Today we will go over the syllabus changes and assignment for Project 3. We will also discuss the blog entries that you will write for each class session for the rest of the semester.

As a reminder, class will not meet on Tuesday, 3/18 or Thursday, 3/20, since I will be at the Convention of the Conference on College Composition and Communication in Indianapolis. Office hours are cancelled 3/7 (tomorrow) as well as Wednesday, 3/19 and Friday, 2/21.

Blog Entries

As part of your work on Project 3, you will write a blog post for each class session that summarizes and reflects on your work to date. There are two goals for these posts:

• You will document the work that you are doing on your project, so that there is a record of what you try to do and how you work.
• You will reflect on the work that you are doing, so that you track the reasons that you make the decisions you do.

Following those goals, I want you to have two headings in each blog post: (1) What I Did, and (2) Why I Did It. The information you include under the “What I Did” heading can be a list or a running narrative. Since your posts should track what you do and try out of the classroom as well, I encourage you to use a draft post in WordPress to keep a running list as you work, rather than trying to remember everything at the end of each session. Under the “Why I Did It” heading, you should reflect on why you try the things that you did. Talk about what your goals were and how well the strategies that you try work.

If you know how to code a table in HTML, you can use that layout in your blog to help align ideas easily. Here’s an example:

You can find info on coding tables in the Lynda.com tutorial “Up and Running with HTML with James Williamson.” If you prefer your instructions in a purely linguistic, non-visual mode, try the info on “HTML Tables” from W3Schools.com. You can also use an HTML table generator to create the code, and then fill it in as you go.

Suggested Process for Your Blog Posts

1. As the very last thing you do during a class session, make a new blog post for the next session, give it a generic name (something like “Blog for 4/1/2014” will work), add code for a table if you want, and save it as a draft.
2. As you work outside of class, add the things you do and why you do them to your draft post. Continue to save it as a draft.
3. When you come to class, open your draft post, and continue adding details as you work in class.
4. In the last 5 or so minutes of the session, review what you have written in your draft post and make any changes you need. You can give it a more specific title as well.
5. Publish your finished blog post.
6. Go back to step 1 and set up the post that you will use during the next session.

Homework

Sunday, March 16, check the blog post with details on what I want you to accomplish for the week. If you have any questions about the work, email me by noon on Monday, March 17, so that I can answer your question before I leave for Indianapolis. You can also come by during office hours on Monday the 17th if you have questions.

Today we finish the five-minute presentations for Project 2. Your job during this session is to pay attention, since you may want to use these tools yourself in either Project 3 or 4.

After the presentations, I’d like you to post in the P2: Interface discussion in the Google+ Community on the tool you saw today (other than your own if you presented) that you are most interested in trying out. State what tool it was, why you found it interesting, and how you might use it. Browse around and see what other people had to say. Notice if people were talking about the tool you reviewed. Reply if you’d like.

• 3:35 Rachel T. on Pixton
• 3:41 Joanna J. on Mondrian
• 3:47 Taylor T. on Prezi
• 3:53 Jenn R. on Draft
• 3:59 Sara T. on Easel.ly
• 4:05 Kevin W. on EWC Presenter
• 4:11 Ryan D. on Piktochart
• 4:17 Erin M. on Canva
• 4:23 Christopher W. on Froont
• 4:29 Nenna O. on Storybird
• 4:35 Matt M. on Soundcloud

Homework

• If you haven’t turned in Project 2, remember today is the end of the grace period. Your work must be submitted by 11:55 PM.
• Thursday, March 6, we’ll go over Project 3 and talk about what will happen for the online classes on March 18 and 20. Remember that I will be in Indianapolis at the Convention of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, so we will not meet in the classroom that week.

Today we begin the five-minute presentations for Project 2. Your job during this session is to pay attention, since you may want to use these tools yourself in either Project 3 or 4.

After the presentations, I’d like you to post in the P2: Interface discussion in the Google+ Community on the tool you saw today (other than your own if you presented) that you are most interested in trying out. State what tool it was, why you found it interesting, and how you might use it. Browse around and see what other people had to say. Notice if people were talking about the tool you reviewed. Reply if you’d like.

• 3:55 Alex M. on Present.Me
• 3:41 Jay L. on CodePen
• 3:47 Pierce S. on Sumopaint
• 3:53 Megan G. on Creatavist
• 3:59 Samantha P. on Editorially
• 4:05 Sara R. on Onword
• 4:11 Kat R. on PowToon
• 4:17 Catie C. on Pixlr
• 4:23 Hannah L. on Storify
• 4:29 Taylor M. on Infogram

Homework

• If you haven’t turned in Project 2, remember that Tuesday, March 4 is the end of the grace period. Your work must be submitted by 11:55 PM.
• Tuesday, March 4, we’ll finish the Project 2 presentations. Thursday, March 6, we’ll go over Project 3 and talk about what will happen for the online classes on March 18 and 20. Remember that I will be in Indianapolis at the Convention of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, so we will not meet in the classroom that week.
• Have a great weekend. See you next month :)

Today, we’ll spend time in class on the reflection memo for Project 2, but first we need to discuss the five-minute presentations for the project as a class.

My dream plan is to spend a few minutes going over the info posted here, and then give you the remainder of the class session to work on your reflection memo and your presentation slides.

Write Your Project Reflection and Submit Your Web Essay

In Scholar, go to the Assignments tab, and choose the second project. In the Submission Assignment Text box there, write a short (about 1 page) message to me that tells me the URL to your Project 2 web essay and then explains the decisions you made that I need to know before I read your work. You can talk about content, organization, and design—telling me about what you chose and why you chose it.

