This is my final blog post in the context of class, and one of my final actions as a graduate student. The semester, my final one in the Masters program, comes to a close for me today, and, while the feeling of accomplishment is great, it's also a time for reflection.
Graduate school was kind to me. I learned a lot, made a lot of connections, as well as some wonderful new friends, and gained much insight and perspective into my field. Among the classes that will stick with me was the one I began writing this blog for, Emerging Media.
The class has been a wonderful look at emerging media, though said media is emerging so rapidly that the topic matter has even changed since we began the course! Linda Menck, our instructor for the course, has her finger on the pulse of today's media and technologies, and did a wonderful job not only identifying them to us, but offering us the opportunity to use them hands on, as well as discuss and debate the uses and merits of them.
The class also gave us several knowledgable and insightful guest speakers, including Bill Finn, Phillip Nowak, Tonise Paul, Laura Gainor, and Justin Beck (the last of whose presentation I unfortunately missed). Hearing the opinions and applications of these industry professionals on new media shed a lot of light on the best ways we can harness them ourselves.
Some of my favorite moments-
1. Final Presentations - The final project for this class was open-ended. We had to do something that concerned emerging media, and that was the only guideline. As a result, the project turned into a personal branding website for some, an audit of their current employer for others, and several other concepts, including research papers and personal portfolios. All of us in the class presented our final projects to the class during the last two weeks of the semester. Given that each project was distinct and personal, being able to see the entire range of class projects was a wonderful experience. Every project had a personal stamp on it, and it was clear that each student had a passion for whatever they chose to work on.
2. Laura Gainor - All of the guest speakers we had were fantastic, but Laura's stood out in particular to me, because of its personal relevance. Laura discussed her use of social media in her (successful) effort to secure a job upon her return to Milwaukee. As this was my final semester at Marquette, my own job search was at the forefront of my mind. Laura's presentation inspired many tactics that I'm using in my own job search, and this presentation also gave me the idea for my own final project, a personal website that showcases the industry-relate work I've done (SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT - www.dannymanson.com!!!).
3. iPad Night - I think we'll all remember the class session where we got to borrow the college's iPads for the night, and simply got to play around with them. The question at hand was, "this is cool but do we need it?" The general consensus was no, we dont' "need" iPads, but they sure are fun to play with! Where else but Emerging Media class can we play iPad soccer games during class?
All in all, this was one of my favorite classes in the two years I was back at Marquette. I will miss my teachers and classmates, but be sure to stay in touch. I'll miss school, but won't miss the graduate school lifestyle, as I'm ecstatic to rejoin "the real world."
As for this blog, I'm not promising to abandon it, but not guaranteeing regular updates either. I wasn't much of a blogger before this class. My one attempt at a sports blog was done a few years ago with some friends. Quite often, I simply forgot I was a part of that blog, and posted very infrequently, so who knows. I will say that if something stands out to me in the world of emerging media and sports, I'll do my best to throw it up one here. In the meantime, check out my personal website, and follow me on Twitter & LinkedIn.
I'll close this by saying that I'm very excited to start the next chapter of my life. My first stop on the journey might only be a few blocks away from grad school (you'll just have to check out my website in a week or two to decipher this one), so this is most certainly not goodbye to my classmates. I hope you enjoyed reading this blog as much as I did writing it.
Graduate school was kind to me. I learned a lot, made a lot of connections, as well as some wonderful new friends, and gained much insight and perspective into my field. Among the classes that will stick with me was the one I began writing this blog for, Emerging Media.
The class has been a wonderful look at emerging media, though said media is emerging so rapidly that the topic matter has even changed since we began the course! Linda Menck, our instructor for the course, has her finger on the pulse of today's media and technologies, and did a wonderful job not only identifying them to us, but offering us the opportunity to use them hands on, as well as discuss and debate the uses and merits of them.
The class also gave us several knowledgable and insightful guest speakers, including Bill Finn, Phillip Nowak, Tonise Paul, Laura Gainor, and Justin Beck (the last of whose presentation I unfortunately missed). Hearing the opinions and applications of these industry professionals on new media shed a lot of light on the best ways we can harness them ourselves.
Some of my favorite moments-
1. Final Presentations - The final project for this class was open-ended. We had to do something that concerned emerging media, and that was the only guideline. As a result, the project turned into a personal branding website for some, an audit of their current employer for others, and several other concepts, including research papers and personal portfolios. All of us in the class presented our final projects to the class during the last two weeks of the semester. Given that each project was distinct and personal, being able to see the entire range of class projects was a wonderful experience. Every project had a personal stamp on it, and it was clear that each student had a passion for whatever they chose to work on.
2. Laura Gainor - All of the guest speakers we had were fantastic, but Laura's stood out in particular to me, because of its personal relevance. Laura discussed her use of social media in her (successful) effort to secure a job upon her return to Milwaukee. As this was my final semester at Marquette, my own job search was at the forefront of my mind. Laura's presentation inspired many tactics that I'm using in my own job search, and this presentation also gave me the idea for my own final project, a personal website that showcases the industry-relate work I've done (SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT - www.dannymanson.com!!!).
3. iPad Night - I think we'll all remember the class session where we got to borrow the college's iPads for the night, and simply got to play around with them. The question at hand was, "this is cool but do we need it?" The general consensus was no, we dont' "need" iPads, but they sure are fun to play with! Where else but Emerging Media class can we play iPad soccer games during class?
All in all, this was one of my favorite classes in the two years I was back at Marquette. I will miss my teachers and classmates, but be sure to stay in touch. I'll miss school, but won't miss the graduate school lifestyle, as I'm ecstatic to rejoin "the real world."
As for this blog, I'm not promising to abandon it, but not guaranteeing regular updates either. I wasn't much of a blogger before this class. My one attempt at a sports blog was done a few years ago with some friends. Quite often, I simply forgot I was a part of that blog, and posted very infrequently, so who knows. I will say that if something stands out to me in the world of emerging media and sports, I'll do my best to throw it up one here. In the meantime, check out my personal website, and follow me on Twitter & LinkedIn.
I'll close this by saying that I'm very excited to start the next chapter of my life. My first stop on the journey might only be a few blocks away from grad school (you'll just have to check out my website in a week or two to decipher this one), so this is most certainly not goodbye to my classmates. I hope you enjoyed reading this blog as much as I did writing it.
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