Assignment

For the final research presentation, students are encouraged to submit their extra credit multi-media appendix for their critical essay.  The “appendix” could be anything –word clouds, image galleries, podcast, data visualization, Prezi, Google map, timeline, short video, etc.– that offers a multi-media enhancement for your critical essay topic.  The appendixes are entirely voluntary but submitting something –anything– is required for this final research presentation.  Then, Prof. Pinsker will evaluate the content of the submission.  The best submissions will receive up to 5 extra credit points for the critical essay; submissions of lesser quality will receive anywhere from 0-4 points.  Submissions are due by the final seminar session on Friday morning, December 5.

Suggestions

Here are some ideas for your multi-media appendix with estimated point ranges:

• A simple word cloud (1 point) is not as good as a truly teachable one (2-3 points) or even better, a gallery of teachable clouds embedded into a thoughtful blog post (3-5 points)
• In similar fashion, identifying some useful (and public domain) images to support your essay (1-2 points) won’t be as effective as creating a thoughtful blog post with an evocative gallery of those images (3-5 points)
• Note-tweeting the elements of The Education which helped inform your critical essay and then presenting those tweets in a Storify that summarizes your essay (3-5 points)
• Creating a Google map to support your essay with key customization elements (custom placemarks, text with images/videos, helpful layers) and clean content (3-5 points)
• Presenting a “teaching version” of your essay in Prezi form or providing a helpful TimelineJS (or alternative platform) to document your key claims (3-5 points)
• Developing a helpful “infographic” that illustrates a key point or points from your essay (3-5 points)
• Offering a short podcast or video “close reading” version of the portion of The Education analyzed by your essay (tackling one or two key elements perhaps of the overall topic) with decent production values and effective content (4-5 points)
• Or tackling a creative option might prove inspiring to some of you.  For example, you might draw a cartoon or series of cartoon images about The Education (such as a parody of Saul Steinberg’s famous New Yorker cover, but this time showing an “Adams View of the World”) (4-5 points).  Or those writing about the Adams marriage might draft a fictional “lost letter” from Clover Adams to Henry and present a podcast reading of this original piece of historical fiction (4-5 points).  Or some participants might attempt to create a poem or piece of music inspired by one of Henry Adams’s experiences and present it in a podcast (4-5 points).