Project IUP Cast Guidelines
Members of this class will be taking part in Project IUP Cast. The goal of Project IUP Cast for this course is to produce online audio and video content that highlights IUP students’ views on literacy, technology, education, and/or the teaching of writing. Each student in this course will participate in Project ICast by serving on one Production Team. The team’s job will be to create a short (5-10 minute) podcast (audio cast) or vidcast (video cast). The topic of the casting project will be reporting on an interview of person about their views of technology and literacy.
Podcasting Technology
Students will practice working with audio files in class. Student Teams will then create their own podcast (audio cast) or vidcast (video cast) outside of class. In class work time and help will be provided so you can create a good quality cast.
Focus of English 808 Casting Project
Your podcast or vidcast should teach us something about the links between literacy and technology. So you need to find a participant who is willing to be interviewed about their literacy and technology experiences. You should ask the person for permission to conduct an interview that will last from 30-45 minutes. This is an educational project, but you need to ask the person for permission to post on a publicly accessible website the podcast based on their interview. Your actual podcast will only run 5-10 minutes, so it will be a heavily condensed version of the most interesting parts of your interview.
Previous projects have focused on such topics as:
- some middle school girls’ views on the value of the internet for learning
- a teenager’s understanding of the concept of literacy
- an intercultural writing experience
- a teacher’s views on the nature of teaching with technology
Your team may interview anyone who is not a faculty member or student in the C&T program. Part of the goal of this project is to broaden our views of technology and literacy, so it is important to find an interview participant who is outside the more familiar territory of C&T folks.
Title
Give your piece a title which will help the audience understand the focus of your team cast. Be sure your title is more descriptive than just “Interview with Professor X.” Use a title that conveys some meaning, such as “Reflection on the Joys and Dangers of Twitter Teaching by Professor X.” You should tell the audience your title near the beginning of your cast. The title will also be used to identify your cast on the archival website.
Framing
No matter what your podcast/vidcast is about, I want your team to “frame” our reception of what you record. This means you need to provide is with an introduction that explains what your cast is about and why it would be valuable for us to experience it. You also should then provide a conclusion to your cast that helps us think about what we should take away from the experience. This is the frame and it serves as bookends which help your audience interpret what they are hearing/seeing. In other words, don’t just say “here’s an interview with Professor X” and then give the recording of that interview. Instead, set up that interview so your listeners know what to listen for and how they might make sense of the recorded interview. A frame helps give meaning to what’s inside the frame.
Your frame should provide an introduction and a conclusion (usually linked to some music). Teams have also sometimes found it valuable to add one more “framing” moment in the middle of the cast.
All of this framing should help us to understand what this interview has to teach us about the nature of technology and literacy.
Music
Since music can enhance a podcast or videocast, each group needs to include some accompanying music. Music is useful because it further frames your cast by helping us to get a feel for the kind of mood we should be in as we experience your cast.
Please use public domain music so that no copyright infringements occur if your team creates a soundtrack for your cast. Sources of public domain music will be discussed in class.
Length
Your casting project should fall into the 5-10 minute range. Do not complete a casting project which is too short or which is unedited and runs too long. The idea of creating a podcast/vidcast is to deliver a focused message.
Project IUP Cast Archival
Project IUP Cast has been running since 2007. During that time, lots of podcasts and a few vidcasts have been produced by IUP students for various classes. These materials are archived here so that future students and teachers can access them. All Project IUP Cast materials are published for public consumption. The individuals who created the podcasts and vidcasts own the copyright for the materials created and are responsible for their contents. In addition, it should be noted that all Project IUP materials have been produced for educational, non-profit purposes.