All too soon the end has come. Ds 106, the most popular online class in UMW is officially over for the Spring semester. Just like everyone else, when I heard of a class class Digital story telling, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, yet it sounded interesting and so I was immediately drawn to it.
While I set up this site primarily for the purpose of school work, I also make sure that in every assignment, I incorporate things that I love like my family and where I come from. Class started slow as usual, students had to get their site up and running, registering for stuff and making whatever necessary downloads. I thought it was strange that Alan wasn’t around during the first two weeks of class, yet, he still made it a point to skype in (thanks to Jim Groom) to get to know all of us and help with whatever questions we had. First of all, I think the reading on our personal cyberinfrastructure was a great way to introduce the class and what it entails.
I personally loved the fact that our websites served as a ‘dumping site for our work”. Unlike other classes, we can always go back an edit what has already been done, see and compare our work with others. I mean, how cool is that?My favorite part of this class was the video on “Everything is a Remix”. Being that I am normally apprehensive about using other peoples work, I found this video to be very comforting, as in, encouraging me to be independent as an artist yet drawing inspiration from what other people have done.
I loved the daily creates, although after a while, they got pretty boring and I personally stopped doing them. However, I think they got me to explore the creative side of me, assignments like taking a picture upside down, editing pictures to look completely opposite to what they originally look like. It was all about being creative and I know that personally I got very very creative with a lot of the assignments. I appreciate the fact that the daily creates weren’t one way. There were times when we had an audio daily create, visual, or video. The alternating options were great. Also, it’s great that after while, Alan gave us the option of doing 3 daily creates in a week instead of 7.
My favorite assignments were the visuals and design assignments, It’s very commendable that we had a class bank where we had a wide range of assignments that others had done to choose from. I am not exactly sure how I feel about having to do 15 stars worth of assignments in a week and having to do 30 stars of video work. Not only was it time consuming, but I say myself doing the same things over and over and after awhile, it got pretty boring.
The most challenging part of this class was working on the radio shows. It was a lot of fun and my most favorite part of any assignment so far. On the flip side, class got very boring after spring break, all we did was listen to radio shows and give input which most of us didn’t have anyway. What I was hoping for was for class to be more hands on, instead of bringing our laptops to class and checking emails and face booking and doing everything else aside ds106. I think that in the future, we should still bring our laptops to class but do most of the assignments within the 1 hour 15 minute period. This way, should we have any issues, the teacher is right there to help and so are our class mates. Students who do not come to class will loose credit for that day and not be allowed to make up for the time lost. By doing so, you will ensure that students are always punctual to class and are guaranteed that when students are in class, they are doing nothing else but work.
Bless you heart Jim and Alan. I remember my mum once saying how cool is it that you are taking a college class that allows you to express yourself and your interest in whatever way you can. A sentiment I share in. We weren’t confined to one particular style of doing things, our blogs could be whatever we wanted it to be and we could express ourselves on whatever way we wanted.
I have gained a lot out of this class. There are so many things I can now do on photoshop, picasa, and most especially audacity. I am still struggling a little bit with video editing but I still have certainly come a long way. Currently, I am helping my cousin build his own site for a small business he’s setting up.
Digital story telling certainly means telling a story about anything using tools and technology, making things come to life through technology. My other best assignment was creating any image that represents an expression of ourselves. Show me one class on UMW that allows you to be yourself and I will be willing to be that it’s ds106.
To the future students of ds106, embrace this class with all you have and experience the chance to work with amazing people like Jim Groom and Alan Levine. Do your work on time, participate a lot, be engaged through twitter, ask questions when in doubt. Go to class, be creative with assignments, and have fun experiencing what it is like to have a personal cyberinfrastructure.
