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by on April 29, 2015

Remix Presentations, Day One

This is the post for the Wednesday, April 29, 2015 class meeting.

cat-presentationI’m still grading Project 3. Remember that I will not update the blog posts or attendance totals until after class on May 6.

Presentations

10:10 class presentations will be from these folks:

11:15 class presentations will be from these folks:

Remaining To-Do’s

  1. If you have a zero in Scholar, submit your work for Projects 1, 2, or 3 by 11:55 PM on Wednesday, 4/29. Otherwise the zero will stand.

  2. If you are presenting Friday, email me the link to your presentation by midnight on Thursday (no grace period) so that I can set up the post for class

  3. Complete the SPOT survey if you haven’t yet.

  4. Submit your remix by 11:55 PM on Wednesday, May 6, 2015, following the instructions posted Monday.

  5. Take the final exam. If your work is not submitted by 11:55 PM on Monday, May 11, you will receive a zero.

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by on April 26, 2015

Finalizing All The Things

This is the post for the Monday, April 27, 2015 class meeting.

evil-plotting-raccoon-meme-generator-course-evaluation-day-finally-i-have-my-revenge-58b26eToday is our last day of class before the presentations, so there are several things to cover:

  • Evaluating the course
  • Preparing for your presentation
  • Turning in your remix
  • Finishing your blog posts
  • Completing your final exam

Evaluating the Course

Please take a few minutes to fill out the Student Perceptions of Teaching (SPOT) survey for this course. The feedback helps the department make important decisions about teaching methods, course content, and faculty promotion. Written comments help me decide what to keep or change the next time I teach the course. In many ways, I find the written comments the most helpful part of the evaluation. I do not see the feedback until after grades are submitted, and your comments are anonymous.

Preparing for Your Presentation

We talked about the information that should go into your oral presentation earlier this month. Email me the link to your presentation by midnight on the day before your presentation (no grace period) so that I can set up the post for class.

Turning in Your Remix

You need to provide three texts when you submit your Remix for a grade: (1) a link to your Remix project itself, (2) a link to any presentation materials you want me to review (e.g., your slides), (3) your reflection memo, which you will post in Scholar.

Your reflection memo is slightly different this time since your grade on this project is based on your participation. Review the information on Project Expectations, and write a memo that does the following:

  • Provides the link to your Remix project (and optionally, a link to the presentation).

  • Gives me a summary of the project’s rhetorical situation, using the questions on pp. 111–112 of Writer/Designer. Provide a SHORT explanation of your audience, purpose, and design choices. Aim for just a sentence or two to remind me of the context you are working in.

  • Explains how you have participated and shown effort as you worked on this project. Include concrete details that help demonstrate your point.

  • Shows me how you have taken risks, stretched yourself, and otherwise applied your best effort to learn and create as you worked on this project.

  • And if you are aiming for an exemplary grade, tells me whatever I need to know about how you have gone beyond satisfactory work and participation. Note that if you were not in class working diligently every class day, an exemplary grade is out of reach for you.

You must submit your remix by 11:55 PM on Wednesday, May 6, 2015. There is no grace period since I need to grade projects immediately. You may, of course, turn in your work earlier if you want.

Finishing Your Blog Posts

Be sure to write and publish a blog post for today with the usual headings: (1) What I Did, and (2) Why I Did It. Today, however, is the last day that you must post an entry. You should have 28 posts after today.

If you are still working on your project after today, you may continue to track what you did and why you did it in blog posts. This information will help you write the reflection that you submit with your project.

Taking the Final Exam

The final exam assignment is available under the Assignments tab here on the course website, and the exam is open in Scholar.

Your final is due, according to the university timetable, at the following time:

  1. CRN #13324 (10:10 MWF course): Due by 3:05 PM on Friday, May 8.
  2. CRN #20269 (11:15 MWF course): Due by 9:45 AM on Friday, May 8.

The Grace Period for both classes ends at 11:55 PM on Monday, May 11. Please be sure that your work is submitted by the end of the grace period so that I can calculate final grades.

