Social Media Interaction
The social media component of the Learning with Digital Stories class was really fun and unexpected for me. I have only marginally used Twitter in the ILT program so far, mostly for participating in live chats with instructors or for bookmarking relevant scholarship for later use. Knowing that all of my classmates were connected there made it easy to find each other if we had questions or just wanted to offer support on assignments. I also used Twitter as a network to find information on storytelling. In my weekly search for digital stories to critique that were related to hip hop, I discovered many scholars and educators who practice hip hop pedagogy. In following these individuals on Twitter I was able to broaden the range of my research. Below are a few particularly meaningful interactions that I had this semester, as well as a surprising and unexpected shout-out.
File this under "the coolest thing that has ever happened to me..."
I sought out the creator of one of my digital story critiques on Twitter because I was looking for an interview that he had done that I wanted to review for more insight into his storytelling. He sent me the link to the interview and asked to see my finished writing, and it appears as though he liked it! In addition, because I had mentioned not being able to find his complete comic series, he offered to send me the whole thing. I am now in possession of the complete Detective Boogaloo comic series.
I sought out the creator of one of my digital story critiques on Twitter because I was looking for an interview that he had done that I wanted to review for more insight into his storytelling. He sent me the link to the interview and asked to see my finished writing, and it appears as though he liked it! In addition, because I had mentioned not being able to find his complete comic series, he offered to send me the whole thing. I am now in possession of the complete Detective Boogaloo comic series.
...and then he referenced ME.
A few weeks later, Detective Boogaloo was nominated for an award and the author referenced my blog post on his Facebook page, calling it "graduate discourse" - which I found hilarious. All of a sudden my blog which normally gets about one view per week had 55 total views for a single post about Detective Boogaloo. I didn't receive any additional comments from outside of our class, so I don't know what any of the readers thought. Nevertheless, it was an interesting feeling knowing that my digital story critique was being read by people all over the country who are fans of this artist. I sincerely hope that I did his work justice!
A few weeks later, Detective Boogaloo was nominated for an award and the author referenced my blog post on his Facebook page, calling it "graduate discourse" - which I found hilarious. All of a sudden my blog which normally gets about one view per week had 55 total views for a single post about Detective Boogaloo. I didn't receive any additional comments from outside of our class, so I don't know what any of the readers thought. Nevertheless, it was an interesting feeling knowing that my digital story critique was being read by people all over the country who are fans of this artist. I sincerely hope that I did his work justice!
Encouragement from another classmate:
Finally, I wanted to highlight an interaction with a classmate from a course I was taking simultaneously this semester, Games and Learning. When I tweeted my vert first chapter critique in January, she noticed the hashtag and was excited to discover that I was taking Digital Stories as well. At that early point in the semester I was unsure about my focal theme, so I asked her what hers was. She encouraged me to choose what really interested me, so I did. And she was right - writing about what you love makes the task so much easier. This was a neat example of cross-pollination with another ILT student and course. |