I have begun grading the remix projects. I will update the blog posts or attendance totals by midafternoon today. I will send out an announcement through Scholar once I have all the remixes graded. Once the course grades are finalized next week, I’ll send out another Announcement.

Presentations

10:10 class presentations will be from these folks:

• 10:15: Molly R
• 10:22: Nadia G
• 10:29: Kim K (Remix)
• 10:36: Amy V

11:15 class presentations will be from these folks:

• 11:20: Catherine E
• 11:27: Tiffany S
• 11:34: Katharina E
• 11:41: Megan B

Complete a Short Survey

Please complete this 4-question survey to help me make decisions about how to teach the class in the future. You will need to login with your vt.ed email address and password. Your answers will not effect your grade in the course.

Remaining To-Do’s

1. Please complete the SPOT survey if you haven’t yet.

2. Submit your remix by 11:55 PM tonight (Wednesday, May 6, 2015), following the instructions posted last week.

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

4. If any of these deadlines is a burden because of other exams or the like, talk to me by the end of class today.

Project 3 is graded, so the gradebook reflects Projects 1, 2, and 3, plus your attendance and blog posts as of 4/22. 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:

• 10:15: Brigid P
• 10:22: Grace B
• 10:29: Hannah E
• 10:36: Emily C (Instagram)
• 10:43: Catherine C (infographic)
• 10:50: Caroline K

11:15 class presentations will be from these folks:

• 11:20: Emily W
• 11:27: Brian L
• 11:34: Samuel J
• 11:41: Rachel P
• 11:48: Jackson S (video)
• 11:55: Allie G

Remaining To-Do’s

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

2. Please complete the SPOT survey if you haven’t yet.

3. Submit your remix by 11:55 PM on Wednesday, May 6, 2015, following the instructions posted April 27.

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

I’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:

• 10:15: Erica P
• 10:22: Sarah B (project)
• 10:29: Meron K
• 10:36: Daniel N
• 10:43: Miranda M
• 10:50: Anna H (Slideshare backup)

11:15 class presentations will be from these folks:

• 11:20: open
• 11:27: Maya C
• 11:34: Matt E
• 11:41: Jenna S
• 11:48: Trent B
• 11:55: Becca H

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.

Today 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:

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

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.

Today’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:

• Mockflow
• Invision (30-day free trial) 
• Frame Box
• Pencil Project
• Wireframe.cc
• Moqups
• iPlotz
• Froont
• Codepen
• Gliffy (a flowcharting tool)
• mindmapping tools (like bubbl.us or Coggle).

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:

• StoryboardThat (limited to 6 boards)
• Storyboard Generator
• Amazon Storyteller (requires an Amazon login)
• Toon Boom Storyboard (30 day trial)
• WeVideo (video creation with built-in storyboarding)
• MakeBeliefsComix
• Pixton
• Bitstrips

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.

I 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:

• After Effects tutorials
• Flash tutorials
• InDesign tutorials
• iMovie tutorials
• Instagram tutorials
• Photoshop tutorials
• Up and Running with Pinterest
• Up and Running with Prezi

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:

• Facebook
  Fakebook, Fake Facebook Generators, The Wall Machine
• Twitter
  Fake Twitter Generators, LemmeTweetThatForYou, Twister
• Text Messages
  iPhone Fake Phone Texts, iOS7 Text Generator, SMS Generator, IFakeText, iPad Message Generator, iFakeSiri
• SnapChat
  Snapr, Fake Snap
• Others
  Sign Generators, Ticket-O-Matic, Newspaper Clipping Generator, Movie Clapper Board Generator. For more, check ClassTools.net and BigHugeLabs.

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

• Websites
  Weebly, Wix, Google Sites
• Flipbooks (digital books)
  Flipsnack, FlipHTML5, Smilebox
• Infographics
  Infogr.am, Piktochart, Easel.ly
• Photo Editing
  Google Photo Editor, PicMonkey, Canva

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.

Today 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.

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. To 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):

• How does copyright work with images?
• How do I choose images for my projects?
• How can I tell if an image is protected by copyright?
• Where can I find graphics that I can use in my projects?
• How do I use images in my project?
• Can I use this image if I link to the original?

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:

• See the list of questions on p. 56 of Writer/Designer.
• If you want even more tips, watch relevant portions of the Lynda.com tutorial on Pitching Projects and Products to Executives (free with your VT.edu login).

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.

Class will work online. I have an ear infection, and the doctor said to stay home. For today’s class, I will provide a link to the remix assignment and to several examples.

Overview of Project 4

To begin, please read all of the Project 4 assignment page. I will add dates and firm up some of the instructions next week. I will also talk about how the project is graded next week.

Sample Projects

Review these example Remix Projects, which students completed in previous classes:

1. The Three Little Scholars Broadcast
2. Chamber of PostSecrets
3. Rapunzel
4. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
5. ‘Same Love’ by Macklemore as told through The Gay Rights Movement – final edit
6. What Happened to Little Red Riding Hood?
7. The Once Upon a Times
8. Beauty and the Beast
9. Boston Tea Party
10. Don Quixote and the Giants
11. The Hunger Games, Time Magazine Edition
12. Around the World in 80 Days

Today’s Blog Post

For your blog post, I want you to respond to the assignment and the examples that you reviewed. Please answer these questions. You can use each question as a heading in your post:

1. What makes a good remix
   Based on the assignment and the examples, list some characteristics that make for strong projects. Focus on how the story is rethought, or remixed.

2. What makes a good digital story
   Look at the 12 examples and talk about which one you felt did the best job of digitizing an existing story. Support your opinion with some details from the examples and/or some comparisons to other examples. Focus on the technology behind the story.

3. Stories I am considering
   Brainstorm a list of 3 to 5 stories you might focus on, and say a little bit about why you are considering them. If you feel that you already know exactly what you want to focus on, you can talk about your choice. (My goal here is to help you start focusing on your project’s topic).

Schedule

• For Monday, 4/6:
  • We will draw some conclusions about the example projects, based on your observations. We will go over dates and talk about grading as well.
• For Wednesday, 4/8:
  • We will briefly review some tools you can use for your projects, and I will ask you to summarize your research to date.