Assignment #1

Assignment #2

Assignment #3

Assignment #4

Assignment #5

Assignment #1 – The Media & Me

Part 1 – The Personal Statement
In the first part of this assignment you will write a personal statement about how the media influences you and your environment and how you yourself can use media to express yourself and change the world around you.

You are encouraged to be creative as possible with your statement, but should also consider these questions:

• Which forms of media are you exposed to most frequently? • When did you first come in to contact with these? • Why do you think these media in particular are effective? • How can you use these media to communicate with others? • How might you use media to induce change?

Part 2 – Hyperlink References
In the second part of this assignment, you will expand on your personal statement by creating hyperlinks that reference the people, places, objects, or ideas you include in your writing. Clicking on any one of these hyperlink references should take the reader to a unique website that further illustrates your point.

For example: My earliest memory of watching television is with my Mother and Father during the NFL Super Bowl.(here you could create a hyperlink for NFL linking to www.nfl.com)

The way that you interpret these references is up to you, but be creative! The goal is to see how effectively you can communicate your message by using other information on the Internet. The more specific your reference, the better you will be able to communicate your idea.

For example: My earliest memory of watching television is with my Mother and Father during the NFL Super Bowl.(Instead of linking the word NFL to www.nfl.com, you could link the words “NFL Super Bowl” to a page containing info on the 1993 Super Bowl: http://www.superbowl.com/history/recaps/game/sbxxvii)

You may want to consider this part of the assignment before writing your statement, as some ideas are much easier to reference than others. Whatever the case you are encouraged to find websites with information that most effectively references your ideas.

Your assignment will be graded on the number of references you are able to make within your statement (you must make at least 10) and how effective your references are in communicating a specific idea (be as thorough as possible).

Related Tutorials
[Using the Write Post SubPanel]
[Working with Quicktags]

Homework
Refine your personal statement, continue gathering hyperlink references, and try to insert *one* related image in to your post.

Assignment #2 – Photo Montage: What’s In A Name?

Overview
In this assignment you will create a photomontage depicting the various ways your first and/or last name can be interpreted. You can draw on your own past experiences or even common conceptions of what your name means to others. You should start by probing the Internet for imagery related to your name and its meanings, but feel free to consult other sources for imagery as well. The point is to analyze your own name and assess its meaning by creating a visual representation of your identity.

Will the visual representation tell a different story than just your name alone? Will it create a new meaning?

Do you remember Juliet’s critical inquiry about the significance of Romeo’s last name, Montague? She was criticizing the fact that people are judged by names that are assigned to them before they’re even able to speak for themselves! In this sense names can be both telling and confining- and ultimately oppressive.

Excerpt from Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet:

(Juliet) ‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy;– Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What’s in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title:–Romeo, doff thy name; And for that name, which is no part of thee, Take all myself

Have you ever been in a situation where someone has used your name to determine something about your heritage, your class, or even your personality? If so, be sure to describe this situation in your blog post.

What does your name mean to you? What are its various interpretations?

Part A — The Meaning of Your Name: Some Questions for Finding Related Imagery:

• Where does your last name come from? What is it derived from? • Is there an actual translation of your last name? What does that mean? • Are there other notable people that share either of your names? • Do you share your first name with another family member?

Part B — Visualizing & Designing Your Own Identity

• What new imagery would you like associated with your name? • What doesn’t your name tell us about you? • How can your interests depict your identity? • Do you have a nickname? What sorts of imagery does it suggest? • What colors and/or textures represent you?

If we were to take your name out of this montage would it still represent you?

Your assignment will be graded on how well you use found imagery to communicate the meaning(s) of your name and identity. You are encouraged to use images found on the web, though you should also feel free to incorporate any other images you may find elsewhere (e.g. – magazines, photos, family photos, etc.).

You must feature your full name, in legible text, somewhere on your montage.

You must use at least 7 Images total in your photo montage.

Assignment #3 – The Podcast Report

Click here to view the microphone reservation chart

Overview
In this assignment, you will create a podcast about a significant issue relevant to the SMASH community. You will be working in groups, though your group may create multiplel podcasts to satisfy ALL of the interests of the members in your group. You are encouraged to choose a topic of particular interest to you as long as it relates to the SMASH community in some way. You are essentially recording an oral presentation that anyone can hear online.

You should start by thinking of a topic that really matters to you, and that you feel other people, outside of the SMASH community, should hear about. When organizing your presentation, it may help to outline your ideas as if you were writing an expository essay. This will make you much more comfortable with your topic, and ensure that you cover all of the important points.

The goal of this assignment is two fold:

1. Identify a significant topic that you think others around the world should know about.
2. Develop a creative way of engaging your audience and building interest in your topic.
   

Part I – The Topic

• Your group will conduct a brainstorm about a topic that they feel will be most effective.
• Outline your presentation, and post your outline to your blog for your group members to review.
• Record all of the vocals for each member in your group.

Part II – The Interviews

• You will be required to interview AT LEAST 2 people about your topic. These people can not be people in your class, and only one can be a SMASH student.
• You should schedule your interviews AHEAD OF TIME, so that your interviewees will be comfortable with the interview process.

Part III – The Editing

• You need to edit your vocals to be clear and concise so that all of your audience can hear your podcast.
• Insert background music in to your podcast that relates to your topic.

