Author Archives: Amy G.

GUIDE – Troubleshooting the Disappearance of the Visual Editor

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Use the Class Blog (Wordpress)

Wondering what happened to the Visual editor tab on your post editing page? Try checking your Profile to see if you have the box shown below checked. If you do, …

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HOW TO – Add a Voiceover Audio Track in iMovie '11

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Use iMovie

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This screencast is part 3 of a series on how to create a CDS-style digital story using iMovie ’11, but you might find it useful even if you plan to …

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GUIDE – Planning a Cinematic Story

CATEGORIES: PLANNING & DRAFTING New Media Projects

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PROCESS Elements of Video Planning The core elements of video planning, regardless of approach, are: a synopsis, a script, an asset and/or shot list, and a storyboard, as described below: …

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GUIDE – Composing with Video: the Remix

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Capture & Edit Video

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ABOUT REMIX A remix video conveys an original message using short video clips from a variety of sources, assembled in a way that “repurposes” their original meaning. The most common …

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Digital Literacy Interviews

CATEGORIES: TEACHING DIGITAL WRITING

The gallery below shows the most recent entries on on my Share Your Digital Literacy Stories Vimeo channel. For more info on my digital literacy interviews, scroll down below the …

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ASSIGNMENT – Options for Visual-Based Genres Project

CATEGORIES: ASSIGNMENTS ARCHIVE

ABOUT: From my WRTG 3020 class for Fall 2012. Below is specific information about the new media format options available for the Visual-Based Genres Project. See the Text & Visual …

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ASSIGNMENT – Options for Text-Based Genres Project

CATEGORIES: ASSIGNMENTS ARCHIVE

ABOUT: From my WRTG 3020 class for Fall 2012. Below is specific information about the new media format options available for the Visual-Based Genres Project. See the Course Projects Assignment …

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ASSIGNMENT – Text-Based and Visual-Based Genres Project

CATEGORIES: ASSIGNMENTS ARCHIVE

ABOUT: From my WRTG 3020 class for Fall 2012. OVERVIEW In this class you will focus on developing your skills at new media writing, which are those types of writing …

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GUIDE – On the Importance of Using Planning Strategies

CATEGORIES: PLANNING & DRAFTING New Media Projects

(I wrote this handout to address the value of planning a written project, but the the principles apply equally well to the value of planning a digital composition project.) Sometimes …

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GUIDE – Strategies for Discovering Topics & Getting Started with Drafting

CATEGORIES: PLANNING & DRAFTING New Media Projects

I want to introduce you to some strategies you can use to better understand and relate to material you’re reading about. These strategies can also be used to generate potential …

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DESKTOP APPS for Information Management

CATEGORIES: NIFTY APPS & TOOLS

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These are downloadable apps that can synch content across multiple computers and devices. I use the first three all the time! MarsEdit – blog management app for Mac (not free, …

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TEACHING TIPS – Teaching Digital Storytelling Projects

CATEGORIES: TEACHING DIGITAL WRITING

Here are a few tips for educators who are thinking of offering digital storytelling as an option for student projects.

GUIDE – Web Resources on Visual Rhetoric

CATEGORIES: TEACHING DIGITAL WRITING

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WEB SITES Viz: Visual Rhetoric -Visual Culture – Visual Pedagogy The award-winning digital publication viz. is committed to the intersections of Rhetoric and visual culture. In keeping with its mission …

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STUDENT SAMPLE – “Finding Myself,” a digital story-line of my bisexual identity

CATEGORIES: SAMPLES - CDS-Style Digital Storytelling, SAMPLES - WRTG 3020: Rhetoric of G&S

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Follow this link to view a creative approach to a digital storytelling project by a student in my Spring 2012 section of LGBT 2000.

GUIDE – Understanding the concept of rhetorical situation

CATEGORIES: PLANNING & DRAFTING New Media Projects

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One key concept in the study of rhetoric is the rhetorical situation, which refers to the factors that influence the creation of a message. Broadly speaking, the rhetorical situation includes …

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WEB RESOURCES – Help Resources for WordPress.com

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Use Your WordPress.com Blog

UPDATE FOR 2013: The resources below may be outdated, so I recommend that you consult the official WordPress.com Support pages instead. (This does NOT apply to Amy’s students, who are …

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EXAMPLES – This I Believe Audio Essays by First-Year Writing Students

CATEGORIES: INSPIRATIONS & FYI'S

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These samples were produced by students in classes taught by my colleagues at CU. From Nancy Hightower’s WRTG 1150: Gender in Media Tech Nation: An Introspective Wiki on Technology and …

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HOW TO – Record into Windows MovieMaker

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Capture & Edit Video

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Because you can find so many tutorials on Windows MovieMaker on the web, I don’t have a lot of details here. I recommend that you start by browsing Microsoft’s MovieMaker …

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TIPS – To Ensure a Good Quality Audio Recording

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Record & Edit Audio

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If you’re planning to produce an audio essay or to provide audio narration for a visual project, read the following tips. ** ALWAYS DO A TEST RECORDING FIRST ** I …

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HOW TO – Make a trial recording of an audio transcript draft

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Record & Edit Audio

Overview After you’ve written a draft of your transcript, make a trial recording, which has these benefits: You’ll learn the basics of how audio recording software works. You’ll discover whether …

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HOW TO – Record a full draft of an audio transcript

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Record & Edit Audio

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Overview After you’ve made a trial recording of your audio transcript, you will work on further developing, organizing, and improving your transcript, in response to feedback from your classmates as …

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DEMO VIDEO EFFECT – Distortion Effects in iMovie

CATEGORIES: INSPIRATIONS & FYI'S

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I made this demo for students who wanted to know how to protect the privacy of their interview subjects by applying a blurring effect in iMovie.

