Classes Have Ended! - But not the end of the journey...

It is week 14 here at SMU and everyone is frantically trying to finish their reports while studying for the exams next week.

By now, almost everyone has had their last class for this semester and for me it was the Monday that just passed on the 6th of April. It was Shakespeare: From Text To Screen and i was pleased that my final presentation in SMU (fingers crossed nothing bad happens for the exams) went off pretty well and generated enthusiastic discussion.

"What, that's it?" - has my SMU journey ended and will it be my last time formally studying in an academic institution? Well i am not sure about doing Masters in the future, it depends on where life takes me but one thing is for sure - the journey has not ended. Education and learning continually takes place and it is a never ending cycle for our benefit and with that i would like to summarise some of the learning points i have picked up from one of my other courses - Digital Media Across Asia.

Key Takeaways:

1. Acquired more knowledge on Social / Digital Media tools which can be extended across disciplines. After having learnt some of the tools in this course, i now have the confidence to apply it for the BSM Scandinavia Mission; currently we have a BSM Wiki under construction and we are looking to make this an avenue to document our learning experiences but also to share the knowledge that we have gained. Guess what? - i am the administrator for the wiki too :) talk about timing the courses well!
   
2. No fear of them tools. Admittedly, at the start i was clueless of what was going on and it felt like a never-ending mountain i had to climb. This digital world is so enormous and dynamic it's almost scary to even think about sipping coffee in front of the laptop and trying to wrap your head around what's going on online. Now, i am proud to say that even though i have not mastered this realm, i still have learnt some invaluable tools such as the Google Reader, Wikis and Twitter - when if used correctly can be powerful instruments to enhance one's life.
   
3. How do we do this right? After learning about the tools and getting involved the problem now is not about being in the dark and clueless to what is going on in the digital world. The real kicker now is to figure out how do we use these tools correctly and how can we realise its potential. This could encompass many things for different people. For some it may be about how to churn out original and interesting content on a blog and how to engage a community by packaging it well. For others, such as my group who are figuring out the metrics for the measurement project; how do we actually go about these digital strategies and at the same time deliver accurate benchmarks and tools to measure our performance which will determine our relevance and budgets.
   
4. Reading in between the lines. In retrospect, after undertaking the course, i learnt that sometimes it may not always be about those funky tools that create so much hype but more about the paradigms it creates and how do we react to it with what we have learnt thus far. Our discussions in class about the openness of our society in terms of information production and sharing is largely driven by the online world but more importantly how do the communities within them behave , that drives some of these decisions. It was truly fascinating and a philosophical lesson i won't soon forget.
   
5. The Real World vs The Digital World. One of the struggles i realised is how do we balance our life in the real world and that on the digital world. With the convergence of technologies and mediums, we see that both these worlds are becoming increasingly intertwined so much so we traverse them countless times within a short period. A fictitious example would be listening to a Professor while replying to an urgent mail in class , i am interrupted by a sms to reply it but in doing so i need to check some information on Google. While doing all this, i am straining my senses to pay attention and multi-task to everything that is going on around me. Getting bored - i check my Facebook profile and the Twitter updates to see what is going on with my friends....and so on and so forth. These tools have enriched our lives but they have also introduced a whole set of "interesting" complications from being over reliant on technology to our lives becoming progressively faster that we demand tomorrows' results today! One thing i would like to go away with is the sense of being grounded and realising the important things in life. While we use these tools to enhance our lives, nothing can substitute reality and her delights. Being disciplined and not letting these tools engulf our livelihood and swallow us from our families, friends and loved ones around us.
   

In a nutshell, i can simply say that these tools are now additions to my Arsenal in facing reality and the working world.

With that it comes very heavy heart that i will soon bid farewell to SMU - the environment and people within that have been familiar to me for the last 4 years - but at the same time i look upon life ahead as being uncertain and posing new challenges. I wish everyone all the best in their endeavours and that at some point you will look back and think of the wonderful time we have had at SMU.

And to all those who at some point may have helped me along in my journey, i thank you for all the help and hope that someday we will run into each other!

À bientôt!