ENC 4416 Reflection
Course Reflection
When I first signed up for Writing in Digital Environments, I wasn't sure what to expect. Would we be blogging? Learning to submit our writing online? Analyzing the Web? By the end of the course however, I learned it was all that and more, and I'm very glad I took it.
This course had me looking at many of the digital aspects of my life in a whole new light. The term "Digital Writing Environment" became a part of my vocabulary. Every digital environment we use, from Snapchat to Netflix and Facebook, has "digital writing" ingrained within them. This accounts for the user interface, certain button and interaction prompts, placement of text and visuals, and more.
We analyzed the purposes for having certain things here or certain text there. We looked at too many websites to name, and analyzed what made them good or what made them terrible (I learned most sites are pretty poor). I even became familiar with basic HTML and CSS principles and guidelines through Code Academy, which was pretty enjoyable and user friendly.
Learning about concepts of "Audience Participation" was quite fascinating. Using Rheingold's "Net Smart" book, I learned all about how online communities form and are encouraged to interact with each other, all with a "culture of participation". This culture is what makes online users respond to and help each other in whatever way the community deems acceptable. I've browsed quite a few forums in my time, and I'm fairly active in some other online communities. It's really made me think, "Why do these people act like they do?".
The concept of "Content Strategy" in the web was very cool to learn about as well. Content strategy is essentially understanding how to organize the content on your website, and learning what content your audience responds best to. The concept has roots in web and user interface design, and has made me think a bit more critically when I visit certain websites.
Working with a team to design our own website was a challenging but rewarding experience. Collaborating with team members always made things interesting, and there were issues along the way, but I feel very satisfied with the end product. I used many of the principles of Web Design we discussed throughout the course in our own site. Coming together as a class to create a page to benefit future students is a nice way of "giving back" to the students of next semester, and the Writing & Rhetoric major as a whole.
Overall, I really enjoyed taking this class with Professor Martin. He was a great professor and always tried to relay the sometimes abstract concepts into concrete examples. He made learning all of the different course concepts interesting and entertaining. I learned about things I was never expecting to learn, such as art principles and coding knowledge, and I feel like an expert in spotting good and bad user interfaces. I'm very satisfied with this course, and I would recommend any IT or Writing student to take this class!
When I first signed up for Writing in Digital Environments, I wasn't sure what to expect. Would we be blogging? Learning to submit our writing online? Analyzing the Web? By the end of the course however, I learned it was all that and more, and I'm very glad I took it.
This course had me looking at many of the digital aspects of my life in a whole new light. The term "Digital Writing Environment" became a part of my vocabulary. Every digital environment we use, from Snapchat to Netflix and Facebook, has "digital writing" ingrained within them. This accounts for the user interface, certain button and interaction prompts, placement of text and visuals, and more.
We analyzed the purposes for having certain things here or certain text there. We looked at too many websites to name, and analyzed what made them good or what made them terrible (I learned most sites are pretty poor). I even became familiar with basic HTML and CSS principles and guidelines through Code Academy, which was pretty enjoyable and user friendly.
Learning about concepts of "Audience Participation" was quite fascinating. Using Rheingold's "Net Smart" book, I learned all about how online communities form and are encouraged to interact with each other, all with a "culture of participation". This culture is what makes online users respond to and help each other in whatever way the community deems acceptable. I've browsed quite a few forums in my time, and I'm fairly active in some other online communities. It's really made me think, "Why do these people act like they do?".
The concept of "Content Strategy" in the web was very cool to learn about as well. Content strategy is essentially understanding how to organize the content on your website, and learning what content your audience responds best to. The concept has roots in web and user interface design, and has made me think a bit more critically when I visit certain websites.
Working with a team to design our own website was a challenging but rewarding experience. Collaborating with team members always made things interesting, and there were issues along the way, but I feel very satisfied with the end product. I used many of the principles of Web Design we discussed throughout the course in our own site. Coming together as a class to create a page to benefit future students is a nice way of "giving back" to the students of next semester, and the Writing & Rhetoric major as a whole.
Overall, I really enjoyed taking this class with Professor Martin. He was a great professor and always tried to relay the sometimes abstract concepts into concrete examples. He made learning all of the different course concepts interesting and entertaining. I learned about things I was never expecting to learn, such as art principles and coding knowledge, and I feel like an expert in spotting good and bad user interfaces. I'm very satisfied with this course, and I would recommend any IT or Writing student to take this class!
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