This letter is your chance to tell me whatever you want me to know before I grade your project. Among other topics, you may want to answer the following questions:

• Why did you choose to organize the information the way you did as opposed to some other possible organization?
• Why did you choose the design that you did?
• How did you decide about the visual elements that you have included?
• How is this website personal and unique?

Whether you turn in your project today or after the grace period, you still need to write this reflection memo to tell me about your project.

Details on the Five-Minute Presentations

Why? The goal of these presentations is to share details about the tool you have analyzed with the class. By the end of the presentations, everyone in class should know enough about all 20 tools to be able to decide whether they would work for other projects in the class (or for other purposes).

How Long? Five minutes, strictly enforced. Please practice at home to make sure that you fill the time without going over.

How? I encourage you to use a Google Drive Presentation because of its flexibility and accessibility, but you may use other tools if you want. No matter what tool you choose, it has to be available online to everyone in the class. You can embed it or upload it to your WordPress site. Remember to send me the URL to your presentation the night before you present so that I can set up the presentation links for the session.

What? Review the information in the assignment on the content for the presentation. Generally speaking, I expect your slideshow to include the following:

• A title slide with your name, the name of the tool, and the URL to the tool site.
• Overview slides that explain what the tool is, who would use it, and what it does.
• Analysis slides that explain the affordances and constraints and that offer general recommendations on using the tool.
• A concluding slide that pulls your thoughts together.

How many? I’m leaving the exact length up to you; however, you may not have more than 20 slides.

• If you have 20 slides, they must auto-advance every every 15 seconds to ensure that your presentation does not go over the allotted five minutes, following the instructions in Step 2 of this page on Pecha Kucha presentations or the documentation for the tool that you have chosen.
• If you have fewer than 20 slides, you may have them auto-advance if you like, but it’s not required. If you want a slower pace, you can create a slideshow of 15 slides that auto-advances every 20 seconds (I will have to help you with the technical set-up if you choose this option) or a slideshow of 10 slides that auto-advances every 30 seconds. Realize, however, that your presentation cannot take more than 5 minutes.

Today, you will share the rough draft of your web essay for project 2 with another student in the classroom. Here’s what we’ll do:

1. Sign-up for a presentation slot for sharing your tool with the class, using the Sign-Up Tool in Scholar. We’ll talk more about the presentation format and content on Tuesday.
2. Review the grading criteria for the web essay part of Project 2.
3. I will model the feedback process that I want you to use with one of the two example essays.
4. You will choose a partner and read through each other’s web essays, providing feedback. The author should take notes on what the person reading the site says. Once the reader has talked through the entire essay, the reader should comment on these issues:
   • Does the essay give an overview of the tool and what it does?
   • Does the essay consider how the tool uses the modes of communication?
   • Does the essay evaluate the tool’s understanding of audience?
   • Does the essay review the tool’s design choices?
   • Does the essay identify and discuss the tool’s affordances and constraints?
5. After you have read each other’s essays, create your own post in the P2: Interface discussion in the Google+ Community. Post the link to your rough draft, tell me who read your paper, and summarize the feedback that your partner gave you.

Homework

Next time, Project 2 is due. You will work on the reflection letter to go with your submission, and we will discuss and work on the presentations that will begin on Thursday, February 27.

Since the snow day interrupted our progress, rough drafts are now due next class period, February 20. The due date, deadline, and presentation dates will remain the same.

We’ll spend a few minutes talking about the dates and the class schedule at the beginning of the session as well as minor change in the class Scholar site. After that conversation, we’ll talk about affordances and constraints and how they apply to the handout we analyzed during the last class session. Finally, I’ll ask you to work in groups to redesign a portion of the handout.

Affordances and Constraints of the Handout

Get out your copies of the flyer titled What is the English Undergraduate Research Conference? and we’ll address these questions:

1. What are the affordances of the handout?
   In other words, what does the handout allow or encourage you do? What does it make easy for you? What design choices and modes does it allow you to use?
2. What are the constraints of the handout?
   In other words, how does the handout limit your ability to do things you want to do? What does it make difficult for you? Think about which features of the handout are intuitive and which features are “hidden” or only available to advanced users. What shortcomings are there to a handout?

Now a challenge: how could you redesign the handout, using the same basic tools (orange paper, a photocopier, and presumably a word processor)? What can you do to make the most of the affordances and exploit the constraints?

Redesigning the Text

(This activity will count as your Daily Writing for today)
I’m going to divide you into four groups, and ask each group to rethink the choices for a section of the handout and reconceive how to present the information in a way that makes the best use of reasonably-available resources. Your redesign has to follow these basic ground rules:

• The redesigned text must fit the same audience and purpose.
• The design can use any format or genre, except the original choices. In other words, the design cannot be photocopied handouts on orange paper.
• The best designs will use more than one mode of communication.
• The design will work within reasonable financial constraints. Look for low or no cost options, but remember that time and expertise are costs too.

As a group decide on a new presentation and think it through enough to be able to describe it to the class. Have someone in your group work as the recorder and post your redesign plan as well as the names of the people in your group in the General Discussion area of the Google+ Community. You can use sketches or a storyboard if you like, but be sure to put them on your Google Drive and share them with me so we can pull them up on the screen. Because of time constraints, your group won’t create the new texts. You are just creating a redesign plan.

At the end of today’s session, your group will present your redesign, explaining why you chose the modes you did and how you took advantage of the affordances and exploited the constraints. If time runs short, we can finish the presentations during next session.

Handout Assignments:

• Group A: The FAQs on the front of the handout
• Group B: What do I submit? (the first question on the back)
• Group C: How do I present? (the second question on the back)
• Group D: How do I submit? (the third question on the back)

Homework

Have a rough draft of Project 2 ready to share in class.