About the Course Schedule
Assignments and readings are due on the day they are listed. For example, Braun should be read for Thursday, 1/23. This schedule is subject to change.
week 1: Introductions and The Why?
T 1/16: Introductions, Syllabus, Schedules, Skills Survey; Examples: Swarthmore Farmer’s Market, Philly Farm and Food Fest, Donna, Fostering Brighter Futures
H 1/18: Client reveal, Fellow Panel, Get to know each other, meet with teams, Simon Sinek on the Why
Hand out Social Media Documentary Assignment
week 2: People and Integrity
Assignment for Tuesday, 1/23
If you did not have this completed for class on Thursday, please sign up for a Twitter accountat http://twitter.com. Twitter works best (especially for our purposes) when the username is professional and you are authentic. For example, my username is: billwolffsju (http://twitter.com/billwolffsju), and I use my full name to show who I am. My account is unlocked. Please sign up with a professional username and keep your account unlocked. We’ll be using Twitter in a professional way so there is no need to keep anything private. Make sure you have your username with you. The shorter the username the better and please avoid underscores (_); they are hard to type on smartphones.Create an Instagram account, as well, if you don’t yet have one using the same professional criteria as described for Twitter. Email Bill your Twitter & Instagram usernames (unless you had them in class).
Read selections from Braun, Coates, Hobbs, Lewis, and Walls. Braun, Coates, Lewis, and Walls, are from memoirs; Hobbs is from an autobiography of a man named Robert Peace. While reading, I’d like you to think about the lives of each of these individuals and pay attention to how you respond to each one. What is your initial reaction? What might you have assumed beforehand and how did that change (if it did) while reading? What were the contexts of their childhoods? What opportunities did each of the individuals have? Braun went on to found a global philanthropy; Walls and Coates became successful authors; Lewis became a civil rights icon and Us Representative. Robert Peace went to Yale before dying young. What does this tell us about the relationships between who these people are and their past?
Read through the Social Media Documentary Assignment, start following your classmates on Twitter and Instagram, and begin live-tweeting your work by tweeting 8 passages that were particularly meaningful to you, two from each reading. I’d also like you to use your classmates’ tweeted passages as conversation starters by replying to 4 of those passages in ways that create a conversation. Original authors, continue that conversation. Add #bsocials18 to the tweets.
We will discuss the readings and your tweets in class on Tuesday.
T 1/23: Braun, Coates, Hobbes, Lewis, Walls
Hand out Story of Learning Assignment
Assignment for Thursday, 1/25
Please read Christensen’s interview with Jensen about integrity and then the Prologue and all of Part One of Nardella’s book (see Readings page for part 1 if you do not have the book yet). Tweet 5 ways you see Jensen’s ideas on integrity coming through in Nardella’s story, either through her actions, beliefs, or structure of the book.In class we will discuss both the interview and the book and try to connect these to your Team Identity.
H 1/25: Christensen, The Promise, Integrity, and Nardella, Part 1 and Intro
Hand out Project Team and Team Identity Assignments
week 3: Nardella and Campaigns
Assignment for Tuesday, 1/30
Please read all of Nardella, part 2. Start live-tweeting responses to her experiences taking risks in such a way that encourages a conversation with your classmates. Continue working on your Team Identity. Read through Background Part 1 and start working on it if your feel comfortable. We will discuss Nardella in detail in class on Tuesday.
T 1/30: Nardella, Part 2; jena-decisions-handout-s18.pdf
Hand out Blogging for the Beautiful Social Web Site Assignment
Team Identity due by 11:00pm via shared GoogleDoc
Assignment for Thursday, 2/1
We’re going to take a slight pause from Jena’s story to start thinking about social media in preparation for out initial site visits. Please read Aaker and Smith, pages 73 – 81. Aaker and Smith discuss the characteristics of effective organization social media campaigns and use. That is, they are looking at social media as a whole and not only at individual posts. After reading, go to your project team client’s Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram pages (if they have them—for Ubuntu, look to the pages for The Redemption Project). Thinking about the social media feeds as a whole, how effective do you think they are based on Aaker and Smith’s Characteristics? Take detailed notes and come to class prepared to discuss these with your team and the class.Refrain from tweeting about this because we don’t want any critiques to potentially be embarrassing for your clients.
