Overview Course Projects:
Multimedia storytelling project:- Proposal (Group): 10% (due: 11/1)
- Artifacts (Individual): 5% (due: 11/8)
- Drafts (Group): -5% of MM story if not submitted (due: 11/15 and 11/22)
- Presentation of Multimedia Story (Group): 5% (due 12/2)
- Final Multimedia Story (Group): 30% (due: 12/2)
- Storytelling Strategy essay (Individual): 15% (due: 12/2)
Weekly writing/design blog (Individual): 15% (due: 10/4; 10/11; 10/18; 10/25; 11/15)
Reflection Essay (Individual): 15% (due: 12/10)
Reading Responses: 5% (every class day with assigned reading material)
Multimedia Storytelling Project
The majority of our class will be devoted to a multimedia storytelling project, which will divided into multiple smaller sections. We are going to tell stories in this class—stories you can be proud of; stories that matter to you, me, and to our communities. Making these great stories will require us to devote our time and intellectual energies. In the end, you will compose a long-form multimedia story that explores some new and compelling aspect of the complex place you call home: Isla Vista.Stage 1: Find the Story
You will work in a group to select an IV-related theme that you’d like to explore. Sort through the materials that you find in your research, in your day-to-day lives, and in the UCSB’s archives. From these primary documents and experiences, what original stories have you discovered? What stories do other students need to know? What stories do you want to share with the world?
Then you will compose a professional proposal that includes 1) a summary of the story you plan to tell, 2) definition of the media/platforms you plan to use for this project, 3) definition of the audience, 4) a report of research that you have collected thus far to inform your story 5) a summary of the key rhetorical strategies you will employ to make your story as effective as possible 6) explain why this story deserves our time. Each group member must submit the project.
Proposal: 3-5 pages, Due 11/1, 10% of course grade Submit on Gauchospace
Stage 2: Collect Materials
Both in class and out of class, your group must collect materials to help you tell your story. This may include interviews, audio, music, photographs, images, graphs, video, data, and any other physical materials that will help you to tell your story. We will also learn to edit these materials using digital media editing software. You must begin to learn these programs from tutorials before class. In class, we will practice using this software. Our time in class will just be the beginning. You’ll need to continue to explore these programs independently in order to complete this project. You can find a lot of resources and tutorials on the resources page.
Selection of image and audio artifacts Due 11/8 on your individual blog. 5% of course grade
Stage 3: Compose Your Story
Next, you’ll move on to compose a multimedia story that integrates audio, images, webdesign, and written text. The process of researching, composing, and mediating often leads to discoveries or dead ends. That’s cool. . . Use these experiences to help you redirect and reframe your story.
I am going to recommend that you create a long-form, multimedia story using StoryMaps or Wix because these programs for flexible and creative integration of media and user interaction. However, I am flexible with regards to genre of the final product. Depending on your skill set and story, you may also compose this multimedia story as a short documentary or a website. I’m open to other suggestions based on your needs and skill set.
Stage 5: Recompose
After submitting the draft, you will then have 2 weeks to revise. We will spend one of those weeks reviewing and critiquing your work in class. This is your opportunity to help your classmates to tell great stories. Dr. Fancher will also give each group feedback on their draft and meet with you in class. When you are confident that you have made your best possible work, you will then share your work with your intended audience.
With your draft, submit a reflection paper (100+ words) that 1) summarizes your key goals, 2) explains the experience you want the reader to have, and 3) assesses what you think is strong or weak about the current draft.
Draft Multimedia Story with reflection: due 11/15 and 11/22; -5% off final project if either of these are not submitted.
In-class Presentation of Multimedia story: due 12/2. 5% of grade
At the end of our class, each group will present their multimedia stories. This will be a final opportunity to share, celebrate, and learn from each other. Each group will have 5-7 minutes. You will have enough time to pitch your story, tell the readers a highlight of your story, and share a few of your design choices with the audience. Think of this presentation as a pitch to a publisher. You want to convince us not only to read the story but to publish your story.
Criteria for Presentation:
Effective use of time: Uses time to interest readers and highlight the most important components of the story content and composition.
Purpose: Explains why the story matters to the audiences.
Story: Features part of the story that will highlight key points and interest future readers.
Delivery: Student presentation appears organized, rehearsed, and engaging for the audience.
Storytelling Strategy essay: With the final draft, submit an essay that explains your key strategies for composing an original, compelling and meaningful multimedia story. 1) In this essay, explain your goals for this story: What do you want to reader to know, feel or experience? 2) Then, explain the specific storytelling choices that you think helped you meet your goals. How did the specific images, audio, videos, or texts help you meet your goals? What editing and revising work did you do to help meet your goals? 3) Assess your success meeting your goals. What do you think is especially effective, and what limitations or challenges did you experience? 4) Explain what you think you contributed to the group project and what the other group members contributed. Assign a grade for yourself and your group members based on their effort and contribution to the project.
