Unit 4: Multimodality, Revision, and Reflection
Like many of our other projects, your fourth assignment has two parts. Our real focus in this unit is to move beyond the typical classroom essays. We’ll be doing this by: 1) looking at ways of composing for other modes (visual, audio) of communication and 2) reflecting on our work in this class with the goal of clarifying our learning and understanding how it could fit into other contexts. For unit 4, you will have to compose 3 items:
A multimodal revision of your argumentative paper
An introduction to your website
A reflection essay that is at least 4 pages long
Multimodal Revision: (minimum 3-5 minutes)
Please do not stress out over this part of the project. My goal here is only to have you explore possibilities for other modes of composing. I do not expect professional quality pieces. However, I do expect you to spend some time developing this. You will be presenting your revision to the class on one of the last two days.
For this portion of the unit, you will need to make a multimodal version of your argumentative paper (the unit we just finished). What does this mean? It means that you should create an object that uses audio and/or visual elements to make an argument similar to (or identical to) the one you created in your essay. The exact form that this object takes can vary greatly. Here are a few ideas:
A video
A game or other form of interactive media
A song (this one seems the most difficult to me, but go for it if you want to)
A pictorial presentation
The first part of this project will be going out and exploring a few tools that you might use. There are many free tools available online to do each of these. The only constraint I’m putting on tool choice is that it can’t be made with PowerPoint or Word (or anything very similar to them). Another quick note: a quickly taped video of you talking to a webcam will receive a low grade. For this portion of the unit, you will also have to compose a brief (approximately 1 page, double-spaced) justification of the form. You should read this along with showing your object during your presentation. Both should also be posted to your website under Unit 4.
Website Introduction: (approx 1 page)
For this portion of the project, I will be asking you to revise the home page of your website. The main goal here is to provide a quick introduction to what the site is all about. The introduction should also provide an overview of the site and should lead visitors to other sections of the site.
Argumentative Reflection Essay: (minimum 4 pages)
This is our most traditional portion of this third unit. You will need to write an argumentative essay (the same format we used for the third essay where there is a clear thesis and paragraphs with evidence that develop a cogent argument) that uses your work in this class as evidence to show your progress toward our learning objectives (which can be found on the syllabus). It must be at least 4 pages long. You will likely find that it needs to be longer.
Your goal in this part of the unit is to answer the research question: How have I made progress towards the learning objectives of EN 1020?