Communication and Family Ecology: Reflections on ALES 204 Winter 2012

I can't believe another semester is coming to an end! It feels like we just started another one and it has already flown by. Ales 204 has provided me with a lot of information about the innumerable uses of technology. Before this class I had never blogged before-I didn't even know about this very website! I also did not have a Twitter account. Now I feel a lot more comfortable with blogging and using Twitter regularly. One of the most valuable things I have learned this semester is that technology is becoming increasingly relevant in professional practice. How we represent ourselves on the Internet can have negative or positive implications for prospective employment. It is very important to take control of your Internet identity and make sure the information that is available is consistent with how you wish to present yourself personally and publicly.

The professional Facebook page assignment was probably my least favourite assignment of the semester. I think that is because I found it difficult to create a page that was relevant to being a full-time student. I feel as a student I did not have much to add to a professional page that would be any more useful to an employer than sending them my resume. It was useful to learn how to create a page, however, and I can see its relevancy for advertising businesses and connecting with other professionals. The Wikipedia assignment was my favourite. I found that editing a Wikipedia stub was very enlightening. I have always heard to be wary of content on Wikipedia and to be careful referencing it. I now understand why that is so important. It was too easy to get published. Now that information is being viewed on a public forum and potentially being used as a reference. It is not difficult to see how false information can spread so easily and why it is important to think critically about the sources of information. I was also very grateful to be able to learn more about updating my resume and how to send a professional email. Those are very useful life skills- both currently as a student and as a future professional.

Technology has infiltrated almost all aspects of our lives. It is a very powerful means of communicating with others and connecting people all over the world. Because of this it is important to be knowledgable and technologically savvy in order to use it to our advantage- as students, employees, and professionals. Ales 204 has been a useful class in attempting to cover as many aspects of using and communicating through social media as possible, making us more literate and professional Internet users.