Final Multimedia Storytelling project (Group): due 12/2; 30% of course grade.
Storytelling Strategy essay (Individual): due 12/2; 15% of course grade.
Criteria for Final Multimedia Storytelling project:
Integration of multimedia: purposeful, seamless, and rhetorically effective integration of images, text, audio/video. When evaluating this, I’ll be asking: does the story purposefully and effectively integrate multiple media forms? Do each of the media aspects substantively and meaningfully contribute to the story?Storytelling: compelling, cohesive storytelling. When evaluating this, I’ll be asking: Does the story tell me something new, interesting, or unexpected? Does the story unfold in a way that keeps the reader interested and engaged? Has the author/designer used evidence, examples, and sufficient detail to convince a reader that this story is both accurate as well as important?
Create experience for reader: engaging, interactive experience for readers. In what ways has the author/designer allowed/invited the readers to actively engage with the story? Does the experience encourage the reader to begin reading, keep reading/looking/listening, and continue exploring every aspect of the story?
Media Production: creative, polished media production. When evaluating this, I’ll be asking: Has the author/designer demonstrated that they have developed new skills as a multimedia writer? Has the author/designer revised and polished the story to the best of their current ability? I will not evaluate you on a single, professional standard. Rather, I will be evaluating each of you based on what new multimedia skills you have developed in the process of creating this project. Given that every one of your entered this class with different skill levels, I will be evaluating you based on your improvement as multimedia writers.
Criteria for Strategy Essay
Goals/Audience: student defines the audience and explains why the audience should care about the story. Defines the purpose of the story and why it matters.
Writing Strategies: student describes in detail the writing choices that make the project effective, appeal to audience and meet their goal. When grading this, I'll ask: Does the student show that they planned their writing strategies? Does the student show keen attention to the detail and nuance of word choice, organization, style, tone?
Design strategy: Student defines what design choices are most effective. In this section, I'll ask: Does the student explain in detail how different design choices help them meet their goals? This should include larger design decisions like layout, photography, and platform interaction as well as subtle design choices like color and formatting.
Style and Mechanics: Student essay is polished, clear, concise and professional. This doesn't need to be an overly 'academic' style. But the style should be professional and concise.
Weekly Writing and Design Blog
As you engage with the course readings and the assignments, you’ll also be individually responsible for documenting and reflecting upon what you’re learning. Each of you will create a weekly blog post in which you aim to synthesize the reading material and your experience as a multimedia storyteller. In particular, you will create a media-based text that applies what you’ve learned in our readings and discussions.Since this is a multimedia writing course, after all, you’ll be expected to incorporate multiple forms of media in your posts — the internet is your rich canvas, so use it well. Also, write in a style that is appropriate for a blog. Each post will be about 500-750 words and will be due Friday before midnight.
Your grade for the blog posts will be based the level of engagement you demonstrate with the readings, the depth of your reflection on experiences as they relate to the course, your thinking about multimedia writing, and application of this thinking into multimedia writing. The secret to this is to fully dive into this course and course materials! The most successful blog posts will develop original thinking on the course concepts and also demonstrate clear, engaging multimedia writing style. These should be seen as opportunities to play and experiment with new tools or a new feature of a tool that you already know.
Blog grades will be posted in week 3 and week 7.
20% of grade
Due: 10/4; 10/11; 10/18; 10/25; 11/15
Reflection Essay
For the final component of this class, you will individually reflect on the course content: our readings, discussions, examples, experiments, failures, and anything that you may have fallen in love with. Reflect on your experiences as well as the works and ideas to which you have been introduced. From this, address the questions:How do you define “good” multimedia writing?
How may the media shape/change our stories and even our communities?
These were the questions that asked on the first week of class. Ten weeks later, how may you begin to address these questions? What did you learn about our community from these projects? Cite examples from our readings. Cite explicit examples from your experiences working on your multimedia story. This should be a multimedia essay and should include images of your work or your process and any other multimedia artifacts that you think will be useful for communicating what you’ve learned in this course.
Criteria:
Develop original, insightful reflection on multimedia writing.
Relate this reflection on multimedia writing to:
some of the readings
your experience working on the multimedia story or even writing outside of class.
Purposeful integration of multiple media to compose your reflection.
Key challenge: Show and tell: tell us about how you define multimedia writing and also show us that you can apply those principles as you compose this reflection.
Due 12/10 15% of grade
Reading responses:
Before class on each day with an assigned reading (mostly on Mondays), you need to submit a reading response that demonstrates that you have completed the reading assignment. In addition, this reading response needs to demonstrate that you’ve thought about the reading. The reading response should include 1) a summary of the key points of the article. 2) an assessment of the argument, media, composition of the article 3) a follow up question that can help lead the class conversation.Due before each class with an assigned reading, 5% of grade.
