I think when most people think about going to college, the image they get is of sitting around a library, reading boring textbooks, and writing long papers. My experiences at Rowan, however, has been far more interesting and technologically advanced. One great example of that is a class I took called Writing, Research, and Technology, taught by Professor Bill Wolff.
One of the focuses of this class was exploring the idea that “writing” isn’t simply limited to typing words on a page. We analyzed semiotic rules and visual rhetoric, learning different ideas about how to send a message and compose in the digital age. As part of this, students were given an assignment to create our own YouTube video mashups.
Yes, in college we learned how to make our own homemade YouTube videos.
Working on this assignment was a fascinating and fun experience. We learned not only how to edit the videos and create montages of clips, but also how to use those clips in the most effective way. We spent a lot of time learning how to choose the most effective video clips, the most effective way to choose what order to play them in, and how to make the biggest and most interesting impact on our audience. Anyone can make a sloppy recording on their webcam and throw it online, but the techniques we learned in this class taught us how to make professional, exciting, and stimulating videos that are far better than anything someone would make at home.
I asked a few of my friends and classmates, and they told me they were happy to let me share the results of some of their work in the Writing, Research, and Technology class. Here are a few of their awesome videos, to give you an idea of the sort of projects you can work on in Rowan classes:
Maria G. made an entertaining video about file sharing and copyright laws, which she titled “File Sharing and Internet Piracy.”
Cassie S. made an upbeat political commentary about former Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, called “Mitt Romney: The Business Man.”
Devon W. made a moving political video that touches on a variety of issues, titled “The Political Machine.”
I had a great time in this class, and this is just one of the wonderful projects we worked on. Everything in the class was modern and geared towards the digital age. We even incorporated blogging and tweeting projects into the class, creating a mixture of in-person and online learning.
Education today is a constantly changing and evolving process. Rowan does a great job keeping up with the times, updating their programs to meet the needs of the 21st century. Going to Rowan today is a far different experience than it would have been 10 or 20 years ago. I’m glad for a chance to embrace these new ideas and benefit from them as I get ready for my future career.