This page describes the objectives, project details, recommended approaches, hints and tips, submission guidelines, and evaluation standards for the Writer-Editor-Designer Reflection project.
The Writer-Editor-Designer Reflection (WEDR) is a presentation via screencast to the class that focuses on patterns in your own writing, editing, and design. The WEDR project challenges you to refine your strategies for preparing and delivering information in a professional setting.
Document type: memo, screencast
Document length: 150 words (memo), 8 minutes (screencast)
Project value: 200 points
Evaluation rubric: _RPW435_Eval_WEDReflection.pdf
The Writer-Editor-Designer Reflection asks you to conduct a careful, detailed examination of your writing, editing, and design patterns and habits, and then present that reflection through a screencast video. The goal is to become more aware of yourself as a writer. That in turn will help you be aware of other writers and designers as sources of dynamic patterns and habits for creation and production.
Your final project submission will include the following elements.
A memo of transmittal introduces the accompanying document to its audience(s). Your memo should be addressed from you to me, and should introduce the accompanying project. Your memo should incorporate the following content elements.
Prepare a document from which you can present your Reflection. Provide and frame detail appropriate to your discussion. Prepare your presentation document as a near-complete document. That is, the presentation should require your presence and contribution to be complete. However, readers should be able to understand the core content and intent of the presentation just by reading the material you provide in your on-screen document.
An effective presentation does not feature a speaker who reads from a document shown on the screen. Although the presentation document should be detailed and coherent, you complete the experience through your presentation of it. Your role is to inform audience members about the content. An effective presenter brings a static document to life.
Your on-screen document should include the following details and elements.
When you have completed your work, upload your screencast to Screencast.com. Retrieve the Share link for your video file, and place it in your memo of transmittal.
Recommended tool(s): Adobe InDesign, Techsmith Camtasia
This section offers guidance for how to interpret the project, and for how to proceed with your work on it. Therefore, as you work, consider the following 2 strategies:
The content of this Reflection should be a balance of observation and evidence. Consider it an argument in that any observation you make must be supported with evidence. When appropriate, that evidence can be anecdotal; otherwise, draw your evidence from your writing and editing, and from the feedback you have received from instructors, peers, and others about both.
Draw your content from the following list. You may also create a new category of analysis, if you observe something about your writing, editing, or design that does not seem to fit the categories I provide. (If you explore this option, include a description of your category and an explanation of why it is relevant to your discussion.) I do not recommend trying to discuss more than four topics.
Prepare your on-screen document and your screencast using appropriate design tools. I strongly recommend that you use Techsmith Camtasia (available in the CERD). You are welcome to use other software as long as it allows you to produce and stream a screencast. One free alternative is Screencast-O-Matic.com. Like Camtasia, Screencast-O-Matic offers a private storage and streaming service on the host site. The tool is straightforward to use.
This section is designed to help you anticipate and avoid problems as you work on this project. Therefore, as you work, consider the following 3 hints and tips:
Use concrete evidence to support your observations. The more real content you can draw on, the more authentic, authoritative, and genuine you will be.
Plan the general presentation sections and the key details from each. Work your way through the topics toward your conclusion.
Screencasting tools allow you to designate a recording window, which may be a portion of your computer screen or the whole screen. The contents of that window are recorded during the screencasting process. Designate the on-screen document as your recording window.
Once you have completed your recording, review the screencast to make sure that (1) your delivery is professional, coherent, and well paced, (2) your video is clear and free of flaws, and (3) your audio is clear, audible, and free of distracting clicks or other background sounds.
Although it is possible to upload a video file (typically an .mp4 or .swf format file), such files can be large. Screencast.com allows you to share a link with others that, when selected, provides access to a video stream. Because most email packages (including SVSU Vmail) have limits on file size for attachments, this sharing option is often the most effective. Always test your link before you submit your project.
Plan and rehearse your delivery so that you use the time allotted to you for your presentation. It is often obvious when students have not planned well because they stumble through their material, or seem uncertain of what to say next.
Observe what makes screencasts effective, complete, and authentic. Incorporate those observations into the construction of your presence and presentation. Strive for high levels of professionalism and consistency in your work. Draw on any design samples that I provide.
Read and attend carefully to these submission guidelines. Failure to do so may result in delays in receiving feedback on the draft of your project, or in points lost on the final evaluation of your project.
Create a project folder inside your shared class folder on Dropbox.com. Remember, I can only view files that you place inside the class folder. Until you place files in that space, you have not in practice submitted them.
However, do not share your project folder with me. I will not accept that invitation to view its contents. As long as you place your project files in the folder you created and shared in response to the Week 1 discussions, you are set for the semester.
Name the folder WED Reflection.
Make sure the project file is available to me in the project folder by the deadline. Model your filenames on this example:
This section describes the standards by which your submission will be evaluated.
There are 200 possible points for the final project. You will earn points according to the standard described on the policies page (40% content development, 20% design execution, and 20% professionalism & attention to detail, and 20% impact of revision; see Policies). The specific areas of emphasis for this project are drawn from the description and discussion of the project, and are detailed in the evaluation rubric (_RPW435_Eval_WEDReflection.pdf).
Remember that I will only post the point values for projects on the Grades page in SVSU Canvas. I will post the details relevant to that evaluation in your class folder in a project-specific file.
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