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Tag: podcast reflection

Podcast Reflection

Student Posts

This is my first time to produce a podcast. At first, we really had no idea how to do anything, and trouble making any progress. Waiting until the weekend before the deadline, we finally made a decision on the game that we planned to make the episode on. The game KIDS is a minimalist style game or interactive animation that all of us think it is interesting and would have lots to talk about. After deciding the game, we brought ideas of what each of us wanted to cover in the episode, and organized them into a google doc. We spent about 3 hours writing the script together, and that was really productive. When it came to recording, we decided to record all separately. Roy edited the audio, Ryan wrote the paragraph description, and I did the thumbnail image, afterward. 

Through this assignment, I gained a familiarity with podcasting. I’m proud and pleased with how the episode turned out in the end. My group mates, Roy and Ryan, are both really talented and I really enjoyed the time working with them.

Podcast Reflection

Student Posts

As the main producer of Episode 3 titled “Unity in Among Us and Quarantine,” I took responsibility leading the entire group in planning, making concrete schedule, writing a script, and audio editing. I enjoyed that as a group leader I got to work on something that I felt passionate about and be generous with my time. I shaped the majority of how this project looked and I also felt grateful that my teammates inspired and supported me when I needed them. I want to thank Elaine for helping me finalize a overall plan and Andy for bringing out some really interesting ideas. Most importantly, even though I announced a very urgent meeting in slack without any notes in advance, my dear group members always tried their best to come. They wanted this to be good. And I’m proud of the work that we’ve done.

We’re still early in the entire series, but we did draw some inspiration from episode 1. We found their conservational format to be very interesting, and initially we did not have any elements of back-and-forth conversations in our plan. We adapted to a reasonable amount of discussions and started asking questions to each other so that audiences would feel engaged throughout. We also added carefully chosen music pieces. And these music pieces were lined up in a designed order of keys (key signatures) that would offer a smooth transition to one’s hearing experience. Again, this was just a nice addition that hopefully would add a nice complement to our original voice.

Our primary goal is to: 1). declare our critical play 2). present how Among Us has become a successful game 3). answer what message the game teaches. Since the schedule is limited, we were not able to draw references from a lot of places. For example, there was no time for us to plan an interview, go do it with someone, then gather results, and write about them. I’d like to work on that as strong references would effectively add credibility to our own episode.

I found the making of this podcast series to be a very similar process than any other project that we do in our outside this class. It required planning, researching, gathering ideas, collaborating, encouraging each other, confronting new difficulties, and finding ways to solve problems. There was a similar pattern. Also, I’ve learned that as a group leader I was vocal and positive all the time. I enjoyed surrounding ourselves with positivity and encouraging teamwork. Love it! I learned a lot from both Elaine and Andy. And I couldn’t be more happy about what we did!

Podcast Reflection

Student Posts
        Producing a podcast is a brand-new experience for me in my entire life. At the beginning stage of preparing for this project, I had no idea how should I start this assignment. Even some simple questions raised in my mind, such as what does podcast should actually look like? what should we talk about in it, etc. Fortunately, I was not alone; I have two wonderful teammates who went through all the challenges together. Though the beginning is hard, we made outlines, appointment with professor, and individual discussions to perfect the project.



      The part I enjoyed most was the brainstorming we went through altogether. Among Us is a game that has unique features, containing meanings and brings popularities especially under such a pandemic time. Digging deep with several minds together, we combined “unity” “togetherness” “identity” and even disclose the truth about human nature relating to the literature we discussed in the lecture.

Podcast Reflection

Student Posts

In doing our podcast, Survival in Minecraft and in Quarantine, the first step in our process that we each took was just to get our ideas about what direction we wanted the podcast to take on a Google Doc. This stage involved a lot of ideas that we didn’t end up using, such as Minecraft Youtubers and Minecraft server games. Next, we organized the doc to create a general structure, also adding some scripted lines; however, we also made sure to leave ample space in the script for unscripted conversation so the podcast would sound natural and have more depth. Writing the script was something we all split evenly. Finally, when it came to recording, we actually recorded twice – once was a rough draft, and the second time was the real thing. This was very effective, as in the first recording we got all of the ‘bad stuff’ out of our system and really hit our groove early the second time. Afterwards, I did the editing for the video using Audacity and iMovie and the Bibliography, while Andrew and Ranjan did the podcast image and podcast paragraph. 

Our ultimate goal in the episode was to tackle what made Minecraft so enjoyable, whether in survival or creative, because at their core, these two game styles involve a lot of menial labor, and also what made Minecraft so popular during the pandemic. Our strategies for doing this were having each group member write a paragraph that leveraged evidence from our readings to make a claim about what made the game fun. For example, I suggested survival was fun because of the probing/trial-and-failure element that helped define your version of success. Our unscripted conversations responded to each person’s paragraph and went deeper into what made the game fun. 

In terms of learning outcomes, I felt the most improved in teamwork, writing as a process, and interacting with text: the first two learning objectives discuss the ability to make use of complex ideas in texts and to use them to make arguments, which I think we all did. Teamwork was one thing that was worked on but, quite frankly, I’m very happy to have worked with Ranjan and Andrew – they were communicative, hard-working, and efficient. Finally, I think my ability to write as a process improved, as in creating a concise argument from our messy brainstorming document, I was working the muscle responsible for research, revision, and reflection (about what was working and what wasn’t). 

I noticed a few things in doing the podcast. Firstly, the process for doing podcasts and essays is quite similar in that the ‘rough draft’ is where you figure out what you want to say – this holds true for both essays and podcasts (where the rough draft is, I think, the first recording). One thing I want to improve is my ability to integrate more texts in a more fluid manner. Finally, I suggest that groups record twice – the second time will be so much better.

Podcast Reflection

Quests

Once you have each completed your podcast episode, the Producer and Assistant Producer should each write separate reflection posts, published to your own sites. Link to the podcast episode post on the course site as part of your reflection.

Your refection should be 250 – 500 words and should be in the form of an essay with complete paragraphs, not as a list of bullet point answers.

Reflection Questions

Include a brief description of your process for developing the podcast. How did you and your co-producer divide up the tasks involved and how did you structure your collaboration? In what ways does your episode respond to the other episodes in the series — in other words, compare your episode to the ones before it, explaining how you gained inspiration from, adapted, or resisted something that your peers did in their episodes.

Please describe your primary goals with the episode that you produced and explain the strategies that you used to achieve them. You’re producing these episodes under a number of time and technological constraints, so it’s likely that there will be some goals that you just cannot accomplish within those constraints — address what challenges arose for you and the choices you made to meet them and/or describe what you would have done differently had you more time/resources available for your episode (in other words, what are some aspirational goals that were perhaps unrealistic given the constraints of the assignment but that you would have liked to have tried to accomplish if circumstances were different?).

How do you see your work on the podcast episode helping you to achieve the learning outcomes for this course? Explain how you met those outcomes with your work on this assignment.

Make sure you address the sets of questions above and then also consider some of the questions below and address them in your reflection (you definitely won’t be able to answer all of these, so go through the list and pick some that seem to be most of interest for you and write about them):

  • Were the strategies, skills and procedures you used effective for this assignment?
  • Do you see any patterns in how you approached your work on this episode? How was producing a podcast similar to or different from writing more traditional essays?
  • What have you learned about your strengths and areas in need of improvement?
  • How are you progressing as a learner?
  • What suggestions do you have for your peers as they go about working on their episodes to come?
  • How can you apply the skills you used in crafting this podcast episode to future writing projects? Where can you use these skills again?
  • What are you most proud of about the episode that you created?
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