Consolidation Unit Studio / Guidance for the Final Reflective Letter

Work to have done: Read Paul Ford on the pleasures of reading git commit histories; maybe read back through your old notes (in the google doc; begin preparing for your final portfolio and a consolidation project to include in it; .

Plan for the day:

Reminder about portfolio contents; guiding questions for final reflection
Studio (45-60 min)
Plan for final class (in two days!!) (5 min)

Reminder and Guiding Questions

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.

Click to expand a reminder of the portfolio contents

The final portfolio itself will consist of a single post on the issue queue (thread now live!), 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.

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:

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

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.
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.
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!)
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?

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.

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.

Studio

This is where I expect we’ll spend the bulk of today’s synchronous time. As usual, please…

Write your goals in the google doc
Save five minutes at the end to talk about prep for next class
Leave an exit note to report on progress and re-set goals for moving forward.

Like last time, I’ll have free-access breakout rooms for finding each other, and I’ll hang out in the main room unless people need one-on-one time (when we can go to an extra room set aside for that purpose).

As usual, to get credit for asynchronous participation, please add your intentions and exit notes to the google doc when you start and stop working – and aim to work for at least two 20-minute pomodoros.

Plan for final class (in two days!!)

My final agenda item for the day is to talk about our next class, because it’s our last synchronous class!

One order of business: I plan to set aside some in-class time for OMETs. If you’ve already done them by then, you can use that as studio time.

But beyond that, I always like to have a chance to celebrate together and share the awesomeness you’ve all been able to achieve. So I’d like to invite everyone to share one thing, for 2-3 minutes each. That said, I also know time is short, and some people may prefer to have more focused work-time.

Let’s end the class with a quick straw poll in the google doc: write down the letter corresponding to what you would prefer to do:

W - work time (studio)
S - share the awesomeness

Instant bar graph!

For next time

Please take the Tech Comfort Survey Redux, which revisits the survey from way back in the beginning of the semester. How have your comfort levels changed?
- I’ve added a new question, which is important for providing examples: do you give me permission to share your projects for future teaching?
- There’s an optional free response space at the end; if you’re willing to let me share some but not all your projects, please let me know.
Set yourself some deadlines: what are you trying to finish by the last class?
- Will you continue beyond that for Sunday, knowing the final portfolio is due soon (on Tuesday, 4/27)?
Document your progress as you go! Screenshot, save, commit (or otherwise log changes), push.
Pending the results of the straw poll above, choose something you’re proud of – something you want to include in your portfolio and maybe discuss in your reflection – to share briefly with the rest of the class.