DWRL Lesson Plans - Dipity

Mapping a Controversy Using Dipity Timelines

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 16:05:33 +0000

Author:

Image Credit:

Screen shot of "Privacy Identity Innovation" timeline on Dipity

Brief Assignment Overview:

In this lesson, students created Dipity timelines that allow them to integrate multi-media content into a temporal-sequential order. Taking the sources from their first essay, students reflect on the benefits of the multimedia/chronological presentation.

Type of Assignment:

In-class Exercise

Homework Assignment

Assignment Length:

Single Class Period

One-Two Class Periods

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Annotated Bibliography

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Additional Pedagogical Goals:

research, revision, reflection, digital literacy

Media Requirements:

Adaptable For Use Without Classroom Technology

Technology-Based Classroom (computers for each student)

Required Materials:

Dipity acccount, which is free online at Dipity.

Computer-assisted classroom.

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Early in the Semester

Full Assignment Description:

In this lesson, students created Dipity timelines. These timelines allow students to integrate multi-media content into a temporal-sequential order. They can embed their product into websites and other online texts, much like you can embed a Youtube video. The interface is very easy, and the students were able to create timelines within 30 minutes. Students embedded their timelines into the course blog in Drupal (15 minutes). Students also wrote a blog entry (15-30 minutes) that analyzed the differences and benefits of using Dipity to map their controversy as compared to the 4-7 page research Essay 1.1 they had just completed.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

I created a sample Dipity timeline and learned the Dipity interface. I also created instructions for how to embed a multi-media element into Drupal. Students also had already researched a controversy that they were able to map in the Dipity timeline.

Students had turned in the Essay 1.1 assignment for Rhetoric 306 at the University of Texas. This essay requires students to research a controversy and map the network of positions within a critical situation. Students already had a working knowledge of their controversy, and thus were able to create a multi-media timeline with links, images, and multi-media content about their controversy.

Instructions For Students:

Today, we are going to be using the online interface Dipity to create a timeline of your controversy from Essay 1.1. For those of you with topics in common, you will be working in groups. For those of you with a unique topic, you will be work individually but will be paired with a neighbor to discuss as you go. Before creating your own Dipity timeline, please survey some of the timelines with your neighbor and discuss what you see.

Instructions for the map:

Please create your own account with Dipity; make sure to pay attention to whether your map is private or public, depending on your preference. As for the map itself, it needs to be connected to your controversy for Essay 1.1 You are free to add as many links and videos as you would like, creating a dynamic, interactive sense of your controversy.

Instructions for embedding into Drupal:

First, write your reflection in the blog using the WYSWIG as normal. Then, you can go to Dipity and copy the embed code. BEFORE you enter the embed code into the blog, you have to change the "Input Format," which is below the field where you are typing. You change the Input to HTML. Paste the embed code into the blog. Finally, hit publish. Just make sure not to go back and forth between input formats. It will mess up your embed code.

Evaluation Suggestions:

The assignment was graded on a basis of completion of the Dipity timeline and the completed blog entry. However, if I had graded it, I could have considered: the number of items on the timeline, the quality of their reflection on the learning experience with Dipity, and whether they followed instructions to embed the timeline into Drupal.

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

Students loved the assignment. They were engaged in watching Youtube videos, finding new articles and links, and discussing the Dipity interface with their classmates. Some students expressed that they wished they had done the Dipity assignment before Essay 1.1. They were able to complete the assignment in one day, which was incredibly satisfying. They also found new sources for their rewrite assignment (Essay 1.2). Finally, students commented that creating the map was in some ways superior to their written map of the controversy, since it appealed to the senses with visual and textual content. They said it helped them to understand the controversy better.

Things I would change: The timelines students created could have had more links and events, if we had given them time to gather links before class. If I did it again, I would have them come in with previously discovered internet media, or have them build the map over two days. Finally, I would introduce the Dipity assignment before Essay 1.1 to give students time to draw from the concepts and research for their first essay.

Course Description:

Rhetoric 306 is a course in argumentation that situates rhetoric as an art of civic discourse. It is designed to enhancestudents' ability to analyze the various positions held in any public debateand to advocate positions effectively. Students work in this course willhelp them advance the critical writing and reading needed to succeed in coursesfor their major and university degree.

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Chronological Annotated Bibliography Using Dipity

Cate Blouke — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 16:51:36 +0000

Author:

Cate Blouke

Image Credit:

Screen shot of sample bibliography created on Dipity.

Brief Assignment Overview:

Using the free digital timeline website, Dipity, students can organize and annotate their sources chronologically. This enables students to visualize the sequence of events and better address how particular texts interact with or talk past each other.

Type of Assignment:

Homework Assignment

Assignment Length:

Single Class Period

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Pedagogical Goals - Literature:

Cultural Context

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Annotated Bibliography

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Additional Pedagogical Goals:

The assignment is designed to help students with their research, summary, and citation skills, as well as familiarize them with a particular digital environment.

Media Requirements:

No Classroom Technology Required

Required Materials:

Students will need Internet access and a computer. They will also need to create a free account with Dipity - which will allow them to make up to three time lines.

