Making Media Meta

ENC3312: Advanced Argumentative Writing Spring 2018 University of Florida

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Navigating Making Media Meta Course Tumblr

Welcome to the course blog for the Spring 2018 section of Advanced Argumentative Writing at the University of Florida! This course is designed to practice public writing, digital rhetoric, and multimodal composition. All of the required course readings are open access and linked in the schedule. In addition, all required course tools are free for students, including Canva, Adobe Color CC/Capture, and Tumblr. Assignment prompts and student responses are all tagged and searchable for future educational purposes.

(This course Tumblr is designed as a closed, secondary group blog, meaning that students need a Tumblr account and an invitation to access, and no external replying is allowed.)

Please contact the instructor, Emily Brooks, at emilyfbrooks [at] gmail [dot] com if you have any questions!

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Syllabus- This page has all of the course information including description, goals, policies, and resources

Schedule- This page has a course schedule outline with daily, weekly, and unit topics, links to assignments and readings, and homework (HW) assignments

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Additionally, you can search the posts with the following links:

makingmediameta.tumblr.com/tagged/<tag>

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Activity and Assignment Tags

Autobiography Cover #autobiographycover

Meditation on Mediation #meditationonmediation

Telos Icon #purposeicon

Logic Definition #logicdefinition

Cereal Box Analysis #cerealbox #rhetoricalanalysis #visrhet #visualrhetoric

Comparative Visual Rhetorical Ad Analysis #adanalysis #visrhet

Color Scheme #colorscheme

SWOT Analysis #swotanalysis

Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature Visit #BaldwinLibraryofHistoricalChildrensLiterature #uflib #specialcollections

Concrete Poetry #concretepoetry OR #wordcloud

Critical Reading #criticalreading

Keyword Definition #keyworddefinition

AR Activism #aractivism

Unpopular Opinion Proposal #unpopularopinion

Epic Rap Battle #epicrapbattles #infographic

Rhizcomics #rhizcomics

Spotify Listicle #listicle #Spotify

Welcome to Night Vale #welcometonightvale

Metagaming #metagaming

Unpopular Opinion Infographic #unpopularopinion

Logo/Resume #logotype #design

Feasibility #feasibility

Final Project Proposal #proposalpresentation

Writing Is Making #writingismaking

Core Media Literacy Skills Part 1 #medialiteracy

Core Media Literacy Skills Part 2 #medialiteracy

Final Project #metaargument

Reflection #reflection

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Course Reflection

Taking ENC3312 was actually an uncertainty for me at the beginning of the semester since one of the prerequisites was being at least a sophomore. I needed the class to try to fulfill my English major requirements and luckily Emily helped guide me through the process of registering. Once I was officially able to join my first upper level English class, I was taken aback at how different the atmosphere was compared to the lower level English classes. I was met with such a unique group of students who were all incredibly articulate and knowledgeable about a number of topics. Everyone actively participated and had something to contribute in our daily discussions ranging from theater, law, makeup, bands, and music festivals. There were moments where I just wanted to sit, stay quiet, and just soak everything in. All of this in addition to learning such relevant content in an immensely innovative way really enhanced my learning experience. The opportunities to explore and express my ideas and values through various mediums was something that definitely made me realize that I might want to pursue a major in advertising or communications in the future. Overall, I feel so fortunate to have been able to witness and be a part of this class was one of the highlights of my first year at UF.

-A.L

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Course Reflection

While I was enrolling in courses, I added this course to my schedule and instantly had the thought about this being a boring and writing intensive course. However, that was no the case. It was, of course, writing intensive but it was an environment that fostered creativity and thinking outside the box. Especially for the unpopular opinion assignment and final project. This semester really opened my eyes to creating different perspectives on arguments for my writing and they don’t always have to be written - they can be visual as well. Were there time where I sat at my computer and screamed out of frustration trying to create something to write about? Yes. Yes, there were. But was it all worth it in the end? Yes. Yes, it was. I would have to admit, this was the class I enjoyed the most this semester due to the diversity and uniqueness of the course, as well as how it was delivered.  If there are any future courses taught by Emily Brooks, I will for sure do my best to enroll. -CP

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Course Reflections

This course, particularly the final project of this course, has enabled me to understand the relationship between medium and message. Ultimately, the choice of medium for a message was something which before I had approached unconsciously; however, this course has taught me to think deliberately about how the presentation of content affects the message related by the content.

