Final Reflection

Upon reflecting on my time over the past few weeks considering this module, the immediate feeling I am hit by is regret. However, it is not the regret of having taken this module, but the regret that I have not been able to get out of the module as much as I could have due to personal problems. The module has been an eye-opening experience of me as I did not really know what to expect at the beginning, but over the course of the last few weeks I have done many things for the first time and have been introduced to different viewpoints on topics I previously thought I had a good idea about.

My favourite part of this module was the ability to view and discuss the work of my peers when taking on the same topic myself, it has allowed me to view the topic from different perspectives even if we had similar core ideas on the subject. For example, when discussing the development of an online professional profile after having read Charlie’s blog I discovered ways of making my Twitter profile look more professional even though previously I viewed Twitter as a more informal online platform. I think this has taught me to keep my mind even more open when embarking on new topics and I will try to see the viewpoint from another perspective when researching the topic.

On the subject of research, I think this topic has greatly engaged my research skills on the web and has improved my ability to access materials online by getting me to engage into finding articles not just from scholarly cited journals but rather more informal sources. I think this will be a better way for me to attack topics which I don’t know anything about as informal sources tend to be easier to understand to learn about the fundamentals and the essence of a new topic compared.

One thing I will look to be doing in the future is building online networks around areas of interest as I entered the first stages of doing this by first creating my LinkedIn profile and then subsequently interlinking this with my Twitter profile. Although I am in the preliminary stages of doing this outside the work covered in this topic, I think this is definitely something I am looking forward to doing as I develop and manage my online identity both in a professional and personal manner.

Another thing that I will look forward to achieving is something that I haven’t really engaged in is incorporating visual aids such as images and videos into my work, not just for university work but also in professional presentations that will help my material be easier to read as well as providing different viewpoints on subjects.

I think that the ability to participate in an online community has really improved my ability to work in a group and I think this will also help with my collaboration on group projects for work and I hope I have more of a chance to this during my time at university.