Blogging Pedagogy

This week's interviewee is Lena Khor, discussing her lesson plan that involves asking her students to "appeal to all the senses" by creating a multi-media argument pertaining to their chosen 306 controversy. It's a very creative addition to the usual 306 fare. Read on for her comments on student reactions to this assignment.

Q. How did your students respond to the assignment?

A. Very well. They enjoyed the freedom to develop a creative and practical project. For those who weren't familiar with tools like iMovie, iWed, and Photoshop, this assignment also taught them how to use these technologies. The criteria of making and showing the text they develop to their intended audience, I think, made the project more challenging and also more meaningful. It was more challenging because they felt the pressure that comes with presenting to a live group of people. But it was more meaningful because they decided what they wanted to say, to whom, how, and why.

Q. Is this an assignment you use regularly? Were there any unexpected problems or benefits?

A. This was the first time I'd used this assignment, although I'd thought about it a lot before when teaching other classes. I just never felt I could dedicate the time it takes up in the class calendar to build in this assignment. But when I actually set it up, it didn't take as much class time as I thought. I was also concerned about making the students familiar enough with the technology so they would feel comfortable and confident making a short film or a website independently. But the instruction provided by Digital Media Services alleviated this concern. Most students, it turns out, are quite familiar with creating projects like short films or websites in their other classes. I'm using this assignment again this semester. We'll see how it goes.

Q. What is your favorite aspect of this assignment?

A. My favorite aspect of this assignment is that it puts the fundamentals of rhetoric and argumentation that we learn in class into practice. The criteria of tailoring and showing their text (with their argument) to their intended audience meant that students made an argument they felt was important to a particular group of people that they wanted to reach. In doing so, they not only made their argument directly, they also got immediate feedback from their intended audience. Students are also more excited about this assignment than writing regular papers. The ones who become really engrossed in the project create amazing arguments. Pedagogically, the same issues of organization, sign-posting, and transitioning that are critical in academic papers come up with presenting an argument in short films or websites. So there's another avenue for students who have a hard time grasping these concepts in the traditional paper to understand and work on these factors in another format.

Q. If you were to use this lesson plan again, is there anything you would change?

A. One aspect I've thought about changing is limiting the types of formats to just iMovie or just iWeb. While having a range of formats increases the options for students - they can choose whatever format they are most comfortable with and that they feel best suits their argument and audience, it can make things a little more messy in class - we have to schedule time for workshops on more multimedia programs and talk about how arguments work in a short film versus in a webpage versus in a website etc. Narrowing the options down to just one multimedia format will make things a little easier and more streamlined - everyone in class will be working with the same media and facing similar types of questions and challenges.