If your work is not submitted by 11:55 PM on 5/11 and you have not made other arrangements, you will receive a zero.

Writing Schedule and Homework

  • Monday, 4/27:
    • Write a blog post with the usual headings: (1) What I Did, and (2) Why I Did It.
    • Check your grades in the gradebook. If you have a zero for any of the Projects, please fix it immediately by submitting your work. No late submissions for Projects 1, 2, or 3 will be accepted after 11:55 PM on Wednesday, April 29. After that date, the zero will stand.

  • Wednesday, 4/29 to Wednesday, 5/6: In-class presentations. Link to your presentation due by 11:55 PM the day before you present.

  • Wednesday, 5/6: Reflection Memo and Project 4 links due by 11:55.

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by on April 24, 2015

Project 4 Work Day

This is the post for the Friday, April 24, 2015 class meetings.

gradedhomeworkToday is an in-class work day, but I want to share some information about the course grades and the Scholar gradebook as well. After I review the gradebook information, you can work on your projects in class.

Gradebook Updates

I have converted the Exemplary / Satisfactory / Unsatisfactory grades to numbers so that you can see course averages in the Scholar gradebook. As I sent out in the Scholar announcement on Wednesday, I used these numbers:

Number Letter Description
95 A Exemplary/beyond satisfactory work/very strong project
92 A- Very satisfactory
85 B Satisfactory
79 C+ Borderline/Barely Satisfactory
70 C- Unsatisfactory (pieces missing, but the work was submitted)
0 F Project not submitted

In addition to grades (or places) for each of the four projects and the final, you will also see these grades:

Item Worth Description
Participation 38 Total number of sessions attended. This is a flat number that does not take into account documentation you may have shown me from Health Services or the Dean of Students. The number of classes to date is 31. Everyone will earn an additional +1.
Class Work 28 Total number of blog posts. This is a flat number of posts to date. The ultimate grade will take into account persistent progress during the course (e.g., that you posted when you were supposed to and didn’t post them all at the end of the term). The number of posts to date is 26. You will write one more today and one on Monday to reach 28.

I will not update the numbers for attendance or blog posts again in the grade book until the last day of class.

In your final exam, you will highlight your best work and argue your case for these two grades. I will share the finished assignment on Monday, 4/27, but you can look at the rough draft now.

Note that to protect your privacy, I cannot discuss your individual grades in class.

Writing Schedule and Homework

  • Friday, 4/24:
    • Write a blog post with the usual headings: (1) What I Did, and (2) Why I Did It.
    • Check your grades in the gradebook. If you have a zero for any of the Projects, please fix it immediately by submitting your work. No late submissions for Projects 1, 2, or 3 will be accepted after 11:55 PM on Wednesday, April 29. After that date, the zero will stand.
       

  • Monday, 4/27: Discussion of the reflection memo for Project 4 and the final exam. Last day of independent, in-class work.

  • Wednesday, 4/29 to Wednesday, 5/6: In-class presentations. Link to your presentation due by 11:55 PM the day before you present.

  • Wednesday, 5/6: Reflection Memo and Project 4 links due by 11:55.

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by on April 21, 2015

Project 4 Feedback Day

This is the post for the Wednesday, April 22, 2015 class meetings.

awesomeprojectToday is peer feedback day. The goal is to provide constructive feedback that will help one another develop the projects further. We will follow this plan for the feedback:

  • We will rearrange seating in the classroom so at least one person giving feedback is someone who hasn’t been sitting near you as you worked on the project.
  • Feedback groups will take turns following this process:
    • The project author will introduce the project, giving a summary of the project’s rhetorical situation, using the questions on pp. 111–112 of Writer/Designer. You need to be ready to explain about your audience, purpose, and design choices. Aim to take no more than 3 minutes for this part.
    • The people giving feedback will read and explore the project, using the guidelines in the section of the book on “Providing Feedback as a Stakeholder” (pp. 112–115 of Writer/Designer) to structure their comments. Take about 6 to 7 minutes on the the feedback.
    • After about 10 minutes, you will switch and another project author will introduce her work.
  • Once everyone has received feedback, you will each write a revision plan for the project as your blog post for the day. See pp. 116-118 of Writer/Designer for details on writing a revision plan. If your project is online in a place where I can see the rough cut, please be sure to include the link in your revision plan.

