Mastery Journal

This is the Mastery Journal for Laurel Fecko.

[laurelfecko]

Public Relations and Reputation Management NMJ650

This month's Mastery Journal entry is in the form of a vlog. In this vlog, I will answer the following questions:

What were your expectations of the course, and how did the course meet up with those expectations?

What content or assignment did you enjoy the most or get the most out of? Why?

What do you wish you could have done better this month? Why?

How did this course prepare you for your career?

Do you like my virtual background? I was obviously not on the beach as I recorded this, but I wish I was. It was 90 here in the Orlando area today. I'm ready for a beach day. How ironic that I was actually wearing a sweatshirt in this video. Enjoy!

[laurelfecko]

Just When I Thought I Was a Social Media Pro…

Social Media and Online Community Engagement NMJ620

I completed another master’s degree at Full Sail in May 2021. As a result, I was not required to take the Mastery class at the beginning of this master’s program. Therefore, I did not set goals for each of my classes in the New Media Journalism program. However, at the start of this course, I looked at the syllabus and was excited to learn new ways to engage my audience on social media, as well as learn how to use social media platforms I haven’t used before, such as Reddit, to promote my work.

Three things I learned this month:

I learned that it is important to have a professional page separate from my personal page for my social media accounts. I don’t use LinkedIn or Twitter enough personally for there to be a separate page, but I can definitely understand the need for Facebook and Instagram. Learning how to maneuver between the two has been interesting, too.

I learned that Reddit is not my friend. I started a new account. I still haven’t been able to figure out why it won’t let me post. I commented on another thread with no problem, but every time I try to post it says there is some error. I don’t think I will continue to use Reddit.

I learned that my video recording skills need improving. I tried to do everything I was taught in previous classes about video recording, but it didn’t turn out as well as I thought it would. I used an external mic, and I framed the shot according to the rule of thirds, but the sound wasn’t great, and the video was not aligned well.

In my career as a journalist, I will do whatever is asked of me, and hopefully I will be able to put what I have learned in this course to good use. I will continue to develop my professional social media accounts and grow the audience of each one. I am not a fan of Reddit, but if I am asked to use it, I will put more time into figuring out how to use it well. I would prefer not to produce video interviews, but if I am asked to do so, I will do my best. I am sure my knowledge and ability to make quality videos will improve with time and experience.

According to the slideshow from week 2 in this course about Reddit and LinkedIn, 69% of Reddit users are male and 58% of them are between the ages of 18 and 29 years old. That is not my main audience demographic, so I really believe this is not the social media platform for me. I tried searching for stories related to my thesis, and unfortunately, there was not much there. What I did find that was related, I replied asking questions, but with no response yet. It could be a useful tool, but as there wasn’t much related to my topic, and it is not my main demographic, I don’t think I will get much out of using Reddit. I will not give up on it yet, but it is not my favorite.

[laurelfecko]

NMJ590- Multimedia Reporting

It seems a bit repetitive that I start each month's mastery journal the same way, but here it is. This is my second master's degree at Full Sail in a few years, so I was not required to take the Mastery class this time. As such, I did not make a Mastery timeline with goals for each course for this degree. No one told me originally that I would be answering questions referring to that each month. This post, therefore, may not be exactly what you're looking for, but I will do my best to address a few key points from this course.

This course was pretty much what I was expecting, and very similar to the previous course. I didn’t learn any new skills in this class. I just continued to develop skills learned in previous classes. I did appreciate being given a student example to look at each week, so that I had an idea what the assignments should look like.

I did not like the assignment that required two interviews and research. I was unable to get a second interview that week, which was frustrating and disappointing. I felt it was still a good story with only one interview. I also didn’t like that the written text requirement was significantly less for this course. I consider myself first and foremost a writer. I prefer writing stories over videos, audio recordings/podcasts, or any other form of media. I do also enjoy taking pictures. I understand that multiple forms of media make a story more interesting, but I also feel that you can overwhelm the reader/viewer with too much information. I guess I just need to keep getting more practice to feel more comfortable with multimedia reporting.

I still enjoy discussion posts because I know that my classmates all have unique perspectives to offer on any given topic or assignment. It does get to be a challenge replying to 2 posts each week when there are only 5 of us in the course and I feel like I’m always replying to the same people. That is no one’s fault, but I do wish that because we are a small group, we only had to do 1 reply post a week. My least favorite discussion post was the one about sources. I don’t think it is fair to make anyone do research for someone else. Especially since one of my classmates offered me a source I already used. I know my opinion won’t change anything.

I found the SEO assignment fascinating. My husband is a computer science teacher and knows all about the techy end of things, so when I asked him to help me interpret what I was looking at he was over the moon excited to teach me something. I have made websites before and managed and updated them, but I had never looked at the SEO information before. I had no idea all that went into this classification system. I know I still don’t completely understand it all either, but it is something that I will continue to use and learn about in order to be seen online.

