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[ampalayallen]

MY ONLINE CLASS EXPERIENCE

Right from the very start, I was far from excited to attend online classes. I was even hesitant whether to have myself enrolled or not, but here I am, just few days away from finishing this final semester of my second year in college. (Finally, I can escape from all those stress and sleepless nights!)

A factor that drove me to pursue this OL class is the thought of being delayed or left behind. Majority in my batch decided to continue studying regardless of the classes being held virtually, so I thought to myself, carefully, “Papasok ba ako? Kung di kasi ako papasok, maiiwan ako.” (Should I attend school, if not, I might be left behind though). I gave it a lot of thinking, contemplating the consequences I would face in the decision I would take. After few weeks of debating with myself, asking opinion from my friends and family, I confidently took the challenge of pursuing my studies online.

First days that turn into weeks of the OL classes was just meh (A normie kind of thing). Nothing much happened. We were just there, staring on the screens of our phones and laptops, waiting for announcements and all. I was starting to think, should I drop? Should I even continue this? But I thought of the money I spent for tuition, it would be such a waste! (I do not even came from crazy rich Asian household, we just mediocre, HAHAHAH!) There were no formal classes happening yet, just casual greet and meet with the professors in charge with the subjects. By the way, I had four major subjects and two minors. One of the subjects that gave me a hard time is the Labor laws or is known in the code CAS 100. It was intense, nerve-wrecking, and head pounding, LITERALLY! I seriously experience headaches right after classes, especially when we do case digests. Minimum cases we digest were ten! Imagine! That is why I don’t plan on taking up law! I’m too lazy to read sht tons of paper with braincell-shattering words. My vocabulary’s ain’t that wide dude!

Then unto the next chapter, It took a month for us to have formal classes which I find to be wasteful. Like seriously dude, one month?!  I do get that the institution was adjusting to this online class like us but, come on! They could’ve done better if they had a prepared and well calculated plan. I could say that this ol class was raw and in need of a lot of improvement not only for the management but also for the faculty.

This online class was full of challenges, more challenging than the face-to-face interaction considering this is the first time that it was held by my university. The experience was a roller coaster one. One day your chilling, laying like a burn out potato on your bed and the next thing you know, you’re already cramming, scratching your head, yawning so loud and filled with big load of pressure due to deadlines. I can’t dude, I just can’t.

Another thing that gave me headache with this online class is the discussion-less learning (This is true, I ain’t bluffing, not even one bit!). Professors just straight away give and upload modules and TADA! It felt like “hey here’s the topic for today, read it and answer the attached activity.” Yow, wtf? I do get that I’m a college stud, I can read and comprehend, but these are all fresh topics with me having a little-to-none amount of knowledge. But, because of this, I learned to feed myself with necessary information. This online class taught me to have a self-teaching for me to be able to absorb all the essential things to understand the module. It also taught me the importance of being resourceful. I can’t depend only to the things given, I had to go and surf myself out on the Internet. Additional information is always a must! (A life hack I seriously want to share and highlight, though it ain’t fresh and unique, HAHAHAHHA!)

Now that this semester is about to reach its end, I think my life is also nearing its end! Just kidding, lololol! Rating my overall experience, maybe out of 5, I’d only give it 2 stars. Like I said, since this is a first time, there are a lot of flaws visible which was experienced not only by yours truly but also majority of the student population, including the messed up class schedule, heavy demands of requirements, shockingly discussion-less learning, and so on and so forth. I believe that these issues will be addressed for a better online class experience for the university’s students for the upcoming semester.

