In this last post, I will attempt to sum up my feelings about the lab portion of ENG 7006. This being my first graduate level semester, the class has been a bit of a whirl wind. I may have been more prepared for the theory part of “media theory/ media practice” than the coding and project oriented section, though I can safely assume that this was the case for most. Yet I don’t want to give the impression that theory comes easy to me.

Tackling theory at this level and with students with such well-honed analytical skills is still a wholly new and thoroughly enjoyable experience. At least with practice, I felt that we all worked within similar frames of reference. As we wrap up the semester, I wonder how my approach to theory has changed since getting my hands dirty working with code. I feel that this question may linger for a while yet, and I may be able to think about the influence more clearly at a distance, once summer rolls around.

Since we couldn’t accomplish actual crits at the end of class last week, I should talk about how well our class exposition went last week. Like Kelly, I think our Makey Makey projects might have allowed us to come out of our shells a bit coding-wise, and tie some loose ends between the two class sections. I was also thrilled to find out that our final projects could be an extension of our Makey Makey designs, something Noah and I most definitely want to redesign and enhance. Finally, I was humbled by the response and curiosity we got from class. I hope we can have some verbal critiques and a discussion of everyone’s final projects in lieu of actual lab work tonight.