[laurelfecko]

NMJ570- Digital News Production

Going into this class, I wasn't sure what to expect. When I think of news, I usually do not think about it being digital. I mean sure, I read news articles online, but I hadn't thought about making mixed-media news. Until now, most assignments had just been written, or written with photographs. Now I had to think about videos and sound and video interviews. This class, while a bit overwhelming to me, was very interesting and I learned a lot about how to make short news videos. I think the skills learned in this class will help carry me through the rest of the courses in the NMJ track.

I enjoyed learning about video journalism, natural sound, and voice over. The first video was probably my favorite because I did not have to do a voice over. I am not afraid of voice over, I'm just not a big fan of hearing myself on a recording. I sound very different than I think I sound, if that makes sense. I have enjoyed being challenged to improve my video recording skills.

What I could have done better this month was planning. I missed a video because a hurricane came through and cancelled an event I was planning to record. When I got it recorded, it was already after the assignment due date, and then I lost my voice for several days, so I couldn't do the narrated voice over. I felt bad about not submitting anything, but I was also sick, so I tried to just accept that I missed the deadline and life goes on. I wish I hadn't missed out on that assignment. I wish I hadn't missed the chance to record video footage. I wish there wasn't yet another hurricane in central Florida. I can't change the past, but I can just plan to do better moving forward. It has been hard to keep up, as I have been sick since that happened.

This course has prepared me for a career in journalism by teaching me new skills about news videos with natural sound and voice over. I think this will be something I do often. I also learned a life lesson that I need to plan ahead and learn to pivot quicker in the event of circumstances out of my control.

[laurelfecko]

NMJ570- Digital News Production

Going into this class, I wasn't sure what to expect. When I think of news, I usually do not think about it being digital. I mean sure, I read news articles online, but I hadn't thought about making mixed-media news. Until now, most assignments had just been written, or written with photographs. Now I had to think about videos and sound and video interviews. This class, while a bit overwhelming to me, was very interesting and I learned a lot about how to make short news videos. I think the skills learned in this class will help carry me through the rest of the courses in the NMJ track.

I enjoyed learning about video journalism, natural sound, and voice over. The first video was probably my favorite because I did not have to do a voice over. I am not afraid of voice over, I'm just not a big fan of hearing myself on a recording. I sound very different than I think I sound, if that makes sense. I have enjoyed being challenged to improve my video recording skills.

What I could have done better this month was planning. I missed a video because a hurricane came through and cancelled an event I was planning to record. When I got it recorded, it was already after the assignment due date, and then I lost my voice for several days, so I couldn't do the narrated voice over. I felt bad about not submitting anything, but I was also sick, so I tried to just accept that I missed the deadline and life goes on. I wish I hadn't missed out on that assignment. I wish I hadn't missed the chance to record video footage. I wish there wasn't yet another hurricane in central Florida. I can't change the past, but I can just plan to do better moving forward. It has been hard to keep up, as I have been sick since that happened.

This course has prepared me for a career in journalism by teaching me new skills about news videos with natural sound and voice over. I think this will be something I do often. I also learned a life lesson that I need to plan ahead and learn to pivot quicker in the event of circumstances out of my control

[laurelfecko]

Research and Investigation Skills Development- NMJ540

I did not take the Mastery class at the beginning of this master’s program because I had just completed another master’s degree through Full Sail in June 2021. As a result, I did not set goals for each of my classes in the NMJ program. I am beginning to realize that I am probably going to have the same writing prompt for my mastery journal at the end of each course, so maybe I should set goals for the courses that remain in this master’s program. If I could go back in time and select 3 goals for this course, Research and Investigative Skills Development, I would probably say my goals are:

To learn what kind of research must be done to write a news article.

To develop investigation skills for writing.

To learn how to conduct an interview as a journalist.

That being said, I learned that part of researching includes searching public records involving the subject or location which I am writing about. I didn’t learn much about investigation skills that I didn’t already know. I also didn’t learn much about interview techniques that I didn’t already know. However, I have only interviewed a few people prior to this class, so I did take a different approach to interviews this month. I started recording interviews, and on one occasion, I had the interviewee provide written responses via email because we couldn’t coordinate our schedules for a phone interview. I also learned that it is acceptable to cite sources in an article by including a hyperlink to the page that refers to the topic. I already knew how to do that, but previously I was citing sources on a References page, a la APA writing format. Hyperlinking to related pages is so much easier since most research is done online.

I haven’t added much to my website recently, but I plan to start adding new pictures and other content soon. My site is all about the Oviedo High School Band and Colorguard, from a parent’s perspective. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been much news recently because they have been rained out so much for the past month. However, with competition season beginning in about 2 weeks, they are about to become very busy. I am looking forward to continuing to write about the band.

[laurelfecko]

Legal Aspects of Media- NMJ642

I did not take the Mastery class, as I just completed another master’s degree through Full Sail last summer. I did not have to retake the Mastery class. As a result, I do not have a Mastery timeline goal for my NMJ master’s, nor did I have any expectations for this class. However, I learned a lot about legal aspects of journalism in this class. I’ll be honest, this wasn’t my favorite class thus far, but it was interesting. There are many legal aspects that I hadn’t thought I would have to deal with, such as copyright and defamation. I know these issues exist, but I hadn’t considered it being something I would have to deal with. I didn’t realize there were so many lawsuits filed because of defamation, but it was interesting to read the cases that my peers shared.

