ePortfolio: Final presentation

Introduction

At the beginning of the year we were presented with a project to do whatever we wanted to do. As a class we decided to help the freshmen at Texas Tech University to transition into the college life. The goal of the project was to get the freshmen to be excited to be freshmen at Texas Tech as well as getting them to transition into the college life a little better. During the first few weeks of class, we analyzed other artifacts that are available that attempt to make college transition better. There were several different websites presented by my classmates that gave really helpful information to students when it comes to making the transition to college a little easier. Once we analyzed the artifacts at several different mediums, the class decided to break up into smaller groups in order to more effectively work together. The thought process for doing this was simple. With less people giving input, we can get more accomplished. Within our groups we discussed several different mediums that can be used to get our message across. Some of the ideas thrown out were fliers, powerpoints, videos, websites, or large groups. In my group, we decided it would be best to present the information through a website and integrate visual media such as photos and video. We also decided to use blog technology to communicate with our audience.

The course has several criteria in order to receive full credit. The criteria for the class can be found at www.richrice.com where it states the course requirements to be as followed.

1. Critical thinking. Students will compose a collaborative essay in multiple drafts that builds on peer and teacher commentary. Students will also produce reflection in an ePortfolio and in blogs related to course material, and will revise two papers they're working on or have worked on from other classes. Measurement: completion of the writing assignments at a quality level.
2. Audience awareness. Students will compose multiple writing projects that meet the needs of of specific audiences. Measurement: observation and analysis of artifacts produced.
3. Analyzing effective collaboration. Students will consider the work of designing effective and productive collaborative groups to accomplish specific tasks. Measurement: successfully create, manage, produce, and report on artifacts through collaboration.
4. Knowledge information presentation. Students will take an active role in summarizing, synthesizing, and presenting course content. Measurement: successful completion individual presentation.
5. Diversity and multiculturalism.. Students will explain the advantages and disadvantages of various teaching and learning and meaning making concepts related to a universe of users. Measurement: active participation in classroom discussion and online blogs.

I have composed several different artifacts throughout the semester that have insured I have met eat of these requirements. Some of the artifacts I have worked with are, www.go.lubbockonline.com, www.raiderk84.blogspot.com, homeslyce, collegeuniversity 101 My Blog, and www.realraider.com. On my blog and through RealRaider.com, you will see most of my composition, and the other artifacts demonstrate my critical thinking. All of these together comprise my ePortfolio, and let help justify why I deserve an A in English Composition 4360.

Artifact 1: Critical thinking and Diversity and multiculturalism

Critical thinking is measured by the completion of the writing assignments at a quality level. My Blog is the best demonstration of my critical thinking. This is a good representation of my critical thinking because demonstrates my writing about issues that have taken place in the class. Found in the first blog titled “What I want,” you can see the beginning of what I wanted to get out of this class. As the blog progresses, you can see the evolution of my opinions with the class issues. Although blogs are traditionally more relaxed and informal, I feel the content presented in my blogs is at a scholarly level. For instance, when you scroll to my blog titled “Scoring guides vs Rubrics,” you will see an artifact with a high level of writing. I feel the content and opinions in this artifact represent a high quality of work, because of what it did in the classroom. As a class, we were having a hard time choosing if rubrics or scoring guides were more efficient. When I presented the information in the blog to the class, we decided to go with it.

Artifact 2: Audience Awareness


I completed these criteria in the first week of class, and continued to use it throughout the semester. As a class, we analyzed artifacts that cover our topic and are already available to students. While doing audience analysis’ I found the websites, Homeslyce, and collegeuniversity 101. These two websites give freshmen a list of the top things they need to know before heading to college. I also analyzed www.go.lubbockonline.com and www.raiderj84.blogspot.com because I wanted to be well rounded with both educational and social aspects of transitioning into college. Throughout the semester I have continued to refer to these websites as well as others presented by my classmates. Analyzing my audience and other artifacts has helped me to produce my final project.

Artifact 3: Analyzing effective collaboration

Successfully creating, managing, producing, and reporting on artifacts through collaboration can measure analyzing effective collaboration. This requirement was a big one. It ultimately led to our the completion of our final project. My final project can be found at www.realraider.com. This is the website that my group and I collaborated on to reach freshmen students. My part in the final project included designing and publishing the website and creating content to be on the website. I chose to design the website with the iWeb program. I completely laid the site out and designed it to best fit our needs while still getting our message across. The entire group had a part in putting the website content up. The content that I published can be found on the “finance” tab of the website.

Artifact 4: Knowledge information and presentation

The last criteria for this course are being completed with this project. By completing my ePorfolio and explaining my presentation, I’ve more than shown knowledge for the course and the purpose of the project.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I have completed the English 4360 Composition course by completing each of the learning objectives. The artifacts presented in this ePortfolio justify my completion of the learning objects and why I deserve an A.

