Highlights of ALES 204

Undoubtedly, ALES 204 was a unique course.  I remember flipping through the syllabus on the first day and getting excited because there were so many interesting topics.  The most valuable thing I gained from ALES 204 was an appreciation for Twitter.  On top of Twitter's greatness mentioned in my previous blog post, I learned another aspect of hashtags has gotten me quite fanatical about them.  Other than their ability to group related tweets for easier searching, hashtags also generate an intriguing, yet subtle, effect.  My classmate Chelsea has an interesting use of hashtags.  Let us dissect one of her tweets:

Le, B. (2012). Chelsea's Tweet [Screenshot]. Retrieved from: https://twitter.com/#!/raydeeoh_

One style she uses is to establish sort of a mystery, and then adding hashtags to provide context.  She also uses sentence-long hashtags, which can have a comical effect because it seems to reverse the role of the hashtag and the content.  Here, the hashtags comprise the bulk of the tweet.  In addition, there are some notes of irony involved, because it's highly unlikely that anyone else will use the same super-long hashtag, therefore defeating the purpose of the hashtag.  I'm starting to catch on, but I'm still a #hashtagnoob.  Anyway, enough with this English nerd digression, and onto more ALES 204 excitement.

I also enjoyed using Blogger - it was fun to make my own blog and visit other students' blogs.  Blogging was a great way to strengthen my written communication skills, which science students don't have many chances to do other than writing lab reports.  It also gave me practice using APA citations and Creative Commons licensing.  I have seen CC licensing before, but I didn't know how easy it was to license my own work until ALES 204 showed me how.

Malone, T. (2011). Creative Commons [Logo].
Retrieved from: http://thomasmalone.blogspot.ca
/2011/11/creative-commons.h

CC is a great tool that allows for better sharing of ideas by allowing creators to decide on the extent to which they would like to share their work.  I had a great time blogging, and I hope to continue this blog during my summer break!

ALES 204 also introduced me to a plethora of lesser known social media platforms, so I will mention the most memorable ones.  LinkedIn.  This is a professional social network.  You can find jobs or hire folks through this site, and I think this tool will be an asset in my future career.  Audioboo.  Although I'm not a fan of hearing my electronic voice, I found this website very interesting.  It's like a social network of sounds, which is a great way to practice for interviews or convey messages that are not as effectively expressed in written words.  Delicious.  This is a great way to organize your bookmarks and add tags and descriptions to them, or even share them publicly.  I find it really innovative because it allows you to post ideas without creating any new content, but through sharing good links you've read.  And finally, Prezi.  I was introduced to Prezi in our lab, and it is a magnificent tool.  It has an endless canvas and lots of cool gadgets to help organize ideas.  Prezi is a really neat way to share ideas creatively.  I tried it out by creating a mind map about our CSL project with the Campus Food Bank.

I must conclude, however, with mention of a few drawbacks to ALES 204.  While I enjoyed the class, I do believe there are ways to improve it.  In my opinion, the course was a bit too heavily focused on social media.  Although I agree that social media will be an influential factor in the future of work and academia, I couldn't help but question the relevance of Delicious, Audioboo, and Flickr in my future career.  I would have preferred slightly more emphasis on more practical aspects of professionalism, such as resume building, interviews and presentations.  Overall, it was wonderful being an ALES 204 student and I had a marvelous time learning about such interesting tools.

Here are the five blog posts I commented on:

• Lina H: The Accessibility of Sustainability
• Danielle: My Pecha Kucha Experience
• Lina A: My CSL Placement
• Mark: CSL Placement
• Steph: "Hold on, I'll Wikipedia that!"

CSL with the Campus Food Bank

Campus Food Bank Logo (2008).
Retrieved from: campusfoodbank.com

Community-Service Learning (CSL) completely exceeded my expectations - it was so much more than just 20 hours of volunteer work.  Over the past three months, Nian and I worked on some exciting projects for the  Campus Food Bank (CFB), with guidance from our wonderful supervisors, Ashley Seibert and Jennifer Nguyen.  Our first project was to update the Campus Food Bank's Twitter account about upcoming events, interesting links, needed donations, or volunteer opportunities. When tweeting about events, I learned to link the Facebook event page in the tweet to exclude fine details and make room for creativity and relevant hashtags.  Tweeting for the CFB gave us a chance to practice constructing concise, critically literate tweets.  Here's one of my tweets:

Le, B. (2012). CFB Tweet [Screenshot]. Retrieved from: https://twitter.com/#!/campusfoodbank

Our second project was to make classroom presentations about the Campus Food Bank's service and events.  Initially, we found it quite daunting to have hundreds of students stare at us, but with enough practice, we became comfortable with public speaking.  We had the chance to apply ALES 204 knowledge in our presentations, such as the incorporation of hand gestures to make us appear more relaxed.  I also tried lowering the pitch of my voice because we learned that it makes the speaker sound confident.  I think it worked, but at the expense of my enthusiasm, so I am working on finding a balance between the two.  Classroom presentations were a great opportunity for us to explore our strengths and weaknesses with public speaking.

Le, B. (2012). CFB's Glamorous New Office [Photograph].
Retrieved from personal files.

Our third project was to establish the CFB's first external newsletter.  The CFB has an internal newsletter for staff and volunteers, but we decided to try starting a newsletter for the greater campus community.  Our newsletter's main focus was the CFB's recent office move to a spacious, new area in SUB.  It also included information about the organization, events, donations, volunteer opportunities and contact information.  Although we didn't learn about newsletters in ALES 204, we learned about poster-making, which offered some valuable advice we applied to making newsletters.  We used bullet points and sans sherif fonts for easier reading, and put the office move in the center of the page to draw attention to it.  When we completed the newsletter, it was distributed via email to over 15 faculty offices across the U of A campus.

In conclusion, my CSL experience was remarkable.  I had the opportunity to offer service to a local non-profit, and learned about social issues such as food security and student poverty.  I also had the chance to complete projects I never thought I was qualified to do.  These projects strengthened my interpersonal skills and enhanced my understanding of ALES 204 material.  In addition, the Campus Food Bank's exceptionally dedicated staff and volunteers truly inspired me - they have an admirable passion for ending hunger on campus.  Community Service-Learning is an amazing program and I feel extremely grateful that I chose to take part in it.  My fellow CSL classmates have fantastic stories to share!  Read about Mark's experience with Sustain SU, or Lina's experience with the Students' Union.