One assignment I give to my intro computer students is a final project for PowerPoint. I tell them they can do a PowerPoint presentation on any subject they are interested in or consider themselves an expert in as long as it includes specific elements in the content and design reflected in the course lessons.
However, I decided with the PowerPoint assignment to add a couple components not included in the curriculum, skills I thought should be something students should know how to do. One element is to include a hyperlink to a website on a slide. Another element is to embed a YouTube video at some point in the presentation.
Even though I'm facilitating many traditional-age college freshmen and sophomores – by definition, among a generation of youth who are "digital natives" (Halverson, pg. 2357) as defined in the referenced article – the hyperlink and embedding tasks are new to some of them.
I introduced this particular assignment by showing an example presentation from my life, a PowerPoint about sea turtle research. It's a topic I'm familiar with after from having lived on an isolated South American beach working with giant leatherbacks and green turtles for 3.5 months many years ago. In addition, I provided students with a video tutorial and/or a PDF explaining the hyperlink and video embedding components.
The decision to give students an "express-yourself" type assignment resonates with Halverson's analysis of teen filmmaking: "By requiring each participant to work on an individual film that tells a story about their lives, the organization places the development of individual identity at the center of the process while at the same time supporting learning about the art of film within the constraints of short-form documentary" (Halverson, pg. 2364).
In my case, the "film" is whatever subject the student chooses to create a presentation on. I'm supporting the learning about the program's mechanics within the confines of PowerPoint.
For an intro computer class, the inception for web-based tasks is very minimal. However, PowerPoint is a good starting point with which to introduce students to the art of a presentation, such as Word Art, shapes and transitions. Learners are required to include at least one example each of Word Art and shapes in the presentation as well as a transition.
Within the freedom to include these elements, students are also informed their design choices should be consistent. For example, they should have the same slide transitions throughout the presentation, not different ones throughout.
Allowing the students to experiment in this manner introduces them to the basic components of creating a presentation or telling a story – that of having a beginning, middle, and end. In doing so, students are given permission to "manage the construction of a viable social identity" (Halverson, pg. 2360), or rather something that interests them and, in the process, challenges them to produce an interesting, informative presentation.
As with Halverson's example of teen filmmaking, the relationship between who the students are in my class and their choices of subjects they chose to create a presentation on is shaped "the narratives of personal experience and external presentations of identity" (Halverson, pg. 2355). The result, as an instructor, has been a potpourri of presentations that include topics such eating vegetarian, the Eiffel Tower, makeup products, taking care of horses, and Doctor Who.
While this was a mandatory assignment, I felt the students enjoyed this project the most out of all the homework required in the semester. This final project gave learners a chance to use multiple mediums of text, images, and video weaved with a uniform transition on a topic of their choosing. The assessment aspect of this was done on a point basis, with each component of the PowerPoint worth a certain value. These criteria included such things as having a title slide, an image on each slide, info on the notes section, a hyperlink, an embedded video, and clean layout and design.
Overall, I loved reviewing all the assignments. Based on the depth of information and artistry students put into their projects, I could tell many put a lot of heart into their presentations and were proud of the end result. So was I.
Personal Perspective
I first heard the term multimedia when a former classmate years ago used it. She created an exceptional piece about a widower's life in grad school which consists of mostly still images with voice-over. Her work, as well the work of another photographer colleague, inspired me to start offering multimedia media pieces for clients - mainly still images with voice-over.
Adding sound to still images taught me combining both mediums adds an extra layer of understanding and emotion one can't get with just using a single mode. In the article Locating the Semiotic Power of Multimodality, the authors point out: "Pictures...do not convey meaning in the same way that language does, and as such, their respective meaning-making affordances are different...images, written text, music, and so on each respectively impart certain kinds of meanings more easily and naturally than others" (Hull & Nelson, pg. 229).
