WE ARE BACK on the Clonmel Digital Campus and enjoying an exceptionally reliable suite of online support services. Since this is the first time a new cohort of students has met me, I think it's important to offer a quick overview of the online spaces I use when teaching Media Writing to creatives.
Throughout more than 500 days of COVID restrictions, I scrubbed down a workflow that uses Office 365 services and Moodle. I've become a big believer in Class Notebook. I depend on file management inside Sharepoint. I connect these Office 365 services to schedules and assessments broken down by Moodle.
Nothing works unless students accept the framework I've devised. During the next 10 weeks, I'll update this blog post to let readers see how things evolve.
At the moment, I think I've a logical workflow.
- We start with specific tabs and pages in OneNote. During our first tutorial session, I ask students to offer hyperlinks to their online presence. I need these details because the Media Writing module explores the indexicality of self. Hyperlinks offer real world examples of effective indexicality.
- To avoid mission creep, I create rundowns inside a Content Library of OneNote and cross-post the details inside a section on Moodle for each of my two hour practical sessions. I value compact listings that can be printed on an A4 sheet or annotated inside B6 format Media Writing journals.
- I give students full editing rights to OneDrive storage space and this means everyone can see the uploads of colleagues it they use the view spawned by the Sharepoint site for Media Writing. This is a private space so the link requires password authentication.
- I update a link list on Moodle for major items of interest for students. During our time-critical practical sessions, I encourage students to open browser tabs and phone screens only to the items shared on the link list. I know people who don't get tasks finished during the allocated studio time often allow distractions and notifications in their work space.
- I created an eight minute summary of this blog post because some people learn best by rewinding summaries.
- As the semester unfolds, I hope students can find key points related to each week of the Media Writing module by asking Google or Bing for content related to the exact phrase "Media Writing 2021". As I post this item, Ryerson owns that key phrase.
If you've read this far and also use Class Notebooks when teaching, please connect with me to share your perspectives. I'm topgold on all good social networks.
[Bernie Goldbach teaches creative media for business on the Clonmel Digital Campus for the Technological University of the Shannon.]