Michael D.

Carter
LT 7360
Takeaways

During the Web 2.0 unit I had the chance to integrate myself into the Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr ecosystem.
Although Ive mostly maintained a consumer relationship with the platforms one that I do acknowledge the
ability to communicate ideas, thoughts and emotional content across an extremely broad audience. Social media
integration I believe should be a requisite for any education curriculum. Currently the majority of educational
content I consume if from the internet via audiobook and video on YouTube, podcasts, blogs and websites. I
foresee the continued challenge for myself as an instructor and consumer of these platforms to be navigating the
content in with critical eyes. Implementing critical analysis tools with regard to what information one if absorbing
is extremely important. Given the current scandals with Russian tampering of social media sites during the
presidential election the threat of false news and reporting is a credible one therefore we must teach our students
how to distinguish credible content from credulous content.

Team dynamics is something I have an interest in. Particularly communication in pursuit of a common goal. I was
recently introduced to HPT and also the concept of shared mental models. I find it fascinating how much
breakdowns in communication between team members contributes to things like low morale and diminished
performance. With that said an additional takeaway from this semester has been incorporation of tools to enhance
team communication, one such tool is Slack. Ive now integrated Slack into my workflow for business, school and
my personal life. It serves as a very useful tool within my teams to stay abreast to what is happening within our
projects and how that relates to accomplishment of our shared vision and goals. As I continue in my coursework
in LT I will definitely be sure to focus on how platforms such as Slack can continue to enhance shared mental
models and performance improvement.

My final takeaway relates to the digital story unit. One major thing learned is that planning should never be
underestimated for a project involving multiple types of communication. The assignment was not a strenuous
length however one thing I quickly learned is that when shifting between the written, spoken and visual modes of
communication translation requires nuances per the specific platform of communication. For example I wrote out
a full length story to be narrated. Then I had to decide what visuals would best convey the tone and overall
message of the story. This was then followed by curation of the instrumental accompaniment. Bringing together
all of these elements via Windows Movie Maker proved another challenge because I also decided to vary the types
of transitions and lengths of each still to coincide with elements of the instrumental. There were moments when I
felt like a juggler that started out with one item then quickly progressed to 15 eventually dropping them
repeatedly. This exercise I found to be invaluable because it taught me how unique communication platforms can
be and how seeing the overall picture of how elements intersect can help produce something cohesive.