Syllabus


CI5472 Teaching Film, Television, and Media Studies

225 Peik Hall, 4:40 – 7:20 Thursdays

Rick Beach, 359 Peik Hall, 612-625-3893

office hours: Tues/Thurs. 3:00 – 4:00, and by appointment  rbeach@umn.edu

355 Computer Lab hours (technology assistance available): Wed.-Friday mid/late morning.

 

Note: in case of inclement weather: I will also send out an e-mail message by 3:00 indicating whether class has been cancelled and will post a message on the wikis

 

 

Course Objectives

- understand and be able to use various digital writing tools (blogs/wikis) for use in the classroom for fostering writing about media.

- understand different theoretical justifications of film, television, media study.

- use of a “media lab”/web-based approach to film, television, media study

- understand and apply different critical approaches to studying media: aesthetic, formalist, genre, technical, psychological, critical theory, cultural studies, feminist.

- understand the purpose for the use of different film/video techniques and techniques for teaching these techniques to students

- use of video production to teach students video/film technique

- demonstrate the ability to conduct critical analysis of media representation, invited stances, value assignments, and genre characteristics

- develop instructional activities to involve students in actively responding to and critically analyzing media texts

- understanding the economic and consumer forces shaping commercial media

- critically analyzes the representations of gender, class, and race in the media

- define similarities and differences between the experiences of different types of media and draw implications for instruction

- determine the social uses of media by adolescents and ways of building on those social uses in order to motivate students.

 

 

Schedule  (readings are for the next session)

 

 

Sept. 6th

- New media/digital literacies: critical analysis of the web as a medium; the development of Web 2.0 read/write social digital tools for use in the classroom; employing a “media-lab” approach to teaching media studies: having students continually share and analyze video, DVD, media text clips.  

- The textbook: TeachingMediaLiteracy.com and course website: http://www.teachingmedialiteracy.com

- Setting up your course blog on Blogger (in case you already have blog, you can use that blog;  if you’re dealing with a range of different topics, you may want to create a new blog; for examples of blogs from Fall, 2006, see the wiki site; for those of you in the post bac, program, you will be using this blog in CI5461, Teaching Composition, taught by Candance Doerr, in the Winter).

- Beach’s blog: http://teachingliterature.typepad.com/teachingmedia

This blog contains vlog tutorials on creating vlogs (see this blog for written transcript of these tutorials)

- The digital writing wiki: http://digitalwriting.pbwiki.com

- Writing final “chapters” on the media studies wikibook: http://teachingmedialiteracy.pbwiki.com/

(To learn more about the PBwiki: http://teachingmedialiteracy.pbwiki.com/WhatWikiIs)

Atomic Learning PBWiki tutorials http://www.atomiclearning.com/pbwiki

- Checking out DVD’s from the DVD class collection (for one-week check outs)

- Subscribing to the media listserv media-l@nmsu.edu

- Subscribing to the Teachers Teaching Teachers podcast: http://teachersteachingteachers.org/

- Creating a YouTube account: http://youtube.com (you will be storing your vlog videos on YouTube) as well as the Universities Media Mill http://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/ and then adding a link to your blog and the wiki.

- Checking out and using digital cameras, microphones, and tripods from the Curriculum Library, basement of Peik Hall (next to pop machines)

http://intranet.education.umn.edu/ci/tech/equipment/default.asp

- Sharing: what specific media do you enjoy and why?  What are your favorite films, TV programs, news outlet, and social networking sites—reasons for popularity and underlying ideological assumptions related to texts leading to potential criticisms; balancing pleasure and critique—how to foster criticism without undermining pleasure.

- How and where did you acquire media literacies involved in use of these media: How did you learn to use or enjoy these media?  What does your experience learning these media suggest about teaching media or critical analysis of the media?  How does producing media help you understand media?

- Teaching understanding of media through producing media (Burn & Durran)

 

Read: in TeachingMediaLiteracy.com: Chapter 1 and 2; in Richardson: 1-58; 75-91; in Verdi & Hodson (order from Amazon if not in bookstore), 1-48, 140-188.

