Reflections

I initially selected Living and Working on the Web as a module choice hoping that it would further improve my general computer skills. Happily things worked out well for me. The self-taught module allowed me to push my self, further develop my online skills and knowledge, incorporate feedback into my subsequent posts and improve my online presence to ultimately make me better prepared for my ever encroaching job search.
Looking back over my five posts (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) it is clear to see how I have developed. Comparing my initial self test scores to my self test scores now; almost every section has improved.
Although the ‘Creating online materials (text, audio, images, video)’ only went up by one point I feel this is one of the areas I have improved most. A previous score of 3 may have been an over estimation of my abilities. I have created many materials with the use of tools I had never previously heard of, let alone used (e.g. Powtoon, Haikudeck and Piktochart).
This module also helped me utilise my Twitter account. Previously, although I had Twitter I would rarely tweet. However this module pushed me to regularly tweet, posting about my blogs, asking course instructors questions and following new people. I also gained followers (which is always good).
My favourite blog to write was Using the Internet: Create your Best Chance for Employment although all topics were useful and interesting I found this to be the most relevant to my current situation. I also found that this post gained the most traffic. This was partly due to the other students within this module, but also due to the fact that it was selected to be part of a Free Learning experiment being run by the course instructors. It felt really good to have strangers comment and link to my work. This topic also allowed me to discover how important Linkedin and an online profile can be in a modern-day job search. Through research and reading others blogs I discovered some great tools including Linkedin youtube channel and some great ways to make my profile stand out from the crowd.

Prior to this module I had always liked the idea of blogging, however I never really knew how to start. This module has pushed me to further discover for myself the interesting world of blogging. Now that I have my blog set up I definitely feel it is something I will carry on with in the future. As soon as my exams are finished I am thinking of creating an unbiased blog looking at the pros and cons of leaving the European Union. I plan to utilise the tools I have already discovered as well as discovering new ones.
The new skills I have learnt will be invaluable in my upcoming job search and in my general online life. I am looking forward to continuing to further discover and develop whilst improving my online presence. This has been my favourite module this term and I believe I have discovered a new passion.
Here is a quick summary of my journey, take a look.
http://prezi.com/r6phd-mirbli/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy