Review of Communication 497AJ

Overall, I found Communication 497AJ to be one of my favorite, if not my favorite class at UMass. I feel as though it rounded out my education at the university and in the Communication major perfectly. The class explored many of the ideas that I have been introduced to over my past four years here in a different way than I am used to and I think that the class model itself proved extremely successful. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing what all the members of the class had to say as well as hearing about their personal experiences with the topics discussed in class and I think it really benefited my experience with the course material as well as others in the class. Many professors aim to run a class on a discussion model and are unsuccessful at either inspiring students to participate or allowing the students to participate and I think that Professor Yousman was very much able to prove that this model is both possible and extremely successful when done right. Some of the things I think were especially helpful for me were the discussion leaders as they help to synthesize the readings for the class and bring about key points that maybe the individual would not have focused on otherwise. Also the online discussion board, though tedious at times, was great because it allowed the class time to post their thoughts on the readings in a more formed manner than an in class discussion. Sometimes people benefit more or learn better from reading and writing than listening and speaking and the combination between in class discussion and online discussion allows for all individuals to thrive in their learning style and challenge themselves in a learning style that does not best suit them.

I think we would all agree that this class was not a light course load, but it is so different when you take a class that is challenging and you are learning as compared to a class that is challenging and you are not learning. Everything that I read this semester was applied to discussions and assignments and while that may seem like common sense, anyone who has taken a college course knows that is not a common feeling for all classes across the board.

I have not taken a class in a very long time where it is hard for me to decide my favorite reading/topic and for this class it is actually quite difficult for me. But, I stick by my review from mid-semester and still say that my favorite reading was Gerber and the topic of the Mean World Syndrome. I think that analyzing this thesis closely has hugely beneficial to my own media literacy but was also equally beneficial in my understanding of topics in my other classes. I have not taken a semester of classes that related so well together since the last class I took with Professor Yousman when I was a Sophomore…so maybe it isn’t the classes and it is actually just one great class that makes the semester…I guess I’ll never know. Haha.

It’s funny, filling out the end of year evaluations for all my classes I always get to the box about “How much did you learn in this class” (or however it is phrased) and I always feel like it is average or below average. For this class though I actually feel as though I learned “Much more than average” which is really refreshing as I am doing my closing interviews for my loans and finding out exactly how much I owe for the past four years. Some classes seem worth it and some don’t but I feel lucky that I am able to end on a note in my major where I feel like what I studied was both challenging and enlightening.

Thanks all for a great semester and CONGRATULATIONS 2012 GRADS!!