Set up your blog on Blogger.com (see Richardson, pp. 51-56 and Verdi & Hodson, 140-146), and create a feed for your blog (see Richardson, 85; Verdi & Hodson, 161-162); create a Bloglines account (see Richardson, pp. 77-80) and add some feeds from others’ blogs related to media studies or education (see http://blog.lib.umn.edu/rbeach/media/, for example Will Richardson’s Weblogg-ed: http://www.weblogg-ed.com/)

View my vlog Tutorial 1 and 2 on vlogging  http://blog.lib.umn.edu/rbeach/media/

In your blog: View some videoblogs such as our very own MinnesotaStories: see Verdi & Hodson, pp. 6-12; the digital writing wiki http://digitalwriting.pbwiki.com/VlogTools, http://mefeedia.com, or http://fireant.tv  Select one vlog and describe what you like about this vlog, possibly including a link to or screen shot of this vlog in your post.  Whom do you think is the audience for this vlog and what aspects of the vlog are designed to appeal to this audience?  What video/editing techniques are employed in this vlog and how effective are they?

 

 

 

Sept. 13th Vlogging/Analysis of Film Technques

- Uses of comments and categories in blogging; sharing of RSS feeds with others in the class using RSS feeds sites such as Bloglines and Google Reader; the feed for my blog is http://teachingliterature.typepad.com/teachingmedia/rss.xml

using tags for “information capture”: http://www.del.icio.us.com

- Creation of blog partners: you will be reading each others’ blogs, collaboratively creating a vlog, as well as generating a final wiki chapter; linking between blogs; providing dialogic, descriptive comments in the comment box versus judgmental feedback.

- Add your blog address to the wiki sidebar: 2007 blogs

- In addition to responding to your blog partner: responding to one other student every two weeks: find students who have not received comments.

- Sharing of analyses of vlogs; brainstorming ideas for vlogs: translating your blog posts into a vlog (talking between you and your partner), media critiques/commentary; critiques of specific images/clips

- Responding to films in the classroom by analyzing techniques in film clips: review of basic types of camera shots, close-ups, long shots, medium shots, high/low angles, wide-angle, panning, tracking, slow-motion, use of lighting/sound, directors’ styles, film history

- Planning your vlog production with your blog partner: creation of a script and, if necessary, rough storyboard: post your rough plans on your blog.

 

- Read in TeachingMediaLiteracy.com: Chapter 3; Verdi & Hodson, 49-78; Richardson: 101-110.  You can also review sample shots and film technique at:

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~rein0012/5472.NMedia/Mod3.Techniq/Shots.html

- View my vlog Tutorial 3

- Add Bloglines or Google Reader to your computer and subscribe to feeds from others’ blogs in the class (see the wiki site for blogs): feed for my blog http://teachingliterature.typepad.com/teachingmedia/rss.xml

- In your blog: select a scene from a film video or television program or a TV ad on YouTube or elsewhere and import it into your blog: for different video sites: http://digitalwriting.pbwiki.com/DigitalVideo

Describe what happens in the scene, the uses of camera shots, lighting, sound, and music to portray the meaning, relationships, narrative development, and representations in that scene.   Describe the purposes for the use of these techniques in terms of the program or movie’s larger purpose and positioning/creation of audiences.   For example, an action/adventure film employs a lot of close ups of hands slipping off the edge of buildings to create a sense of suspense in order to keep viewers “on the edge of their seats.” 

Here are some sample links that illustrate the process:

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~gott0055/module3susangot.htm

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~kraw0013/mthree.htm

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~wert0030/module%203.htm

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~oroy0001/dinosaurs

View your blog’s partner’s analysis, as well at 2 others’ analyses.

Begin filming your vlog post—collaborating with your partner; bring in your camera for the 20th because you’ll be filming during class.

 

 

TV broadcast: An Evening with Ken Burns at Northrop Auditorium discussing his documentary series, The War, Channel 17: Sunday, Sept. 16: 8:00 PM (also 11:00 PM, Channel 2: Sept. 19/ Sunday, Sept. 23, 4:00).

 

 

 

 

Sept. 20th More film analysis/editing techniques/working on vlogs

- Sharing of analysis of techniques on your blogs

- Analyzing use of editing in clips

-  Use of Flickr material and other online image/video sites; uses of tagging on these sites; discussion of Richardson

-  Work with your blog partner on your vlog production

 

Read in Verdi & Hodson, 79-137; Richardson: 59-89

review some of the iMovie tutorials:

http://digitalwriting.pbwiki.com/DigitalVideo

Apple IMovie tutorial

http://www.apple.com/support/imovie/tutorial/imovieTutorial_t2.html

Windows MovieMaker

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/videos/create.mspx

View my vlog Tutorial 4

In your blog: Import a video film clip or ad and analyze the editing techniques being used in those scenes.   How is the editing being used to convey meaning, relationships, narrative development, and themes?

With you blog partner, develop a one-paragraph activity for teaching film and post it on your blog the course wiki page under “FilmActivities” (see Richardson on using PBwiki).

