While this week was somewhat challenging, it made me excited for the rest of the semester.
To be honest, coming into this semester and this Digital Storytelling course I didn’t know what to expect. I wasn’t really sure what digital storytelling was or what it meant. However, after this first week I think I’m starting to get a grip on digital storytelling. Using different forms of media to convey a message is a skill that I think is vitally important to have as an active and successful member not only of the workforce, but also of society.
In this first week, I was surprised with how much I learned. I had previous knowledge of setting up accounts on various platforms, but making my own domain was something that I was completely unfamiliar with. When I first started making my own domain/blog, I felt as though the process would be really daunting and something I would struggle with. On the contrary, I found that if I read the guides provided for each step, it was quite easy. While the process was somewhat time consuming, that really didn’t bother me because I felt that I had learned a skill that’s important, and I was proud of my new blog.
One thing that was harder than I expected were my multimodal introductions. While I had little trouble setting up my accounts, introducing myself was another story. In the week’s instructions, I was prompted to offer something different on each platform. Although I was using different forms of media to introduce myself, I struggled to provide different aspects of myself on the different accounts. When introducing myself in other classes it usually comes down to where you’re from, what you’re interested in majoring in, and what year you are at UMW. If I’m not specifically prompted, I find it hard to dig deeper and offer information about myself that isn’t commonly offered in an introduction. Maybe this is because I’m shy and I think people won’t, or maybe it is because I’m afraid of being judged. Nevertheless, this is a fear I will have to set aside in order to be successful and engaged in this course.
Overall, this week has made me feel accomplished. I have made my own domain and successfully written three blog posts (two others including this one).
I have also set up accounts on Twitter, Flickr, SoundCloud, and YouTube and introduced myself on each (as seen in my Multimodal Introductions blog post.
I’m proud of what I did this week and I’m excited to challenge myself again next week!