Requirements

• Everyone in your group must participate and speak in the podcast.
• Each student is to produce their own “remix” of the vocals and interviews recorded in the podcast.
• You must interview two people, outside of your class, that can add some insight on your topic.
• You must post your podcast to the blog, with a summary of your presentation, and a related image or montage.
• You must use some kind of background music or sound effects to compliment the topic of your podcast.

Assignment #4 – The Flashback

Overview
In this assignment, you will create an interactive Flash presentation that teaches something significant you’ve learned during your past 3 or 4 weeks at SMASH. You may choose anything you’ve learned from this class, your other classes, or even the SMASH program in general. If you like, you may even create a presentation that teaches something from a variety of subjects. This project gives you the opportunity to become a teacher and a producer of the knowledge you have consumed at SMASH.

You should start by thinking of a subject or technique that you understand well. This should be a subject that you feel would be beneficial for someone else to know. When organizing your presentation, it will help to outline your ideas as if you were writing an expository essay. Break your presentation down in to mini-lessons, and write out the exact points or steps for each. This will allow you to design your entire presentation around your ideas instead of trying to formulate your ideas as you design the presentation.

Part I – Your Lesson Plan
Choose any variety of subjects to teach. You may be as broad as you like in your lesson plan, but be sure to focus on the most significant or interesting parts of your subjects.

Create an outline for your presentation, titling each mini lesson and writing out the lesson text. You may also want to include sub-sections for that you title graphics, sounds, and animations. The more detail you add to your outline, the easier it will be develop your presentation in Flash.

Post your lesson plan to the blog and continue to edit it, if necessary, as you design your presentation.

Part II – The Flash Frames
In Flash, you will create a different frame for each mini-lesson in your lesson plan. Your presentation must have AT LEAST 5 frames. Two of these frames should be used for your Introduction and Conclusion. Use as many frames as you need to complete your lesson plan. Use the text tool to create a simple title for each frame.

Content
Start by copying and pasting the text from your mini-lessons in to each of the respective frames. It may help to use multiple text fields for easier formatting. Loosely arrange your text before designing a background.

Backgrounds
In Photoshop, create backgrounds for each of your frames. Your backgrounds should help to accentuate the ideas of each frame, but you may design them however you like. You might want to use a consistent design for each frame depending on the content in your lesson plan.

Animations & Sound
Once you have finished designing a layout for each frame, add animations and sounds to bring your presentation to life. You may want to animate certain elements in your background, or even animate text or other graphics. You can add background music to each frame or just simple sound effects for your animations. However you incorporate these media samples, you should make sure that they engage the learner and aid in the teaching process.

Part III – Interactivity
Users will need a way to navigate the frames in your presentation. Depending on your lesson plan, you will want to create a linear or non-linear presentation. You will need to design your navigation buttons slightly different depending on the style of presentation you choose.

A Non-linear Presentation
If you create a non-linear presentation, users will have the ability to navigate to any part of the presentation at any time. Therefore, each frame would require a series of menu buttons, allowing the user to access the various mini lessons of the presentation in any order they choose.

A Linear Presentation
If you create a linear presentation, users will navigate your presentation, from start to finish, in the order that you determine. Therefore, each frame would only require a “Next” and “Previous” button to guide the user through your the sequence of mini lessons. A linear presentation is most effective if your mini lessons are cumulative, or if you want your user to always see a certain frame at the end.

Requirements

• Your subject(s) must be something you learned at SMASH this summer.
• Your presentation must include AT LEAST 5 frames.
• You must include a Start page or title card, regardless of your presentation style.
• You must create AT LEAST one animation.
• You must incorporate some (not all) images that you have edited in Photoshop.
• You must incorporate some (not all) sounds that you have edited in Audacity.

Assignment #5 – The Finished Product

Overview
In this assignment, you will select one of your previous assignments to enhance, improve, refine, and present on the the class website as your best work. You may choose any of the four assignments (and even combine two or more), but you must choose a project that you have already worked on in this class.

The goal of this assignment is to revisit your process and revise your project so that your work is as polished and professional as possible. You are encouraged to incorporate feedback from your comments and even create a new blog post requesting feedback on your work. You should be sure to focus on correcting mistakes and improving the stronger elements of your project as well. The class website is a representation of SMASH, so your Finished Product should represent all of your work as a SMASH scholar.

Part I – Select an Assignment
Choose an assignment that you liked most or one where you feel you performed especially well. Assess the current state of this assignment, identify the areas where you could improve it (including any possible corrections), and post your choice and your thoughts to the blog. This blog post will be very important as you will be graded on how well you react to your assessment.

Part II – The Polishing Process
Spend as much time as you can working on your finished product. Make as many enhancements as you can, but make sure not to start anything you can’t finish. Your aim should be to make this product look as complete as possible.

Part III – Documenting Your Process
Write a reflection or summary of your refinement process. It may help to write this as you refine your project so that you don’t forget any important details. This reflection should be an in-depth analysis, in paragraph form, of the exact steps you took to improve your work, and why you chose to refine this specific assignment.

In writing your reflection, be sure to answer the following questions:

– Why did you choose to refine this particular assignment?
- What did you like the most about this assignment?
- What did you want to improve most about this assignment?
- How did you go about improving your work and what steps did you take?
- How do you feel about this project now that you’ve improved it?
- What else would you still like to add to this project?
- How could you use this type of project (or the related skills) to change the world around you?