Store at least ten images from Flickr, Google Images, etc., or your own images/photos on a CD to bring to class on the 27th—for  editing instruction with iMovie

Bring in your camera/video material for work on editing on the 27th; load your video into your computer with a Firewire cable or bring in your video on a 2GB flash drive or DVD to load into the Lab computers.

 

 

Sept. 27th Presentation: Liz Boeser: Using iMovie for Editing

Presentation: Liz Boeser, Bloomington Jefferson High School: use of iMovie to produce video and learn editing techniques: types of editing styles, types of cuts (fades, dissolves, swipes, etc.), cross-cutting, editing and sound/music.

Using images from your CD to create a video; using iMovie to edit you vlog.

 

Read TeachingMediaLiteracy.com, Chapter 4; Burn & Durran, 1-63, 162-173

In your blog: Based on the different approaches described in Chapter 4 (response, rhetorical/audience, semiotic, critical discourse analysis, feminist, postmodern, and postcolonial), pick two of these approaches and apply them to an analysis of a media text: a television program, a film/DVD clip, or a magazine or television commercial.  

Develop a one-paragraph activity for teaching critical analysis of specific media text and post it on the course wiki page under “CriticalAnalysis.”

 

 

 

Oct 4th Critical Analysis of Media/Film

Critical perspectives: applying critical and literary analyses to media texts: response theory, rhetorical analysis, feminist criticism, semiotics, poststructuralism/postmodernism/postcolonial analysis, cultural analysis, critical discourse analysis: sharing of analyses of media texts.  Sharing of examples of blog analyses applying critical approaches; viewing of clips from selected DVDs

 

Read Teachingmedialiteracy.com: Chapter 5; Burn & Durran, 95-109

Stuart Hall:

http://www.mediaed.org/videos/MediaRaceAndRepresentation/RepresentationandtheMedia

In your blog: analysis of media representations: select a certain phenomena or type as portrayed in the media: teachers, men, women, nature, “the city,” the elderly, crime, adolescents, “vacations,” schools, love, religion, sex, sports, etc., and, using your phenomena or type as a topic, search Google Images, Yahoo Images, Flickr, etc., or even some video clips for some images to create a collage of images on a Word file, wiki, ProjectPoster, iMovie, website, etc.

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~adle0007/Asian-Americans.htm

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~pund0012/MediaRepresentationofWomeninAthleticContexts.htm

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~erikx001/Mod5a.htm

Develop a one-paragraph activity for teaching about a media representation and post it on the course wiki page under “MediaRepresentations.”

 

 

Oct. 11th  Critical analysis of media representations

Fostering critical response to media representations; analyzing value assumptions, discourses, and ideological assumptions; developing web-based activities for critiquing representations.

 

Read Chapter 6, media ethnography; in Burn & Durran, 110-128

Viewing of sections of Merchants of Cool (entire PBS documentary can be viewed on-line: see links under advertising)

View: How to Get Really Close to Teens' Lives: MTV's Ethnography Study

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/etc/close.html

Web Social Spaces:

http://teachingmedialiteracy.pbwiki.com/WebSocialSpaces

In your blog: observe a person or group of persons who are viewing television, a video, films, etc., or playing a computer game, or attending a music event/concert.  You may also “lurk” on an Internet chat site based on a television program for example, the Soap Opera Fan Club site.  Or, you may study some of your peers MySpace or Facebook profiles. Then, interview them about their viewing, game playing, or online identity constructions.  Discuss the specific social viewing/game participation practices that you observed; what was their shared social agendas; how were their social purposes for responding shaping their responses; what were the shared stances; what was the relationship between their own stances and the stance invited by the text or context; how do these shared stances reflect their attitudes or certain discourses?

Here is a sample

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~seve0029/module8.ethnography.htm

Issue of E-Learning on online identity construction

http://www.wwwords.co.uk/elea/content/pdfs/3/issue3_2.asp#7

 

 

 

Oct. 18th Media ethnographies: Complete blog posts (I will then reply with a file with my verbal responses to your postings that will be emailed to you)

Conducting media ethnographies: studying audiences uses of or production of media texts in terms of the meaning they construct in specific social contexts; studying responses to media in terms of purposes, roles, identities, social interaction, rituals, traditions, norms, sense of community.  Sharing of results of audience analysis assignment. uses of “ethnography” to determine adolescents’ perceptions of “cool” in order to market products to adolescents; and What Girls Want on female adolescents responses to and uses of the media; sharing of media ethnography studies.

