I mentioned in class that there would be a video for you to watch to gain some more vocabulary connected to filmic grammar and visual literacy.
Thanks to Sarah M for reminding me to post!
Here's a helpful video on youtube. There are more like it. You may want to peruse some of them. Clearly this comes from the perspective of a filmmaker, developing the knowledge to be a "maker" -- while I don't expect most of you to aspire to the "maker" level of filming (except for your media story!), clearly we can benefit from his helpful indexing.
This link is actually more geared toward the savvy reader. It approaches film from the perspective of "film theory" & "film criticism" more fields of expertise that I don't necessarily think you need to aspire toward -- BUT fields that will definitely aid you in achieving the aims of this class -- shaping you into a media literate citizen.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Assignment Rubrics
So you can succeed better at each of the assignments in the class, I am providing the rubrics I will use to assess your work.
Media Text Analysis Rubric
Digital Media Story Rubric
Political Economy Rubric
Media Text Analysis Rubric
Digital Media Story Rubric
Political Economy Rubric
What is "community involvement?"
Many teachers assign a grade for student participation in class. While I agree that student participation is very important for a successful classroom experience, I am even more interested in developing a community of learning that includes student (and teacher) participation both within the classroom and outside of the classroom. A community of learning encompasses both formal communication patterns and informal communication patterns. It includes our explicit discussions about mass media in our lives and world, but could include conversations with one another as we consume media. It also includes relationships between students just as much as the relationship between the teacher and each individual student.
This grade will be calculated based on multiple assessments, all of which will be measured considering the ways that you contribute to the community of learning in this class. Therefore, some of the areas that will be evaluated in this category include:
1.) your constructive contributions in class (amount, depth of insight, and other-orientation are all important here),
2.) your verbal and non-verbal interaction with others in the class,
3.) your attendance,
4.) your interactions with your peers both inside and outside of class time,
5.) any way you facilitate the learning of other students (clarifying examples in class, phone calls in the evening, sharing notes together, after class discussions, and study groups, commenting on blogs) or
6.) any other contributions that you can make to improving the learning climate within the class.
You should focus on developing a culture of learning together; while the development of relationships with one another is important – it is essential that you orient these relationships toward developing one another’s ability to think about and use mass media well. I assume that in order to succeed in this portion of the class, you will need to have read well and been an active participant in class lecture and discussion.
This grade will be evaluated several ways. I will invite the entire class to advocate on behalf of other members of the class. I will journal after class, noting contributions made by individuals. On some days, I will take notes. Halfway through the semester, I will suggest the grade that I think most appropriate for your community involvement thus far (based on my assessments and the assessments of your peers). If you feel that this grade doesn't accurately reflect the way you contributed to the community of learning, I URGE you to talk to me. We can together reflect on our differing perspectives, and set goals for a better understanding in the second half of the semester.
Clearly, this system doesn’t allow you to either be invisible or domineering in this class. Hopefully we can co-construct a positive learning environment together.
At the end of the class, I will assign the final grade, but will consider the following factors: your personal assessment, your peers advocacy, and observations from my class journal throughout the semester.
This grade will be calculated based on multiple assessments, all of which will be measured considering the ways that you contribute to the community of learning in this class. Therefore, some of the areas that will be evaluated in this category include:
1.) your constructive contributions in class (amount, depth of insight, and other-orientation are all important here),
2.) your verbal and non-verbal interaction with others in the class,
3.) your attendance,
4.) your interactions with your peers both inside and outside of class time,
5.) any way you facilitate the learning of other students (clarifying examples in class, phone calls in the evening, sharing notes together, after class discussions, and study groups, commenting on blogs) or
6.) any other contributions that you can make to improving the learning climate within the class.
You should focus on developing a culture of learning together; while the development of relationships with one another is important – it is essential that you orient these relationships toward developing one another’s ability to think about and use mass media well. I assume that in order to succeed in this portion of the class, you will need to have read well and been an active participant in class lecture and discussion.
This grade will be evaluated several ways. I will invite the entire class to advocate on behalf of other members of the class. I will journal after class, noting contributions made by individuals. On some days, I will take notes. Halfway through the semester, I will suggest the grade that I think most appropriate for your community involvement thus far (based on my assessments and the assessments of your peers). If you feel that this grade doesn't accurately reflect the way you contributed to the community of learning, I URGE you to talk to me. We can together reflect on our differing perspectives, and set goals for a better understanding in the second half of the semester.
Clearly, this system doesn’t allow you to either be invisible or domineering in this class. Hopefully we can co-construct a positive learning environment together.
At the end of the class, I will assign the final grade, but will consider the following factors: your personal assessment, your peers advocacy, and observations from my class journal throughout the semester.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Will we be exposed to controversial media in this class?
Because this is a course that deals specifically with the relationship of media and society, each of you will encounter messages, images and ideals with which you disagree. While we’re used to encountering such things in more removed and formal contexts within history, literature and art, they sometimes feel more threatening when we encounter them within the popular media of our time. The objectives of this course and the Mission of this Department encourages you to embrace these experiences as opportunities to develop your own ability to be an “agent of truth reflection, transformation and reconciliation”. I will try to warn you when we’ll be encountering “controversial media,” but I encourage you to envision such moments throughout the semester as opportunities to develop your own character and your vision of the world.
Want to think more about this idea? Check out our Department's Statement on Hospitality and Cultural Engagement.
