The World Is Upside Down, and So Is Your Professor |
Description: March 18, 2020 Announcement for Dr. Miller's students in POPC 3650, Youth & Popular Culture (How our course will proceed now that COVID-19 has forced us into distance learning! Info about discussion boards and final project) FOR STUDENTS: Hi everybody! I am currently in a motel room in Vermont where I am self-isolating like a pro! (See video of this announcement here!) The world has certainly turned upside down, and so has your professor ;) Anyway, I’ve revised our syllabus and I need you to look at it as soon as you can and think about which approach to the rest of the term will work best for YOU. You’re going to be doing 7 discussion boards, one per week, where you’ll post your thoughts about videos and readings. I’m still struggling to figure out whether some of the videos will be streamable, as my department only has the DVDs—and I don’t have access to them now. I’m looking for a solution there, but the only option may be to ask you to rent them if you can afford to, without requiring it if it’s a financial burden. You will need access to Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. You’ll also do one major project that either involves watching several seasons of a teen TV show—that’s a LOT of “Quaranteen-TV” watching—OR collecting and observing Internet youth culture surrounding the Coronavirus. So I need you all to think about what is healthiest and most appealing to YOU—escape into a TV show? Or be looking at Coronavirus-related content—memes, humor, art, whatever—which could bring the risk of raising your own anxiety. I wanted to give you the choice so that you can spend your time in a way that is helpful to you emotionally as you learn something about youth and popular culture! GRADING: The discussion boards will be due each Friday/Sunday night, 8 points each (5 points per post—minimum 500 words—and 3 points for responding to others’ posts). The major project will be worth 15 points, requiring you to delve deeply into a teen television series OR observe youth Internet culture closely over the rest of the term. That makes 100 points total since you have already earned 15 through your short “teen film in hindsight” paper and one quiz, plus ten points for attendance in class up till now. There will be no more quizzes and no final exam. Just the discussion board participation and your final project (which will be in the form of a paper, but I’ll give you specific guidance on how to structure it). Email me with questions and please keep checking Canvas religiously as I will be posting all updates there as quickly and clearly as I can! STAY WELL! Miss you!! 
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