The Amazing, Original, Fantastic Midterm Reflection

1.   After studying 21^st century media for eight weeks in this class, what have you learned? Please be specific.

a.       Since being in the class I have learned a lot about the music industry as well as the movie industry. I did not realize that Sony was SUCH a large part of the industry as a whole. With movies, I did not know just how far movies have come since first being created.

2.  What is the most important thing you have learned about yourself as a critical reader, a writer, and a thinker in this class so far?

a.       So far in this class I have learned that as a reader I am more likely to pay attention to what I am reading if I know that I am going to have to blog about it. If I were reading without having to blog I would not retain as much information.

3.   What’s one thing you would do differently this first half of the semester if you were to take this class again?

a.       If I were to take this class again I would study the power tools more intently in the beginning so I wouldn’t be cramming them in now, at the half-way point.

4.   What’s one thing you would like me to do differently this first half of the semester if you were to take this class again?

a.       Honestly, the way the class is run works out very well for me and I am able to learn a lot in class. All of the videos and applications that we do in class help me grasp the ideas well.

5.  Please comment on the usefulness of the power tools, our course blog, your personal blog, our in-class quizzes, our films, and our book(s) as learning tools.

a.       Power tools: The power tools help out a lot when analyzing videos and such. Overall, they are very helpful to the class and understanding what we are learning.

b.      Course blog: The course blog makes it easier for me to understand what I read each week and I get to put it in my own words, which helps me to better understand.

c.       Personal blog: I LOVE blogging as a part of the class. It lets me use a lot of the things that we have learned in class and apply it things that I love… like Disney classics and Country music.

d.      In-class quizzes: The in-class quizzes keep me in-line with my reading and keep a lot of the information fresh in my brain.

e.      Our films: The films allow us to use our power tools to analyze things we may have missed i.e. “Reel Bad Arabs” talking about Aladdin and other films.

f.        Textbook: The textbook is honestly the least helpful to me because I am more of a visual learned and I learn by doing. However, getting to apply what we read in the blogs really helps me understand the information.