As I rounded out the workshop days for project two, I
noticed some trends with my students' projects.
Many took the "multi-modal" aspect of this project
to mean that they didn't have to actually put a lot of thought into this
project. I found, with most groups, a sort of intermediary stage between their
story boards and their drafts submitted for peer review. As I went around to
each group, assessing their progress and making suggestions on how to expand on
what they thought were finished projects, I found myself having again and again
to push my students to flesh out their ideas, either via more text or more
visuals.
The next time I teach this course I am going to steer my
students away from PowerPoint. The ones I have seen are really lackluster. And,
though I know PowerPoint presentations can be jazzy and engaging in the hands
of experienced professionals, I think they can be equally depressing and bland
in the hands of the inexperienced student. The Weebly's and Prezi's I have seen
seem to be a little easier to make truly multi-modal, with images, links, and
embedded videos. Although, on the other hand, it may be more beneficial for
students to become fully adept at using PowerPoint masterfully, as they might
be more likely to use this visual medium down the line in their college careers
and beyond.
The next time I teach this assignment I think I will show
more examples of student projects. For our workshop day on Friday, I decided to
show my students not one example of project 2's from other sections, but many.
I like the way this turned out. I may do it again, or I may show more examples
of projects earlier on in the process, like when I introduce the assignment. I
think my react best when they see examples of what I am expecting. For
instance, after class on Friday, one group came up and already had ideas for
revision on the visual elements of their project, and they said it was thanks
to seeing examples of what others had done. I was pleased, because they were
able to self identify a problem with their project before they even had their
project peer reviewed, and so were able to get a jump on the revision process
over the weekend.
In this way we were able to assess different visual
approaches to the assignment, something my students had been particularly
struggling with. We discussed the design elements of CRAP, the use of
hyperlinks, and cohesion between theme (if they had one) and message. I have
drilled my students constantly about the importance of including all the elements
I ask for in project two. To my delight, they were able to pick out instances
where projects were lacking certain elements, even when they were not spelled
out in clearly labeled sections.
On Friday, I spent some time lecturing on my expectations
for peer reviews and revisions. I didn’t want to see the same problems I had
seen with project one (peer reviews that only focused on grammar, even when
whole required elements of the paper were missing, and revisions that weren't
really revisions, just edits made for grammatical errors and typos.)
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