Personal Transformation: How the Comparative and International Media Course Affected My FSU Florence Experience by Student Iza Leslie
Looking into the depths of sources to find credible information is one of the most important things I have learned through this course. Being able to look at a piece of information and question whether the information is correct before sharing it with others, has opened my eyes into being able to identify false information, sometimes known as “fake news”. Before this class if I had seen news on Twitter that caught my eye, I would usually share it immediately with friends and family. If you see it on the news, it has to be correct, right? Now I have learned to look deeper into articles that I see on the news. Throughout the course we learned about news channels publishing items to sway the audience in different directions. Journalists and content creators have certain guidelines they need to follow in order to be published and those guidelines are sometimes applied loosely, in the aim of being the first outlet to publish braking news. It is fascinating to be able to take a deeper look into an article and figure out if the news is credible or not.
This class not only helped me think deeper about world events, but helped me feel more confident in public speaking. We had a small class and it made me feel very comfortable to share my views on a variety of subjects and being able to hear feedback from my peers. The class was actually my favorite because I was so interested in learning about the topics. This has been one of the first times that I have felt excited to go to a class. The class discussions were highly engaging and I loved being able to pick sides and debate with my peers about topics that actually interested me. In the class talked about events in Florence and events all around the world, which was really interesting. I loved being able to learn about things happening in the city I was studying in and other places at the same time, to switch things up. The class was filled with amazing students and a great teacher and it really connected me to my classmates and helped enhance my study abroad experience as a whole. The skills I learned during the course thus far have transformed my daily life more than I could have ever imagined and I’m thankful I chose to take Professor Masrani’s course.
43