The assignment which truly drove that point home for me was the final project. There were few areas where the relationship between medium and message became as apparent to me as when creating an adventure-game book with only one possible (bleak) ending. It was in that assignment that I truly began to understand just how significant the effect of medium can be on the message you are trying to get across. I began to understand through this project that the fact that my message that choice isn’t real (which I don’t actually believe) was being relayed through a medium which is conventionally understood to highlight the power choice is what truly created the message of the project. The medium was pulling people in and then frustrating them, and that frustration led them to think deeply about what was really going on. That deep thinking brought on by the medium drove my point home more than any words really could have.

Looking forward I am very excited about what this knowledge and, more generally, what this course has added to my rhetorical tool box. I truly feel that going into the future I have been given an indispensable lesson with no end of potential applications.

-JK

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Making Media Meta Reflection

I joined this class because a teacher I had last semester suggested it to us. I had a basic understanding of what the course would entail but I can say that I am grateful for the surprising elements that were brought into play. Overall I felt this class really pushed the limits of what an English class can be, and that this format was very beneficial to my educational experience.

Mainly, this class showed me the many different forms and mediums that rhetoric and literature in general can take. Analyzing many different types of creative work (and seeing others do the same) helped me better understand the similarities and differences seen between diverse medium. 

Specifically, learning about comics, augmented reality, and metagaming was very insightful. These are very untraditional forms of rhetoric that most English classes do not pay enough attention to. I felt our focus on these elements, as well as other fields of creation, helped us better understand pop culture and the trends that will shape media and literature in the future.

-D.F.

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Course Reflection

This class has forced me to creatively think about the way arguments are structured beyond the typical way we see them presented in articles and essays. I was expecting this class to be about writing argumentative essays, but came away with a lot more ways of expressing ideas. One assignment I really liked was the color theory on Adobe. This is a really useful tool for infographics, flyers, posters, and other ways of spreading information. People are more likely to find a visual source credible if it is aesthetically pleasing. I also enjoyed that the assignments were a way to force us to think about our final project all semester. It helped to get the ideas flowing and marking out what might or might not be a good idea to execute. I also enjoyed the guest lecturers and the different perspectives they brought in creating an argument through their expertise in their fields.

While creating a project seemed like a daunting task early in the semester, since it was built upon all semester it was pretty fun. Physically creating something was a way to tie in a lot of the material we learned throughout this course. For mine personally, using color theory was largely part of my project. Being able to make my own meta project was a good way to determine the level of understanding on what making something meta actually is. The only thing I would change is to have the class writing assignments posted on Canvas with the deadline since that is the platform we are mainly checking. It is nice to have a reminder on Canvas of the weekly assignments we should be doing. I still like the tumblr format and our work should be found here, but Canvas is a good reminder to the work we should be doing.

-JB

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Course Reflection

I signed up for this course as a substitute for business writing because I wanted to take a course with a more creative aspect rather than writing business proposals and SWOT analyses. I was a little nervous as my English friends warned me about the amount of writing I was going to have to do. Before this class, I hadn’t been required to write many papers or essays that weren’t business-focused. 

ENC3312 really surprised me with its uniqueness and ability to tap into my creative potential. Rather than writing essay after essay, I thought this course did a wonderful job at providing flexibility for students to write about what they want. Writing about topics that are important to you is SO MUCH better and easier than writing about dull and uninteresting subjects just to get to the word account. I thoroughly enjoyed writing about the different aspects of digital media and making media meta. I especially liked the concept of our final project – I didn’t even feel like I was completing an assignment as I was so interested in infographics and thinking about various ways to subvert the form.

I also enjoyed the library visit and would recommend that this continue (and maybe even add another “field trip” or two). This course inspired me to think outside the box, in terms of regular text forms and dull mediums. ENC3312 was refreshing compared to the typical lecture-oriented class and I thought our class discussion really enhanced everyone’s involvement and willingness to learn. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this creative composition course and will definitely recommend it to other students.

