For our multimedia project, we decided to create a tumblr page in response to Beowulf, specifically the battle between Beowulf and Grendel.
You can find it here!
You can also find a detailed explanation of our process here.
Thank you!
– Christina, Cristina, Dayonne, Melanie, Sarah
1 response so far ↓
TMD // Jul 17th 2013 at 10:07 am
Dear Christina, Cristina, Dayonne, Melanie and Sarah,
I enjoyed wandering through your Tumblr on Beowolf — there are many great resources, some poignant and others amusing! Particularly interesting about your presentation in relation, say, to the hypertext poetry presentation on Keats, was the increased focus of your group on pop culture references as opposed to more scholarly or educational references. This is not to say that one approach is better than the other; it merely demonstrates the subtle ways in which student focus and sense of purpose in the act of production may shift the outcome of an assignment. It seems allowing flexibility in response rather than imposing stringent criteria is key in maintaining student engagement.
I think the exercise of having students trace the legacy of a canonical work through examining pop culture references is useful and engaging. Your exercise reminds me of a colleague of mine, Michael Eberle-Sinatra, who began his scholarly career studying British Romantic and Victorian Literature. Rather than remaining ensconced in study of a set of period texts, however, he quickly determined that elements of Romantic and Victorian Literature, such as the Gothic, were witnessing a resurgence in contemporary culture and could be traced through film, graphic novels, comics, games, etc. His teaching now revolves primarily around tracing such connections, and he regularly teaches courses in science fiction and popular culture. I give this example to dispel the myth of what might be termed “puritanism” in respect to the study of canonical texts (i.e., the idea that one should look at the text as an autotelic artifact to be studied apart from its influences on and the way it has been influenced by other texts, cultural artifacts, and so on). Another exercise would be to have students go the other way, chronologically speaking, in tracing back sources of popular culture memes.
Your written materials are excellent. I very much like the criteria in your rubric and I also appreciate your inclusion of materials to assess the collaborative production process.
Thanks for your thoughtful contribution to the class. I look forward to seeing your next creation!
Best regards,
Teresa
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