Ashley Hinck’s article, Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom, discusses the expectations that students have with digital media, and the stark difference between teacher centered versus student centered media education. Beginning this assignment, I assumed that it would be a linear process in which I would cobble together some words, drag and drop some pictures and then I would be guaranteed a working final piece. Having now completed this assignment, that was certainly not the case. I found it very difficult to get started, as I wasn’t sure exactly what to do. I didn’t have a set linear procedure to guide me through the steps that I needed to complete in order to get my finished artifact. There is also no set answer to this assignment, which is very different than the standard teacher centered courses that made up the majority of my university career. With the assignment I found myself being forced to be creative and try some new things that were certainly outside of my comfort zone.
I initially started with the standard template websites such as Canva because it was easiest to use a template rather than design something myself. I decided however to try MindMup as it was much more open and it gave me some creative freedom to come up with a project that was entirely mine. Coming up with my own design was very rewarding to me as I had to troubleshoot through problems, and there were a good number of problems, as well as tinker with the project with the inputs that I was given in class by the professor and my colleagues. I found it very satisfying using MindMup and learning the inherent issues that came with that software in order to come up with a final product.
-Brandan Joyce