Final Post- Ally Brinzea

When I first walked into the class... I honestly had no thoughts on whether or not it would be fun. I'm the random English major in the class who decided to dive into an informatics minor because I heard the library school was merging with informatics. At the point where I joined the class, I realized that informatics wasn't really something that interested me too much, but I had already taken several classes and wanted to follow through to obtain the minor. It was just another credit to me.

Honestly, at the end, this is still just a credit for me. The projects we did never truly resonated with me (although the last one was interesting). However, the way this course was designed made me reflect on why I was in college in the first place. I know I'm here to get a degree so I can get a job, but with the standard class focus I wondered if college is actually effective in getting me ahead in life. We sit in class, take notes, take the test, and then forget everything we needed to know for the test because it is over. Does that really make us grow intellectually though? How is that different than the mind of a high schooler? Employers don't care about how you did on your grades; they care about what kind of things you've accomplished. They want to know about job experiences and skills you have. All of the stuff we don't get in the classroom. This class, with the way we focus on the "big picture" of the real world made me see that students need to look beyond the classroom. They need to get out into the world and learn things that will stick with them. They need proof to back them up when trying to get someone to hire them.

I loved that real world focus that this class had because it isn't something I've encountered before in other courses. If I want to be specific, I didn't care for the subjects and things that we were doing, but that idea of preparing you for the real world was what I was impressed with. If I'm going to take something away from this course, it would be that I should try to filter my assignments into making me into a better candidate for an employer. If I have an option on what to work on for class assignments, I should focus on what I need to learn in order to improve myself for a job.