Unfortunately for me, I decided to not have myself enrolled for the next semester and this is final. These online class experience drained all there is inside my head, my body, and my soul. CHAR! Yeah, seriously though, I’m taking a break from all of these. I was able to explain this already to my parents and they just gave me the freedom to do what I want (which I find surprising, I did not expect them to agree with my decision all of a sudden.) So for the meantime, right after I finish this sem (FEW MORE DAYS, FEW MORE HOURS AND I’M GOOD TO GO! WOOO!), my family decided to take a break from city life, especially now that the cases of COVID-19 is continuously rising up. All of us will be going home to our provincial house which is by the way located in Pugo, La Union (Oh how I miss to breath some fresh air!). We’ll be there doing some bungkal of kamote (digging of sweet potatoes) HAHAHHAHA! We’ll be there to have some soul searching (LOL), kidding! We’ll be there to relax our tired nerves and stay away from the threat brought upon by the COVID-19 virus. I’m actually excited and super duperly, looking forward dude!

[ampalayallen]

CHECK LEGITIMACY

Photos above are samples of junk news, or popularly known as FAKE NEWS. It has been circulating throughout ages, especially now where everything or majority of our daily routine is connected digitally.

A quick rundown: What is fake news?

Fake news are stories that are false: the story itself is fabricated, with no verifiable facts, sources or quotes. Sometimes these stories may be propaganda that is intentionally designed to mislead the reader, or may be designed as “clickbait” written for economic incentives (the writer profits on the number of people who click on the story) Reference: https://guides.lib.umich.edu/fakenews

Here's a fact that we should be all aware of, FAKE NEWS WEBSITES CAN SPREAD FAKE NEWS FASTER THAN REAL NEWS. The moral here? Check the legitimacy of a news story when you see it on your SNS accounts. Social media have enabled misinformation to evolve and reach the masses faster, thus not every information you see whether its viral or not, has a high chance of not being accurate and legit.

To avoid being caught up with fake news, here are some 3 simple tips to spot Real from Fake News.

1. Be doubtful! (It's not a wrong thing)

Develop a critical sense of thinking. Always put in mind that not all sources you see from the Internet is accurate. It's fine to question them, it's fine to doubt them. #MethodicDoubt (Hello there, Rene Descartes)

2. Always check source.

It's easy to look up whether a website is a hoax or not. There are a lot of reliable articles showing tips for you to know if a website is legit and safe. Keep digging!

3. Use common sense.

From the very beginning, you can already spot when a news is a hoax, looking to the title. If you feel like the headline of the news doesn't sound right already, its probably a fake one. For example, MICHAEL JACKSON SPOTTED MOONWALKING ALONGSIDE DONALD TRUMP. It's clearly a click-bait title and a fake one, we all know that MJ is now resting peacefully.

(by the way, I'm a huge fan of his, #thewayyoumakemefeeeeeel! I used to dance with my brother when his song plays on radio, too bad though I’m terrible at dancing. HAHAHAHA!)

To end this blog post, I just want to share my thoughts about the widespread of fake news online. I’m not shocked for it’s not new. Fake news was always been there, they were already present since the traditional media started. It saddens me though, that there are still people who create all of this ‘fakeness’ for the sake of what, money? Fame? It’s heart aching to see that some people choose to deceive some for their own good, it’s sickening!

That’s why, we must end this now. Let’s train ourselves not to be deceived. Let’s stop being victims of illegitimate news. Think rationally, Check sources, use common sense. Together  we can overcome this! Let us all be keen and learn to always #CHECK LEGITIMACY! Good day to us all!

(Photos attached are not mine, credits to the rightful owner)

[ampalayallen]

MY FIRST VLOG EXPERIENCE

So, I just recently created a video in my YouTube channel and here's what I realized during the pre, prod, and post production:

VLOGGING IS NOT EASY!

For one to come up with a good video, one must be creative and being a hooman with less creative mind, it was hard for me to come up with a worth watching content.

I had to ask my friends for their suggestions, had to do some research, had to watch vlogs of YouTubers for referral, it was indeed, kind of, challenging.

During the shoot of video, everything went smoothly, I had no trouble with that but, what really gave me a hard time was the post production. I ain't that pro in editing, so I had to watch tutorial for every single thing. From applying transitions and all! (Btw, I'm using Premiere for this).

Despite the hassle, the outcome felt great. The viewers enjoyed it and even asked for Part Two! HAHAHAHAHA

Watch my video through clicking the link above. You can also subscribe to my YT channel.