Reflection on Multimedial Composition

In English 2269, I learned how to use a blog, which I have never used before, and I am glad I actually did because it is a really good source to share information or interesting topics to whoever I want. This class taught me about the use of rhetorical topics in world media. I had no idea how important rhetoric is until I took this class and looked through the readings that were posted to Carmen. I have realized how much I subconsciously analyze viral trends more deeply now.

I learned how to use certain editing applications, such as Photoshop, PowerPoint, iMovie, and Prezi. I had never used Photoshop previously and attending this class taught me the usage of the tools in it. We edited our photo that included either a poem we made or the Twitter story we created. Also, I had never used PowerPoint before, and I never realized how hard it was to create people in it using just the shapes that PowerPoint provides. I thought that it was a good way of showing how to use the resources that we are given within an application using our knowledge.

I think that making the iMovie was a lot harder than it seemed. It was time consuming and took a lot of work and thought, but altogether I think it was a good thing to learn because it can be used for the future. Even just background music and exporting or importing methods were good to learn for future projects. The iMovie was a really good way to grab a viewer’s attention since our society is so entertained by movement and sound. The iMovie was also challenging because it was supposed to be shown within 60 seconds including introduction title and credits, so fitting a story that is clear is difficult to do within such a little time frame.

The last project we did was within the presentation application called “Prezi”. I have never used Prezi before, and I thought it was a really cool tool to use other than PowerPoint because it is easier to make it look like you did more work even though you really did not. I did not know exactly how to use certain tools on Prezi, but I am sure it could be made to look really neat. I will probably use a Prezi for future presentations because I think it looks more interesting than PowerPoint.

All in all, I thought this class was really different, and I have never taken a class like it before. I would strongly recommend it to other students that do not have much experience with computer technology outside of the internet and typing papers. I would also recommend it to other students who do know how to use this technology because others who do not know what they are doing could learn from the students that do know.