Hello Everyone, 

i.      

     My name is Alejandro Posada, I am originally from Colombia and have been living in Canada for the past two years.Throughout my school years I have had the great opportunity of living in 5 different countries, which really opened my mind to the beauty as well as the injustices that dwell in our planet. I am a third year student in the International Development Studies co-op program with a major in Economics. I am really thankful for the opportunity to be enrolled in this program mainly because I personally feel that it has given me a chance to acquire knowledge and perspectives that have not only shaped my way of thinking, but also my lifestyle. International development has given me much more than just a university degree, however like many other students I feel the need to develop some transferable skills. This is why I am really excited about this course.

ii.

   I choose to take this course for a number of reasons. The first reason was because of the positive feedback that I had heard from IDS students that had taken the course before. The second reason was because one of the placement opportunities that is open for international students is greatly related to the material taught in this course. I want to further explore this area of international development before I apply for placement. The last reason was the possibility to have a course that will allow me to understand the theory and history in media and development as well as learn some transferable skills that will be extremely useful in the future. The alternative structure in which this class is taught provides a great learning opportunity for the students. As we experience different teaching methods we learn to perceive how different structures have different potentials for every individual.

     From the two first weeks of class I have also developed an interest in the way that the use of media for development relates to alternative development practices. From my brief knowledge in the subject I see technology and media as something that is constantly developing in the west and that gets disseminated around the world through the process of globalization. Learning from previous courses about post-development theorists and alternative development theories, I am extremely interested to understand the way in which media and technology interact with such theories. For example the roll of media and indigenous communities and the positive and negative impacts of such interactions.

iii.

     As an active learner in the classroom as well as in the wiki I am hoping to gain different communication skills. I am looking forward to explore different uses of media in the development field. In particularly I am interested in learning about the use of media (internet resources) in education. I feel that learning from experiencing in the classroom is going to be really helpful.Apart from developing and learning uses of media in education and development I am also interested in learning more about technology and the different debates going on regarding media and development. Last weeks lecture about the history of the internet was challangeing but extremely interesting new material. The way that stain used different online and offline resources to show us the way internet work was really dynamic and interesting.   

     Although, unfortunately my knowledge regarding technology is very minimal i think that i can contribute an interesting perspective in the classroom. Having lived in different countries both developed and underdeveloped has allowed me to personally experience the differences in media and technology between the both. For example, from last week's reading about the prices of the internet i could see the differences between accessibility to the internet in Colombia and Canada.