These were held in the DMU library, and there were a number of sessions we could choose from. I thought it was a shame that we couldn't attend all of them, because some ran alongside one another. However I think that the timing was more efficient the way that it had been planned and I feel like I took a lot from the day, so I'm not complaining!
Out of the sessions that were on offer, I decided to go to:
- Word Art: Using words creatively.
- How to write when you don't want to write.
- Your blog as a conversation with experts.
- Confidence building for success.
I decided to go to Word Art', because I felt this would touch upon writing skills that I feel rather rusty on. I really enjoyed English at school, and to be honest, as much as I love art, I do miss the array of academic subjects that were our lives back then. I thought that this session would help me be more creative with my use of language and that I'd be able to apply myself much more thoroughly to my posts.
We were sitting and working in groups, which I have to admit surprised me and would normally have intimidated me. My lack of confidence makes any sort of group work quite daunting, but I think I am getting better as time goes on. This was quite casual though, so I felt at ease and the session was quite a laugh. At the start of the session we were given the word animate, and think of a word to do with Game Art for each letter.
The next task was to plan and write a sort of mini blogpost about one piece of work that was given to us. We had to explore how the piece made us feel, the moods and emotions conveyed, etc. It was very helpful in discovering how important it is to actually plan out what you want to say first, instead just diving in.
The next task was to plan and write a sort of mini blogpost about one piece of work that was given to us. We had to explore how the piece made us feel, the moods and emotions conveyed, etc. It was very helpful in discovering how important it is to actually plan out what you want to say first, instead just diving in.
The next session was 'How to write when you don't want to write'. I went to this session because I was hoping that it would have some fundamental practices that I could carry over into all aspects of my life, not just for writing. Which it did, actually! We sort of looked at what we felt personally stopped us from wanting to proceed. I think the root of a lot of my hesitation in starting something (especially Game Production in the beginning haha!) is that horrid, nagging fear of failure. You end up putting it off, whilst in simultaneously stresses the living hell out of you. I have a tendency to do that, on occasion anyway. Giving myself a stern talking to, I need to evaluate how important it is and realise that the sooner I start, the longer I have to fix the mistakes and learn along the way.
We then wrote consistently for a couple of minutes about why we applied for this course, which was actually a great way to clear the mind and sort out my ideas, so I think that is something I'm going to do from now on when it comes to writing blog posts.
Our next session was 'Your blog as conversation with experts'. This was quite good, as I felt that I learnt more about referencing to take away with me and try to apply to my work. We also were reading these articles and we had to write down and discuss what we thought they could have done to improve their work. I do have a regret when it comes to this though. I wish I had attended the season 'The tools of visual practice and using them in your critical writing'. The students who attended this got to work with tutors Chris and Mitch to write an art directory piece, setting the scene for a film adaptation of the game 'The Last of Us'. They did say that we were more than welcome to do this if we didn't attend and even though I have never played The Last of Us, I am definitely going to give it a go.
The last session I went to was brilliant. Confidence Building for Success. I felt that this session was so useful, which was helped by the fact that there were only six of us and the tutor was really engaging and attentive. I tend to be quite shy, and find talking to people that I haven't talked to before quite difficult. We all discussed as a group the things we felt we weren't confident about and what we could do to help it. I'm still not sure how to overcome my shyness, but to be honest, it was good to just vocalise it. I felt that this session was good for self discovery as well. There was a section where we had to pass a ball around the class, and say one thing we'd discovered about ourselves since starting university, and one way we could show others that we are more confident. I realised that, when it comes to work, I am actually quite determined to get things done, and that I truly do try hard. I have no idea how to show others that I am more confident though.
We also talked about how it was important, not only to get work done, but to look after ourselves too. Which, if I'm honest, I haven't been as much as I probably should. The stresses of University are starting to show (especially under my eyes and around my tummy.)
Overall I thought the day was very successful. I found it very useful and left feeling very positive about the future of the course. I felt inspired further to go home and get stuff done, and try and adopt a better diet and sleeping pattern!
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