Much of my multimedia work as a creative professional is still images with voice-over and an underlying layer of music. Like "Lyfe-N-Rhyme," my work is produced in Adobe Premiere Pro's interface consisting of "multiple time-coded tracks" (Hull & Nelson, pg. 235) – one for still images, one for background music, one for audio. In producing a multimedia piece, I usually start with the audio voiced track because that is can the most time-consuming to edit. Oftentimes I'm editing out long pauses or "umms" during the conversation. Once the audio is cleaned up, I evaluate the images I have and then start layering them above the audio so it aligns to create a coherent narrative.
Similar to "Lyfe-N-Rhyme," my productions also show "patterns within and between different modes that constitute a multimodal whole" (Hull & Nelson, pg. 239). This can be in the form of repeating the same or a similar image in a piece to emphasize a point, matching up an image with a particular quote, and/or creating text transitions to help the viewer prepare for what's to come.
One of my favorite multimedia pieces is a profile I did of a girl named Molly in 2014, which can be viewed here.
In the past few years, multimedia has become a huge part of my identity. It's challenged me to find ways to tell stories without embellishment of the narrative. At the core, as a former journalist, the story still stems from the subject and his or her ability to articulate responses. This also depends on my ability to ask the right questions and gain the trust of my subjects.
I've since added video to my work, although I'm not drawn to mixing video and still images in a narrative. For me, mixing the two translates into confusion for the viewer and wonder "Did the video freeze in every other frame?" A video is faster for me to edit, but I will still do still images with voice-over depending on the scope of the project.
In doing my Multimedia Montage Project, I find the tools for recording screencasts and audio relatively easy to adjust to. Perhaps my biggest challenge is formulating my thoughts and organizing the content in a way that makes to the viewer. In closing, I'm looking forward to the end result of my project, and expect I will carry over components of what I learned on future productions.
Thanks for reading, and I look forward to your comments.
Shuva
References:
-Halverson, E. R. (2010). Film as Identity Exploration: A Multimodal Analysis of Youth-Produced Films. Teachers College Record, pgs. 2352-2378.
-Hull, G. & Nelson, M. (2005). Locating the Semiotic Power of Multimodality. Written Communication, pgs. 224-261.
I introduced this particular assignment by showing an example presentation from my life, a PowerPoint about sea turtle research. It's a topic I'm familiar with after from having lived on an isolated South American beach working with giant leatherbacks and green turtles for 3.5 months many years ago. In addition, I provided students with a video tutorial and/or a PDF explaining the hyperlink and video embedding components.
The decision to give students an "express-yourself" type assignment resonates with Halverson's analysis of teen filmmaking: "By requiring each participant to work on an individual film that tells a story about their lives, the organization places the development of individual identity at the center of the process while at the same time supporting learning about the art of film within the constraints of short-form documentary" (Halverson, pg. 2364).
In my case, the "film" is whatever subject the student chooses to create a presentation on. I'm supporting the learning about the program's mechanics within the confines of PowerPoint.
For an intro computer class, the inception for web-based tasks is very minimal. However, PowerPoint is a good starting point with which to introduce students to the art of a presentation, such as Word Art, shapes and transitions. Learners are required to include at least one example each of Word Art and shapes in the presentation as well as a transition.
Within the freedom to include these elements, students are also informed their design choices should be consistent. For example, they should have the same slide transitions throughout the presentation, not different ones throughout.
Allowing the students to experiment in this manner introduces them to the basic components of creating a presentation or telling a story – that of having a beginning, middle, and end. In doing so, students are given permission to "manage the construction of a viable social identity" (Halverson, pg. 2360), or rather something that interests them and, in the process, challenges them to produce an interesting, informative presentation.
As with Halverson's example of teen filmmaking, the relationship between who the students are in my class and their choices of subjects they chose to create a presentation on is shaped "the narratives of personal experience and external presentations of identity" (Halverson, pg. 2355). The result, as an instructor, has been a potpourri of presentations that include topics such eating vegetarian, the Eiffel Tower, makeup products, taking care of horses, and Doctor Who.
