Participation and Journal Overview

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

Cartoon showing dinosaurs in a classroom. The teacher tells the T-Rex, who is struggling to raise its hand, that he has an F in participationIf 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.

  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:

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