Writing Schedule and Homework

  • Friday, 4/24: In-class work day.

  • Monday, 4/27: Discussion of the reflection memo for Project 4 and the final exam. Last day of independent, in-class work.

  • Wednesday, 4/29 to Wednesday, 5/6: In-class presentations. Link to your presentation due by 11:55 PM the day before you present.

  • Wednesday, 5/6: Reflection Memo and Project 4 links due by 11:55.

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by on April 20, 2015

Rough Cuts and Revision Plans

This is the post for the Monday, April 20, 2015 class meeting.

roughwolfChapter 7 of Writer/Designer suggests that the different phases of work on your project are separate and definite, but in truth they rarely are. You may have found yourself tweaking your storyboard or mock-up while you were placing assets in your rough cut and at the same time searching for more assets. Creativity can be messy. Don’t be surprised if your process has been a little different from the general version in the textbook.

Presentation Sign-Up

Sign-up for a presentation slot for sharing your tool with the class, using the Sign-Up Tool in Scholar. The slots open at 10:15 AM for the 10:10 class; they open at 11:20 AM for the 11:15 class. Go ahead and log into Scholar and be ready to click sign-up when the form opens.

Rough Cuts, Rough Drafts, and Revision Plans

  • A rough cut is rougher, or less finished, than a rough draft.

  • The “Planning Your Rough Cut” section of Chapter 7 (pp. 107–109) includes lists of the basic decisions you should make by the time you have a rough cut. Be sure that you have most of these decisions in place today.

  • You will use the information on explaining your rhetorical situation (pp. 111–112), providing feedback (pp. 112–115), and revision plans (pp. 116–118) on Wednesday when we have peer review.

Writing Schedule and Homework

  • Today, 4/20: Write a blog post with with the usual headings: (1) What I Did, and (2) Why I Did It. Include whatever work you have done since your last post.

  • Wednesday, 4/22: Bring your book to class. Have a rough cut or rough draft of your project that you can share with two other people in class for feedback. Be prepared to provide a summary of the project’s rhetorical situation, using the questions on pp. 111–112. When you provide feedback on someone else’s project, use the guidelines in the section of the book on “Providing Feedback as a Stakeholder” (pp. 112–115). Your blog post for the 4/22 class should be a first draft of your revision plan for the project.

  • Friday, 4/24: In-class work day.

  • Monday, 4/27: Discussion of the reflection memo for Project 4. Last day of independent, in-class work.

  • Wednesday, 4/29 to Wednesday, 5/6: In-class presentations. Link to your presentation due by 11:55 PM the day before you present.

  • Wednesday, 5/6: Reflection Memo and Project 4 links due by 11:55.

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by on April 16, 2015

Documenting & Presenting Your Remix

This is the post for the Friday, April 17, 2015 online class meeting.

cattalknowRemember that today’s class is working online, as I will be in Savannah at a conference. I will not be able to answer questions during the day, but I will check email in the evening and reply to any urgent questions.

Documenting Your Assets and Sources

Somewhere in your project, you will need to cite your sources. The technique that you use will depend upon the kind of project you are working on. Return to the section of Writer/Designer on “Designing Your Citations” (pp. 70–76) for tips on how to choose an appropriate way to indicate where your assets came from.

Today, you need to decide the best method for your project and explain why you have chosen it. Remember that the type of documentation can vary greatly. If you are doing a video, you might include opening and closing credits, just like in a movie or documentary. Think about whatever is appropriate for the format of your project, and then choose the best option.

Presenting Your Project

Presentation sign-up is Monday, April 20. Be sure you are in class and ready to sign-up for a time slot. To get ready, you can review the information in the textbook about presentations.

Following the resources in Writer/Designer, Chapter 8, you will document and present your remixed story. You will have approximately 5 to 6 minutes for your class presentation.

