Posted by The first class of my grad school experience at Arizona State is just about over. I’ve got one big final project to do before I’m all done with MCO 561: Defining the Digital Audience, the first core class of the Digital Audience Strategy program at ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Will I get an A? If I don’t completely foul up the final project, I should.
Have I enjoyed the class? More than you’d ever know.
One of the to-dos in this class was to complete an Inbound Marketing certification from Hubspot. I studied for weeks, and at the point I felt like I had studied all I could, I impulsively took the test and passed. I didn’t score as high as I wanted. I got 48 out of 60. The test required you get at least 45. Most all the questions I missed were the ones asking me to ‘select all that apply.’
Checkbox questions are the worst. Give me one question, one answer.
However, what a feeling of accomplishment!
As somebody who has been in the digital content, journalism and digital marketing and communications space for a long while, I didn’t know what I didn’t know, you know? This first class was all about audience development and the building blocks of it. Besides being the foundation for the entire program, I picked up learning that I can apply to my job right now, adding more value.
In terms of how much time it’s taken, I’d say the program has been as advertised. I’ve spent 15-20 hours per week on this — one to two hours per weeknight and 8-12 on the weekend. The workload has been a challenge but not overwhelming. The quality of the coursework and the instruction has been a home run.
Here’s to finishing this final project with momentum and then onto Class No. 2 starting Oct. 12.
ryanwelton.com 