You must complete all assignments and requirements in order to pass this course. Your final grade includes the following requirements:
The projects are designed to build upon one another, both in terms of the concepts involved and the work that you will do.
Descriptions of the Major Projects
Project 1: Online Identity Profile. Due Monday, February 1. Worth 10%.
You will think about how you want to present yourself online and create a Online Identity Profile, combining a digital image with a brief explanatory text. You will share your image in class. Your goals are to think about your online personality and reputation, to help us get to know you, and to create resources you can use in your Academic Portfolio.
Project 2: Build an Academic Portfolio. Due Friday, February 19. Worth 10%.
You will design and create an academic portfolio where you will publish the work that you do for this course and other courses you have and will take at Virginia Tech. You can think of your portfolio as a place to publish your work to share with teachers as well as to create a portfolio to submit with internship and job applications. You will write and design text for online presentation, use digital images (and if desired, video and audio), and use basic HTML and CSS syntax.
Project 3: Interrogate a Story Source. Due Monday, March 21. Worth 15%.
You will choose a story that you want to remix for Project 4 and, then, choose one source of that story, which you will analyze in a multi-page web essay. Your analysis should go beyond merely describing what happens in the story to investigating how the author controls or influences the reader’s interaction with the story through the ways that the story is created, published, and distributed.. Your web essay should include a rhetorical analysis and discussion of design choices in the context of your analysis of the affordances and constraints of the methods of creation, publication, and distribution.
Project 4: Remix a Story. Due Monday, April 25. Presentations on April 27 to May 4. Worth 25%.
You will take an existing story (fiction or nonfiction) originally told primarily in the linguistic mode and translate it into a new, digital, multimodal version. You will present your new version of the story in class at the end of the semester.
The idea of remaking an old story in a new way should be familiar to you. Anytime a movie is made that is based on a book, those involved are creating a new multimodal version of the original linguistic-focused text. You are not limited to making a movie-version of your text however. Nearly anything goes. I only ask that you use at least three modes of communication. You may stick closely to the original version of the story or event, or you may reimagine the story from another perspective. Your options are open for this assignment.
Take-Home Final Exam: Revision and Maintenance Plan. Due date varies. Worth 15%.
You will return to your academic portfolio (Project 2) and create a revision and sustainability/maintenance plan for the site. Your goal will be to review your portfolio given what you have learned during the term about rhetoric, design choices, and the affordances and constraints of the methods of creation, publication, and distribution you have chosen. After your review, you will outline your plans for revising, updating, and maintaining the site in light of your analysis to improve the portfolio so that you can continue to use it to showcase your writing while studying in the English Department.
Five Reminders about the Course Work
- You must complete all major projects and the exam in order to pass this course.
- Attendance, quizzes, in-class writing, blog posts, and discussion posts are part of the participation portion of your grade, but completing these activities will also improve your projects.
- Revise each project extensively before submitting it for a grade. There are no rewrites or revisions after work is graded.
- Submit all your projects online in Canvas. No other submissions are accepted.
- Find details on how to submit each project posted on the course website on the due date.