    Explore some topics with your blog partner for your final paper/wikibook chapter; review some of the existing topics on the wiki site: blogs/wikis, web social spaces (MySpace/YouTube, etc.), film, video production/editing, critical analysis of the media, media representations, audience response/media ethnography, advertising, film/TV genres, news, documentary, radio, popular music, games, media ownership, film adaptations of literature

 

Read Chapter 7: Genres; in Burn & Durran, 64-94

In your blog: you and your blog partner: select one of your favorite film or television genres and note what appeals to you about this genre; describe the prototypical features of that genre in terms of the typical roles, settings, language/discourses, storyline features (what is the typical problem--"crime," who solves the problem--"the tough cop," with what means--"violence," towards what end: "show that crime doesn't pay'), and value assumptions reflected in what's the problem ("we live in a crime-ridden world," who solves the problem ("cops need to be tough"), what means/tools ("eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth"), and themes ("criminals need to be locked up").  Then, develop a PowerPoint presentation to share with the class on Oct. 25th

Examples (see others on the Website)

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~gott0055/module6.htm

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~pund0012/AfricanAmericanSituationComedy_Module7.htm

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~erikx001/mod7a.htm

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~adle0007/genres.htm

Develop a one-paragraph activity for teaching about an example(s) of a film or TV genre and post it on the course wiki page under “Genres.”

 

 

 

Oct. 25th Genre Analysis

Sharing of PowerPoint presentations on genres. Genre analysis of film/television with clips illustrating different genres; aspects of genre analysis: roles, norms, settings, imagery, themes, value assumptions; types of genres; clips of illustrations from different genres: detective, mystery, science fiction, horror, romance, soap opera, musical, comedy; genres and historical/cultural contexts; reality-TV dating-game shows, evangelical talk shows, sports-talk shows, info-commercial shows, buying/auction shows, MTV-video type shows, etc.

 

Read Chapter 8; PowerPoint: Advertising

View clips from PBS: The Persuaders

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/view/

In your blog (options):

- Select some ads in a magazine and/or television ads (see the advertising web pages for ads); analyze the ads: images, representations, discourses, construction of target audience(s) for the ads/magazine or television program; invited or intended stances, and your critical analysis of the ads/magazine.   (If you select an ad from the web pages, include it as a clip with your analysis on the nicenet.org discussion site.)   Bring in your magazine(s) for sharing of analysis of ads on March 30th.

- Or, create your own one page magazine ad based on a fictitious or actual product (see examples on blogs from 2006); you could also create a parody or spoof on an ads such as those found in Adbusters; or create some new ways of advertising/brand promotion beyond traditional ads (for the TIVO world): paying people to put ads on their cars.

http://adbusters.org/spoofads/printad (Follow the instructions on this site).  Write out a description of your intended message, audience, and concept, along with a rough description of the ad itself.  Then use a tool of choice (IMovie, WIKI, NVU, webnote, Word, ProjectPoster, etc) to create the ad using clip art/web-images.  Post your spoof on tappedin or PBwiki.

Here are some examples:

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~seve0029/smaller.htm

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~pund0012/CoppertoneSunblockAd.htm

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~dren0005/mod6/mod6.htm

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~kraw0013/mseven.htm

http://www.teachermason.com/uploads/6_Chris.T_SpoofAd.JPG

Develop a one-paragraph activity for teaching about a TV or magazine ad and post it on the course wiki page under “Advertising.”

You and your blog partner: begin brainstorming a possible topic for your final project that you will create collaboratively related to some aspect of teaching media (see list on the wikibook developed by last year’s students).

 

 

 

Nov. 1st Analyzing Advertising

- Sharing of ad examples; history and development of advertising; semiotics and the meaning of advertising images; analysis of purpose, audience, positioning, appeals, value assumptions, ideology of advertising; adolescents’ responses to magazine and television ads; fostering critical response to advertising; different types of magazines/newspapers; demographic appeals/audiences for magazines/newspapers; teen magazines and identity socialization; shift from traditional advertising due to TIVO and rise of Web use to alternative forms of advertising/ “attention transaction” promotions; sharing of magazines and ads in magazines in terms of target audiences and appeals.

