Class work
Major projects (60%)
The bulk of your grade will be deterimined by your work on four projects, each one focused on a different aspect of media storytelling: visual communication, public relations, journalism and advertising. Here are those four projects (with deadlines in parentheses):
- Photo story (Due 9:30AM, Jan. 30): A series of portraits, with captions, featuring a subject who represents diversity.
- P.R. story (Feb. 13): A press release, with video clips, summarizing the innovative qualities of a new product.
- News story (March 26): A journalistic piece, with videos and photos, covering one aspect of a developing national topic.
- Advertising story (April 23): Several components that will carry a brand message, including a web page with data visualizations, a social media video and print ads, emphasizing and supporting one company’s altruistic efforts.
You will work as part of a two-, three- or four-person team for each of these projects. For each project, 80 percent of your score will be the team score, based on the quality of the work your team submits. The remaining 20 percent of your project grade will be your individual score, determined by your teammates’ ratings of your contribution to your group.
Participation (30%)
You will steadily build your Participation score over the next 15 weeks, accumulating points by doing creative work in lectures and, especially, in weekly labs.
Most lecture exercises will involve a short text entry or survey, and most will be worth a single point. They will be given in lecture, and you must attend lecture to earn these points.
Lab exercises are worth more because they are more involved. We will use the labs to have you learn and practice the skills you will need to employ for your project work; most are worth five points. Lab exercises are designed to be completed within the 75 minutes of your lab sessions, but you can complete them later on Fridays if necessary — they are due at 11:59PM the day they are assigned.
If you are unable to attend lab, you can still get credit for the exercise (though not for attending class) if you submit the lab work before the deadline. If you miss the deadline, you have one week to complete the assignment and earn half credit. There will be handouts (which we will print but keep in the lab) and videos to help teach you the skills and take you step by step through creating the assigned exercise. If you miss a class with an excused absence, we will work with you on establishing an extended deadline for your lab work.
Quizzes (10%)
We will have four short quizzes at various times throughout the semester — usually when we finish a unit. You will take these quizzes on Canvas, outside of class time. Quizzes will stay open for about 36 hours, which should give you ample time to complete them, and once they close they will not re-open (so please don’t ask). If something happens that absolutely prevents you from taking a quiz, please let us know.