Start within in earnest on Background Part 1 and start thinking about possible topics for your blog post.
H 2/1: Aaker and Smith, pages 73 – 81; client social media
Discuss Social Media Takeover Assignment
My Story up to this Moment and first weekly update due by 11:00pm
week 4: Initial Meetings and Reflections
T 2/6: Class Cancelled for Initial Client Meetings
Background Research Part 1 Due 5 hours before client meeting in shared GoogleDoc
H 2/8: University closed for Eagles Parade Reflecting on Meetings; Nardella, Part 3 & Epilogue
Upper Darby Social Media Takeover Week Begins
week 5: Interviewing
Assignment for Tuesday, 2/13
Please read Nardella, Part 3 and Epilogue. Come up with and tweet 3 probing questions you have about Jena’s experiences in this portion of the reading. The questions should be meant to start a conversation with your classmates. Each student should engage at least 3 conversations, and the original tweeter should continue them along. Please post your questions by Monday morning so there is plenty of time to engage in conversation with them. Use the #bsocials18 hashtag.In class on Tuesday we will discuss your first client meetings, the reading, and your tweets.
T 2/13: Reflecting on Meetings; Nardella, Part 3 & Epilogue; Trust, Promise, Reflection, Motivation, Achievement Portelli, Turkel, examples
Assignment for Thursday, 2/15
The texts for Thursday are going to be about interviewing and the power of stories. We’re going to be borrowing our interview techniques from the oral history field, which advocates for open-ended interviews.Please read Portelli (2006) and Turkel (2006), which are available on the readings page. The scans of the readings aren’t great, I’m sorry to say. Please also listen to significant portions of Studs Turkel’s oral history interviews with
Joseph Moore:
and Leola Spann:
Please also watch the raw footage of the first 12 minutes of the interview with Nolan from Stryker Farms. (You can watch the whole thing, but around 12 minutes we pause because there is a noise coming from a water pump. The pause lasts about 6 minutes, but you’ll see that interviews are not just consistent conversations.)
I’d like you to think about what you’ve read in these readings and in Jena’s story, listened to from Moore and Spann, and watched of Nolan’s interview. Tweet about ways you think the kinds of interviews advocated and exhibited here could lead to the kinds of narratives that Jena advocates telling. That is people’s stories. What is it about the oral history interview process that might result in such meaningful stories? Also live-tweet about other questions, thoughts, and concerns you have with the texts. Do so with the mind of creating a conversation, as in the prior assignment.
H 2/15: Portelli, Turkel, examples
Background Research Part 2 Due by 11:00pm
week 6: Storytelling
Assignment for Tuesday, 2/20
Read Lambert on storytelling (see Readings page), watch Mia’s Story, and the profile of Nolan for Fair Food:While watching the videos, note places where you see examples of what Lambert calls the elements digital storytelling. Tweet at least 5 of those places, which element you see, and why.
The Upper Darby blog post draft is due.
Remember, your Story of Learning Week 5 Weekly Update was due on Thursday, 2/15 by 11:00pm. Please complete it if you forgot.
T 2/20: Lambert, Mia, and examples; lambert-7-elements-matrix.pdf
Upper Darby Blog Post Due
Assignment for Wednesday, 9/27
Please read “How to Tell Powerful Narratives on Instagram,” by Neil Shea (see Readings page) and spent some time engaging with the Instagram posts of Jedidiah Jenkins and Ruddy Roye. When reading Shea, make sure to click on the links within the article and explore those sites, too. For Jenkins and Roye, don’t just look at the photos. Read the text, as well. As Shea states, Instagram “asks for a deeper consideration of photographs and the rich, nuanced ways that words and pictures work together.”Specifically for Roye, I’d like you to spend time looking at the his posts starting June 30, 2016, and ending
Please also read Vaynerchuck (2013), “The Characteristics of Great Content and Compelling Stories,” available on the Readings page.
