Archives for August 2016

This is the post for the Wednesday, August 31, 2016 class meeting.

Class Work for 8/31

1. Take attendance and set up seating chart:

   • 2:30 Class Seating Chart
   • 4:00 Class Seating Chart

2. Office Hours Sign-up now online. More details on the office hours policy page.

3. Any questions about the Participation Logs?

4. In addition to your Design Journal Entries, you will each give one short presentation of a digital design from your journal to the class. You will spend a few minutes telling the class about the design, why you chose it, and how it connects to the class. After you show your design, you will lead a short class discussion on the design. You will sign up for these presentations in advance.
   • Return to small groups.
   • Review the Design Journal Entries for everyone in your group. If someone is using the grace period, skip that person obviously.
   • Choose an entry that your group will share with the class and work up a five-minute presentation. We’ll skip the class discussions portion of the presentations in the interest of time.
   • Work in some of the vocabulary from Chapter 1 of Writer/Designer, which is summarized in the slideshow.
   • Involve all members of your group in some way, and be ready to present by 3:15 in the 2:30 class or by 4:45 in the 4:00 class.

Homework

1. Write Design Journal Entry #2 before class by 11:59 PM Tuesday in Canvas (you get an extra day because of the holiday):

   • 2:30 Class Discussion
   • 4:00 Class Discussion

2. Read the info on Planning Your Major Projects, and browse the 3844 Potential Topics List. We’ll talk about these topics and the major projects for the term more in our next class, on Wednesday, 9/7.

3. [Optional] Still time to post in the AMA discussion if you like.

This is the post for the Monday, August 29, 2016 class meeting.

As you all know from the email I sent, class did not meet in the classroom because of safety concerns. We will complete the activity originally planned for Monday on Wednesday.

Work for 08/29

1. Read Chapter 1 of Writer/Designer, and think about how the ideas apply to the texts we have explored from your journals. I will ask you to connect the modes of communication to the class activity on Wednesday.

   I have a slideshow that includes short definitions of the ideas from Chapter 1, which are also shown in the image below, from page 4 of Writer/Designer.

   

2. [Optional] Post in the AMA discussion if you like. AMA is short for "Ask Me Anything." In case you are not familiar with the idea, AMAs gained traction on Reddit as a way for fans to connect with celebrities and other interesting folks. You can read more about AMAs on Wikipedia.

3. [Optional] Post in the Questions about the Syllabus and/or Course Logistics discussion at any point in the term if you have general questions.

This is the post for the Wednesday, August 24, 2016 class meeting.

If you missed the previous class session, be sure to read the details on what you missed in the post for August 22 and complete the related activities.

Class Work for 8/24

1. Introductions & Roll
   I will ask each of you to tell the class your name, and I will mark your attendance in Canvas. On Monday, we’ll create a seating chart.

2. Course Questions
   For homework, you reviewed the syllabus, course policies, and assignments. To get started today, add any questions or comments that you have about the course to the Google Doc for your section. I will lock the documents after class ends.

   • 2:30 Section Questions Doc
   • 4:00 Section Questions Doc
      
     
3. Participation Log
   Participation is worth 15% of your final course grade. Starting today, you can track your participation in a log that will help you account for the contributions that you make to the class.

   Make a copy of the Google Doc Participation Log for 3844. If you prefer to work in Excel, you can use this version. This log is primarily for your records, but I will look at it occasionally. You’ll use this log at the end of the term to write your self-assessment.

4. Design Journal Entries
   
   Every week you will submit a link to a digital document (or an attachment of a photo/video) and talk about the design features and technical strategies that it uses.
   To avoid awkward discussions, I ask that you do not submit any work that I have done nor any work that you or your classmates have done.

   To get started on your journal, we will look at an example video today, gather some notes about the video in small groups, and then gather those ideas together. At the end of this activity, you should know exactly what kind of information to include in your journal entry.

   We’re using this video, which is featured on the VT homepage today:
   

   In your small groups, you will focus on one of the areas listed below. Make sure that someone in your group takes notes in the Google Slides document for your class (2:30 slides or 4:00 slides), and choose a person to present your observations to the full class.

   1. Obvious Features
   2. Use of Sound, Images, and Text
   3. Use of Screen Space
   4. Use of Movement and Body Language
   5. Use of Absence—What’s Left Out?

In-Class Writing/Homework for 8/24

Write a design journal entry before class on Monday in Canvas:

• 2:30 Class Discussion
• 4:00 Class Discussion

We will look at the journal entries in class on Monday.