Midterm Reflections- ALL I WANT IS AN A!

1. Over the past eight weeks, we have learned quite a lot, mainly about our “power tools” and how they apply to media. This is one of the most important things that I have learned. In the beginning, I was not that comfortable applying our power tools but after having quite a lot of practice, I feel that I have mastered applying all four tool sets. I came to this realization after our midterm. After watching the Bahamas video for the first time, I was not sure how to exactly apply the tool sets but then I realized, I need to think like a marketer. After watching it a second and third time, I realized that applying the four tool sets is actually very easy. All I needed to do was think of why the commercial was created, how the message is being sent, and who the commercial is targeted towards. After I put myself into the marketing mind-set, each tool set came to me very easily. These four tool sets are the most important thing that I think anyone can take away from this class. They are going to be extremely important in any of my future careers in marketing.

2. The most important thing that I have learned about myself is that I need to think outside the box and take in others opinions. I am a very strong and opinionated person and in the past, this can be seen in my writing. Now, I am learning that I need to take a step back from my own opinions and apply other people’s views and idea’s to my own writing. I need to be more willing to understand why others think the way they do and that my opinion is not necessarily the right opinion.

3. The one thing that I think I would do differently would be writing down our assignments. There were a few blog posts that I submitted late (some due to the fact that I was deathly sick) but for me, I always tend to forget about assignments that are online and not in a syllabus. This is why online classes do not work for me! By having the assignment written down, I will always have them with me. Maybe I should start using my blackberry to keep track of my assignments!

4. One thing that I think would be really great for the class would be doing a weekly assignment where each student can find a commercial, advertisement or any form of media and share how the power tools are used. I think this would be a good idea because it can show us all how our power tools can apply to many different forms of media. Having an assignment like this would help me think outside the box more and see how the power tools can apply to forms of media that I am not really exposed to.

5. As on can see, I have more than enough good things to say about our power tools. The four tool sets are all very important and have become extremely useful for myself this semester. The quizzes we have week by week are very good practice, especially when it comes to applying the power tools. The quizzes force us all to read and learn and this is why I find it is a very good way to get students to study. I feel the course blog is a very good idea to get to the class interactive online, but one thing I do not like is using BLOGGER. I am trying to get use to blogger but I just prefer Tumblr and that is my only complaint about the course blog. I love seeing what everyone posts week to week and it is good to see other students’ views, opinions, and ideas. My personal blog is amazing, but sadly, its not the one we use for our class. The blog that I created for our class is a great place for me to get out my views on media and our society. Now that I look at it, I realize that it is good using another blog vs. my own personal blog because my personal blog is all about fashion! Doing monthly media meditations is a great idea because it makes us apply what we are doing in class to the real world. I actually really enjoy doing the media meditations because I can get very creative with them.

As for the books we have read in class, I think that Media and Society has been my favorite. The reason for this is because it opened my eyes to so many things about television and the entertainment industry. One example would be that I had no idea that racisms still was on the air, especially dealing with the news. I find every chapter of this book to be very informational and I will never look at television the same way. Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death was a pretty good book, but I found it to be a very boring read. A lot of the things that Postman discussed was discussed in more detail in Media in Society. This is my third time reading Feed and I absolutely love that book. I really think that in the future everyone will have their cell phones programmed into their brain. All of these books are great learning tools, but I feel that Media and Society was the one book that I learned a lot of new things from. Being a marketing major, a lot of the things discussed in the other books are all things that I have learned in previous classes. Media and Society opened my eyes to the world of media.