-RC

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Making Media Meta Reflection

When I first signed up for Spring classes, I came across this class and thought it would be a traditional argumentative writing class. I was expecting to write a lot of papers with cut and dry instructions and guidelines. This assumption was not entirely correct; however, this class was better than I could have anticipated. There were still numerous writing assignments, but they were formatted differently than your typical papers and essays. I have learned valuable skills that will be helpful in the future, especially learning and perfecting my writing skills in association with digital media. I am taking this class concurrently with a digital rhetoric class, and I have enjoyed learning more about the concept of rhetoric. I was vaguely familiar with this term before the beginning of the semester but not enough to understand or grasp the true concept of rhetoric.

This class has also brought out my creative side. I consider myself creatively challenged because I am not the most creative person nor would I consider myself creative. Yet, to succeed in this class, I needed to try to be creative to an extent. It was also challenging to step out of my comfort zone. I am used to straight forward directions and having to be creative outside of that was a bit challenging. Emily was very encouraging and willing to help me whenever necessary which really helped build my self-esteem and confidence over the course of the semester. I am delighted that I could take this class and go beyond your traditional composition class. I think the diversity and creativeness of this class really made going to class an enjoyable experience as well as a pleasant semester.  

-KK

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Reflection

If I could only choose two words to describe my experience with this class, I would select “exposure” and “expansion.”  

My inclusion of “exposure” stems from my gratitude at having been introduced to a great deal of mediums that were previously unknown or unfamiliar to me. From learning what exactly a zine is, to discovering augmented reality, to learning about a wide array of technologies (Adobe Creative Cloud, the versatile nature of Canva, etc.) I had no idea even existed, taking this class has made me more aware of an abundance of mediums and the ways in which they are used. Going forward, I have no doubt I will be able to employ this knowledge in my academic and creative pursuits.

Relatedly, my choice of the word “expansion” references the new perspectives I have gained concerning argumentation. Prior to this course, I typically envisioned making an argument for an English class taking place in the form of a paper or some similar written product. However, this course has certainly challenged me to consider what actually constitutes a narrative, and how argumentation can occur across a wide variety of platforms (many of which are more effective than the written word alone in certain circumstances). I have also achieved a better understanding of how working within confines and conventionality is limiting, and why being open to new and innovative methods is not only beneficial, but necessary in some cases.

Overall, I am walking away from this course with a great sense of satisfaction, as I feel as if I have gained many valuable pieces of information and perspectives that I will be able to integrate into my future endeavors.

P.S. On another note that isn’t as related, I wanted to include that I am so happy we were able to end the semester with the final meta argument project. I can still remember being in the parking lot of Barnes and Noble reading Iain S. Thomas’ “I Wrote This For You” and thinking, “I wish I could make one of these.” Being able to do that for the final project of a class was amazing.

J.T.

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Final Project Reflection

Through the completion of the meta project, I have been able to apply the skills I have learned through the course of this class in a meaningful and fun way. The project was not only thought-provoking in trying to figure out the best approach to making my chosen medium, photography, meta, but it also inspired me to look at other ways I can make aspects of my life more meaningful in a “meta” way. I don’t consider myself particularly creative but I was proud of myself for being able to design a physical project using my photography skills and my new found approaches to innovation. I really enjoyed getting my peers feedback on my project as well as seeing all of their projects. I think that the students in our class came up with some very impressive ways of making all different kinds of mediums meta. This project challenged me in ways that I feel many other essay type projects haven’t. Rather than just relying on text to make my argument, I was pushed to use many other elements such as visuals, use of technology and media, etc. to make my argument. In many ways, I think that I was able to get my point across better this way than just writing a research paper of making photography meta. I think that actually going out into the field and taking pictures to talk about photography gave me a lot of new insight and I look forward to applying this insight to my future endeavors. I really enjoyed this class and I have a whole new set of argumentative and active writing skills to take with me to law school in August.

-LM

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Making Media Meta Reflection

At the beginning of this semester, I was in despair every time I was going to this class. I dreaded it so much my absences early in the semester reflect this. I thought it was so foolish for this class, Advanced Argumentative Writing, to have such an odd focus. Murchek had told me this class was going to improve my writing. If that was the case, I thought, then what the hell is this woman talking about media for and when the hell are we going to do anything productive? What is all this bullshit about color theory and when are we going to get the point where she actually critiques my writing?

