Hello everyone.

I hope you were able to get a little down time this weekend.  I took an "OSU-Free Day," and it felt mighty, mighty fine.  But now it's Monday, and the push toward the end of the quarter has begun.

A number of questions have come my way about the final portfolio.  Let me see if i can answer some of these questions in this email.  The requirements for the portfolio are outlined on the course website:

http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/dewitt18/e880sld/e880portfolio.htm

I've pasted the text from this page below with some annotations included:

At the end of the quarter, you will turn in a portfolio that includes:

*            Contributions to a common English 110C "Instructional Assets Web Site."

This is something that I hope will continue slowly throughout the summer and throughout our first quarter teaching together.  However, we still need to have some materials posted by the end of the quarter.  The "contributions" could include links to relevant web resources, sample assignments, one-day activities, syllabi, .pdf files of reading assignments, technical instructions, anything that you feel would contribute to students' and teachers' experiences in 110C.  (Also, much of what is listed below in more detail falls under this category of "contributions"--they aren't necessarily separate things.)

VERY IMPORTANT:  As I look at the draft of work that you submitted a couple weeks ago, there is one concern I have that runs throughout much of that work.  Audience.  When you think of the work that you are going to contribute to this site, I want you to think of one of two audiences:

1.  Students

2.  Teachers who are not necessarily enrolled in our seminar.

This means that you really need to flesh things out and develop as you imagine this audience.  If you are going to write for students, imagine that you are creating a document that you would actually hand them in class.  If you are writing for teachers, you need to explain exactly what they should ask their students to do (and maybe "why").  It seems to me that both approaches work just fine, but it could save you a step down the road if you imagine students as your primary audience.  If you don't, you'll just have to translate the assignment in the fall when you prepare materials for your class. 

*          A course syllabus for English 110C that is developed individually from the English 110C instructional assets.  I am NOT necessarily interested in a structured, day-by-day schedule (if you work best with that kind of approach, feel free to include a schedule). Instead, I am mostly interested in a course description, course policies, brief summaries of assignments, etc.

We already wrote drafts of some general statements/descriptions of the course.  Because we are imagining a "commons" approach to our teaching resources, you should borrow and revise freely.  I really am just interested in the kind of syllabus that illustrates a conceptual framework of the course, not one that presents a day-to-day schedule.  In fact, I think during your first quarter teaching this kind of course (and for many of you, your first time teaching in a C class) that you are better off not locking yourself into a day-to-day schedule for the entire quarter.  For the purpose of the syllabus,, think of the quarter/course in parts instead of days.  Also, keep in mind that much of the text that you have in the syllabi that you are currently using (policies, contact info, etc) can be used here.  No need to reinvent the wheel if you already have a working syllabus. 

*          A sequence of assignments for English 110C that is individually developed from the English 110C "Instructional Assets Web Site." 

I want you to think of this in one of two ways.  You could, for example, draft the "major" assignments that students will work on over the quarter (those assignments that carry the most weight, those that are equal to or that replace the four assignments currently used in 110 courses--and just an aside . . . .I have NEVER been able to fit in four assignments in 10 weeks).  You would want these assignments to be detailed, but you wouldn't have to include the day to day details (the short activities, the reading assignments,  etc).  Instead, you are showing us the major assignments students will work on over the course of 10 weeks.  The second approach would take just one of those major assignments but would be very detailed about that assignment:  what is going to be happening in class, activities, reading assignments.  In other words, I might take a three-week period and show everything that is going to happen then.   I think each approach has equal "weight."  One is general and covers the entire quarter, while the other is specific and covers a part of the quarter.  The choice is entirely up to you. 

*          Drafts of digital media work. I am going to suggest that you include two (2) examples of digital media work in the portfolio. Your Photoshop project should serve as one of these projects.

Your second piece could easily be a variation of the Photoshop project:  the Flash version, an image map version.  You could create a second Photoshop project.  You could do an audio project. 

*          A final reflective composition about your work in the seminar.  You are more than welcome to create this reflective composition using digital media, but as the tensions from the end of the quarter increase, you might wish to create this as a Word document. I am interested in how your experiences in this class have changed (or not) your thinking about teaching. What have you realized about your own learning and writing processes? What have you learned about your students’ learning and writing processes?  What are your thoughts about curriculum development and design? Of course, I'm interested in your thoughts about digital media production. These questions are intended to guide you, not limit you. Feel free to approach this assignment as you like.

I'm looking for a short, focused piece . . . maybe in the area of 3-4 pages.  You could write a longer piece, but really, I'm not interested in your overall philosophy of teaching writing. 

VERY IMPORTANT:  I am still very open to the idea of collaborative work.  I would ask that your final reflection be an individual project. 

Let's talk about how I envision the last week or so of class: 

Tuesday, 31 May 2005
--More on site maps
--Working with the web site

Thursday, 2 June 2005
--Studio day (working on anything toward the portfolio)

Tuesday, 7 June 2005
--Classroom open most of the day
--DeWiitt in DE 343 3:30-5:30pm
--Portfolios due by 5:30pm

Wednesday, 8 June 2005
--DeWitt leaves for CIWIC

Monday, 13 June 2005
--DeWitt returns from CIWIC

Any questions?  I will be around a lot in the next week and a half, both in the flesh and online.  You know how to find me. 

Scott