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Useful Anytime

Full Assignment Description:

This particular assignment was part of a larger unit in which students were asked to map out the life of an Internet meme of their choosing. To prepare for the essay they would be writing, I had them create an annotated bibliography of at least five iterations of their meme. Using Dipity for this assignment helped students to organize their sources chronologically and therefore visualize how the various iterations of the meme evolved. They were expected to include an image with each annotation, a paragraph describing the source, its argument, its author, and its "publication" venue. Dipity is useful in that it allows students to compile multimedia materials related to their topic, and it also provides multiple viewing modes through which to access the material.

Here is a student example (graciously offered by one of my students). Notice that you have several viewing options in the upper left-hand corner, and you can adjust the scale of the timeline to see more events or zoom in on particular events.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

I found it was particularly helpful to create a mock-up of the assignment to model for the students. I would point out that the Dipity site can run somewhat slowly at times - meaning that the creation process and/or loading the embedded timeline can sometimes take a while. The site is fairly intuitive, so it is not necessary to spend time demonstrating it in class. My students did not seem to have much trouble figuring it out on their own. Just in terms of annotated bibliography assignments in general, a lot of students seem to have a hard time grasping how robust their annotations should be. So I recommend spending a fair bit of time explaining that one or two sentences is not sufficient for generating a useful source annotation.

Additionally, the Dipity format doesn't really lend itself to including a "proper" citation, so you may want to consider how you want students to provide official citations (beyond just the links in each "event" entry). I organize my courses using a PBWorks wiki, so I had my students embed the timeline on a wiki page and then provide citations below it. You could just as easily have students e-mail you links to their time lines and provide their citations in a separate Word document.

Instructions For Students:

You will create an annotated bibliography with (at least) 5 entries related to a particular meme (or online version of a cultural idea/event/issue) that you want to investigate. One of the entries will be for the “original” iteration of the meme, and the other entries will be for texts that deal with the same idea in different ways. It will be important, therefore, to choose texts that are clearly related but different enough that you can talk about the diverse ways the idea manifested across media and publication venues. Ultimately, you will choose at least three of these texts to write about in essay one, Mapping a Meme.

Below is an example of an "annotation" - it includes a full bibliographic citation (formatted in MLA style) and a paragraph offering a brief summary of this book’s argument. If I were annotating an article, I would do the same thing. For a video or visual text, I would offer a brief description of the text’s elements or storyline and summary of its message.

Aristotle. Rhetoric. Trans. W. Rhys Roberts. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1984. Print.

Aristotle defines “rhetoric” as not merely the art of figures of speech, but as the ability to see available means of persuasion, focusing on types public speaking. Here, his emphasis is on the external effects of speech in terms of political implications and audience response (i.e. the public ends of oratory). For Aristotle, public speech consists of three vital elements: the arguments a speaker uses, the character of the speaker, and the disposition of the audience. He finds ethical appeals to be the “controlling factor” in a speech, and explains that these consist of good sense, goodwill, and good character.

For your assignment, after your provide a brief summary, make some sort of assessment of your source and offer some criticisms. Is your source scholarly, popular, or perhaps some of both? What does its purpose seem to be? Is it current? Is the research (if here is any) biased or objective? Why? Are the facts well documented? Who is the author? Is s/he qualified in this subject?

After summarizing and assessing, you can now reflect on this source. How does it fit into your research? Is this a helpful resource? What are the main similarities and differences between this and the “original” iteration? How well do you think you can connect it to other sources you might use in essay 1?

For each source, be sure to include an image and a link to the original source. When you are finished, copy and paste the embed code into a wiki page in your student folder. Be sure to set your timeline's viewing permissions to "public" or else I will not be able to see/evaluate it.

Evaluation Suggestions:

I used the Learning Record in this class, so my evaluative comments were largely based on the students' progress. However, here is the rubric I used:

[ ] The sources’ main arguments are made clear at the beginning of the annotation

[ ] Thorough

[ ] Accurate

[ ] Supported with quotes and paraphrase

[ ] Annotations are well-organized and follow similar organizational patterns

[ ] Writing relatively free from grammatical error

[ ] Quotes are properly framed

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

On the whole, my students seemed to do well with the assignment and appreciated the departure from a traditional writing assignment. They had trouble in terms of writing robust enough annotations, but I suspect that if I spent more time explaining my expectations this would be less of a problem.

Course Type:

Intermediate Writing Course

Introductory Writing Course

Course Description:

I used this exercise in my intermediate writing course (The Rhetoric of Stand Up Comedy). This course examines how comedians use humor to advocate positions in public controversies, to construct notions of group identity, and to criticize public figures – essentially, how they use humor to persuade. If laughter is a sign of persuasion (a question the course explores), students think through why audiences do or don’t laugh, are or are not persuaded by a text. Students think and write critically about what makes comic performances compelling, focusing closely on the relationship between performers and their audiences. They track how the purpose and message of texts changes as jokes move across media and venue in the digital age, looking at a wide range of sources - from comedy albums to HBO specials, from YouTube to Twitter.

Tags:

Free Software

Dipity

Annotated bibliography

Multimedia Presentation

Visualization Software