I'm glad that I had the chance to take this class before graduating from Santa Clara. This class was very different from the majority of English courses I have taken at Santa Clara because it was based on the web. I learned how to create a machinima using Second Life, how to create a hypertext using Dreamweaver, and how to engage in a conversation or start a new discussion with my classmates using an online forum (wikidot.com).

Creating a movie in Second Life was definitely a challenge, but I learned a lot about the program in the process. For example, I learned where to buy and how to operate different animations, how to move around efficiently, and how to edit my appearance. I also had the chance to explore many new places in Second Life, like the Prison of Sparta, San Francisco, Los Angeles, etc. Editing the movie showed me how to use iMovie and iShowU.

Using Dreamweaver to create three different hypertexts taught me how to successfully design an appealing website. My first website, which is a personal project that deals with teaching, is relatively simple because I was still getting used to the program when I designed it. My second hypertext, which discusses technology, youth, and social relationships, is more advanced in that the overall design is neater and it includes my machinima (this required me to learn how to embed a movie into my webpage). I wrote the linear version of this hypertext first, and doing so made it easier for me to decide how I wanted to divide the information throuhgout the pages. I divided the essay into chunks, copied and pasted it onto various pages, and then rewrote and divided up the material so that it was more accessible. My third hypertext, about secondhand smoke and college life, is the most advanced of the three. In this site, I used Photoshop to include an image in the main title. I also included four YouTube videos in this hypertext, one of them being my own. Although I had trouble with links in my third hypertext, my familiarity with Dreamweaver was much greater in comparison to when I created my first hypertext so I was able to fix the problem. This made the overall experience easier and allowed me to explore different options in Dreamweaver that I hadn't noticed before.

The class readings and exercises were very interesting. I liked being able to read what others had to say and have time to think about my response before submitting it. On the other hand, I often spent too much time working on my hypertexts so I didn't give myself the chance to really engage in the forums as much as I would have liked. I really enjoyed the many different games I was introduced to, like Crayon Physics, and I had fun exploring the blogs posted on the syllabus, like Postsecret.com and OverheardinNewYork.com.

Overall, this class was a good experience for me because it forced me to use various computer programs that I know I wouldn't otherwise use, like Dreamweaver and Photoshop. Never having done much writing on the web, I learned a lot about how to format writing so that it is appealing and how to use images, videos, etc. to enhance my writing. I'm sure these are skills that I will carry with me in the future.