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At the beginning of this course, I did not realize how “tech savvy” I wasn’t. I knew the bare minimum there was to know about the internet and how to use it properly. Through this course, I have learned so much about creating web pages and programs that are user friendly for all audiences. I am excited to implement these skills I have learned into my life and career, and I plan to do so very soon.

This upcoming semester, I will continue my job at NewsWatch not as the talent, but as the co-digital content producer. This job includes updating all social media accounts, posting content from the show online, and updating the NewsWatch website. I plan to use all of the skills I have learned this semester throughout this job, especially the coding and webpage creation skills. I feel that this class gave me an upper hand when applying for this job, because I am the only one who has taken a class specifically about coding and web design.

I think one of the hardest aspects of this class, was learning how to code and use Github. The first project was more creative and similar to other projects I have done. Project number two on the other, forced me to do something I have done before, like create a lesson plan, but on a platform I have never used before. Github was a software, for lack of a better word, that was very intimidating. It was the first time we had to use our coding skills and to be honest, I had not touched Code Academy yet. It was surprising to me how simple using this site to create our project was once I figured out all the tricks of the trade.

Although I do not think I am a pro at coding or webpage building, I am more than excited to continue learning about this and improving my skills. Even more than that, I can’t wait to use these skills on the NewsWatch website, a website that represents Ole Miss.

I am doing a report on the user ability of my hometown’s website, Cleveland, Ohio. I already knew that this website was not very user friendly based on the congestion of the home page, the lacking of a footer on the home page, and the random videos and advertisements that would show up when moving around the site.

I ran this website through WAVE in order to receive a full accessibility report on the website,  and I was not surprised by what I found. The website has many many user ability errors.

To be exact… 47 Errors, 49 Alerts, 17 Features, 120 Structural Elements, 9 HTML5 and ARIA, and 87 Contrast Errors. Most of these errors and alerts were due to missing alternate text, or redundant titles and links. The report also mentioned that the home page skipped a heading level completely.

47 Errors and 87 Contrast Errors just on the main home page of the site. I think it is time for this website to get a user-ability update!

The website I chose to analyze is website for the company I work for called University Tees. We are a printing and design shop out of Cleveland, Ohio. University Tees has what they call “campus managers” on over 250 school campuses across the country and work with hundreds of Greek organizations on those campuses.

It is important that this  website work correctly because hundreds of people visit it every single day in order to get ideas for new designs, place an order request, or receive product information. If this website weren’t working correctly, University Tees could potentially lose a lot of their customers to other companies.

When I ran it through WAVE reporter, I was initially scared because there were so many red flags that seemed to show up. Once I took a closer look at what these red flags were, it made me feel better about the website and how it works. There were red flags because there were “buttons” that did not lead to anywhere. For example, there is a button that looks like a bird (the University Tees logo), but the button doesn’t take you anywhere. This may be confusing for customers, but it does not make their experience on the site any worse.

The errors are something that IT could work on to improve the overall accessibility of the site, but they are nothing that would effect the customers or anything the customer would probably even notice.

As a young kid, I have to say I do not remember much about the internet. I owned a lot of coloring books and barbies that took up the most of my time, but some of my earliest memories include computer games and interactive videos.

We were a big Disney family, so all of the computer games I had growing up consisted of Mickey, Minnie, or the Princesses. These games helped you learn in addition t0 have fun. My parents would help me insert the disk into the giant computer, we would have to wait for it to load, and that was about it.

My dad worked on a computer sometimes for his job, but that mainly consisted of his email which was of no interest to me. I received my first email when I was in 6th grade because my “boyfriend” and I wanted to talk outside of school. We would send each other messages in fun texts and colors and even sometimes add pictures. Other than that and AIM, I didn’t use the internet very much.  My mom wouldn’t let me have a MySpace… but I wont get into that.

Throughout early years of middle school and into high school, teachers began implementing technology into lessons and homework. Somewhere in those same years I got a Facebook because that is what the cool kids were doing. I don’t think I really started using the internet every single day until I received an iPod and then eventually a smart phone.