- Work with your blog partner on selecting a topic for your final project; begin work in class on researching material for your final project

 

Read Chapter 9 (do not read section on documentary); Richardson, 111-138;

Handout on creating podcasts

In your blog: Watch an evening local TV news (the 5, 6, or 10 o’clock news on the Monday, the 20th or Tuesday, the 21st—or at another time), keep a viewing log recording the stories covered, types of stories, and the time of stories in number of seconds.   Then, identify the types of content in terms of time devoted to “news,” “weather,” “sports,” “consumer/health/entertainment feature stories,” and “ads.”  Within the “news” category, characterize the types of stories included.  Then reflect on your experience of watching television news: discuss the rhetorical appeals or strategies employed to influence an audience’s beliefs and attitudes; describe the use of techniques and editing (selection versus exclusion of material) designed to influence the audience. Examples:

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~gott0055/Chapter10finaltask.htm

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~pund0012/KARE11TVNews.htm

In your blog: list some favorites podcasts (along with URLs) that you listen to or could listen to (for teaching writing: Teachers Teaching Teachers; for technology: The Tech Teachers: Ray and Holley from Kansas City) and reasons these are appealing to you; the following are some other educators’ podcasts: http://digitalwriting.pbwiki.com/Educator+and+classroom+podcasts

Develop a one-paragraph activity for teaching critical analysis of news and post it on the course wiki page under “News.”

If you have an external USB microphone, please bring it to class.

 

 

 

Nov. 8th Local TV News/Creating podcasts

Sharing of results of TV local news broadcasts; rhetorical analysis of documentary/television news: audience appeals, point of view, attitude, camera/editing techniques, value assumptions; issues of “bias” and “objectivity;” corporate ownership/concentration of ownership and control of news content in a specific area.

Fostering student journalism activities: developing classroom newspapers, blogs, and podcasts related to issues in a school. 

- Video: Nick Pernisco: “Making the podcast” Understand Media Podcasts: http://www.understandmedia.com/podcast.htm

- Integrating writing instruction into preparation for podcasts; analysis of different uses for podcasts to share information; uses of coursecasts to inform students about course content.

- Useful podcasts related to media: On the Media; PBS Now; etc.

- Techniques for creating podcasts and coursecasts; use of recording equipment; transferring audio files onto the web using Audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ or GarageBand.

- Use of digital recorders/iPods for recording podcasts and giving oral feedback to students’ writing.

 

Read Chapter 9 section on documentary; See units on documentary on the wikibook:

http://teachingmedialiteracy.pbwiki.com/DocumentaryFilm

In you blog: Envision making a documentary about a particular event, institution, group, person, or experience in terms of capturing the realities and/or issues associated with that event, institution, group, person, or experience?  Describe what you would include in your documentary.

- What would your intended message or key point you want to convey to your audience—what do you want you audience to learn about or believe from viewing your documentary?

- Who you would interview and what you would ask those persons?

- What activities or practices you would select to include in your documentary?

- What difficulties you would anticipate in providing an authentic, realistic portrayal.

Develop a one-paragraph activity for teaching about or using a documentary and post it on the course wiki page under “Documentary.”

 

 

 

Nov. 15th Studying and creating documentaries

Studying documentaries; issues of “reality” and documentary; “cinema verite” documentary; determining “truths” portrayed in documentaries.   Uses of documentary films across the curriculum; integrating film in other subject matter areas.  Viewing of clips from

documentaries portraying issues of class, schooling, power, political control, the media, and identity development.

- Work on Wikibook chapters in class.

 

Read Chapter 10 on integrating film/media; Burn & Durran, 129-149

In your blog: Based on the readings, discuss how you would integrate film/TV, and/or media students into your instruction, student teaching, and/or ideal classroom (if you’re not teaching). For example, what film adaptations of literature would you use (“Clueless,” “The Crucible,” “Persuasion,” “Emma,” “Sense and Sensibility,” “The English Patient,” “Hamlet,” etc.), and what activities would you use to study these adaptations.  How would you help students understand the differences in their experiences between print literature, film, and theater?

Here’s an example:

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~sirn0002/pages/assignments/film/

 

 

 

Nov. 22nd  No Class: Thanksgiving

 

 

 

Nov. 29th Presentation: Rachel Malchow Studying/Using Film Adaptations

Presentation: Rachel Malchow, Champlin Park High School/Literary Education doctoral student: Studying/Using Film Adaptations

- Using clips from different film adaptations of the same texts (Hamlet, etc.) to analyze alternative interpretations of texts

 

Read in on the Old Website on music http://www.tc.umn.edu/~rbeach/linksteachingmedia/chapter7/7p.htm

In your blog: Identify certain types/genres of music, singers, or bands that you most prefer to listen or whose concerts you attend and reasons for these preferences.  Pick one song that illustrates your preferences—what are the specific features about this song that you enjoy; what are some autobiographical associations (if any) that you have with this song?

