Morgan's Self Evaluation

To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to stay in this class and debated dropping it within the first two weeks.  As a user of social media, but not a lover, I was skeptical if this class would be beneficial for me.  However, I decided to continue with the class as Jeremy explained that the skills and tools we would learn would help students get jobs after college. 

I would describe the first few lab assignments as uncomfortable yet important.  Not only were Callie and I uncomfortable with our camera handling skills and approaching random students, but not all students were well responsive to us either.  This created a little bit of a discouraging feel.  However, I felt this feeling disappear as we began to make news stories and were assigned larger and less amateurish projects. 

I feel that Callie and I made a great team.  We were both dedicated to our projects and worked together to help plan out our trips, questions, filming, and editing.  With similar personalities, we helped each other get through the awkward situations, rough patches we hit in our projects, and were able to make things fun. 

As soon as I became more comfortable with the tasks assigned in this class, I was more open to using the tools we learned in class.  Flickr, Podbean, Storify, YouTube, and Google Maps were all very simple apps that I can now say I am confident in using.  I had the hardest time with Blogger and Twitter.  Blogger was only difficult as I had trouble remembering to post 3 times a week.  After planning out when and what I wanted to blog, it became much easier and less of a chore.  Twitter has always been a challenge for me mostly because it is hard for me to grasp the reasoning behind why people care what I have to say in a 140 character space.  I now understand why Jeremy and many others love it and see its benefits, however, I just don’t think it is for me.

I am very happy that I stayed in this class as I know I have learned a lot.  Truthfully, I have learned more in this class than any other class at Lehigh.  I don’t think I was ready for all of the work as soon as I signed up, but as soon as we got adjusted, the assignments became fun.  I can now say that I enjoy making new stories or documentaries.  And I have to admit, the behind the scenes access this class allowed me and Callie at the Iron Pigs game was unbelievable and very awesome.  I know that the tools and skills I learned in this class will help me in the long run and I am thankful I had the opportunity to experience all the things we did. 

Callie Burrows: Self Evaluation

I have to admit that I was very intimidated by this class at the start. The information learned in this class was said to be invaluable by past students and I knew by taking this class I would be pushed completely out of my comfort zone. I was right. As soon as I realized this, I made it a goal to stick with the class no matter what and embrace the uncomfortable situations I would be put in.

In the beginning, I felt very awkward and nervous about our lab assignments, which required us to go out and film Lehigh students and eventually local members of the community. It wasn't until after finishing our first News Style video that I felt more comfortable with using my camera, planning out interview questions, interviewing subjects and editing film. By the time Morgan and I filmed the News Style video I was more confident in my skills which helped me, in partnership with Morgan, to create a well-reported and informative news story.

As more video assignments were given to us, I became even more and more comfortable and although I still find conducting interviews to be a little awkward, editing film and piecing a story together is now a passion of mine. Putting together the interview footage with the B roll and making the perfect combination of those two plus some narration done by Morgan and I was a challenge but a fun challenge.

Throughout the semester I could tell I was growing. I grew as a Journalism student but also as a person. In terms of Journalism skills, I was able to join the Twitter world and hold my own, something I thought I would never do. Also, I was able to remember to blog three times a week and acquire a following of fellow foodies! Handling my little video camera became second nature and uploading videos to YouTube was a simple task, something that had started out as a long and intimidating process. In general, I feel much more comfortable interacting with the web and all of the options made available on the web including Storify, Podbean, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, Google Maps, Weebly and Blogger. Before this semester I was skilled in writing and the traditional elements of Journalism; however, now I feel as though I am skilled in the more modern elements of Journalism that are required in this era.

As a person, I have become more outgoing and a better communicator and persuader. Often times subjects were at first hesitant to be on camera or to speak with us in general so it was essential to learn how to make people feel comfortable with Morgan and I, and trust us.

I am happy to say that I achieved my goal and was able to stick with the class, even when times were difficult or uncomfortable and it was SO worth it. I can confidently say I learned more in this class than in any other class at Lehigh and these skills will be helpful to me as I develop my career and move forward in life.