Now a days, I don’t think more than 30 minuted goes where I am not using the internet in some form. I check my email every time I unlock my screen and 90% of the time I also check my social media accounts every time I check my phone. My job, my school work, and my relationships are now all on the internet. My most recent internet expense, paying someone to improve my internet appearance. Through a company called The Dean’s List, I am able to hire a team of “professionals” (whatever that means) to create an online website, blog, and positive internet appearance when someone googles my name.

This is no small expense, but it is what I have been informed to do in order to become relevant in my industry. No, this is probably not necessary for all areas of work, or really necessary at all for that matter, but I paid to do it and so have hundreds of other clients. That just goes to show how far the internet has come and how much our lives revolve around it.

**I have attached a few of the first emails I ever sent… no judgement please!! This was my original version of Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram all rolled into one!

I liked Wikiversity because it is so similar to Wikipedia and students everywhere already understand the set up and usage of “Wiki.”

https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Wikiversity:Main_Page

Wikiversity is a site much like Wikipedia where it is open source and anyone can edit it and look at it at anytime. Unlike Wikipedia which is just information, Wikiversity offers resources and research similar to a text book.

As you said in class, now that I understand what is going on more, Wikiversity could easily replace a text book for a certain topic in a classroom. The upside to this is that Wikiversity is free and as many students and teachers know, text books are not free… or cheap.

Fact checking, I think, would be the biggest challenge for this open source only because people are able to edit it or add to it at any point. It would probably be smart to take the extra step and fact check with a second source to make sure all information is correct.

The first time I took an online learning class was the Spring semester of my freshman year when I was in Orlando, Florida doing the Disney College Program. I am now a junior and since then I have taken a total of three online learning classes.

I definitely do not prefer them when compared to a traditional in class setting, but there are many perks that make these classes worth taking. Being able to take these classes from anywhere in the world and on your own time schedule is extremely helpful when you have other things going on such as internships, jobs, or a family to take care of.

One of the things mentioned in the article that I tend to agree with is the difficulty there is with getting all your work done and turned in on time. I do not agree, though, that it is a motivational issue, but more of a time management issue. When you are not reporting to a teacher and being reminded when assignments are due, it is easy to get caught up with other things and forget. I had this problem multiple times, and it is a skill you must adapt to.

There are many advantages that go along with online learning though. As I mentioned early, it can be done anywhere at anytime, as long as you remember to do it. I also think you learn time management and organizational skills through the process of taking the course. When you are grown up and have a job, your boss will not be there every day to remind you of the meetings you have scheduled or the tasks you must complete, so you are on your own to write down reminders and check emails to make sure you are on top of things at all times.

On another note, I thought the idea of these MOOC courses being fueled by “life long learners” was very interesting. For NewsWatch Ole Miss, I just recently covered a story talking about a course offered by the University called, “Iphone, Ipad, Iwhat?”

This course was for those “life long learners” who are interested in improving their skills at every point in their life as the world and technology continues to change. Although not an online course, I think courses like this that are sparking interest in older crowds are very important in maintaing a balance between all generations in and out of the work place.

I have never enrolled in a MOOC, I don’t think, but I see the positives in them and would not turn down the idea to take one if given the opportunity.

Due to the fact that my message is one portrayed over social media, you can find a lot of information supporting my claim by simply scrolling through sites like Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook. As social media has just recently began taking over the world and companies are slowly but surely joining the trend to “creep” on possible employees, the amount of academic information I am able to find does have a limit.

Luckily, I believe I am able to find enough information to support the idea that social media can make or break your way into a company depending on how you portray yourself outside of the office. One site that I found to be particularly helpful with statistics and graphics was Pinterest. There was an endless amount of pictures and graphics that helped e to better understand the importance of my topic.

Another article I read that really set the stage for this idea was an article called, “How Social Media Can Help (Or Hurt) You In Your Job Search,” on Forbes website. This article talked about surveys that had been conducted with hiring managers about potential candidates, how job seekers look for jobs through social media, and some of the most important things to do and not do on your social media accounts.