I wanted to hear that I use metalanguage too much or that my sentences (obviously) run longer than they should. I was expecting us to write, substantial, papers or pieces of work often for practice makes perfect. I had not realized that I was doing everything I wanted from this class.

I had not the slightest clue what metalanguage was, and when we learned of it, I still thought, “How useless, another category.” I did not realize that through learning something so simple as a category that I would eventually begin to pick up on my metalanguage habits in my writing. As persistent and stubborn as I often am, I was still thinking, where are the lessons? We glanced over concision, we glanced over clarity, when are we going to actually use these skills?

I did not realize that I actually learned tons from this class until it was that I was thinking about evaluations.

I was going to write a scathing critique of this class. I was so enamored with the idea that this class had no gravitas in its teachings. “It’s all gratuitous bookwork and Tumblr posts, what a joke. Brooks is a kind professor and great with her email response time, but there’s no substance to this class.” I began to look into the coursework throughout the semester and I could not have been more wrong.

Upon seeing the list of resources used to proctor and backup each lesson, I realized that there was so much to learn from this course. Had I not the negative attitude I had and maybe a little more patience, I would not have been so myopic. I bookmarked the schedule page; there’s just so much salient information there.

While there are tons to view just from that schedule page, I would be remiss in saying it is all paramount. I understand that the department is forcing professors to teach during M/W/F classes for availability issues, a two hour/ one-hour split T/TH class may have been more appropriate for this class. Things like, in my opinion, color theory could be reserved for the single hour classes and more important things like lessons on concision/clarity and so on, could be reserved for the two-hour blocks. I believe it would produce more discussion and even allow editing sessions, looking at more examples and so on. Due to the three single hour block schedules, at least for myself, the more important lessons seemed tangential or at least on par with something they should not be – as each lesson was reserved the same amount of time.

Regardless, I’ll take another one of your classes if I’m given the opportunity, and I won’t be so negative next time!

-          JH

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Making Media Meta Reflection

When I signed up for this class, I thought I was just fulfilling a requirement in order to graduate. I mentally prepared myself for a class that would have me writing papers every week, adding onto the monotonous workload that typically characterizes the spring semester. I did not at all expect to be challenged creatively, nor did I think I would have to expand the way I think about media and the ways in which it can be self-referential.

I can honestly say that I have thoroughly enjoyed this class. The other classes were ones that I HAD to go to, whereas this was one that I GOT to go to; I felt privileged to be in this class. I was exposed to different rhetorical approaches, which I can now pinpoint in the media every day. It was truly fascinating to see everything we learned being applied to everyone’s final projects.

My final project was something that meant a lot to me because it was about a topic that I am intensely passionate about. For once, I was allowed to write about something that I actually wanted to discuss, not a dry topic that my professors came up with. I found myself talking about this project enthusiastically with my friends, and they were all excited to see the final product. I think students who take this class in the coming semesters will be relieved and surprised to discover that there’s a writing class at UF that doesn’t make one consider dropping out.

-CD

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Final Reflection

At the beginning of the semester, I had no idea what to expect from this class. My strong suit in school has always been science, which is part of why I am a Biology major. Since I had AP credit for English classes from high school, my plan had been not to take any in college. It was going smoothly until I found out the beginning of my junior year that most medical schools require applicants to take eight composition credits in college. Of course they would, right? So in January, I found myself walking into my first college English class. As we did our introductions, I realized the class was filled with many kids who were English majors. At first, I was apprehensive. The course load seemed daunting. Writing 250 word blog posts has never been as easy for me as I’m sure it has for many of my classmates. However, as the semester went on, I realized that this class was way more interesting then I expected. As we touched on in our expectation vs reality blog posts, English classes can be very different from the traditional classroom you may expect. The learning environment in our class was amazing.  Students were allowed to participate in instruction, feel open to talk about what ever we wished, and also learn from each other. This was quite refreshing compared to the lecture classes I am used to. We had influence over what direction the class took, allowing us to explore our own interests. Additionally, the major assignments were very open ended, and I found this allowed me to have lots of fun writing them. My essays consisted of analyzing bud light adds, exploring the history of Rap music and arguing for the merits of my favorite Nolan movie. I found these topics very interesting, and it allowed me to discover a passion for writing I did not know I had. Particularly, I have found that I love writing arguments. In fact, this new realization has persuaded me to explore law school as a possible option after I graduate.  Back in fall, when I registered for this class, I never expected that I would walk out from it having designed my own video game. That was an experience I certainly will not forget. All in all, I am very glad I took this course, and owe Emily and my classmates many thanks for showing me the best side of an English class.