When engaging with Jenkins’ and Roye’s Instagram posts, I’d like you to think about Lambert’s “Seven Elements of Digital Storytelling” and Vaynerchuck’s Characteristics of Great Content. Which do we see being played out? Which (other than Soundtrack) are downplayed? Thinking about Shea’s article and what you are seeing in the posts, what elements would you add to Lambert’s and Vaynerchuck’s list?
Tweet at least 3 of your thoughts as a way to start a conversation about the articles and Instagram posts.
H 2/22: Shea, Vaynerchuck, Lambert, examples
Discuss Midterm Story of Learning
week 7: Jon Olshefski’s Visit and Quest Screening
Assignment for Tuesday, 2/27
For these readings, we will be moving from storytelling to data tracking, which will help us as we prepare to write our social media analysis reports for our clients.Please read the short text by Hlinko (2012) on social media multipliers. Go through your client’s last 100 or so tweets (JCC, look at one of the similar organizations you identified in your background research; Ubuntu look to The Redemption Project) and try to identify their multipliers. Who is retweeting and liking their messages most? Also read the TrackMaven and SimplyMeasured reports which analyze social media post content and frequencies. In the TrackMaven report, be sure to scroll through the list of industries until you reach Nonprofit Organization Management.
Read through the Social Media Analysis Report assignment, which we will discuss in more detail on Tuesday. Start doing some analyses of your own social media feeds and tweet a bit about what you find out. (Don’t tweet about what you find about your organizations because we don’t want to reveal data they might not revealed.
Your Story of Learning weekly update is due Thursday evening.
M 2/26: REQUIRED: Screening of Quest at 7:00pm followed by Q&A
T 2/27: Hlinko, and social media analysis reports
Discuss Social Media Analysis
Assignment for Thursday, 3/1
In preparation for Jon’s visit, please read “For People of Color, Banks are Shutting the Door to Homeownership” and listen to (or read the transcript of) the Fresh Air episode with Jon and Quest Rainey.I’d like you to compose a 5-tweet thread in which you discuss your reactions to the film, as well as think about it in terms of the article and Fresh Air episode. I’d also like you to think about the relationship between Jena Nardella’s storytelling goals and how Jon presents his film.
Jon will be coming to class to talk about these issues (though he probably hasn’t read Jena’s book) as well as his filmmaking process, so please come with 3 or 4 questions each.
If you haven’t yet, please read through the Social Media Analysis Report assignment.
H 3/1: Jon Olshelfski visits the class
week 8: Video & Social Media Workshops
T 3/6: Video Workshops
Ubuntu Blog Post Due
Juvenile Justice Center Blog Post Due
H 3/8: Social Media Analysis Workshop
analysis-workshop-samples.pdf; analysis-overall-comments-s18.pdf
F 3/9: Midterm Story of Learning due by 11:00pm
Spring Break — 3/12 – 3/16
week 9: Midterm Conferences
T 3/20: Class Canceled for Conferences though you will meet with teams
H 3/22: Class Canceled for Conferences though you will meet with teams
week 10: Projects
T 3/27: Discuss Analysis Reports Video Workshops and Social Media Analysis Meetings
Providence Center Blog Post Due
H 3/29: Video Workshops and Social Media Analysis Meetings
Social Media Analysis Word Doc Draft Due
week 11: Projects
T 4/3: No Class — University is on a Monday Schedule
Social Media Analysis Word Doc Draft Due
H 4/5: TBD
Complete First Drafts of Deliverables Due
week 12: Second Client Meeting
T 4/10: Work on Projects
H 4/12: Work on Projects; Ad Consistency; Who is Roots to Rise?; Fostering Brighter Futures;
week 13: Projects
T 4/17: TBD
H 4/19: TBD
week 14: Projects
T 4/24: Show Drafts Day
H 4/26: Class Photo Day; A Morning with John Lewis (focus on b-roll)
week 15: Projects
T 5/1: Last Day of Class; end-of-semester-checklist-s18.pdf
Thursday, 5/3: share 1 FINAL VIDEO with B:Social Dropbox by 11:00pm
Friday, 5/4, 8:00am: End of Semester Event
Friday, 5/4: Client Case Studies Due by 11:00pm
Monday, 5/7, All Final Deliverables Due on hard drive and hard drives turned in
Tuesday, 5/8: Final Story of Learning Due by NOON