The third most helpful article I read was something I found on the Career Builder website about how much social media can help and how much it cant. This article also gave me great statics that show you the importance of this topic better than simple words could.

I plan to continue my research and try to find an academic article of some sort, but when I have information about job hunting coming from Career Builder and Forbes themselves, how much more evidence is there really?

Rarely do we hand write anything anymore. Maybe a card here and there, or a small note to leave for someone to find, but the mass of our writing is done through technology which has a tendency to change the way we have to present it.

I was not able to participate in the activity, but I can imagine how difficult it may be to put what you want to say on a slab of Play-Dough where you have limited space to work with. When writing on a computer through an email or an essay though, the amount of space you have is almost indefinite. These two extremes definitely have a way of changing your writing process and style.

When writing an essay, I always go to my computer where I have a full keyboard and can really focus on the screen and what I am writing. But on the other hand, I have no issues writing up an email on my phone because it is typically less formal than an essay would be.

Technology also greatly effects how we read or receive certain things because there is no emotion attached to the message. For example, we talked in class how a simple text message saying “K” can mean so many different things depending on the capitalization, punctuation, and context within the conversation. Technology has the ability to put a spin on almost everything you say if you don’t say it exactly right.

One App that can almost certainly be found on any smart phone, is a music App of some kind. iTunes, Pandora, and Spotify are just a few I can name off the top of my head. The songs and instrumentals you can find on these music Apps did not start here, and I am sure they certainly wont end here.

In the early 1800s, the Phonautogram was created, leading the path for music development. Over the next 156, we have seen over 50 changes made to create what we have today, digital music. From the music roll to the vinyl record and the 8-track to the cassette tape, we have made great strides within all of these inventions. But with these strides come a stronger and stronger sense of insensitivity to the artists creating this music, especially with the most recent updates.

When consumers first tarted purchasing music in stores, they had to buy the entire set of songs from a particular artist and therefore listen to everything on that record, weather is be vinyl or a cassette tape. Consumers made a stronger connection with musicians because they couldn’t choose which songs they wanted to hear, they heard every song and every emotion or story that went into it.

Today, consumers pick the songs they want and have nothing to do with the rest of the artist’s work. It leads me to think, why do artists take the time to put out entire albums when most consumers only buy a few songs? This change in technology, though, has I think taken away an aspect of connection the listener has with the artist.

Yeah, we probably save money by not buying the songs we see “unnecessary,” and it’s a more convenient way to make playlists and listen on the go, but song writers and singers don’t do what they love to do in order to make every one else’s life simpler. These artists put their heart and souls into these albums in hopes of connecting with a bigger audience about a commonality they both have. So other than convenience, is anyone really gaining anything?

Both of my younger siblings are still in high school, and both of them were gifted Chrome Books from their school in order to work on assignments, print out papers, and converse with teachers outside of class. I never had that in high school, but since attending college I have learned how to use my computer and the Internet better than I know how find my way through library bookshelves.

Being a student today means being technologically up to date and knowledgable about the world around us. There are still teachers that ask their classes to put their computers away, and for some students this is a huge problem because they really do not know how to take notes any other way.

I have been told by many adults that it really doesn’t matter (to a degree) what you go to school for because chances are, you will end up doing something completely different post graduation than you thought. Is that supposed to reassure me about the tens of thousands of dollars my parents spend every year on an education? Or the hundreds of dollars in text books I buy a semester?

The world is changing, and students today are stuck in the middle of it. We have become products of the problems created today, we are called upon to fix the problems of today, and at the same time no one trusts the “youth” of today. We have been dealt a hand that no other generation has had to deal with. Jobs that are supposedly “secure” are vanishing at the drop of a hat, and new jobs no one has heard of are popping up left and right. And yet, we are sitting in the same rooms as our parents learning almost the same biology and grammar lessons as they did. If the world is changing, the idea of being a student should too because one day, we will be a part of that ever changing world.