Jessica’s Learning Record

Jessica Maroney

Junior at James Madison University

Hi, I’m Jessica. I am studying Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication at JMU. This is a digital portfolio showcasing my work in one of my major classes, WRTC 332: Computers and Writing. Thank you for reading.

Course Objectives

These are the four objectives that govern how the course is structured.

Dimensions of Learning

These help interpret important milestones in the learning experience.

  • Assess the content, style, and audience focus of digital storytelling artifacts: be able to diagnose what works, what problems exist, and know how to fix those problems

     

  • Analyze the various genres, micro-genres, platforms, trends, tools, and ethics of digital storytelling

     

  • Design multimodal stories using a variety of methods (such as design thinking, critique, and peer review) and
    technologies (such as mobile and desktop apps) for a variety of audiences

     

  • Demonstrate your ability to work with clients and collaborators on digital storytelling projects

  • Confidence and independence

  • Skills and strategies

  • Knowledge and understanding

  • Use of prior and emerging experience

  • Reflection

  • Creativity, Originality, Imagination

     

Course Objectives

Assess the content, style, and audience focus of digital storytelling artifacts: be able to diagnose what works, what problems exist, and know how to fix those problems

When my class partner, Kelsey, and I completed the story of Jay Varner (left), we had to rework it several times before we were satisfied with the end result. We prepared several questions to ask Jay, but we didn’t realize that the order of the questions didn’t necessarily make sense. I kept this in mind when I formulated questions for the instastory of a WRTC major (right). Fortunately, it is better to have more footage than less because we were able to edit the video and delete some parts of Jay speaking that we didn’t fit. We were able to successfully transfer the video from our phones to Instagram, adding graphic and text. We were careful not to overpower or distract from Jay speaking, which is something we had to really focus on. It took a while to find the right visuals to enhance the story, but now I feel confident that I could do that more naturally with other projects.

Design multimodal stories using a variety of methods (such as design thinking, critique, and peer review) and technologies (such as mobile and desktop apps) for a variety of audiences

When I think of this course objective, I think of the remix project. Though we had some knowledge of Shorthand from our “A Day in the Life” project, our remix project required a whole new approach. I found it difficult to transform a medium, such as text, to something more visual and intriguing because the words looked so permanent; I didn’t know how to take the essay apart in order to remix it. After I gathered all the images I wanted to use and played around with the format, it began to look like something. I worked backwards for this project because I didn’t really have an idea or expectation in my head, but once I started putting things together, I liked the result and knew what I wanted to then fix. Peer review was helpful with this project because it gave me a sense of my audience. Kelsey gave me good feedback and I was able to implement those tips in a later draft of my piece.

Discovering Meaning in Unfamiliarity

An Analysis of Salvador Dali’s The First Days of Spring
Click for Full Project

Dimensions of Learning

Confidence and independence

Use of prior or emerging experience

Creativity, originality, imagination

Use of prior of emerging experience

Throughout this course, I was able to gain new experience as well as use my prior knowledge about storytelling. I have taken classes in the past where we used platforms such as wordpress and GarageBand. I also have expertise in Instagram since I run four different accounts, but I got much more practice with it in this class. Something that we talked a lot about in this class is how to take appealing photographs and design them to fit our medium. I was particular with what photos I used in the StoryMap project. I had a lot of photos from my trip to Aruba, but I chose the ones that went together and told the story well. I chose images and backgrounds based on what stood out and “belonged.” For example, I chose an upclose image of me riding an ATV to put over a background of all the RTV’s driving away. This project made me think of which pictures complement each other.

<iframe src="https://uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/b1a0a17485d59a0843e535202507fc42/aruba/index.html" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="800"></iframe>

Creativity, originality, imagination

I think that this is my favorite dimension of learning because it is what our projects are all about. This class is one of the few times in my week that I get to be creative, original, and use my imagination. In college, I would never have expected assignments such as our “A Day in the Life”where I imagined how a bottle head of John Stamos would go about his day. When I was brainstorming ideas for this project, I was looking around my room at inanimate objects I could portray as having a real life. I would say it was a very original interpretation I had because it’s unlikely there is anything else out there like this project. It made me feel proud to complete this assingment using my own imagination and be pleased with how it came out.

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Click for Full Project

Wallet Exercise

In this exercise, we learned all about Design Thinking, which is a way of creating something with focus on the user. Our first step to creating our product, which was a wallet, was to gather useful information about our “client.” We formulated questions to find our what kind of product would best fit our client’s needs.

In the second step, we sketched a design for the product based on what our client wants. I aimed to be as detailed as I could and labeled everything so it would be easier to put it all together in the next step. I did my best to keep my client in mind when completing this design and include everything she wanted.

When it was time to create a physical product, I was surprised at how difficult it was to implement everything. We had a limited amount of time to put all the materials together and I felt like my brain wasn’t working quick enough. I had to prioritize what was important and recall what my client had wanted the most.

Though I struggled a bit in this exercise, my client, Kelsey was still satisfied with the wallet I made for her. I was proud of my ability to execute my ideas and plans in a meaningful way.

Confidence and independence

The assignments in this class developed my sense of confidence greatly. The fact that we are able to explore different platforms and discover our own way of creating something has helped me be more certain in my decisions and point of view. I like that we don’t get grades frequently in this class because it is a refreshing way of learning. If I know that I’m being graded on something, my audience would be my professor because I want to complete the project just as he or she has directed. It helps me to be more confident and independent if I think of my specific audience with every project. This was the case, for example, in the wallet exercise. We got to be creative and come up with our own ideas with what we learned from our client.