Mastery Journal-Final Project
When I decided to pursue a Master’s degree in New Media Journalism, I could not wait to make it to this course. I knew that if I could make it to this course, I was one step away from completing my Master’s degree. I also knew that making it to this course would mean that I have mastered the course.
Reflection of Timeline Goals
The expectations that I had for this course from my Mastery Journal was simple. I wanted to be able to write and produce newsworthy stories using multimedia elements that were necessary to move my stories forward. I have been able to exceed my goals and doing so much more. I have been able to produce a good Capstone Project with all of the multimedia elements. I have been able to write articles confidently for my website. I have been able to build my website. I have been able to interview, video, and take pictures of high school sporting events that look professional. I have grown as a journalist, photographer and as a person.
What I Have Learned from Course Content
The very first thing I learned in this course is that a Capstone Project is not a Thesis Paper. All month I have been methodically breaking down each section of my thesis paper. I thought that I was going to be able to just update my Capstone Project and that would be good enough. I have discovered that the Thesis Paper is a more in-depth writing than the Capstone Project. The Thesis Paper also required me to create reference and title pages, unlike the Capstone Project. Creating the reference page was probably the most difficult part of this course. If I had to some up what I have learned from this course, it would be the importance of being diligent, correct, accurate, and not necessarily first. Also, anything that I write should be newsworthy and on time. More specifically, I learned to synthesize knowledge of journalistic principles. I also learned to critique my fellow classmates without condemning their work. This class was more of a culmination of the things that I have learned in previous courses.
Identify What I Have Learned Personally or Professionally
There is a slew of things that I have learned throughout this course that I will use in my personal and professional life. The first and probably the most important thing I will use is all of the resources that I have available to me. One of the things that really stood out to me about pursuing my degree is the number of resources that I had. Now, my mind has been programmed to use my resources. If the resources are not readily available to me then I need to search them out. I will also double and triple check my work. I use Grammarly to check my work. However, Grammarly should not be used to replace accuracy. Sometimes Grammarly will miss mistakes as well. It is a good tool to use to check common writing errors.