Watch video: Bill Moyers Journal: FCC Commissioner Michael Copps On Media's Future

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08242007/profile.html

Low-Power Radio: development of low-power FM stations

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08242007/profile2.html

Read Rebekah and Justin’s (2006) report on media ownership

http://teachingmedialiteracy.pbwiki.com/MediaOwnership

Columbia Journalism Review: Who Owns What?

http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/

In your blog: list the various media texts that you typically use during an average week: television shows, Internet sites, radio, newspapers, magazines, etc.  Identify who owns the television stations you most frequently watch (also the cable network if you are on cable), your commercial Internet access (Comcast; Roadrunner, etc.); the radio stations you most frequently listen to; and the newspaper (s) or magazine(s) you most frequently read; how do you think this ownership influences the content of the media you are exposed to?   For example WaltDisney/ABC (see www.go.abc.com) owns Channel 5, Drive 105, KQRS (92.5 FM), 93-X (93.7 FM), ESPN, the Disney Channel, and numerous publications). Note also who controls the music groups/tours/venues/music radio stations that you may attend/listen to.   How do these aspects of corporate control influence what media/TV/radio/news you have access to and the content of that media.

 

 

 

Dec. 6th studying popular music/media ownership

Economics/ownership of the media; economic forces/corporate control of film/television programming; the music industry and control of music distribution/recording; the influence of conservative thinks tanks on media coverage and public opinion.

 

Read in Burn & Durran, 150-161; handout on e-portfolios

In your blog: list 3-4 criteria for evaluating students’ work if they were to study study your final project topic (realizing that you may not be creating a unit for your final project): see page 159 for sample criteria.

Work on your final project

 

 

 

Dec 13th  Evaluating student work/creating e-portfolios/integrating media studies into English  Blogs due

Implementing a media studies curriculum; evaluating student learning; using blogs/wikis as e-portfolios; sharing of reflections on what you learned from the course

Working together in class with your partners to finalize Wiki chapters/presentation on the 18th.

 

Finalize Wiki chapters: due on Dec. 18th.

 

 

Dec. 18th  MONDAY FINAL CLASS/Pot-luck Supper

Last class: oral summary reports highlighting your Wiki chapter and reflecting on the writing process; pot luck supper.

 

Texts (required) (available at Williamson Bookstore)

Beach, TeachingMediaLiteracy.com

Burn and Duran, Media Literacy in Schools

Richardson, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for the Classroom

Verdi and Hodson, Secrets of Videoblogging

 

 

DVD’s of current films will be available for check out on a weekly basis.

 

 

The textbook site

The course textbook, TeachingMediaLiteracy.com, contains links to Websites that are referenced on the book Website: http://teachingmedialitercy.com  (There is also an earlier, original site used in this course that contains both the text and links in much longer versions of the current textbook version: http://www.tc.umn.edu/~rbeach/teachingmedia; many of the links on this site are dead because it has not been updated).

 

Teaching Media Literacy wikibook:

http://teachingmedialiteracy.pbwiki.com/MediaLiteracyWikibook

See my other resource sites:

Teaching digital writing: http://digitalwriting.pbwiki.com,

Teaching literature: http://www.teachingliterature.org

 

 

Discovery Education unitedstreaming online videos: http://www.unitedstreaming.com/

You will also have access to some Discovery Education unitedstreaming videos in this course; unitedstreaming is a digital video-on-demand and online teaching service that districts subscribe to and that you can use in your classroom for easily showing videos; it is important that you know about this service, particularly if your district does not subscribe—you could then encourage them to subscribe.  I will be providing you with access information to videos related to media during this course; however, there are videos available in all subject matter areas.

To review titles: click on Free Preview Center: and then Browse Digital Titles By Subject

http://www.fmgondemand.com/PortalHome.aspx

 

 

 

Assignments

There are two assignments in this course that link to each other: a blog (due October 18 and December 13) and a wiki chapter (due Dec. 18).  

 

 

A dialogue-blog (due: October 18 and December 13) (60% of final grade)

If you don’t already have your own blog, create a free blog on Blogger:

http://www.blogger.com/start (see Richardson, pp. 51-56).  (Note: you could also use the University’s UThink blog, although it is more complicated to set up.)  The purpose of this blog is to encourage you to think about the readings and ideas presented in this course. In most cases, there are specific blog assignments noted in the schedule.

Teaching activities.  For some of the topics, you will be devising one-paragraph teaching activities to be posted onto the TeachingMediaLiteracyPBwiki so that others can draw on that material for their wiki chapters.  You will then have a collective repository of teaching activities for your use.

        Blog writing differs from more formal essay writing in that it is informal, spontaneous, exploratory, reflective, inquisitive, and sometimes contradictory.  You are using writing to learn--to articulate your own responses to the readings, to critically assess the ideas presented, and to draw practical applications for teaching.   Please write your blog in an informal, spontaneous manner—these entries need not be formal mini-essays, but rather highly exploratory, tentative, explorations of your own thinking.  You’ll also be making links in your postings to other blogs in the class, as well as blogs related to media literacy.

