“A” Project – The Influence of Social Media Influencers on Adolescent Career Aspirations

“A” Project Guidelines

The grade contract for this course allows students to make some decisions about their grades. The intention is to make the course as labor based as possible, giving students credit for making work and trying new things. In this spirit of innovation, students who want to get a grade of “A” in the class need to develop an extra project for their ePortfolio. This project should be your own original work, and should be connected to your research topic. This project is extremely open—as the scholar in charge, you will decide what you are going to do and how you are going to put it together. You need to communicate your ideas and intentions to your instructor as soon as you can, so you can get feedback and support in creating your project. These projects are meant to be something extra, a labor of love, and an opportunity to showcase something new about your topic.

Expectation of Labor

Since the A Project is meant to be designed by you, there is no predetermined length requirement. Instead, as with your other projects in this course, evaluation of this project focuses on the labor you put into it. The A project should be more substantial than an LSA, but does not need to take as much effort as HSWA 4, the Information Sharing Project. The amount of work you put into the Multimodal Project (HSWA 3) is a good comparison. 

Project Ideas

Here are some options if you are feeling confused:

• Something artistic. Students can do a series of paintings or drawings, animations, design a video game, create sculpture, write a series of poems or a short story, write music, sing something, do stand up…if you are creative, use your talents to create something about your topic. How can this creative work let your reader know something new about your topic?
• Something original. Students can do their own unique research. Design a survey, distribute it, and showcase your findings. Conduct an interview with someone and create a video or podcast of your discussion. Document a visit to an important space. Create a database of resources for people. Do an outreach project. How does your original work contribute to our understanding of your topic?
• Something tech-y. Make a documentary about your topic using Adobe Spark or other video editing software. Do multiple podcasts on different aspects of your topic. Create an infographic that displays your research findings. 

These are just guidelines or suggestions. If you have other ideas, communicate them to your instructor and see what they say! This is meant to be a project that is developed independently, allowing students to showcase their understanding and connection to their research.