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Intro to Final Portfolio + Consolidation Unit Studio

Work to have done: Submit final-for-now website, with source files, and reflection; read Paul Ford on the pleasures of reading git commit histories; begin preparing for your final portfolio and a consolidation project to include in it

Plan for the day:

  1. Introduction to the Final Portfolio… and its introductory reflective letter
  2. Moment of recruitment for groups / breakout rooms
  3. Studio time

1. Final Portfolio Introduction (10 min)

As we have for each individual unit, for the final portfolio I’m asking you to write reflectively about the course and your work in it, crystalizing what you’ve learned – and how you will go on learning – about composing digital media.

The final portfolio itself will consist of a single post on the issue queue (thread coming soon), containing:
  • a prose reflection of at least 800-1200 words (1200-1800 recommended), reflecting on the course and framing the portfolio’s contents in terms of your learning and goals;
  • representative thumbnails, hyperlinked to final rendered versions of your four unit projects, i.e. Soundscape Narrative (.mp3), Visual Argument (.png), Website (live url or index.html), and Consolidation (tbd);
  • links to your repositories (on either GitHub or Box) for each of those pieces; and
  • a thumbnail image of at least one specific prior draft, hyperlinked to that draft's commit in the revision history, allowing you to talk about your revision skills.

As with previous reflections, I encourage you to include these screenshots and thumbnails wherever they make the most sense, rather than feeling like they need to be segregated from the rest of your thoughts.

This will be due in our assigned final exam slot, which is Monday, November 30th (the first weekday after Thanksgiving) at 2pm.

NB: There is no separate reflection deadline for the consolidation unit; you can just include that in the final reflection for the semester.

About that final reflection…

This can be written informally, like the others. The goal is less a restatement of what you’ve already written than an opportunity to think synthetically, across units and into the future. The reflection will have two parts, or aspects, though you can mix them or move back and forth:

  1. The first is an articulation of your learning in the class, focused more on transferable skills than individual tools.

  2. The second part is a brief introduction to the specific projects in your portfolio, calling attention to features of these multimodal texts that you hope will illustrate, clarify, or provide evidence for the first part’s claims.

The two parts should work together, binding the abstract to the concrete and vice versa.

The questions below are meant to help you develop your thoughts toward that first aspect, in part through consideration of the second. While you need not answer these questions separately, or in strict order, I do hope you will endeavor to answer them all.

Guiding questions for the end-of-term reflection

NB: If at any point you’re tempted to say "all of it" (or “none,” though I hope that’s not true), that’s a fine start, but then prioritize: name something specific, so it's written somewhere you’ll be able to find it later.

  1. What advice or ideas have been most helpful to your thinking about composing, about digital environments or tools, about mediation? In other words, what do you most want to remember for future digital composition?

    These may come from comments on your own projects, discussions of your classmates' work, office hour or class-time conversations, or the readings.

  2. When you look back at the unit goals and overall course outcomes, where do you feel you’ve been most successful? The most challenged? If something’s held you back, how might you get around that barrier? (Or would you change the goal for yourself?)

    In brief, what do you see as the strengths of the work you've done for this course, and what are the areas in which you feel you’ve most improved?

    Make specific references to projects or revisions.

  3. What, if anything, surprised you during the course? Now that you’ve seen how it all pans out, are there any suggestions you’d make for a revision in the course structure or assignments? (I update my syllabi every time, so your feedback is truly welcome!)

  4. Moving forward, what are your plans for continuing to develop your digital media skills? Will you continue working on any of these projects, in other classes or outside class?

Should you want it, I have a handout summing up the above information, including a contents checklist and the guiding questions for reflection.
Have questions about all that? You're probably not alone! If you can't ask during synchronous class time, why not create a new post on the issue queue? Then I can respond where everyone can see it.

Moment of recruitment for groups / breakout rooms

Now that you have a bit more of a sense of what I’ll be looking for, you may also have a better idea of what you want to do with the time between now and the deadline. On top of which, I know some of you were focused on finishing your websites, and may not have had time to formally propose a consolidation project. (If you need to review the options, see last class’s lesson plan.)

So let’s open this again, as we did last time, with a chance to announce or recruit project tasks and group members in the shared google doc. (I’ve pre-filled in the two groups I knew about as of 2pm today.)

Studio

When you’re ready to move on, I’ll get out of your way! As is our custom, please write down your studio goals at the beginning of your work-session, and come back at the end with an update and a target for the weekend.

p.s. If your plans for the unit haven't posted to the consolidation unit proposal queue (a groupmate's post is fine if you're included), please aim to do so by the end of today.

I’ll create breakout rooms for the groups, and I’ll float around once I’m no longer helping folks in the main room. Call me if you need me!

Homework for next time

  • As preparation for the final portfolio, please respond to an updated version of the Tech Comfort Survey from the start of the semester; both forms should send (have sent) you an email with your responses, so you can compare then and now.
    • In addition, this version of the form will ask you to officially tell me whether and how I can use your work as an example in future semesters.
    • If you’d rather fill out that part after all revisions are done, the form is set to allow you to edit your response.
  • Have you considered reading back through your studio goals in the google doc?
  • Continue with whatever work you set out for yourself to consolidate, integrate, and ideally deepen your learning this semester.