in a b...

Going into this project, I didn't have much knowledge about what an annotated bibliography was or how to do it myself. I made sure to do my research before starting. I looked on the Purdue Owl website to teach myself how to use APA format, too. I always like to refresh my memory and knowledge on the topic by reviewing the lesson before starting my assignment, so that's what I did for this. I prefer using RefWorks for my citations because I know it's a reliable resource for me. I tend to find my best sources straight from the SCSU LibSearch page. I know the sources on there are scholarly because I refine my searches to only include those. I also like how easy it is to use RefWorks and that it creates a bibliography for you so quickly and accurately. Because much of this project was a learning experience for me, I liked being able to go at my own pace and rework things in my annotations. The only downfall to using the LibSearch, for me, is when the articles you want are o...