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Please come to class on time. Let me know if you need to be absent so that we will know not to wait for you. In a graduate course, it’s expected that you’ll miss no more than three sessions. Let me know if this looks to be a problem for you.

Out of courtesy for your instructors and fellow students, there will be no texting, emailing, or use of social network sites during class sessions.

Class Blog:
To facilitate class discussion, you will be required to bring to each class 3 – 4 paragraphs (500 words max) that highlight some of the questions raised for you as you completed the readings for the day. You must refer to at least two of the readings for the week, but can use more. You must also refer to at least one comment made by a classmate either in the last class session or in the prior session’s class blog. These are to be uploaded by midnight on the night before the class period. Print these out and bring them to class; they’ll help us focus our class discussions. Together, your classroom participation and these discussion essays will account for 10% of your grade.

Fieldwork Assignment:

The largest portion of your grade will be based upon completion of the fieldwork assignments:

Observation field notes = 10% +

1st video/edit or log = 10% +

2nd video/edit or log = 10% +

3rd video/edit or log = 10%

Editing or scripting or editorial assistance 10% = 50%

Teams:

Temple Emmanuel: Pete, Jason, Thad, with Art

Christ Lutheran Church: Will, Johnny, Nicole, with Jill

Kit as observer

More on the process of digital storytelling/fieldwork is below.

Annotated Bibliography:

10% of your grade will be based upon your development of an annotated bibliography that includes 3-4 books and a total of at least 10 articles or book chapters (not required in this course) that employ qualitative research.  You should select pieces that will be useful for either the literature review or methodology section of your thesis or dissertation topic.

Symposium:

Our class will participate in a Symposium on Qualitative Research Methods on Wednesday, May 5, during our regular class time.  This will be your first opportunity to offer a 10-minute presentation on your thesis proposal.  I have invited Radhika Parameswaran, a well-known qualitative researcher, to come and speak with us about her own work and respond to your projects.

If you are not choosing the thesis or dissertation option, please be prepared to talk about a challenge from your experience with qualitative research as it fits into one of these categories: research design, sampling and interviewing, analysis and writing, or collaborating and publishing.  You can also choose to raise a question that is relevant for your thesis or dissertation.  Participation in the symposium is worth 10% of your grade.

Paper:

You can choose to write:

1. A draft of your thesis proposal;

2. A draft of your methods chapter for your dissertation; or

3. A paper that analyzes your experiences with digital storytelling within this class

20%

The first draft of this 15 to 20-page, double-spaced paper is due Monday, May 24.

The final version is due (and will be presented) at the end of the quarter on Monday, May 31.

More on the Digital Storytelling Project/Process:

Jill and Art are overseeing the development of two digital storytelling projects: one with Temple Emmanuel, and one with Christ Lutheran Church.  Lynn and Rachel are providing assistance in this effort.

At this point, each group envisions that the form of the digital storytelling final product will be something like this:

Introduction to the group through visuals/music

Viewer is introduced to the 3 – 4 “stars” of the film through life stories of who they are, what they do, what they care about, what they struggle with

Story #1

Story #2

Story #3

Theme #1: friendship/fun (stars 1, 2, 4 share their stories and we can see how these themes play out in their lives)

Theme #2: education/memory (stars 2, 3)

Theme #3: Tikkun Olam/repairing the world (stars 1, 2)

Why the group matters (may include here some reference to alumni of the group, or group leaders, etc.)

Conclusion

The completed story will be 8 – 12 minutes in length and will be modeled after Frontline’s Growing Up Online in its method of introducing individuals and addressing relevant themes through the stories of the individuals who are involved:Watch PBS Frontline’s Growing Up Online here

Student Responsibilities:

Each student will schedule a time to observe the group or the congregation. You can attend either group and Jill and Art will help to arrange these opportunities over the next few weeks.  You are to take fieldnotes on your observation and put these on the class blog (see Taylor & Lindlof reading scheduled for 4/5 for suggestions on how to construct fieldnotes).  The observations are due Monday, April 12.

Each student will then be involved in three segments of the videotaping.  Each of these segments will focus on the development of the life story of one of the students selected by the producers and leader.  The student involvement will include: (1) brainstorming with the liaison (Art or Jill) about who the person is and what should be filmed, (2) going on shoots that are lined up to include a variety of settings, (3) logging and making decisions regarding the ordering/scripting of the segments, and (4) editing the segments.  Each group will include at least one of our experienced video people.  The roles needed for each group include: producer (the person who talks with people and gets shots lined up), cameraperson (makes sure visuals are good and gets shots on tape), audio monitor (the person who listens to sound on the headphones and makes sure the crew isn’t heard on tape, wind noise isn’t overly distracting, etc.) who is also the logger (the person who writes down what is shot so as to save time later).

Shoots will include afterschool events, in-school events, sports, clubs, family/home time, hangout time w/friends) based on who the person says they are and what’s important to them. The shoot will also include an interview.  Ideally, a group of three could film 4-5 brief location shots and an interview in one half day, but it may be that we’ll want to divide up differently (e.g., if two students go to the same school, maybe one group concentrates on both students in some settings, freeing up the other group to film those or other students elsewhere).  Or, one group might do 2 2-hour segments rather than a full half-day.

After all of the shooting is completed, we will work in groups on scripting what we’ve got into separate segments, and class members will work on editing the video together.

The first two segments are due Monday, April 26.  The second two are due Wednesday, May 12.  The third two segments are due Wednesday, May 19.

We’ll aim to get six segments completed by the end of the quarter.

Jill, Art, Lynn and Rachel are ultimately responsible for completing this video, although we welcome input and assistance with the overall product and recognize that there is a great deal of expertise in the class.  The goal for the class is to become immersed in the process of working with young people to produce a representation through video so that we might reflect on this process of representation as a method of qualitative inquiry.