GUIDE – Use Google Docs for peer reviews

CATEGORIES: TEACHING DIGITAL WRITING

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Common Teaching Issue: Doing peer review with Word files results in too many separate copies of each draft Anyone who has asked students to do peer review by downloading copies …

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HOW TO – Make an audio recording in GarageBand

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Record & Edit Audio

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OVERVIEW This screencast demonstrates how to make a simple voice recording in GarageBand ’11 (which should look similar to GarageBand ’09). The screencast also shows how to export the recording …

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GUIDE – Web Resources on Composing Comics

CATEGORIES: RESOURCES: Animations & Comics

Tutorial on Composition and Page Layout for Comics Visual Language: Learn the Language of Comics Rhetoric of Comics (syllabus for a class by that title) Scott McCloud’s blog – author …

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HOW TO – Add music to an audio essay in GarageBand '11

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Record & Edit Audio

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This screencast shows you how to add a bit of music to the opening of your audio essay and also in the middle, perhaps for a transition into a new …

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TEACHING TIPS – Use comment bubbles for self-evaluation

CATEGORIES: TEACHING DIGITAL WRITING

Common Teaching Issue: Students sometimes don’t follow writing advice Every writing instructor knows the frustration of reading a student’s final paper and realizing that the student has not incorporated the …

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WEB ARTICLE – Andrea Lunsford on digital literacy

CATEGORIES: TEACHING DIGITAL WRITING

You may have seen smaller clips of Andrea Lunsford’s comments on the changing nature of literacy and how that impacts student writing at the university level, but I just found …

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LINKS – Collections of Digital Storytelling Projects

CATEGORIES: INSPIRATIONS & FYI'S, RESOURCES: Digital Storytelling

Also see this more recent post: Collections of digital and new media stories to read, watch, and listen to STORY COLLECTIONS ON THE WEB On these pages you can access …

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STUDENT SAMPLE – Gender in Pop Culture – Research Wikis by Students

CATEGORIES: SAMPLES - Pop Culture Artifact Analyses, SAMPLES - WRTG 3020: Rhetoric of G&S

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These samples were made by students in a class taught by a colleague at CU. Class research wikis by Nancy Hightower’s WRTG 1150 classes Gender in Media Tech Nation: An …

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WEB RESOURCES – A glimpse into the composition skills of our future students

CATEGORIES: TEACHING DIGITAL WRITING

Wondering what kind of composition skills today’s grade school kids will be bringing with them to college? Check out the winners of the International Student Media Festival. See the 2010 …

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WEB RESOURCES – Collections of Sample Digital Media Projects

CATEGORIES: INSPIRATIONS & FYI'S

Most of the samples in the collections below are in the form of videos, but they include a variety of approaches, such as mini-documentary, promotional, and digital storytelling. If you …

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GUIDE – Digital Composition Bibliography

CATEGORIES: TEACHING DIGITAL WRITING

I originally created this bibliography for my colleagues in the PWR at CU Boulder, to help them explore the scholarship and pedagogy that supports digital composition. The bibliography below is …

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WEB RESOURCES – A few of the news feeds I follow through Facebook

CATEGORIES: TEACHING DIGITAL WRITING

I occasionally come across people who didn’t know you could receive news feeds through Facebook, so I put together this list of some of the sources of news I receive …

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COMMENTARY – Design Analysis of D2L: Too Many Clicks

CATEGORIES: RHETORIC OF DESIGN

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(Originally posted on the blog for my section of WRTG 3035: Technical Communication and Design.) Here’s another entry into our collection of design successes and failures. As the “designer” in …

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COMMENTARY – Design Analysis of Google Docs: Inconsistent Visual Cues

CATEGORIES: RHETORIC OF DESIGN

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(Originally posted on the blog for my section of WRTG 3035: Technical Communication and Design.) (This post serves as an example of what you might contribute under the Design Successes …

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WEB RESOURCES – Digital literacy articles recently shared on our Facebook group

CATEGORIES: TEACHING DIGITAL WRITING

I thought those of you who aren’t on our PWR Digital Composition group on Facebook might like to browse through some of the articles members have recently shared on the …

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WEB RESOURCES – Fair Use of Digital Media in Student Work

CATEGORIES: TEACHING DIGITAL WRITING

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If your students use digital media objects they found online in any of their course projects, you might want to give them this handout, which will help them understand the …

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GUIDE – Approaches to Composing Visuals in Motion

CATEGORIES: PLANNING & DRAFTING New Media Projects

No matter what style or approach you want to use to tell your story, you’ll be following the same basic process that was first invented in the 1890’s: assembling a …

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GUIDE – HTML Cheat Sheet

CATEGORIES: RESOURCES: Writing for the Web

If you’re working with a web tool that allows you to use HTML, you might find the cheat sheet below helpful. I originally created it for students who are participating …

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