A great deal of your work for this class will happen in your log book. The log book is a Google document that you share with me in which you'll write weekly reflections on our workshops, readings, and on potential final projects that you are considering.
Log book entries are a minimum of 300 words, and you are free to write more than that. They are due every Friday at noon.
Your log book serves as a space to write about our course activities and also as a key place to see your learning development. When you put together your midterm and final Learning Record, you'll have the opportunity to re-read your log book entries and use them as evidence in your argument about your learning. In addition, this is a place to think about which technologies you might like to use in your final project.
The more effort you put in to log book entries, the more success you'll have in both your Learning Record and in your final project.
Your final project in this class will be an opportunity to take what you've learned during our various workshops and expand it into a larger project. Each workshop exposes you to a tool or technology, and our exercises with those tools are opportunities to learn how to create with that tool and also how to begin imagining a longer and larger project. Your log book will be a place to record your potential ideas for final projects, and your proposal is the document in which you commit to a final project and describe that project in detail.
Project proposals are due on November 16 by 5:00pm, uploaded to your Google Drive folder. During that class period, each person will give an informal presentation, briefly describing what they plan to do for the final project. Presentations will be very short, and they are an opportunity for students to give one another feedback and ideas about the project.
The format of your project proposal is as follows:
Title
Your project should have a title. While this can change as you continue to work on the project, you should at least have a working title. Remember that a title is an opportunity to shape your own thinking about the project. A creative title can actually help transform a project, so think of the title as more than just a description of the project.
Description of Content (500-word minimum)
In this section, you'll describe what your hoping to accomplish content-wise with your project. You should answer questions such as: What idea are you trying to express, or what argument are you trying to make? What is the goal of your project? What do you want the audience to gain from reading/interacting with/listening/watching your project? What is the significance of the idea you're trying to express or the argument you are trying to make? You have wide latitude for the content of your final project, but you have to ensure that your topic is something you have researched and that it is something that fits the medium you've chosen. In both this section and the previous one ("Description of Medium") you should be keeping in mind how your medium will shape your message. This section should be 500 words minimum, but you can write more.
Description of Medium (300-word minimum)
In this section, you'll describe which tool/medium you are choosing to use for the project and why. You should answer questions such as: How do you plan to convey the content you've chosen? Why is this medium the best fit for what you want to do? What did you learn about the tool during our workshop that you will be applying in the final project? What does this tool do well? What is it built to do, and how does that help you with your project? What are the tool's limitations, and how will that affect the way you use it? This section should be 300-words minimum, but you can write more.
Work Plan
This section is where you will lay out your plan for completing your project. Your proposal is due November 16, and your project is due December 5 prior to the start of class (on December 5 and 7, students will deliver presentations about their projects). In between the submission of your proposal and the submission of your project, you will have four in-class workshops during which you can work on your project and your final presentation, but you'll also need to complete work outside of class in order to complete everything.
This section needs to describe how you plan to get from November 16 to December 5. It should answer questions such as: What deadlines are you setting for yourself? What are the major and minor tasks you need to complete? When do you hope to have a rough draft or prototype of your project completed? How do you plan to seek feedback on your project from Prof. Brown and/or your classmates?
You can present this work plan however you'd like (as a list of dates and tasks, as a calendar, or any other format that best works for you), but it needs to make clear how you've broken the project into smaller steps, set deadlines for yourself, and made a plan for how you'll complete the project.
Your final project in this class will be an expansion or revision of something you began during our workshop sessions. This is the biggest and most significant task you will complete in the class, so you should be clear that this is a significant piece of work that demonstrates your learning development in the class. In addition to completing a final project, you will also complete an 5-minute presentation during which you will present and explain the project to me and your classmates.
Your proposal (due November 16) will detail what you plan to make, what medium you'll use, and how you plan to complete the project during the closing weeks of the semester. I will provide feedback on that proposal as well as on the final project.
Your project will consist of three parts: your project, a statement of goals and choices, and an 8-minute presentation.
Your project should be uploaded to your "Work Samples" folder and/or handed in as a physical object, whichever form makes the most sense given your medium.
Title
Be creative with your title!
Content
What idea are you trying to express, or what argument are you trying to make? What is the goal of your project? What do you want the audience to gain from reading/interacting with/listening/watching your project? How have you conveyed the content you've chosen? What is the significance of the idea you're trying to express or the argument you are trying to make?
Medium
Why is this tool the best fit for what you want to do? What did you learn about the tool during our workshop that you will be applying in the final project? What does this tool do well? What is it built to do, and how does that help you with your project? What are the tool's limitations, and how will that affect the way you use it?
Writing and Design Process
Describe your writing and/or design process for the project. What drafts and revisions did you move through as you created it? Did you get feedback? Who provided it and how? What significant changes did the project undergo during this process?
Reflections
This section allows you to reflect on the process and product. What about the project are you most proud of? What might you have done differently if you repeated this project? Any other reflections are about your final project are welcome in this section.
There is no minimum or maximum number of words for this SOGC document, but it should be as detailed as possible.
Everyone will deliver an 8-minute presentation about their project. That presentation should provide a condensed version of the Statement of Goals and choices document, explaining what your project is, what it aims to achieve, and why you've made the choices you have. In class, we will discuss approaches to slide design, and you should be attentive to those discussions. Your slides should not be lists of bullet points but should instead be designed carefully, using visuals to complement your presentation.
When providing feedback on final projects and presentations, here are the questions I will be asking: