[253] one minute essay feedback...

[Richard Smith <smith@sfu.ca>]

Reading over the one minute essays today (this was written on the bus  
on Thursday evening, in a paper note book with a fountain pen - how  
"old school" is that?), I was impressed, as usual, with the diversity  
and range of interests among Communication students. This is a  
challenge for a teacher - the class included seemingly equal numbers  
of people who were either bored to tears or terribly excited by the  
topic of politics, political theory, and information technology - but  
a good challenge nonetheless.

I am glad I asked about what was clear and what was confusing, as I  
learned that at least a few people found the discussion of  
[pluralism]? went by too fast and a few more were a bit confused by  
the concept of [loopholes]?. I will address these topics in the wiki  
this week with some follow-up notes.

I also found out that there are actually people who miss my corny  
jokes. I will see what I can do about that, but I am not promising  
anything. Perhaps a funny hat? Others wish that there were more  
graphics, pictures, even some colour to the overheads, to keep them  
engaged. Again, I can't promise a Pixar production, but I can  
probably pick it up a little for next week.

The short video - and my "analysis" of it was appreciated by many  
people, as they were glad to see some examples of other people  
working in the medium of digital video. I also heartily recommend the  
BBC's One Minute Video and PocketCine web sites.

As has been mentioned in the past, the amount of material covered,  
and the speed at which I cover it, remains a challenge for some  
people. I will try to keep things reasonable, but will be balancing  
that by the desire, but more than a couple of people for additional  
content in the lectures - for example political theory, critical  
perspectives on democracy, and so on.

Perhaps these additional topics are things that I can cover in my  
after lecture discussion groups (remember, room 1510, from 11:30 to  
1:20 on Thursdays). You can bring your lunch if you want. We had a  
great discussion this week with two groups and a few individuals  
popping by. Thanks for coming, by the way.

Best of luck on your video projects. They will be a challenge both  
technically and socially (remember the team dynamics and respect each  
other!) but I know you will do a good job.

...r

Also available on the wiki at http://arago.cprost.sfu.ca/cmns253/ 
course/materials/Week11OneMinuteEssay where you'll find links to that  
video and to more detail on pluralism and loopholes...


--
Richard Smith, Associate Professor School of Communication
Simon Fraser University, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, CANADA  
V6B 5K3
Phone: 604 291 5116 Web: http://www.sfu.ca/~smith/ Mobitus: 2001 1070  
0578 skype - callto://richard_k_smith
PGP Public Key: http://arago.cprost.sfu.ca/smith/ 
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