The New Media Institute/Emerging Media Masters
The New Media Institute’s Emerging Media Masters program offers a little bit of everything I like. It’s got design, which is my current profession. It touches on journalism, which is my former profession. And it’s grounded in technology, which is where I want to be moving forward.
Below is the start of my Emerging Media portfolio. I am excited to show off what I've learned and produced so far.
NMIX 6010: Web Development
This class has been especially meaningful to me, and I am thankful it's how I started my master's journey. Over the last few years, I have attempted to learn more about coding through free online courses, but a lack of ways to explore and expand on the information once I completed the exercises, coupled with an increasingly narrow window of time in which to practice, have prevented me from moving any further with it. Now, I don't think there’s any way for me to go back — not that I want to. I’m hooked. I’m ready to build all the websites!
NMIX 6011: New Media Design
One of the things I am finding most beneficial about the EMO program is my ability to take the experience and knowledge I am gaining and make it actionable immediately in my daily work. For example, as I note in my public portfolio, I have a customer-focused mindset and have naturally gravitated toward a more user-centered approach to design over the last several years. I have been making suggestions to that end for a while at work that I can now see being acknowledged and accepted more readily — such as allowing more white space into designs and using more inclusive langage.
NMIX 6020: Advanced Web Development
After taking Intro to Web Development over the summer, I was anxious to put my newly acquired skills to the test. However, I was unsure how I would fare attempting anything beyond HTML and CSS. On the one hand, I am highly motivated as a rule. On the other, my brain melts down just about anytime math makes an appearance. I am a natural at the spatial stuff. Everything else, even down to calculating a tip: Get me out of there. It’s not that I can’t do it; it’s like my whole body rejects the idea of doing it. Not surprisingly, nothing made any sense when we first started JavaScript, even though there really isn’t THAT much math involved (it's still too much, but oh well).