-JC (revised)

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Course Reflection

This course really challenged what I thought about media and its ability to be meta. Coming into this class I also learned that I had a much more limited view of the scope of the kind of media that even could be meta than I do now. I think that I have learned also about how many different kinds of media can be brought into this category. For example, learning about the effectiveness of things like fonts and color schemes really made me re-evaluate all of the different components that go into the process of making media meta.

I really enjoyed the final project for this class -- not only creating my project and getting to my own sort of artistic questioning and experimentation, but also getting to see everyone else in the class’ projects as well. 

HK

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Reflection

When I signed up for Advanced Argumentative Writing, I was a little nervous because I was expecting a lot of writing and a lot of essays. Coming to find out that it was actually going to be based on tumblr, a website I was already familiar with, where we were going to write blogs for our writing requirement I was instantly intrigued with the new type of teaching style. That aspect encouraged me to stay and continue the class. I didn’t know what it meant by making media meta, and it took me a while to grasp the concept. The thing I enjoyed most about this class was the projects and major assignments for this class. From the start with making our autobiography cover I knew that the creative part of my brain was going to be challenged in ways it hadn’t before. It took me awhile to wrap my head around my final project and what I was going to do. Trying to make an audience realize something that they normally see, and tweak it to where it argues about itself and calls attention to itself was not an easy concept to understand. Now, that the class is finished, I think I better understand what it means to be meta and now whenever I go places, I can look around and understand the concepts of meta in the world around me.

-LA

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Making Media Meta Reflection Post

Coming into this class, I didn’t expect to be doing projects and assignments like the ones we’ve had this semester. I expected to be writing numerous papers and being stressed out for the entire duration of the class. I have, however, been pleasantly surprised by the class and I am really thankful for the knowledge and skills I have gained over the semester.

 I appreciate the fact that the assignments we have been given have been in the form of open-response projects that foster creativity and critical thinking. Overall, although it took a large amount of work and a large chunk of time to finish, my favorite project was probably the final project. I found that it was easy to be engaged in a project that I WANTED to do instead of being FORCED to do it and that my ability to decide what medium, form, shape and direction I wanted to take my project in really allowed me to hone in on the skills I was trying to improve upon. The work that I did on my final project made me feel really proud of the work I had done and I felt like I really understood what it meant to make something meta at the end of it all. I think students in future classes will really enjoy the free-flowing nature of the class and will really enjoy the blog-post assignment style as it is using a platform that most students are familiar with already. I would really encourage people who are both English and non-English majors to take this class.

-   AG

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Final Reflection

To be honest, this class was nothing that I anticipated it to be. I initially signed up for it because as an English major, I need all of the upper division classes I can get. A class called “Advanced Argumentative Writing” seemed fairly interesting. Was it going to just develop persuasive papers? Would it be a continuation of ENC1101 or ENC1102? Surprisingly, it was neither of those things.

The skills I’ve picked up in this class are entirely new and different from anything I had previously learned in the English department in my time here as an undergraduate. Some of my classes push the boundaries of “what is English?” and “what is literary creation?”, but this one transformed my perspective like no other. Being able to gain different skills about color, images, and media have made me a better English major.

I really enjoyed the opportunity to focus on my own chosen area of research in the latter half of the course: I’m a big fan of when instructors let students guide their own work, as it inspires much more passion in their projects. I’m a big fan of both cinema and theater, however, I’ve been really fascinated with musicals for a long time. I’m not a massive singer, so this project was kind of odd for me to complete. However, considering how much time I put into the subject already, I was locked in.

Overall, I’m happy with my final project and I’ve really enjoyed this class. I hope the English department continues to offer new and unique class subjects.

- NC