In your presentation, you will focus on sharing details about how you worked and the decisions that you made. Use the information on pp. 132–135 of Writer/Designer to determine what information to include. As the book explains, your job will be to show-off your hard work, but also you will help your audience understand your major design and rhetorical choices. Look particularly at the guiding questions on pp. 132–133 for an idea of the kind of details I will be listening for.

You can show portions of your project itself, but please be realistic. You may not have time to show your entire project. For example, if you made a 4-minute video, there won’t be time to show the entire video AND to talk about how you worked and the decisions you made.

You will create some kind of digital presentation (using Google slides, Prezi, Powerpoint, etc.). If you go with slides, the maximum length is 15 slides to ensure your presentation fits in the 5 to 6-minute time slot.

Turning In Your Project

Aim to have your project finished by April 27. You might still tweak things or make minor proofreading changes, but you should ideally be done with all the hard work. After that class session, our class time will be devoted to oral presentations.

By 11:55 PM on May 6, you should have gone to the Assignments tab in Scholar, completed a reflection memo, and given me the link to your project and your presentation slides. There is no grace period on this project. We will talk a bit more about the reflection memo in class on April 27.

Writing Schedule and Homework

  • Monday, 4/20: Presentation sign-up and discussion of drafts for peer feedback.

  • Wednesday, 4/22: Bring your book to class. Have a rough cut or rough draft of your project that you can share with two other people in class for feedback. Be prepared to provide a summary of the project’s rhetorical situation, using the questions on pp. 111–112. When you provide feedback on someone else’s project, use the guidelines in the section of the book on “Providing Feedback as a Stakeholder” (pp. 112–115). Your blog post for the 4/22 class should be a first draft of your revision plan for the project.

  • Friday, 4/24: In-class work day.

  • Monday, 4/27: Discussion of the reflection memo for Project 4. Last day of independent, in-class work.

  • Wednesday, 4/29 to Wednesday, 5/6: In-class presentations. Link to your presentation due by 11:55 PM the day before you present.

  • Wednesday, 5/6: Reflection Memo and Project 4 links due by 11:55

Filed Under: Class Notes
by on April 15, 2015

Mock-Ups and Storyboards

This is the post for the Wednesday, April 15, 2015 class meeting.

coolstoryboardToday’s reading is about moving to the organization and planning stage for your projects. Your goal today is to organize the content portion of your project, using whatever works best for you.

Mock-up Tools

Mock-ups are usually used for websites, projects that are “static” (like posters or brochures), and texts that are primarily linguistic or visual in nature. Wireframes (if you’re familiar with the term) fall into this category. Be sure to use the Mock-up guidelines on p. 95 of Writer/Designer to guide your process.

Here are some possible tools:

Storyboarding Tools

Storyboarding is usually used for projects that move through a series of pieces, places, or points in time—like a video, comic book, or graphic novel. Be sure to use the storyboard guidelines on p. 97–98 of Writer/Designer to guide your process.

Storyboarding is, essentially, visual outlining your text, so you may be happy with creating a simple outline in Google Docs. For online tools I’ve made, I created storyboards with PowerPoint, because it was simple and I had a copy. If you do go this route, Google Slides would work too.

If you want to try something specifically created for storyboarding, take at look at these resources for creating and organizing storyboards:

Old-Fashioned Tools

Good, old paper and pencil can work for mock-ups and storyboards. There’s no reason that these planning tools have to be digitally produced. Sketch them out if you want to, but then scan them or take a photo so that you can add them to your blog on Monday.

Writing Schedule and Homework

  • Wednesday, 4/15: We’ll go over the highlights of Chapter 6, looking at mock-ups and storyboards. Write a blog post with with the usual headings: (1) What I Did, and (2) Why I Did It. Include whatever work you have done since your last post. Include a link to your storyboard or mockup (or embed it) in your blog. If you are already past the mock-up or storyboard stage, include whatever notes/outline you already had or add a screen shot of your project as is.

