The (Mobile) Story of Growth Through Social Media
What I have learned and gained in the past six weeks of taking a course centered around the power and importance of mobile and social media storytelling
All throughout college, I took classes centered on crunching numbers, taking measurements, memorizing equations and learning several different coding languages and simulation platforms.
As an engineering student, this was how I learned, studied and practiced the material I needed to know. When I realized that I could take two college courses, free of any rules or requirements (essentially free range), I decided to try something new.
Instead of taking another math or science course, I wanted to take a course that had different methods or ways of learning and how to apply the material being taught.
I also wanted to take a course that sounded fun, exciting or relevant to today’s world.
So when I found a class centered on how our world has advanced toward the ability to share stories and information with a few touches and taps on our cellphones, I knew I wanted to take it.
These past six weeks, I have fully immersed myself in this subject, dedicating my time and effort to learning about this subject and then applying what I learned through assignments such as blogging, actively tweeting, taking pictures and videos and utilizing social media platforms.
We are currently at the end of the six weeks and I am now reflecting on everything I have gained and learned through lectures, blog posts, podcasts, assignments and overall experience.
Right off the bat, I have to acknowledge and admit that I am very proud of myself. I did not realize how little I knew about social media platforms and the power that they hold in terms of how people perceive you and how you can share information and opinions. I feel that this is the most important aspect I have gained and learned from this course, and I am extremely grateful for that.
I am also overall just proud of myself for having the courage to step out of my comfort zone, knowing that it would be a challenge.
This course was challenging for me in many ways, mainly being how I learned and obtained this kind of information. There is no “right” answer to the questions and tasks being presented to us in this course, and that was very confusing and frustrating for me at first, because in my engineering courses, either you are right or you are wrong.
This definitely was a challenge for me to overcome, but I feel that with some extra effort and work, I was able to find my groove within the course and take advantage of this original aspect that I found challenging.
I realized that you have the free range to explain why you said or did what you chose, and I was eventually able to see that as empowering and inspiring.
In the end, one of my main takeaways from this course is the power of mobile and social media storytelling. It is amazing how in this time and age, we humans have the ability to pull a small device from our pockets and share stories with the push of a button, either through writing, pictures, videos or even simply audio alone.
Whenever I heard the term “storytelling,” I always just thought of books and articles sharing stories and information. But through this course, I have learned that it is so much more than that, and that it is actually a beautiful art.
Overall, I am so happy that I decided to challenge myself and step out of my comfort zone by taking this course. I have learned so much knowledge and information about social media and the many different forms and ways you can share stories with the world.
This was an inspiring course that I will never forget!