Blog partner comments.  You will be creating a Bloglines site that will contain feeds from the blogs kept in this course so that you will know when your blog partner adds a new post to their blog.  Please provide a comment to your partner’s blog in the comment box.  These comments should not be pro-forma evaluations or judgments, but rather ways of extending your partner’s ideas as part of a conversation, for example, adding some additional related analyses of a digital text or your own opinions/ideas about their positions.

        I will be providing you will oral feedback recorded on a digital recorder; I will then be emailing you a compressed DSS audio file with my comments.   To listen to the file, you need to download the software from the Olympus site (link is also on the Tappedin site):

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_downloads.asp?Category=Digital+Voice+Recorders&Product=859&dssplayer=DSS+Player+Lite

        Choose the following options from the pull-down menus:  Step 3: DSS PlayerLite  Step 4: select your computer’s operating system.  You can then download the DSS PlayerLite (free) for use in listening to the file; if you have difficulty, please email me.

        I will evaluate your blog as a "check plus," "check," or "minus" in terms of its completeness, thoroughness, insightfulness, and originality of your thinking and learning through use of the entries, extending the ideas in the modules/readings to your own analysis, experience, and teaching.   I will also be evaluating the extent to which you and your partner post activities—it is expected that you and your partner should complete all of the postings of activities.

 

 

Wikibook activities (throughout the course) and chapters for the Media Literacy Wikibook (Due December 18)

This Media Literacy Wikibook http://teachingmedialiteracy.pbwiki.com/MediaLiteracyWikibook

will serve as a resource for other teachers (teachers in future sections of the course will continue to add to it), as well as for use by your students who can add their own material to the Media Literacy Wikibook.

Activity summaries.  You will be adding one-paragraph summary activities throughout the course (see schedule above) in the side under topics listed in “Classroom activities.”  These activities could then be used by you and others users of this site.

You can create one collaborative chapter—I would then give you both the same grade.  Or, you can each create your own chapter. 

 

Wikibook chapters.  You and your blog partner will be developing a final “chapter” report for this course on some topic related to teaching film, television, and media studies.  (To write your chapter collaboratively, I would suggest creating your own separate PBwiki or using Google Docs; you can also create an RSS feed just your wiki to determine if your partner has made revisions—you could then add a link to your wiki or cut/paste it into the class wikibok).  In the middle of the course, you will select a topic to work together on for the rest of the course

Here are some options for your chapters (see examples from 2006 on the site):

- a teaching unit/webquest/resource guide related to teaching film/television/media:  Your unit or webquest may be organized around some basic activities related to film, television, or media instruction, either taught as separate entities or as integrated into your instruction.  You don’t need to be teaching to create a unit.  You should being by discussing your purposes, the activities you will include, and the ways in which you will evaluate students.   You need not organize this unit on a day-by-day basis, unless that would be convenient for you. (See sample units on the textbook Website).

- a critical analysis of the representation of certain roles, worlds, or ideas; genre characteristic; discourses; or ideological aspects, etc. inherent in one or more  films, television programs, or media.   You may want to develop a set of categories or strategies for conducting your analysis.   See sample analyses in various e-blogs on the “library/research web site.”   You could analyze the representation of some class, gender, race, education, the family, marriage, religion, consuming, “reality,” etc., citing examples (including web-clips) to illustrate your critique.   You may also want to draws some implications for teaching critical analysis to students.  

- a media ethnography study: You may want to conduct a study of viewers/game players/bloggers/readers and/or your own responses to film/television/media (see Chapter 6 on media ethnographies).   You may ask your viewers to respond to a text(s) in writing/tape and/or in discussions, and then analyze the nature of the viewers’ responses and reasons for those responses.   You may also observe their social interactions/participation, as for example, their participation in video game, as well as the social identities they assume through their participation. You may also interview your viewers to determine how their knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, purposes, gender, etc. influences their responses.   In your final report, please describe your viewers, setting, tasks, and methods of analysis.  You could also analyze the “modes of address”—how viewers are positioned and their acceptance/resistance of that positioning reflecting a “space of difference,” and reasons for their acceptance/resistance.  You could simply report open-ended quotes that illustrate certain patterns of response/social participation.

