MILESTONE 1: BIG IDEAS…. Think for yourself. Information is abundant so consider the source. How you get and give information is a dynamic context that constantly changes. ADVICE… Students will finish this milestone quickly. The first piece of their project (infographic) starts in 1.05 when they survey themselves to determine what their social media identity is. The infographic will be completed in pieces throughout the course and submitted in Milestone 4. The completed infographic is their final exam, 20% of their grade. A strong start will help students understand they have to save and continue to build their project, so they are successful on their “exam”. There isn’t a right way to build their infographic. They can add to the images that are provided on it, replace the images, use the RTF version, use screenshots, copy/paste the content into Word, you get the idea…encourage them to find what works and keep using it. MILESTONE 2: BIG IDEAS…. Who and what contributes to your online identity? The emotional impact of social media is explored through the good and bad of social media. ADVICE… Students are getting into their project now, using the results in 1.05 to gather feedback for their submitted assessment in 2.02, this assessment doesn’t have a “right” or “wrong” answer. This assessment helps to evaluate a students’ understanding of the content of the lessons, feedback they collected, and an opportunity for students to reflect on the difference between what they perceive and how they are perceived. Students will conclude the milestone by selecting their “Passion Project” and completing their first DBA in 2.05. The DBA is your opportunity to gauge students’ understanding of how to use their infographic as their blueprint for their project, introduce the collaboration component, and understand how the passion they selected is indicative of their persona. MILESTONE 3 BIG IDEAS…. Emotion vs. logic, Syndrome E, Citizen Journalism, and crowd sourcing-­‐a mixed bag to help students understand what is used to spread information and why. ADVICE… Students have less work to submit for a grade to give them more time to work on their project’s approach, logical vs. emotional appeal to gain support for their project. This is the “meat” of their project, they are grappling with large concepts and how they can make a difference. Using the 2.05 DBA as a launch pad can lead the path for students to circle back with you at the end of this milestone to check in and feel more secure about completing their project and working on the collaboration component. MILESTONE 4 BIG IDEAS…. The opportunity to fail can lead to success. Your world is small, how will you change it? ADVICE… Their completed infographic is submitted in 4.03, this is their final exam and 20% of their final grade. Their DBA is followed up with Words of Wisdom where students reflect on their experience in the course by composting a letter of advice to future Social Media students. This is their opportunity to use their own voice! They are guided through questions but have an opportunity to go “off script”. Dear Social Media Student, Before I took this course I had no idea what I was getting into. I had no idea that my daily Instagram posts have such a huge effect on so many things like my future or someone else’s opinion. I was shocked to learn just how much it did. By taking this class I have really started thinking twice about what I post and when I post it. You never know who could see a picture of you, that you may not think to be inappropriate but to someone else it is. Now instead of posting a daily selfie I try to post more thought provoking or interesting statues twice a week. During the course you have to do a project on something you care about. I chose Human Rights because I felt that it was an issue a lot of my friends overlooked. When choosing a topic for your project I suggest doing it on something uncommon and really important to you. Whether that’d be three legged animals or how gross sugar free gum is, make sure it’s 100% you! I wanted to change someone’s view point with my project. I wanted someone who thought nothing of unequal pay or sweatshop products to think twice about where the products they buy come from and who made them. That was important to me. The people who I wanted to show my project to was pretty much anyone and everyone. If it was my third period teacher or my best friend from sixth grade. Just by changing someone’s view point was important. It was interesting to find out that some of my friends were interested in my project. I thought a lot of them wouldn’t be but it turned out that I was wrong. This is absolutely not the end of my project. I plan on continuing it for as long as I want to. I really want to learn more about the subject and I feel like it will help me become more grateful in the long run. I had so much fun during this semester of Virtual School, and I wish I could have continued this course for another semester. I really think you will enjoy what this course brings as well! COLLABORATION: You thought of it, share it, gather feedback, and create change! This is an opportunity for students to implement their social media infographic/project blueprint and gather feedback. Students have some confusion about how they are assessed within this assessment. Think of it this way, if a student wants to have a big festival that raises money for homeless animals, that’s awesome, but it is a social media course…students need to use social media to promote, educate, persuade (whatever) for their cause. (This is a great point to discuss in 2.05’s DBA to get them thinking about the process). Be sure to assess students’ work based on their evidence and process and how this is representative of their individual stake in social media.