Week 8 Discussion Board – Main Posting

This is a visual presentation week, inspired by our film this week. Your assignment is to create a short video to emphasize social class at a particular time period in American history.

 

In other words, we are applying the ideas in the film to the history of American popular culture that we learned about in our textbook. Choose a particular time in American history, and then illustrate the popular culture in that time period.

• What is the meaning of class?
• Is it about social and/or economic position? Income? Education? Prestige? Power and control? One’s culture?
• Taste and lifestyle, regardless of income?
• One’s race, religion, or ethnicity?
• One’s job?
• One’s self-image and attitude about the world?

 

Think about all of those various aspects/definitions of class, and find at least five images which illustrate the popular culture of classes in the particular period of American history that you decided to illustrate.

 

In your main posting, have one paragraph to tell us what time period you have chosen to illustrate and what your presentation illustrates about social class in that time period. Then, in your presentation, include a minimum of five images which illustrate social class in that period of American history. Put a headline/phrase for each image that briefly describes each image for your viewers.

 

The software for your visual presentation:

Students sometimes panic and say, “I don’t know how to make a video! This is too hard! I can’t do it! This professor is crazy!!” Okay, calm down. Making a video is surprisingly easy these days. You probably have the software installed already on your computer. Or, you can use one of the free web tools for making videos. Some choices are:

• com(my students seem to like this one quite a bit).
• Microsoft Movie Maker. This comes with your Windows operating system.
• iMovie. This comes with your Macintosh operating system.
• Prezi. A free web tool for making web presentations. Very easy to use for novices.
• Animoto. Another web tool with a free/educational version for making cool video presentations. Very easy to use for novices.
• There are many other freebies on the Internet if you like to tinker with software. Search for free video editor.
• Your digital camera or webcam probably came with a free or trial version of a video editor.
• Please do NOT use PowerPoint. Students often have a lot of problems transferring their multimedia projects for us to view. And, students often put waaaay too much text into PowerPoint presentations. Let’s try a video editor instead.

So, don’t panic. You have lots of good options. Students who have never made videos before often say this is the best thing they learned in this class. They use their video editor for their home photos and videos.

The parts of your new discussion thread:

1. A subject line that describes your new thread.
2. One paragraph that describes the main point in the film that your visual presentation illustrates.
3. A web link to your presentation, or an attached file of your presentation.
4. The presentation needs at least five images, with a headline/phrase for each one.