Below is the video for my reflection.

Carolyn

- Song seemed a little repetitive

-Display the different technologies/programs in the song editing

- Use outside sources in the text portion of the site; they could be about bands using help from

technology more frequently

Viola

-          Answer questions raised in project; Is it good that musicians use technology or should it take the place of those who do use instruments?

-          Use text bubbles in video to help provide explanation during the video

Craig

-          More information on transition from instruments to computer to show how the song was technically composed

Dan

-          Revise the song spike at 1:59; try to lower volume for listeners

-          More research; maybe on how different song styles are made possible through technology

-          Write about how much time is saved by using technology

-          Change beginning to introduce montage video or start with the information page to make sense of montage and then continue to the video page

-          Change info tab to something better like “how we did it”; use info tab for research

-          Use more screen shots in the video

-          Write a step by step process of how it’s done/created in Garage Band

Ashley

-          More Christina in the video

-          More stills/ clips of garage band, technology etc.

-          Move lyrics to the same page as video; make song reflection page in place of lyrics page

-          Credits section with links/ credit to Garage Band

Since time will be the major deciding factor I will rank the the comments I think we should keep from most important to important but we’ll only do them if we have time.  First I definitely think we should include more screen shots of garage band, as this was suggested by four of the five reviewers. Second I think we should include some outside research sources on the information tab. I think that it was right to comment that I was not in the video and a few shots should be included to show my contribution. I also think that a credits section should be outlined at the end of the video. The idea of text bubbles is also a good suggestion and I think we should try to use it. Finally if we have the time I would consider utilizing the suggestions made by the last two listed reviewers about how our site is organized. Ithink that their comments are very sound and we may consider using the comments if the group agrees.

I am writing in regards to the video made by students of the Fall 2008 semester at Illinois State University for the class English 239 Multimodal Composition. More specifically I am reviewing the video that detailed the students’ experience at the Thomas R. Watson conference on Rhetoric and Composition. I understand that the final project was to be a piece of digital scholarship that could be submitted to the online literary journal Kairos. I am reviewing this video under the criteria of creativity, conceptual core, research/credibility, form/content, audience, and timeliness. Three additional criteria of content, web-based allowances and emerging conventions have been included, as they relate to Allison Warner’s “An Example Heuristic for Assessing the Scholarly Value of Online Texts.”

Under the criteria of creativity I would say that the video was fairly creative. The students utilized pop culture reference by incorporating the “Office” theme which I think grabs attention and helps the audience to relate to the students. The rest of the video was straight forward and slightly plain. That’s not to say that I thought the video was bad I think it needed to be a little more original and different rather than just a simple documentary. I think more time was spent on content, which was good, rather than delivery and a suggestion would be to improve upon the delivery aspect.

Looking at the notion of conceptual core I believe that the students did well. Their topic was one of current interest and useful to the literary journal of Kairos. The use of technology to become an aid in teaching rather than a wall between students and teachers is a rising issue as technology continues to expand. The students’ project shed light on the issue that teachers and students are now learning side by side rather than having the instructors teach the students. They also made note of the fact that students were not given a voice at this conference and if teachers and students are to learn together there needs to be more communication on this subject between both parties. This project would be important to the Kairos audience as many are teachers at universities and the topic in general is very interesting.

Turning towards the criteria of research/credibility the students do need to improve this aspect of their project. They did well with presenting how the conference did not address students and how the students felt but they did not address teachers. In my opinion if they wanted to really bridge a gap between the learning of both teachers and students they should have incorporated a teacher’s perspective. This would also have helped their content as well as they would have been able to propose suggestions as to how technology can be a group learning experience between both teachers and students.

In the form/content area the students did excel at this aspect. I think that a video was the best outlet for their project. The students did well with creating a video that visualized all aspects of the point the students were trying to get across to their audience. I think that the footage from the conference was most helpful to the video and the still shots delivered the message well. The only suggestion I have for this aspect is that their video could have included some audio from the conference that helped explain their point about how students were not addressed.

It was very clear in the video who the audience was and in this criterion the students also did well. I could tell that their project was directed at teachers and students to shed light on the issue of learning technology together; to incorporate technology into the classroom as a tool. I also think that the video was more directed to the teachers who utilized technology as the main aspect of the piece focused on how students felt about it. With regard to this teachers can realize where students are coming from on the basis of technology which would also help the teachers to use it effectively in their classroom.

In regards to timeliness I believe that the students’ subject matter was very appropriate. Indeed as technology grows and becomes a part of everything we do it is essential to acknowledge how it can be of use in learning. The students’ saw themselves as an unrecognized field in the debate about how to introduce technology in a learning environment and they brought themselves to the forefront to illustrate their feelings on the subject. I found their topic to be incredibly interesting and useful to a wide variety of both teachers and students.

In terms of Warner’s criteria of content I cannot really review them based on this idea. Warner’s notion deals with text and in the students’ video there was little to no text, and the text that was presented was not about their subject matter merely headings. In this instance I will use the students’ commentary as their text and review them in that manner. For the most part the students’ project does fulfill Warner’s questions for content. One of Warner’s questions, however, “Does the text contextualize the main argument and demonstrate its significance within the field by offering a review of relevant literature?” I felt the students did not fulfill. In their video I feel that they need to improve upon incorporating more scholarly evidence. While their testimonials are a vital part of their project I do not feel that they should be the only part. Other than that I feel that their content was formal, incorporated their goals, logical and acceptable. One thought I will mention is, it is stated in the major project requirements that the project should be accessible to readers who have differing abilities. In this regard I found no written transcript, though one may have been turned in, so my suggestion is that this transcript be easily accessible for those with hearing disabilities.