  • Friday, 4/17: Class will work online. You will read about how to include documentation in your projects and the requirements for your presentations. You will continue working on your project and write a blog post.

  • Monday, 4/20: Presentation sign-up and discussion of drafts for peer feedback.

  • Wednesday, 4/22: Peer Feedback Day. Have a rough version ready to share in class.

  • Friday, 4/24: In-class work day.

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by on April 12, 2015

Tools & Timelines

This is the post for the Monday, April 13, 2015 class meeting.

kkkkkkkkkkI will point out some key points from the textbook, but you will spend most of your time trying out tools and planning a timeline for your project today.

lynda.com Resources

Look for support for the tools you are using on the lynda.com site, which is free with your vt.edu login. Here are some examples, based on tools you mentioned in your pitches:

Other Tools You Can Use

There are lots of tools that you can use as you work on your remix. Use the skills you developed in the Interrogate the Interface project to decide which of these tools might be right for you. Remember that your work needs to published in a public space online, so one criteria is that the tool has to provide something you can link to or that you can upload to your WordPress site.

These tools can help if you need to fake social media updates, just don’t use them to prank people:

These web-based tools can help you publish or build your project:

We also talked about using Storify to publish a collection of social media updates as a webpage in class on Friday.

Key Points from Chapter 5

As you read and use information from Chapter 5 of Writer/Designer, pay particular attention to these details:

  1. Table of Technology Choices on page 78.

  2. The book explains that a multimodal project doesn’t have to be digital; however, what you make for Project 4 does have to be digital.

  3. As you firm up your decision on what tool(s) to use, keep in mind the same questions you used to evaluate an interface in Project 3. There’s also a case study that starts on page 79 and a technology review on page 81.

  4. Pay attention to the tips on organizing and naming your files on pages 88–89.

  5. Consider making a short style guide for your work to ensure consistency, following the suggestions on page 89.

Dates for Your Timeline

As part of your work in the next 24 hours, sketch out a timeline (page 91) for yourself so that you get all your work done. Please incorporate the dates on the class calendar into your timeline for the following:

  • Mock-up or Storyboard on 4/15.
  • Presentation Sign-up on 4/20.
  • Peer Feedback on 4/22.
  • In-class Presentations on 4/29 to 5/6.
  • Project Due by 11:55 PM on 5/6.

Writing Schedule and Homework

  • Today, 4/13: Create a timeline for your project, setting up a work schedule for yourself. Write a blog post with with the usual headings: (1) What I Did, and (2) Why I Did It. Include whatever work you have done since your last post. Also include your timeline in your blog post.

  • Wednesday, 4/15: We’ll go over the highlights of Chapter 6, looking at mock-ups and storyboards.

  • Friday, 4/17: Class will work online. You will read about how to include documentation in your projects and the requirements for your presentations. You will continue working on your project and write a blog post.

  • Monday, 4/20: Presentation sign-up and discussion of drafts for peer feedback.

  • Wednesday, 4/22: Peer Feedback Day. Have a rough version ready to share in class.

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by on April 10, 2015

Pitching Your Project

This is the post for the Friday, April 10, 2015 class meeting.

pitch-pleaseToday we will listen to pitches from everyone in class. We’ll use the entire time for presentations, so be ready to go!

Project 4 Pitch

Today, you will share your pitch with the rest of the class, following the list of questions on p. 56 of Writer/Designer. Remember this is just an informal chat with your classmates. No reason to be nervous. Just talk loudly enough for everyone in the classroom to hear you.

Your pitch should tell us the following information:

  • What story did you choose
  • How will you remix it
  • What form/genre are you using (e.g., video, infographic, animation)
  • What tools will you use
  • How are you incorporating risk/what you hope to learn

Remember this project is graded 100% on participation. To that end, as your classmates pitch their ideas, please listen politely. Your attention should be on your classmates and not on your computer screen. As appropriate, you can ask questions about another student’s project, make suggestions, and offer support.

Writing and Homework

  • Today: Be ready to give your pitch to the class, in short 2-minute max explanations, following the list of questions on p. 56 of Writer/Designer.

