My experience at Full Sail University has been exciting, laboring, and rewarding. I have spent many sleepless nights working on getting an article finished or an assignment completed. The hours spent in the field and working on projects are uncountable. The classes have been enriching with the variety of learned skills that I have added to my skillset.

My first class was in “New Media and Communications” with Professor Kenneth Coussin. I began to set up my website and discovered my niche. I had to decide on what I wanted to write about and the theme for my website. I care about what is happening to the world with global warming and climate change. Or write about the arts and entertainment scene in the Kansas City Crossroads. I weighed my options on what information was more available to me, and the art & entertainment won.

We used the Pyramid of Journalism Competence: What journalists need to know by Roy Peter Clark. Looking at that pyramid now makes it easy to say the three things that stand out to me: culture, Audio-Visuals, and Storytelling. If I could pick four, I would add technology.

The following class was with Dr. James Carstens, “Research and Investigative Skills Development.” I learned about FOIA and Research and how to incorporate the research into a story.

In “Multimedia Development and Editing” with Professor Jeff Sharon came the real challenge of going out in the field and creating video. I can remember how nervous I was thinking, oh my can I do this? I did, and through time my skill improved. I learned about using the rule of thirds in the video as well.

We also learned the basics of Web Design and Development, Photojournalism, Audio journalism, and Multimedia Journalism. The project that I feared the most was audio journalism. I was scared to do a podcast. I did it, and the next time I was more relaxed.

Then there was “Digital News Production” with Professor Jeff Sharon, and this class is where we first started to decide what our Capstone Project topic would be. The projects I did in class included Video Basics, Visual Storytelling, Video Journalism, and Documentary Storytelling. Every course was informative and kept me on my toes.

Before the classes above, other courses I had were: “Writing for Interactive Media” with Dr. Carstens, where we learned about crafting our story, using editing tools, promotion and distribution, and story planning and focus. I also learned about the “Legal Aspects of Media” with Tami Maras, where I did a case analysis, learned about FOIA requests, Defamation, and did a case study presentation. I also learned about copyright, and last about commercial speech.

Then I had a class with Latoya Lee in “Multimedia Reporting.” I did a variety of presentations in this class. This class seemed to be a continuation of the skills learned in Professor Sharon’s class. In each category, we had to use a different element with text and images and some form of media. It could be a podcast, video, or creating an Adobe Spark Page.

“Social Media and Online Community Engagement” with Ginger Palmisano was about using social media, and each week we concentrated on either Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, and LinkedIn. It was good to explore further into social media since a high percentage of visits to my website come from social media accounts.

The next class was with Greig Powers, “Public Relations and Reputation Management.” The course was enlightening. We learned about the fundamentals of public relations and Reputation Management, page scripting, a promotional story, Public Relations, Brand Journalism, and Reputation. The class got a little more in-depth with looking into influencers and creating a public service announcement.

Looking back at all these classes, I have learned something from each one. At the time, I didn’t always agree with some of the courses or thought they were a little outdated, but that just pushed me to do some research and find the most recent articles on what I was studying.

Getting to my Capstone class with Professor Jeff Sharon, “New Media and Distribution.” Wow, what a workload. I was running around trying to get last-minute interviews. This class was laborious. I had to apply everything I had learned and wrap it up into an extensive article close to 2,000 words. This class taught me so much, and to reflect on the start of my degree, I never would have thought I could have this achievement.

Now here I am writing my Mastery of everything that I have gotten out of New Media Journalism Master of Arts with Dr. James Carstens, who has helped me become a better writer with his feedback.

The most challenging part has been to write a Thesis on my Capstone Project Visionaries and Artists’ Meet at the Kansas City Crossroads Arts District. I almost feel like some of these are redundant. But I know that each chapter has its purpose. I have fallen asleep at my desk, never making it to bed working on my thesis. The follow-up story to the Capstone is: https://www.katdaydesign.com/post/justin-canja-meet-me-at-the-crossroads

Looking back at all the skills I have learned will help me expand my website, articles, videos, podcasts, and photography. The classes have helped to improve my writing and publishing of my pieces.

Everything that I have learned will be a benefit in my future as a journalist. I plan on continuing my website and hopefully will be able to travel and expand the reach of my website to art lovers around the world.

The feedback and critique have also been very beneficial in pointing out areas that I may have overlooked and prepared me to be a better writer. I am grateful to each person that has been instrumental in my learning.