Want to think more about this idea? Check out our Department's Statement on Hospitality and Cultural Engagement.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Monday, July 20, 2009
Finding Music to Use With Your Digital Story
You should check out Moby's (huge) collection of music that he WANTS you to use...
Watch the vid below to find out more about it...
Googling will help you find many more resources of royalty free music.
Here is a link where you can check whether or not it's legitimate to use some other copyrighted music with your film.
My brother makes royalty free music -- and if you'd like to use something from his library -- stock20.com -- I could probably get you a good deal!
Watch the vid below to find out more about it...
Googling will help you find many more resources of royalty free music.
Here is a link where you can check whether or not it's legitimate to use some other copyrighted music with your film.
My brother makes royalty free music -- and if you'd like to use something from his library -- stock20.com -- I could probably get you a good deal!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Community Involvement Advocacy
As you remember, much of your grade for "Community Involvement" comes from the advocacy and support of your peers. Now is the time for you to spend a few moments advocating on their behalf, again.
As I asked you to do last time, you should type the name of the person you are advocating for first, and then on the next line, describe how this person helped your learning or the learning of others in the class. You are not obliged to advocate for everyone, but you may advocate for as many people as you'd like. You *must* advocate for yourself. Describe (in first person voice) how you helped the community learn.
Feel free to look here to see the example I provided at midterm.
Your Community Involvement Advocacy is due in my email inbox by noon on Friday, February 26th at five pm. My email is listed on the top of the paper syllabus. I will not accept any late sheets. Please title your email "MMS ComInv A" either "noon" or "one" based on your class time. If you do not turn in a community involvement advocacy sheet, your own community involvement grade (assigned by me) will automatically be reduced by 15% (*note that you will lose *more* points this time than last.
An index with your classmates pictures and names is available in Doc Sharing in E-Companion. Please refer to that sheet as you type up your community advocacy for each other.
As I asked you to do last time, you should type the name of the person you are advocating for first, and then on the next line, describe how this person helped your learning or the learning of others in the class. You are not obliged to advocate for everyone, but you may advocate for as many people as you'd like. You *must* advocate for yourself. Describe (in first person voice) how you helped the community learn.
Feel free to look here to see the example I provided at midterm.
Your Community Involvement Advocacy is due in my email inbox by noon on Friday, February 26th at five pm. My email is listed on the top of the paper syllabus. I will not accept any late sheets. Please title your email "MMS ComInv A" either "noon" or "one" based on your class time. If you do not turn in a community involvement advocacy sheet, your own community involvement grade (assigned by me) will automatically be reduced by 15% (*note that you will lose *more* points this time than last.
An index with your classmates pictures and names is available in Doc Sharing in E-Companion. Please refer to that sheet as you type up your community advocacy for each other.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Template for Storyboarding your Digital Story
You can download the official storyboard template from the Center for Digital Storytelling by clicking here.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Examples of Media Stories
You'll notice that I've posted a number of media stories from previous classes below. I'm not claiming that these media stories are perfect, but all of them have merits worth noting.
Stories are best at inciting something deep and emotional. They're best when they're about connection and meaning and shared understanding. So I'd definitely recommend that you approach these stories with the kind of hospitality that allows those kinds of responses to emerge.
*AFTER* these stories have done their best work on you -- you may want to think about them from a storyteller's perspective. You may even want to (I offer with trepidation) think about them from your student perspective -- and look over the rubric I've already provided for you.
If you have a question about your media story after you've watched some of these stories -- let me know!
Stories are best at inciting something deep and emotional. They're best when they're about connection and meaning and shared understanding. So I'd definitely recommend that you approach these stories with the kind of hospitality that allows those kinds of responses to emerge.
*AFTER* these stories have done their best work on you -- you may want to think about them from a storyteller's perspective. You may even want to (I offer with trepidation) think about them from your student perspective -- and look over the rubric I've already provided for you.
If you have a question about your media story after you've watched some of these stories -- let me know!
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Digital Storytelling
One of the genres of media that has developed in tandem with the new media developments of the last decade is called: Digital Storytelling. Below you can find a number of links to digital stories. Beyond those links, I provide a few links to tutorials on how to create your own digital stories. Because I think that media production can be a really important part of building media literacy -- I would like to invite you to make your own digital story and post it as one of your blogs. With free video hosting available at Youtube, Googlevideo and elsewhere -- there aren't many barriers to you making your own digital stories and publishing them on the web.
Some Worthy Digital Stories
Momnotmom
A Bunch of Examples
Some Helpful Tips for Creating Digital Stories
What is Digital Storytelling?
A PDF from the Digital Story Center
Some Production Techniques
Because the extra steps of production will cost you so much more time -- any digital story that you create for the web can count for up to three blog entries (6 points!).
If you're feeling REALLY industrious, I'll let you make two digital stories (that's 12 points total available! Almost half of your blog entries), BUT (of course there are several more requiremements) check out this blog post, first.
Some Worthy Digital Stories
Momnotmom
A Bunch of Examples
Some Helpful Tips for Creating Digital Stories
What is Digital Storytelling?
A PDF from the Digital Story Center
Some Production Techniques
Because the extra steps of production will cost you so much more time -- any digital story that you create for the web can count for up to three blog entries (6 points!).
If you're feeling REALLY industrious, I'll let you make two digital stories (that's 12 points total available! Almost half of your blog entries), BUT (of course there are several more requiremements) check out this blog post, first.
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