  • Monday, 4/13: We’ll go over tools, timelines, and the highlights of Chapter 5. Most of the class time will be spent working on the project.

  • Wednesday, 4/15: We’ll go over the highlights of Chapter 6, looking at mock-ups and storyboards. Most of the class time will be spent working on the project. I will ask you to declare the primary technologies you will use in a blog post.

  • Friday, 4/17: Class will work online. You will read about how to include documentation in your projects and the requirements for your presentations. You will continue working on your project and write a blog post.

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by on April 7, 2015

Assets and Pitches

This is the post for the Wednesday, April 8, 2015 class meeting.

Today, we will talk about gathering assets for your project and the expectations for your project pitches.

Planning for Project 4

You can check out the topics and requirements for the rest of the term by looking at the class calendar. Be sure to notice presentation sign-up day, peer feedback day, and presentation days. Also note the online work day scheduled for April 17.

Hunting and Gathering

For this project, you will need to find assets, like sound clips, video clips, photographs, cartoons, and so forth to include in your project.

  1. sources and assetsTo start, we’ll talk about sources and assets.
  2. Be sure to consult Chapter 4 of Writer/Designer, which has lots of information on gathering resources, permissions and fair use, and tracking what you find.
  3. Make a copy of the Project 4 Source List Template and track your sources there. See the assignment on pp. 62–63 (“A Multimodal Annotated Source List, Part 1”) for the information to include in your annotations.
  4. Alternately, you can use your own system, like the Winnie the Pooh Sources blog entries. You might also clip info to Evernote or use a bookmarking service like Diigo.

NOTE: Finding assets is not a requirement for this week, but you will find it pays to keep track of possible assets that you find. Nothing is more frustrating than knowing that you saw something you could use and then not being able to find it again.

Choosing and Using Assets

I have posted tips for finding assets for your projects on the FAQ site. Here’s the short version:

Most importantly, know that unless you take the photo, record the audio, or film an event yourself, you need to be sure that it’s okay to use it in your writing. Remember that assets you make yourself can be simple. Take advantage of your own creativity. Anything you make, you can use freely. Consider the approaches of The Christmas Snake or Don Quixote and the Giants.

You will probably also incorporate assets that you have acquired, rather than created. Work through these FAQs for details and resources, including places to find assets that you can use freely (as long as you credit your source):

Prepare Your Pitch

You will pitch your project to the class on Friday, April 10. As Writer/Designer defines it, “A pitch is a short presentation that explains how the what and the how of your idea might come together in the final project. . . . Pitches are sometimes called elevator speeches, drawing on the idea of a writer who is on an elevator with a publisher and has only four floors to convince the publisher to accept his or her book proposal” (55).

You will have about two minutes to tell the class the story you have chosen, how you are remixing it, what form/genre you are using, what tools you will use, and how are you incorporating risk. I will display those topics on the board/screen to help you make sure you cover everything. To prepare:

Writing and Homework

  • Today: Write a blog post that informally proposes the story you will focus on for your remix, or in the language of Chapter 3 of Writer/Designer, “the what” you will focus on. Include the following information:

    • Tell us the story you have chosen.
    • Explain what portion of the story, if relevant.
    • Identify what genre you want to use for the project.
    • Give us the bibliographic citations and/or links to at least three sources that you will use as you work on your project. You can use any bibliographic format you like, but be sure there’s enough information for me to confirm the sources.
       

  • Friday, 4/10: Be ready to give your pitch to the class, in short 2-minute max explanations, following the list of questions on p. 56 of Writer/Designer.

  • Monday, 4/13: We’ll go over tools, timelines, and the highlights of Chapter 5. Most of the class time will be spent working on the project.

  • Wednesday, 4/15: We’ll go over the highlights of Chapter 6, looking at mock-ups and storyboards. Most of the class time will be spent working on the project. I will ask you to declare the primary technologies you will use in a blog post.

  • Friday, 4/17: Class will work online. You will read about how to include documentation in your projects and the requirements for your presentations. You will continue working on your project and write a blog post.

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