Lessons learned in ENGL-279 and the planned application of knowledge

By Brian Grimmer – 12/08/17

In autumn of 2017, I made the decision to return to school and update my skills as a web developer, graphic designer, and project management. The class ENGL 279 Writing for Modern Media is part of the web design certification curriculum at Shoreline Community College. Unlike most English classes, this class focuses on technology and the creation of content for use in social media.

One of the first projects in the class was to create a Facebook page. As an experienced participant of social media, the assignment was easily completed. In all actuality, I would have liked to see more in-depth coverage beyond the basic setup of a Facebook account and the associated posting of content. Little to nothing was said about one responsibly posting content on their pages, or showing how to adjust one’s privacy settings so that unprofessional “private” content remains privately shared among “selected” or trusted friends.

Such basics would be very beneficial to students. Many students are just starting to develop their online profiles. As they begin using these sites to promote their personal brand, learning about the “pitfalls” might help a few avoid the bad image caused by posting “party” pictures that maturity might later find to be irresponsible and regretted behavior.

Next, we covered blogs, their purpose, and creating content for a blog. I found this segment to be useful but again, very elementary. Using Blogger, I created a blog for the class and developed my content after performing some basic personalization to the look and feel of the blog. Writing short articles, I posted links to the blog post on Facebook and discussed the SEO benefits of writing for a blog in the class discussions.

In the next assignment, we were assigned to write an article about diversity on the campus of Shoreline Community College and again post a link to the article on the professor’s Facebook page. This was followed by learning about Wikipedia and how to edit a Wikipedia article. Having done this activity before, the assignment was a mere refresher and in a professional skills sense, a true waste of effort. My view comes from the perspective that few, if any companies are going to be editing Wikipedia pages on any regular basis.

The final and my favorite assignment was learning about LinkedIn. As an experienced entrepreneur, freelance talent, and job seeker, it is my view that the class really should focus more time on LinkedIn. I was shocked to discover how few students are aware of its potential for helping them with their career. During class discussions, I used my personal experience with LinkedIn to promote the platform’s purpose and usefulness to both academics and one’s professional career path.

In all honesty, the class turned out to be little more than a refresher course. I am hard pressed to think of anything revolutionary that I picked up through the class. Most of the new knowledge gained was via self-exploration of social media video’s on Lynda.com.

While not learned directly from the class but rather Lynda.com, I found that the consistent application of self-promotion on social media can help one become a thought leader and subject master in their field by simply publishing relevant content and briefly commenting on said content. By posting such content 3-5 times a week, one will increase their social media presence. Increasing one’s social media presence is beneficial both personally and in business. Understanding these skills, even at the basic level as taught in the class, adds greatly to one’s employability as companies competitively vie for attention online.

Acquiring the “pedigree of knowledge” ( a certificate in web development) as well as the right to display said certification to potential employers was my goal in taking this class. Knowing that my existing knowledge is correct is beneficial to me in my profession. I can rest assured that the skills I have gained in self-study have been validated. I know now with confidence that the practices I have learned and have employed in my social media marketing efforts are accurate and follow current standards. With such affirmation, I will continue to participate in social media effectively and use the various platforms to promote my business and professional brand.