Monday afternoon I filed out of the Geological Science building with 300 other Journalism students after the first hour of Journalism 2150: Multimedia Journalism. Any pre-conceived notions about the class were proven right or torn to shreds within that hour. However, I didn’t have any to begin with. I had heard nothing horrible about J2150, but no one I knew raved about it either. I had no expectations for the class until the clock struck 3:01.
Walking out of the auditorium after lecture I was utterly confused. I was not alone in this confusion either. There was tweeting, blogging, photography, video and audio, due dates were a mystery, and I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing at that moment. I had expectations at this point, and they scared me.
A stressful 26 hours later, my J2150 lab class began. That is when I started to understand what was going on with the class. Due dates were spelled out and I knew what I had to do that night and throughout the week. I looked up examples of previous work. Everything was much clearer and I breathed a mental sigh of relief. After lab class, my expectations of this class finally seemed accurate.
I expect to work hard in J2150. The assignments we have been given seem to me like they require a lot of work, and a lot of reward in the end. I also expect to be challenged; This first week has shown me that this is a class of change (my expectations changed twice within two days) and that I have to keep up with it. I expect this class to be the first one to introduce the amount of dedication Journalism takes to me and the rest of my class.
And most importantly, I do not expect to give up.
J2150 Students tweeted their answers to Professor Rice’s questions in the first lecture. The fastest tweets earned extra credit points. Photo Credit: Shannon Shaver.
Shannon Cynthia 