Looking at web-based allowances, I think that the students succeeded in this criterion. Their video definitely enhanced their text and I was able to understand their point when looking at how their visuals coincided with their commentary. The video utilized the testimonial aspect which allowed the audience to be face to face with the students seeing and hearing how they feel about their subject. The overall rhetorical effect of their video was very successful and I think they did well with bringing the students perspectives to the forefront in order to promote the idea that teachers and students are learning technology together and they should not be separate in the issue.

Lastly turning to Warner’s notion of emerging conventions the students for the most part thrive. The visuals used in the video related to the rhetoric of their subject and I think they were thoughtfully used. The video was well made and showed the extent of their ability to use and create multimodal projects.  One area of improvement that I can suggest deals with Warner’s question “Does the text provide feedback for link activation as a way to enhance navigation?” The students did not provide any other suggestions for further reading on their topic or any other place where the audience might go to receive further information. As an improvement I think that the students should have incorporated other sources for those in the audience who wish to find out more about their subject.

]]> http://cmpalla.wordpress.com/2009/09/22/peer-review-letter/feed/ 1 Christina http://cmpalla.wordpress.com/2009/09/15/project-proposal/ http://cmpalla.wordpress.com/2009/09/15/project-proposal/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:13:30 +0000 Christina http://cmpalla.wordpress.com/?p=25 ]]> The project that I propose will be submitted to the Inventio section of the journal. My idea centers on children’s literature and how authors write for children today. Previously we give children the sunny side version of what life really is, watch many Disney movies and you’ll get what I mean. Not that I’m bashing this type of work I think it does have its place in literature. What my attention is focused on is the children’s literature that exposes children to the harsher parts of life that they’ll have to deal with and how to deal with them. It is my theory that while giving children a Disney version of life is nice, many times children know that it’s not reality. If you were to read any work written by a child it very often contains more adult issues. For instance there are children who write about the war and racism towards Middle Eastern people after 9/11. Children very often know more than we think they do, so I think that literature should be here to help explain the adult topics to them rather than just leaving them on their own to consider. Literature should be a helpful tool to depict current issues but still be orientated for children. One example that I have is picture book entitled And Tango Makes Three. This book is about two male penguins in a zoo that fall in love and adopt a stray egg. This book is only one of very few that are beginning to come out explaining to children the issue of homosexuality. This issue is one that many children will eventually come into contact with, either in their homes or within themselves. To shield children from the knowledge of important issues like homosexuality only leaves them with confusion. I think that if literature is able to tackle these issues head on many children would be better off as they enter adulthood. In regards to this my topic is specifically to show how books implicitly and explicitly appeal to children by delivering adult subjects, and have adult undertones. With this these books help to not only teach children ways of interaction in society, but also help adults as a way to breach these issues with their children. Taking the Tango book f or example implicitly for kids it’s a book about two penguins who are in love and it shows children that a male female relationship is not the only type. Explicitly the book deals with the issue of homosexuality with the idea that it should be widely accepted by society. I also think that these types of book have a much larger teaching factor for both parents and kids. It may relieve some pressure off of parents to have a well illustrated example explaining tuff issues like homosexuality. There is also an entire genre of children’s literature called children’s gothic which also deals with common fears of life such as death. Through these two examples children’s literature is taking new directions in regards to how it teaches children about real life rather than just sugar coating it.

To bring in the multimodal aspect of my project I plan to create an interactive children’s book. I most likely will already use a book in existence rather than create my own. In reading through the example I will explain the implicit and explicit values and how they are still targeted towards children but help to expose them to more adult issues. I have no set criteria as to what format it should be in but I think that any style from a video to a web-toon would be appropriate. It is my goal that through this project I will be able to explain why there should be more children’s literature that doesn’t have a happy go lucky atmosphere and why it helps kids to learn about current issues rather than keeping them in the dark about life.

Anyway turning back to my ideas I have not much insight as to what topic I want to do for the assignment, mainly because I’m not sure I completely understand what to do with my topic once I decide what it is. I have at least narrowed it down to two ideas and I suppose which ever idea yields the best outcome for the project is the one I will decide to run with. The first idea that I have is about censorship in children’s literature. It would fall into the category of being scholarly, in my opinion, and it is a topic that I am extremely interested in. Going into publishing I don’t partiucularly care for censorship and I believe that it is still heavly active in children’s literature. I think that this topic can fit into a couple of Kairos’s categories. First it can go into pedagogy by showing teachers how to incorporate banned works into their classroom. The second category it the topic can fit into is rhetoric. Banned books are obviously banned for a reason, and language and its effects have a large influence in this department. I think that this topic can defently be submitted in the Topoi category because it can fit into rhetoric as well as pedagogy.

The second topic that I have is women in Rock n’ Roll, or maybe just the music industry in general. Of course I would deal with the 1970s and before due to the fact that the music industry was entirely male dominated and women during that time are often overlooked. I am not quite sure if this is really considered a scholarly topic, though I suppose it could go along with women’s studies, even though it’s not for literature. One category that I think this topic can fit into is rhetoric because the connotation of women immediately had the effect on the music industrty of they weren’t good enough because they were women. I think that this topic can be categorized in Inventio because it is rather loosely related to rhetoric in my opinion.

The second link http://www.secondlife.com. It is a “virtual world” in which people exist as characters of themselves. It is also a very profitable market as people who join create the content of the game and can actually buy “possessions” for their character. As a character you are only limited by your imagination as to what you can do in Second Life.

The last link is http://www.methodshop.com/games/play/yeti/index.shtml. This is a game writer that publishes flash games on the web. The common themes are yetis and penguins. It takes common activities such as darts and golf, but the balls and darts are penguins and the player is a yeti.