- an analysis of the economic, social, political, historical, or cultural forces shaping the film, television, or media industries.   You may conduct an historical analysis of changes in film, television, or media over time, noting how these forms reflected and influenced particularly periods; you may study the economics of the industry—for example, the increased conglomeration of the industry and how that shapes programming, types of films, or media products; you may study these forms as political tools for expression of certain social or cultural ideas, for example, the uses of films such as Do the Right Thing and Boys ‘N the Hood to express an understanding of racial tensions in contemporary urban neighborhoods; you may examine the ways in which these forms reflect cultural beliefs and attitudes, for example how 2001, Blade Runner, or The Matrix express perceptions of the future.

 

        I will be grading your Wiki chapter according to the originality, creativity, insightfulness, perceptiveness, clarity, and validity of the ideas and/or teaching strategies presented in these chapters, as well as your ability to draw on a range of resources from the class and the Web.

 

 

Definition of Grades

A - achievement that is outstanding relative to the level necessary to meet course requirements.

B - achievement that is significantly above the level necessary to meet course requirements.

C - achievement that meets the course requirements in every respect.

D - achievement that is worthy of credit even though it fails to meet fully the course requirements.

S - achievement that is satisfactory, which is equivalent to a C- or better (achievement required for an S is at the discretion of the instructor but may be no lower than equivalent to a C-.) ----

F(or N) - Represents failure (or no credit) and signifies that the work was either (1) completed but at a level of achievement that is not worthy of credit or (2) was not completed and there was no agreement between the instructor and the student that the student would be awarded an I (see also I).

Academic Dishonesty. Academic dishonesty in any portion of the academic work for a course shall be grounds for awarding a grade of F or N for the entire course.

Incomplete Grades. The grade of "I" is not a regular University grade and cannot be given without special arrangements under unusual circumstances.  It cannot be given merely to extend the time allowed to complete course requirements.  If family or personal emergency requires that your attention be diverted from the course and that more time than usual is needed to complete course work, arrangements should be made with the instructor of the course before the quarter ends and consent obtained for receiving an "Incomplete" or "I" grade.  These arrangements should be made as soon as the need for an "I" can be anticipated.  A written agreement should be prepared indicating when the course assignment will be completed.  Normally an "Incomplete" grade for a course should be removed within one quarter of its receipt.

Receipt of Final Grade.  University policies do not permit the posting of final course grades nor the reporting of these grades over the telephone.

 

Diversity. Preparing future teachers to work with diverse student populations is an important part of this course. Students will be introduced to a variety of multicultural educational resources and pedagogical strategies that promote increased understanding of diverse perspectives and lifestyles.

How to Access Your Final Course Grades. Go to OneStop for Students (http://onestop.umn.edu/Student/ ), click on Academics, then click on Grades.

Make-up policy.  I expect that you will attend every class, participate, and submit assignments on the date that they are due. If situations arise that interfere with your ability to fulfill this expectation, please talk to me individually and we will determine an appropriate course of action (depending on the circumstances, points may be deducted).

University Policies. See http://onestop.umn.edu/Faculty/Teaching/policyList.html  for a list of policies related to teaching with links to those policies. Also see http://www1.umn.edu/usenate/usen/policies.html  for University Senate policies related to Teaching/Education.

Statement on accommodations.  It is University policy to provide, on a flexible and individualized basis, reasonable accommodations to students who have disabilities that may affect their ability to participate in course activities or to meet course requirements. Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact their instructors to discuss their individual needs for accommodations.

Statement on classroom conduct.  See http://www1.umn.edu/usenate/policies/classexpectguide.html and/or http://www1.umn.edu/regents/policies/academic/StudentConductCode.pdf

Statement on academic misconduct. http://www1.umn.edu/regents/policies/humanresources/AcademicMisconduct.pdf

Scholastic misconduct is broadly defined as "any act that violates the rights of another student in academic work or that involves misrepresentation of your own work." Scholastic dishonesty includes, (but is not necessarily limited to): cheating on assignments or examinations; plagiarizing, which means misrepresenting as you own work any part of work done by another; submitting the same paper, or substantially similar papers, to meet the requirements of more than one course without the approval and consent of all instructors concerned; depriving another student of necessary course materials; or interfering with another student's work.

Statement regarding sexual harassment http://www1.umn.edu/regents/policies/humanresources/SexHarassment.pdf

"Sexual harassment" means unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and/or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when: (1) submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment or academic advancement in any University activity or program; (2) submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis of employment or academic decisions affecting this individual in any University activity or program; or (3) such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work or academic performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working or academic environment in any University activity or program. University policy prohibits sexual harassment. Complaints about sexual harassment should be reported to the University Office of Equal Opportunity, 419 Morrill Hall.

The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity employer and educator.