While this was a mandatory assignment, I felt the students enjoyed this project the most out of all the homework required in the semester. This final project gave learners a chance to use multiple mediums of text, images, and video weaved with a uniform transition on a topic of their choosing. The assessment aspect of this was done on a point basis, with each component of the PowerPoint worth a certain value. These criteria included such things as having a title slide, an image on each slide, info on the notes section, a hyperlink, an embedded video, and clean layout and design.
Overall, I loved reviewing all the assignments. Based on the depth of information and artistry students put into their projects, I could tell many put a lot of heart into their presentations and were proud of the end result. So was I.
Personal Perspective
I first heard the term multimedia when a former classmate years ago used it. She created an exceptional piece about a widower's life in grad school which consists of mostly still images with voice-over. Her work, as well the work of another photographer colleague, inspired me to start offering multimedia media pieces for clients - mainly still images with voice-over.
Adding sound to still images taught me combining both mediums adds an extra layer of understanding and emotion one can't get with just using a single mode. In the article Locating the Semiotic Power of Multimodality, the authors point out: "Pictures...do not convey meaning in the same way that language does, and as such, their respective meaning-making affordances are different...images, written text, music, and so on each respectively impart certain kinds of meanings more easily and naturally than others" (Hull & Nelson, pg. 229).
Much of my multimedia work as a creative professional is still images with voice-over and an underlying layer of music. Like "Lyfe-N-Rhyme," my work is produced in Adobe Premiere Pro's interface consisting of "multiple time-coded tracks" (Hull & Nelson, pg. 235) – one for still images, one for background music, one for audio. In producing a multimedia piece, I usually start with the audio voiced track because that is can the most time-consuming to edit. Oftentimes I'm editing out long pauses or "umms" during the conversation. Once the audio is cleaned up, I evaluate the images I have and then start layering them above the audio so it aligns to create a coherent narrative.
Similar to "Lyfe-N-Rhyme," my productions also show "patterns within and between different modes that constitute a multimodal whole" (Hull & Nelson, pg. 239). This can be in the form of repeating the same or a similar image in a piece to emphasize a point, matching up an image with a particular quote, and/or creating text transitions to help the viewer prepare for what's to come.
One of my favorite multimedia pieces is a profile I did of a girl named Molly in 2014, which can be viewed here.
In the past few years, multimedia has become a huge part of my identity. It's challenged me to find ways to tell stories without embellishment of the narrative. At the core, as a former journalist, the story still stems from the subject and his or her ability to articulate responses. This also depends on my ability to ask the right questions and gain the trust of my subjects.
I've since added video to my work, although I'm not drawn to mixing video and still images in a narrative. For me, mixing the two translates into confusion for the viewer and wonder "Did the video freeze in every other frame?" A video is faster for me to edit, but I will still do still images with voice-over depending on the scope of the project.
In doing my Multimedia Montage Project, I find the tools for recording screencasts and audio relatively easy to adjust to. Perhaps my biggest challenge is formulating my thoughts and organizing the content in a way that makes to the viewer. In closing, I'm looking forward to the end result of my project, and expect I will carry over components of what I learned on future productions.
Thanks for reading, and I look forward to your comments.
Shuva
References:
-Halverson, E. R. (2010). Film as Identity Exploration: A Multimodal Analysis of Youth-Produced Films. Teachers College Record, pgs. 2352-2378.
-Hull, G. & Nelson, M. (2005). Locating the Semiotic Power of Multimodality. Written Communication, pgs. 224-261.
Hi Shuva,
ReplyDeleteThis is a good piece. PowerPoint remains a popular tool for most the people acquainting themselves with technology. It produces a commendable, presentable work. Mostly, it is very convenient to people who cannot access internet. In developing countries where digital literacy is low, PowerPoint is used in thesis presentations.
Thanks for your comment and sharing that perspective, Alfred.
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