Project presentation outline

Outline for project presentation:

1. Introduction of our group members and project
2. Discuss what we will cover
3. Discuss how topics are relevant to project and students
3. Discuss how we will present our information
4. Discuss how we will promote our product
5. Closing questions.

Where we stand

Our group is continuing the with our website project. Today we continued to research around the internet, and we even have downloaded necessary software for our website. It is looking positive.

Clint is going to cover recreation. He has been following intramurals and will giving reviews on several other college sports and activities.

Whitney is in charge of dining. She will write reviews based on experience, atmosphere, and quality of food. Her posts will give the reader a good idea of where to eat for good prices.

Courtney is in charge of the entertainment section as well as the classes and activities offered at Tech. Her entertainment focus will be for Tech students and she is going to review the classes and other activities offered to students at the rec center on campus.

WIll is in charge of education at Texas Tech.

Zach is in charge of financial information for new students. I am going to be downloading wordpress and getting a jump start on our website.

Carver

My writing, well I think it is becoming a lot more fun. Although, I really must say, I wouldn't exactly find it the most scholarly if I were someone else.

You see, recently, my writing has been very blog worthy. Which is ok, because a lot of my writing is done through blogs. It is a precise mirror of my opinions.

I write everyday. Half the time for work as a sports and feature writer for Frenshiptoday.com, and the other half of the time just for the heck of it.

I guess you could say that I agree with a few things Carver is saying. For instance, don't write if you are going to be in a rush.

I write for work on a constant deadline, and it shows papers I begin Tuesday afternoon when we are about to go to press.

I write for fun at my own pace, and likewise, it shows. My thoughts are thought out, and I am overall pleased with my writing.

I don't agree with Carver when he says a piece should be write the first time around. I can't begin to explain how good of friend the "delete" button is. All great writers revise.

The artifacts

Artifact #1: http://raiderj84.blogspot.com/

I was told about this blog a few semesters ago when I was taking a class. I never really looked at it in depth until this class. I was told it was a good source to find out things to do in Lubbock if you are new to the town.

*The artifact is aiming to show people good places to hang out in Lubbock
*I discovered it from a class I took a few semesters ago
*I feel it tells us good places to eat and drink in Lubbock. Since freshmen are not old enough to drink, I don't think this is a good site for our project.
*Podcasting to Freshmen would be a pretty cool idea. I think we would just need to change the content.
* I rank this a 4. Freshmen still need to know where to find good eats. It helps the pocket book.

Artifact #2. http://collegeuniversity.suite101.com/article.cfm/college_freshman_year_101

*This artifact attempts to give Freshmen a heads up before entering college.
*I typed in "College Freshmen 101" at google to find this.
*This give good information to freshmen. I think it tells them the main things they need to know for an overall freshmen experience. It isn't aimed towards Texas Tech by any means so we would need to tweak it. Also, it isn't necessarily provided at a website i see a lot of freshmen going too.
*I think we should add multimedia to this information. And put it in the faces of Tech freshmen.
*I give this an eight.

Artifact #3. http://www.homeslyce.com/guide.php
*The artifact is a forum for students to discuss things that may have helped them out their freshmen year.
*I found this artifact the same way I did the second artical.
*I think this site is pretty cool. It lets the students interact with other students who have been in the same situations they have been in. Once again, I have never heard of Homeslyce.com.
* It can be revised by putting it places more accessible to Texas Tech Students.
*I give this an eight also.

scoring guides vs rubrics

Scoring guides give you a pretty cut and paste idea of how many points certain criteria is worth for an A in the class.

Likewise, grading rubrics give you a flexible idea of what it takes to get an A in this course.

What do I feel is more beneficial in this class?

How about neither.

This is the first class I have taken where the teacher has said "How do you want to be graded?" It is also the first class that the teacher said on the first day "Do the work, and I am not one to give out a B."

With that in mind, its simple to me. We don't need a rubric. We need to do the project WE decided upon, and do it well. We need to get excited about the topic we decided upon, and show it through our work.

This class does not work like other classes. The reason this class, and Dr. Rice's experiment if you will, works so well, is because it relies on upperclassmen to act like upperclassmen. It requires students like us who give a damn about their education and are willing to put aside the grading charts to get some hands on experience. We do that, and our knowledge of the topic will come. We will be smarter for it, and more reliable. Oh, and to make things better, its going to show through our projects the effort we put into it. Not the effort to get an A, but the effort to impact the freshmen.

I say forget the rubrics and scoring guides. If you seriously must have something to go off of. Set your highest ability as the goal. Or if that doesn't work, compete to have a better project than group one. Because I can vouch that there is going to be some high quality work coming from our way.

Rowdy Raiders

I would like to work on a Rowdy Raider topic.

I don't think the idea was getting through to the class because we were stuck on the "Integrity of Tech" for some reason.

Forget the word integrity. There are so many other words that can be used in that place to actually interest students.

I am thinking that this project should be fun and enjoyable to work. Especially if we are going to be doing it all semester. A lot of fun things can be done with school spirit and promoting it.

The saddle tramps would be good to analyze for this.