Step 8: The Remix!
Unit 4 | Week 11-12 | ePortfolio Digital Track
Goals: Students will remix a digital showcase project for their ePortfolio.
It’s finally here! After a semester of subtle preparation, your students are now equipped to take one of their major projects (the memoir or profile) and remix it into a new medium/mode for their final portfolio! Ideally, your students will have seen this coming--and many likely already have plans for this.
Preparing for Step 8:
❏ Set clear guidelines for what is expected in the digital project. Adapt the assignment sheet for the Remix with your own criteria. You may want to go over your grading process, or explain ‘Heads-Up Statements’ to them, etc. If you’re allowing group work, clarify how that will be graded! Look at the Example Remix Assignments in the folder for each toolkit!
❏ Give feedback on student project ‘pitches.’ Let students propose their ideas ahead of time, and give them some quick advice! This is a useful way to spend conferences in this unit. One helpful way to think about these proposals (rather than good/bad/etc.) is to use labels like “Thoughtful,” “Vague,” and “Ambitious.” Remember, “ambitious” might sound good, but it’s better to warn students when they’re taking on a big challenge--let them decide if they’re up to the workload.
❏ Give students access to the relevant toolkits for their projects and point out especially relevant resources.
❏ Give guidance on the final ePortfolio requirements.
Examples of Step 8 in action:
Maria (Video Track): Now Maria and their students begin thinking about the remix in the final weeks of class. Students are excited to spend more time on 'process' videos throughout the semester. Maria teaches a lesson on basic video editing and stresses that things do not have to be perfect, but that they can do it! Maria has two students who both did their Profile on the same campus organization. They ask Maria if they can team up, and Maria agrees. They say they’ll make a short video essay about their profiles, but Maria tells them their plan is a little too vague: they want to know how the students will incorporate both of their perspectives into the new piece. They come back with a more detailed outline and with Maria’s approval, get to filming!
Leo (Audio Track): When the remix finally comes, Leo’s students have been playing with audio all semester, but now he really wants these projects to be better than the About Mes turned out to be. He decides to take his class in for a session at the Sanford Media Center, and they give his class a tutorial on good microphone usage and recording habits. The technology instructor at SMC teaches them how to get good audio quality by recording in their closets. Leo then partners up his students into ‘production teams’ and gives them the requirements.
By this point, most of Leo’s work is already done! He spends class floating between groups and checking in with students. When the students are ready, they come and pitch their projects to him. Most of them sound good, but one group wants to interview twelve people (!!!). Leo explains that his plan might be a little ambitious, and tells them that if they pull it off, that will be very impressive-- but that they may want to recalibrate their goals.
Tips and Tools:
It’s all cake from here: Remember, you’ve been scaffolding these elements into your class all semester: now you’re just coasting through to the end! Let your students work at their own pace on their projects and make your focus checking in with them and calibrating, rather than teaching much new material. This is likely your busiest time of the semester, so it's nice to just be a check-in person / facilitator for a little bit.
Warn your students: Where technology is involved, things will go wrong! Invite your students to give themselves some extra time, and remind them to use the Heads-up statements to explain away any technical shortcomings (“so, a really loud lawnmower went by halfway through our interview…”).
Back to Step 7.
Next to Step 9.