My favorite assignment in this course was writing a publication in week 3. This was my favorite because I love to write. My content focus area is a subject that does not require much research on my part, I can just write about it. Learning about copyright and defamation was interesting and important, but I did not enjoy those assignments as much as the one where I got to write a story. I always prefer opportunities to be creative rather than just answer questions that have a right and wrong answer.

Of all the topics covered this month, I think the one that will prove most beneficial to me in the long run is defamation. Copyright will also prove to be important, too, but I already know a bit about copyright. As a journalist, I don’t know how often I will be in a situation where I could violate copyright law, not to say it couldn’t or wouldn’t happen, but I could be guilty of defamation any time I write about a person. I hope I never have to worry about either of these. However, with defamation, anyone who doesn’t like what you say can accuse a journalist of libel.

The knowledge I acquired this month will hopefully help me avoid legal issues in journalism now that I am aware. With a little bit of research, copyright violations seem fairly easy to avoid. Now that I know there are legal protections for journalists, I will try to stay within those boundaries so that I do not get accused of defamation. I also plan to do my research and never publish anything that could deceive my audience.

[laurelfecko]

Writing for Interactive Media- NMJ520

As I stated in my previous mastery journal entry, I have no background in journalism, but I love to write and tell stories. I say that again because now I feel like I am starting to get somewhere with this. I am really starting to feel like a journalist.

In this class I learned about journalistic styles, and I have written 2 stories, which required planning, interviews, and editing. I have also developed and published my About Me page on my website to reflect my knowledge and experience. I learned a lot in this course.

I also learned a hard lesson: I need to look ahead. As a teacher I am used to planning with the end in mind. I didn’t think to apply that to journalism. What I mean is that had I looked ahead and realized that it would be story 2 that would be expanded upon, I would have written the content for story 2 as the content for story 1; there was a lot more content that could have been in story 1. I still managed to make both stories work, but now I know for next time that I need to look ahead and plan better. That will help me in my career as a journalist, but also in life.

For the most part, this is all coming together very nicely and easily for me. I am learning, and I am enjoying writing. I haven’t had much source material to write about yet, but band camp starts tomorrow, so I am excited to be able to take many pictures and videos, get more interviews, and have many stories to tell. I spoke to a few parents to get permission to interview their kids; they were all very excited for me and enthusiastically agreed to allow me to interview and take pictures of their children. They also all asked for me to share my website with them, so they can read my stories. We learned in this class about promoting our stories. while I haven’t done any promoting yet, I am excited that I already have an audience waiting. Since they are friends, they will probably be incredibly supportive and positive, but I welcome their feedback, as I always welcome feedback on all my work.

[laurelfecko]

Mastery Journal- NMJ510

New Media and Communications

This is my second master's degree program at Full Sail in the past few years. I received a master's degree in Instructional Design and Technology in June 2021. As such, I did not have to take the Mastery class again this time. I start off by stating this because I did not do the timeline or goals that are part of that class, therefore I cannot reflect on anything from that class. That is not to say that I don't have goals, because of course I do. I will simply begin by reflecting on what I have learned from this class. I decided to begin by starting a new Mastery Journal.

I chose New Media Journalism because I thought it would complement my Instructional Design and Technology master's well. A friend I was talking to last week, who happens to be an ISD, affirmed me that the NMJ master's would pair well with the IDT master's and should help me find a job I love that will combine my skills learned in instructional design with my love of writing. I feel like I am finally on the right path. I started off my first assignment in this class by stating that I have no background in journalism, but I love to write and tell stories. I am a victim of imposter syndrome, but I am starting to find my footing in journalism.

Although I have no background in journalism, I enjoy writing and storytelling. I consider myself fairly creative, although sometimes I stutter when it comes to choosing a topic. In this course I learned that writing and reporting aren't the same thing because journalists have a code of ethics to uphold, which makes sense. I want to be a credible journalist, so I have to make sure to live by the code of ethics.

From this course I also learned a few things about myself. First, I have a hard time making decisions. I have always known this, really, but when it came to choosing a topic I had a difficult time choosing. As I said previously, I consider myself fairly creative. Sometimes there are so many ideas floating around in my brain that I have trouble nailing down one thing to focus on. Next, and probably the biggest challenge for me starting out, is that I can write in the first person, but in order to be a credible reporter, I need to include facts and research and leave out my opinions. It is so easy to write about what I believe, but what about those topics that I am opposed to? How can I write about them from a non-biased perspective? In order to be a credible journalist, I have to find that balance. I also learned that I need to figure out a plan. What do I want to do in the long run? How do I plan to get paid for the work I do? I had not thought about this until week 4 of the course when we presented our business plan. I read the articles and watched the videos, and I honestly still don't know how to make money doing this, so it will be an interesting ride for me as I figure out the answers to these questions. Last, I have learned that I do love writing, especially when I am writing about something I am passionate about.