About the Weekly Discussion and Design Journal Assignment
The Weekly Discussion and Design Journal Assignment has three primary goals:
- to help students think through course texts actively rather passively
- to help students think through their designs, photographs, and creative process actively rather than passively
- to reflect on the texts and their design work and ask clarifying and illuminating questions
The assignment is informed by two Course Learning Objectives:
Objective 1: Effective Communication
Students will begin to understand the foundational and contemporary principles, practices, and ethics of effective media communication, in particular in terms of how it applies to writing, design typeface, and photography.
Objective 3: Inquiry and Reflection
Students will begin to develop their understanding of the important roles of inquiry and reflection during the reading, creation, and communication process.
Weekly Discussion and Design Journal Assignment Specifics
Your Journal will be completed in a GoogleDoc; Bill will share an individual GoogleDoc with each student that is only viewable by Bill and that student. There will be two kinds of entries in your Journal — Discussions and Designs — which have unique requirements.
Discussions
Discussion entries are to be composed in response to a prompt Bill provides based on the assigned readings or other texts. Each Discussion entry will have two sections, the Discussion and the Reflection:
- The Discussion: The Discussion should be 150 – 175 words and address the text(s) based on the prompt Bill provides. These should be engaging, insightful, and written in a way that shows you have interest in the subject matter.
- The Reflection: In 50 – 75 words, discuss how the text(s) challenged you as a reader (or viewer) and list 1 or 2 questions informed by the readings. The questions can be for clarification purposes, such as, “What did the author mean by so and so on page 12?” Or, they can be application, such as, “How might we apply the author’s theory to what we are seeing in social media?” Or, for open-ended, such as, “What are the ethical implications of what the author discusses?”
Use paragraphs and complete sentences. Use author’s names and make sure to refer to the author with the correct pronoun. Cite page numbers when quoting and/or paraphrasing. Use bolded headers to show which is the Discussion and which is the Reflection.
Designs
Design entries are to be completed during the weeks when you are working on your designs (or photographs). Each Design entry will have two sections, the Designs and the Reflection:
- The Designs: This entry should include 3 screenshots of various stages of the design (or photography) work you have completed and a 30 – 50 word description directly under or above each screenshot of what you were trying to achieve in each example. In your description, highlight various design (or photography) techniques you were attempting to employ.
- The Reflection: In 50 – 75 words, discuss how the work challenged you as a designer (or photographer) and list 1 or 2 questions you have about your designs (or photographs).
Due Dates
Weekly entries are due each week by Thursday at 11:00pm. You are welcome to submit your work sooner than that if you complete it in time.
If I add questions in your comments, those must be answered within 2 days.
Late Discussion and Design Journal entries will be handled in the following manner:
- 1 – 3 days late: -5pts
- 4 – 7 days late: -10pts
- 8 – 14 days late -15pts
- 15 or more days late: -20pts
Grading
Each entry will be graded on the basis of 50 points — 30 for the Discussion/Designs, 20 for the Reflection. Bill will add grades to each student’s GoogleDoc. The Weekly Discussion and Design Journal grade is 25% of your final grade.
Rubric
45 – 50pts
Thorough, nuanced, insightful, and organized discussion of the text(s) and/or your designs. Connections made to other parts of the class. Prompt directly addressed in Discussion. Reflection contains incisive questions, reflections, and discussion of challenges. Overall the Discussion/Design and Reflection significantly exceed expectations.
40 – 44pts
Interesting, engaging, and thoughtful discussion of the text(s) and/or your designs. Prompt directly addressed in Discussion. Reflection contains discerning questions, reflections, and discussion of challenges. Overall the Discussion/Design and Reflection generally meet or exceed expectations.
35 – 39pts
Generally thoughtful but slightly disorganized discussion of the text(s) and/or your designs.. Prompt not fully addressed in Discussion. Reflection contains some questions, reflections, and discussion of challenges. Overall the Discussion/Design and Reflection are below expectations.
34pts and below
At this level two things could have happened. A thoroughly engaging Discussion/Design but no Reflection. Or, a generally disorganized Discussion/Design that does not address the prompt and does not engage the texts. An okay Reflection. Overall the Discussion/Design and Reflection are significantly below expectations.