New Media Final Project + Mastery Journal Entry
For my original Mastery NMJ timeline goal for this course I had the following goals:
1. Create a portfolio website to effectively and aesthetically publish my work.
2. Create a blog for the website where I show the process of my work and content creation.
3. Create a research-based thesis paper to support the website and blog.
For the completion of these goals I identified the following strategies:
1. Read book “The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect, Completely Updated and Revised” by author Bill Kovach.
2. Watch course “Building a Responsive Portfolio Site” at Lynda.
3. Watch course “Planning a Web Design Portfolio: Growing Your Freelance Business” at Lynda.com
4. Watch course “Create an Online Portfolio with WordPress” at Lynda.com
Out of the three goals, I can safely say I completed two out of three. The first one: "Creating a portfolio website to effectively and aesthetically publish my work," and the second one: "creating a research-based thesis paper to support the website and blog." The blog for the website where I show the process of my work and content creation will be created as soon as I’m done turning in the research-based thesis paper. I could claim that the totality of the website has been done in a blog-like format and yet that would feel like cheating.
I didn’t use any of the resources mentioned in the strategies section of the original Mastery NMJ timeline. I almost didn’t use any of the resources for the other courses. I think I overestimated the time I had to complete each strategy. When you add three part-time jobs, all the material the professors share, and the weekly assignments, achieving these plans becomes involved. The only way I can see myself doing any of them is with a well-planned work calendar. Now that the degree is over, I will go back to the beginning and re-do the whole thing but from the perspective of the original Mastery NMJ timeline. I understand the use of the mastery timeline, and I use it as an assigned tool for my bachelor-level students.
I think that by doing the blog about the degree, using the timeline, adding weekly content to the Tumblr and the website I can double the results I’ve got from the master's degree.
While the last two courses (New Media Publishing and New Media Journalism Final Project) confused me with the way they are constructed, I can derive a good deal of learning from the process. As with the final three classes for my bachelor’s degree (Hospitality Sales & Marketing, Restaurant & Catering Concept Development, Restaurant Management Capstone) I can clearly see how the skills we have learned from day one until now come together.
Both degrees have given me the tools I need to complete one of my goals of becoming field academic researcher and a published author. I will certainly add this knowledge to the experiences that will come about in the next three years which will culminate on my Ph.D.












