Media Projects in Your Course
- Why can't students just learn the software at the end, after their research is done?
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They can. But what we've noticed is that when students encounter the medium only after ideas are fixed, they can only translate, not discover. Making becomes about converting finished thinking into a different format. When students touch the tools while ideas are still forming through brief, low-stakes encounters early in the semester, the medium becomes part of their inquiry. They start asking different research questions, seeking different kinds of evidence, thinking about structure differently. This doesn't mean you need to become a software expert. It means thinking about when students first meet the tools.
- How early should I contact Reeder?
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The earlier, the better—but even mid-semester conversations can help. When we talk with faculty before syllabi are finalized, we can help you think through timing, scaffolding, and integration: When should students first encounter the medium? Where does the rough draft checkpoint happen? How does assessment notice what you actually care about? These conversations don't require us to redesign your course—just to think through what shifts when you treat multimedia as inquiry rather than presentation.
- Do I need to be a multimedia expert to assign a media project?
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No. What matters more than technical expertise is intentionality about timing and structure. From working with students, we've noticed that when faculty think through when the medium arrives, how scaffolding creates conditions for discovery, and what assessment actually values, students do much stronger work regardless of the faculty member's own production skills. Your existing pedagogical instincts about scaffolding, feedback, and revision transfer directly. We're here to help you think through the medium-specific dimensions.
- What if students struggle with production?
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Struggle is often a sign that students are engaging with the real intellectual work: how to structure an argument in time, how to make evidence work in a medium, how pacing and tone shape meaning. What we've noticed is that when production happens too late, after ideas are locked in, struggle feels like a technical failure. When students encounter the medium early enough to let it shape their thinking, struggle becomes productive friction. They're learning how ideas take shape through form. That's exactly what we want.
- How do I assess a media assignment fairly?
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The question isn't really about "fairness." It's more about what you're asking students to get good at. If your assessment only values polish, students will play it safe. If it can't name the intellectual labor of making (interpretation through arrangement, synthesis through structure) students won't know what thinking looks like. Consider lenses for noticing different dimensions: the artifact itself, but also substance, process, context, and habits of mind. From working with faculty, we've noticed that assessment gets easier when it's aligned with what you've actually scaffolded. You can only "fairly" assess what you've designed conditions to see.
- Why do students need more than a software tutorial?
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Tutorials help students learn buttons. The internet is full of really good ones. But we've noticed that students learn tools much more effectively when those skills are connected to purpose: What am I trying to say? Who is this for? How does this edit serve my argument? When technical instruction is framed rhetorically, "here's how to make a choice about where your argument turns" rather than "here's how to use the cut tool," students develop fluency faster and make more intentional choices. The difference between knowing how to cut audio and knowing when to cut audio is everything.
- Do students need to be "tech-savvy" to succeed?
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Not at all. Competence develops through use, experimentation, and problem-solving. What we've noticed is that students develop confidence when making is framed as inquiry rather than performance and when the emphasis is on what their choices do rhetorically, not just whether they executed correctly. Students who've never touched editing software can do sophisticated work when they understand why the tools matter for their thinking.
- What support do you offer students outside of class?
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We work with students on both the practical and intellectual dimensions of media work: recording and editing, yes, but also story development, research questions, narrative structure, production planning. What we've noticed is that when courses are designed with the medium as a thinking system (early encounters, scaffolded checkpoints, rough artifacts before finals) students arrive at consultations with much better questions. When multimedia gets bolted on at the end, consultations often become crisis management. We'll meet students wherever they are, but the richer conversations happen when the course structure supports them.