Wednesday, April 23

Writing, Listening, Watching (30 min)

Take out your journal responses due today so I can give you credit for it.

Everyone who turned in their research project revision as of last week now has audiovisual feedback (10-13 minute “screencasts” of their papers with my voice giving feedback).

For those who have not turned in revisions of their research project (or the one person who recently did and who I will give feedback to in the next week or so), look at this video instead of audiovisual feedback from me. Also: we gotta talk!

Do the following:

  1. Watch the audiovisual feedback for your research project revision (or this video if you did not turn in your revision). If you don’t have headphones today, try to keep the volume low and go outside. Come back when done.
  2. Read written comments from the rhetorical analysis revision (or, if you rather, written feedback from another paper from me or another professor).
  3. Respond to the following questions:
    • What did you like about watching/listening? What didn’t you like?
    • What did you like about reading? What didn’t you like?
    • How useful one vs. other for revision do you think?
    • What does this experience say about benefits/drawbacks for audio/visual vs. writing in general and feedback specifically?
  4. On this Google Doc, post a response that summarizes your response to some or all of these questions. Try to write what you think is most interesting or useful for discussion with the class as a whole.

What did you think?

  • Harder to miss things in audiovisual vs. written feedback. Easier to skim over. Pay more attention to real human voice rather than text on a screen.
  • Makes more personal, feels like a conversation. Makes you more focused on the feedback.
  • Audiovisual made it feel “faster.”
  • Felt more detailed in audiovisual format. Written feedback feels intentionally shortened so it is not hard to read.
  • Positive feedback comes across more strongly in audiovisual feedback compared to written, which you move past faster
  • Can hear the tone, can helps deliver critiques easier
  • Have to rewind audio compared to written feedback, easier to find again
  • Written feedback is smaller file size, easier to download, can print it out, don’t need headphones. More flexible.
  • 12 for audiovisual, 8 for written.
  • Audio: more information like tone, gesture, facial expressions
  • Writing: can go back and reference, convenient, low tech, easier to commit more thought (can slow down and go back to it)

Episode Groups: Getting Organized (15-20 min)

Get into episode groups to accomplish the following, led by the producers of each group:

  • Discuss: how is everyone doing? How is our collaboration going? Does anyone want to share anything they feel is important about working together from this point forward? How can we collaborate better? Is there anything else on your mind in terms of how we can best work together to finalize our podcast?
  • Discuss: the final draft of the task schedule is due tonight. Let’s review Task Schedule 2 together, along with Prof. Libertz’s feedback and decide on all of the tasks we still need to accomplish and when we must accomplish them by. Also: how will the producer keep people on task (e.g., reminders) and by what method of communication (e.g., WhatsApp, email)
  • Script circulation: for the next activity, we will be workshopping each of the three script drafts (along with its feedback). Email all members of all three episode podcast groups your podcast episode group’s copy of the script (see podcast roster on Brightspace discussion board and use “Classlist” function to email them).

Script Workshop to Revise for Draft 2 (30-40 min)

Read and take notes on all three drafts. Here are some questions to help you read and take notes on the drafts (you don’t have to answer all of these questions, they are here to help you think about the kind of feedback you can offer):

  • Where are you most engaged/interested?
  • Where do you find consistency across drafts?
  • Where could there be more consistency?
  • Where does it feel “written for the ear”? (what we talked about in class on April 21)
  • Where are places where it could be better “written for the ear”? (what we talked about in class on April 21)
  • Where are there places where there are good references to research/experts/sources?
  • Do there need to be more references to research/experts/sources? Where?
  • Are segments effectively separately from one another?
  • Where could there be more attention to splitting up parts into clear segments?
  • How is sound well-used? (e.g., music, silence/pauses, sound effects)
  • Where could sound be better incorporated?
  • Is there a clear argument in the episode? Where is it effective? Where could it be more effective?
  • Where does it seem like part of a podcast rather than an isolated audio essay? (e.g., references to other episodes, “signposting” what the episode is doing and how it fits into a larger project of a larger podcast, making clear that the episode’s argument fits into a larger argument beyond the episode)
  • Where could the episode be more connected to other episodes?
  • Especially for scripts that have less content, what ideas do you have for them to help the script become a more substantive, 20-30 minute episode?

Finally:

When are you going to get me the second draft?

  • MTA Podcast, Episode 1: April 24
  • MTA Podcast, Episode 2: April 25
  • MTA Podcast, Episode 3: April 27
  • Education Costs, Episode 1: April 25
  • Education Costs, Episode 2: April 25
  • Education Costs, Episode 3: April 27

Grade Boosts Associated with Podcast (10 min)

These are the dates people asked me to do cover art, transcriptions, and/or podcast/episode descriptions:

-February 20: Benny asked to do transcriptions and podcast/episode descriptions

-February 27: Yoon (will let me know about cover art by tonight)

-March 10: Ammar asked to do cover art (on standby)

-April 21: Sarah cover art

-April 23: podcast/episode descriptions Luke

-April 23: Aidan transcriptions

Did I miss anyone? When did you ask, if so?

Let’s assign these tasks and those who are doing them, stay after class to talk about our plan for getting this done.

Next Time (5 min)

-Draft 3 of Task Schedule is due by tonight (11:59pm). Make sure, producers, that your episode group is aware of what they need to do.

-Want to talk with: Fati, Gilayne, Jhosanna, Jocelyn, Mark, Milo, Ziyan, Julia, Benny, Khaz

-Write Podcast Post 4 (see here to see when you are up to write a post). Due Friday, April 25 by 12pm.

-Post a comment on Podcast Post 4. Due Monday, April 28 by 9:55am.