Pushing Beyond Personal Boundaries

My journey as a Media Fellow began in the fall of my sophomore year at JMU. I recently declared a second major in Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication, so I was enrolled in two of the introductory courses. Sean McCarthy taught one of them (I seriously recommend that every JMU student take one of his classes before they graduate). On the first day he made it clear that we would be using various online platforms throughout the semester. He would of course introduce us to the basics, but we really had to dive right in and be ready to learn. We would have a class blog on WordPress (yikes!) to post our articles and give feedback to our peers. I remember sitting there that day completely overwhelmed by this digital world I was about to enter. My past experience in high school only included PowerPoint (clearly not impressive in this class) and Prezi. Little did I know though, this course would be one of my favorites. From that day forward I challenged myself to step beyond personal boundaries in order to leave with pieces I was proud of. Little did I know too, this course would be the beginning of my journey with Team DigiComm.

Toward the end of the semester I had become more familiar with WordPress and had projects on sites like Glogster, Popcorn and Storify. I was reading heavy academic articles and learning how to portray them in an online platform. Delving into this digital world left me feeling more accomplished. Then, one afternoon Paige pitched her course to our class. She talked about additional web builders that I was unfamiliar with, but shared experience with these was not required. Another opportunity to step out of my comfort zone, so why not? I set up an interview with Paige and my story with DigiComm began.

As most of the Media Fellows will say, the class was pretty intimidating the first few weeks. I questioned if this was the right fit for me, if I really thought about what I was getting myself into, but I remembered that these were similar feelings I had in the first day of Sean’s class. Pushing beyond personal boundaries there led to various accomplishments and growth for me as a learner. I realized this was another opportunity, so I took advantage of all the course had to offer. Yes, it was a lot of work but I left learning more about the digital sphere than I had when I started. The fact that we were cultivating something new at JMU was motivating and I think you could sense that excitement within all of us on our final presentation day. After multiple 15-page documentations on various web builders, class discussions, brainstorming ideas for the center, weeks of working in classrooms with students and one-on one, DigiComm was finally ready to share its story with the university.

Currently I am a Media Fellow for a READ 366 course, working with students that plan on having a future career in education. They are assigned to create an E-Portfolio, one that they can use in job interviews to showcase their work. We start with them from the day they create an account on a web builder site, to the end when they publish their finished product online. I work with two other Media Fellows in this area on a course website and class presentations. We have bi-weekly meetings with Paige to discuss progression in the course and any areas in need of improvement.

My favorite part of this experience so far has definitely been working with the students. On the first day, I looked around the room to find them feeling overwhelmed or honestly just not interested. Some students did not understand the benefit behind having a professional portfolio, just as I did when starting Paige’s class. By the end of the semester, my students were making their own logos, adding items to their site with no issues, and were proud to show me their finished product. Seeing this transformation has made my job the most worthwhile, because you see a bit of yourself in them too. I was in their shoes a year ago today, completely absent from the digital world in regards to professional portfolios or building your own website. Although we are there for guidance, I love to see the students offer the same challenge I did. They chose to step out of their comfort zones and delve into the experience ready to learn. During our bi-weekly workshop sessions, each student took advantage of our time together. They asked questions and sought my opinion because they truly wanted to make improvements. The digital world is in constant flux, so the unique aspect of this experience is that the students, other Media Fellows and I are learning together. However, DigiComm is just trying to be one step ahead in order to help.

On the last day of class, one student had design issues with her portfolio. She chose a light purple as her background, but it turned out black when it was published. We tried changing the colors or choosing a new theme. Nothing worked. I had a feeling this was a coding issue, something I am in the process of learning more about. Several Media Fellows and I turn to our coding guru Lauren whenever we have issues with a site. I figured I would run into her in the center later, so I told the student I would seek further help. Later that afternoon, Lauren was nowhere to be found. Fortunately, our other Media Fellow Alexa was. I told her I had a coding issue and she proceeded to give me the same look of fear that I did behind the student’s shoulder earlier. We decided to give it a shot and sat down behind the computer. Staring at the page of endless codes for a few moments, we discovered a section for the background color and entered a new code with the one she wanted. Alexa and I returned to the student’s site and screeched out of excitement. Paige came out of her office to see what was going on and found us yelling, “WE CODED!!!!!”

Moments like these remind me that stepping out of my comfort zone has given me some of the best experiences so far. They have allowed me to grow as a student, person, and member of the digital sphere. It has also introduced me to a group of people I can no longer imagine life without. They have taught me so much about myself, make me laugh until I cry, and push me to excel as a member of our community. My journey with Team DigiComm has been incredible thus far and I look forward to watch our center grow in the years to come.

- Marlena Luciano, Media Fellow