Podcast/Vodcast Project

Project Summary:

The Podcast/Vodcast Project asks students to develop audio or video content and a corresponding website to deliver it. Podcasts and vodcasts (video podcasts) are relatively new formats, but already they cover a dizzying range of topics, and most are created by amateur enthusiasts. Something that effective podcasts and vodcasts have in common is that they communicate a specific topic to a specific audience in a specific context for a specific purpose.

Each student will create a complete podcast or vodcast including both an episode and a corresponding website venue. Students will analyze existing works to determine effective and ineffective features. Existing podcasts and vodcasts may be found through iTunes, Odeo, PodcastAlley, and other services.

Each student's final podcast or vodcast episode should be over 3 minutes in length and in an appropriate file format. The corresponding website should offer a properly formatted and functional rss feed to distribute the podcast or vodcast. Podcasts and vodcasts may include talk, music, interviews, sound effects, jingles, etc., but the majority of the content in each episode should be original. This means that students can't, for example, make an episode that only contains unoriginal music. Design plans and postmortems should be printed.

Project Sequence and Grading:

1. Design Plan (20% of project grade)
   (Design Plan criteria available here.)
   Each student will construct a design plan based on the rhetorical elements identified in Compose, Design, Advocate (audience, context, purpose, medium, strategies, arrangement) that articulates the podcast's or vodcast's (and corresponding website's) goals and how it will accomplish them. Design plans help guide the design process, but they are not static recipes; they are evolving documents that shift to accommodate changes encountered during project development. Excellent design plans will account thoroughly for all of the rhetorical elements established in CDA and present a coherent narrative rather than a collection of disconnected parts. Excellent design plans also will reflect the corresponding podcast or vodcast, and be in a finished, polished format incorporating appropriate grammar and mechanics.
   
   
   
   
2. Podcast/Vodcast and Corresponding Website (60% of project grade)
   (the rubric created by the class and the instructor is available here.)
   Each student will create a complete podcast or vodcast including one episode and a corresponding website. Each student's final podcast or vodcast episode should be over 3 minutes in length and in an appropriate file format. The corresponding website should offer a properly formatted and functional rss feed to distribute the podcast or vodcast. Podcasts and vodcasts may include talk, music, interviews, sound effects, jingles, etc., but the majority of the content in each episode should be original. Excellent podcasts/vodcasts and their corresponding websites should adhere to the principles of effective works analyzed by the class.
   
   
   
   
3. Postmortem (20% of project grade)
   (The postmortem form is available here.)
   Each student will produce a reflective postmortem that provides insight into his or her design process. Excellent postmortems will account thoroughly for all sections of the postmortem form, thereby providing valuable insight into project development, successes, challenges, and lessons learned. Excellent postmortems will be written for a professional readership and be complete and polished, including appropriate grammar and mechanics.