Congratulations! You’ve completed all six of your digital history projects! Take a moment to congratulate yourself for all your hard work, because it was a lot of work. The finish line is in sight but you still have a little bit more to go. To wrap up our course, you’ll have to give a final presentation in class the last full week of class and post one last blog post – the final reflection post.
For your final presentation, you will:
- Choose one of the last three projects (Timeline, Podcast or Twine) to present to the class.
- Write and give a 3 minute long presentation on your chosen project on your assigned presentation day (either April 22 or April 24).
- Watch and engage with your classmate’s presentations as well!
So what will your final presentation need to cover?
Think of your presentation as an elevator pitch. Three minutes is a challenging presentation length! It’s longer than a minute but shorter than five and you have so many things to talk about! Think of your presentation as a pitch you are giving your classmates that will make them want to learn more about your project. You do not need to include every single detail from your project. Choose highlights to talk about that represent your project as a whole and make us want to learn more or check out your project for ourselves.
- Introduce your research subject. (approx. 1 min) Everyone in this class is studying a diverse range of topics and it’s entirely possible that some people in the class haven’t heard about your subject in detail before, so make sure to give us a summary of your research subject.
- Present your project. (approx. 1 min) Tell us about the project you’ve chosen to share with the class. Make sure to answer the following questions during your presentation:
- What is your project about? We won’t have time during your presentation to go through the entirety of your timeline, podcast or Twine story. You can walk us through your project or highlight one particular moment (an event on your timeline, a moment in your podcast or a passage in your Twine story) that represents your work.
- What did you choose to focus on in this project? (Ex. The perspective of your timeline, the focus of your podcast episode, or the purpose and point of view of your Twine story) Why did you choose that focus? How does it relate to your overall research subject?
- Discuss the form of your project. (approx. 1 min) Digital history projects come in all shapes and sizes, or, in the case of our class, three shapes and sizes. Make sure to discuss the following points in your presentation:
- What strengths did this particular digital form lend to your project? What do you like about using the particular form of the timeline/podcast/interactive story for the subject you focused on?
- What limitations did this digital form impose on your project? What challenges did you face while working on this project?
How will presentation day work?
You have been emailed which day you will be presenting on. On the day of, the order of presentations will be voluntary (you can volunteer to go first) or randomized (once we’ve run out of volunteers, I will draw names out of a hat). Each presentation will be 3 minutes long. I will signal to you as you present when you get to your last minute and your last 30 seconds. I highly recommend practicing your presentation ahead of time to make sure your presentation is neither too long nor too short. If your presentation is shorter than 2/2.5 minutes, you are likely to receive a lower grade. If your presentation goes over 3.5 minutes, I will cut you off to make sure we have enough time for everyone’s presentations.
You are not required to have Powerpoint slides or any other visual aids to accompany your presentation, but if you would like to, please email them to me no later than midnight on Saturday evening (for those presenting on Monday) or midnight on Monday evening (for those presenting on Wednesday).