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| My kind of sales pitch (Photo copyright of Romana Klee) |
Class Specifications:
Setting: Online high-school level institution (like Florida Virtual School)
Course: Project-based exploration on the creation, publishing and marketing of ePub books for the growing eBook market. The end-goal of the class is to create a complete, edited and marketed eBook that can be listed for sale with available eBook retailers.
Students: 11th-12th grade level with previous education in Language & Composition
Special Requirement: Each student must provide at least one complete novel, novella or collection of short stories/poems already written to use as their model for the class activities.
And now that I’ve been re-introduced to my make-believe class, I now need to remind myself what exactly this project I assigned entailed.
Project Specifications:
Students will create a digital storytelling project in the manner of a “book pitch” wherein they not only describe their book, but also include a marketing angle. Students will be required to focus on 3 elements for this project:
- Brief summary of book (with or without the ending)
- Target audience
- At least one distinct marketing hook (visual or verbal) to help capture attention.
The pitches would be presented to me as a Pretend Publisher, as well as to the rest of the students acting as a Focus Group, which their reactions taken into consideration but not actually holding the final say. Grades would be assigned on whether or not the students had addressed these three elements, along with my decision as Publisher.
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| Copyright Chicago Arts Department |
Well, I certainly set myself up for something interesting, didn’t I? I designed this advanced, long-running (ideally, it would take 4 weeks of discussions and practice to make the final product), and now I was just to whip up one in just a few days. Thankfully, this is actually a project right up my alley. Selecting a public domain book of personal interest to me (The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde), I set about addressing those three elements. My goal was not to make the end-all, be-all perfect example because the end results of this project would vary from student to student. However, what I wanted to do was to show a good example, but one that could also be built upon. One of the aspects of this project would be collaboration, wherein students would create drafts of their pitches, and open themselves up to critiques from myself as the instructor as well as their peers. In a way, no project is ever really done, since it is usually the creator that keeps having new ideas or adjustments in mind. Hopefully, however, I have created a good benchmark for these hypothetical students to work from.
Here is my example of a Digital Book Pitch:
My one concern with my little example here is whether or not this project is substantial enough to serve as a final assessment. I mean, I sat down and created this little Prezi in just a few hours, and I worry as an instructor that this simply wasn’t as challenging for advanced students as I would like. In my original post on this topic, I mentioned that one other option for the students was to create a movie for this pitch, using software like Adobe Premiere or Camtasia. I’m starting to wonder if this project I’ve done here would be a good for a drafting stage, to make sure a student has all of their information set, and they’ve gotten a good idea for the next stage (ie, a movie).
Overall, I’m pleased that my project idea wasn’t as far-fetched as I had originally thought, and that is certainly can be done, even if in a bit of a truncated manner. I feel that I addressed the three elements of the project, although it is clear my idea for extensive discussion on the ideas of audience and marketing would definitely be necessary.
As always, I look forward to feedback on this so I can continue to reflect and possible revise.
As always, I look forward to feedback on this so I can continue to reflect and possible revise.
Hey Julie-
ReplyDeleteI loved your presentation! For once I actually did not get dizzy watching Prezi haha. I liked the information you included, the pictures, and the way it was set up. Even though it wasn't a movie like you would find using Premiere, it still came out like a story. I think that this is something that can be hard to accomplish, so great work! I feel that your project example would help your students to understand exactly what they are expected to do.
To be honest, I can't think of what I would tell you to work on. Maybe add some music or narration to it. I don't know if this can be done using Prezi though. If you could make this into a movie using Premiere that would be cool too!
Thanks for sharing!
Catherine
Let me start off with the Prezi, it was great. I loved the pictures and design greatly. I especially liked the fact that you added in your photo credits as part of the Prezi. I think you did a good job of laying out the situation, objectives, and goals that you hope this will achieve. I think that the idea of a “book pitch” is fantastic for an advanced class at the secondary level, as this gives a wide range of options to students. It also gives an unlimited ceiling to what they can create.
ReplyDeleteI saw that you had some valid concerns about the project and how our professor would perceive this as your final project. I did have some suggestions to put restrictions on the project not their idea. I would have them be set to a time limit, a minimum and maximum. This will insure enough information is presented and restricts the time that the presentations would take up during a class. Also have the specifications as their introduction, or first part of their Prezi, along with credits as you put for their ending. I would tell them to create a publisher. They can research publishing companies, or take one from a list that focuses on certain book types. Include the focus group that they hope to reach. This will all give a more thoughtful presentation and add meaningful content.
Last, I too feel that this is going to take a lot of work, but think of what we could do at the beginning of this course compared to now. I think with the peer reviews next week and feedback from our professor, we will be headed into the right direction. I hope this encouraged and helped.