Part 7: Waving

When I think of "waving" as research phase/step, I have an image of someone trying to get another person's attention -- such as waving their hands. This idea is what I think Dr. Lamb expresses in her "Waving" link, where she defines it as "communicating ideas to others through through presenting, publishing, and sharing." But "waving" is also about sharing ideas. Students might find this particularly helpful when working on assignments or research papers as they might share the same feelings of uncertainty, doubts, and "what's next?" feelings. "Conversing" is critical at this stage of the research model. As Carol Kuhlthau states,

Conversations enable students to identify ideas that do not fit with what they
know and to decide what they need to learn more about...Conversing is an
important form of collaboration. Students can provide a sounding board for each other that challenges them to think more deeply and to engage in thoughtful discourse...."

So, I'm going to "wave" all my inquiry discoveries in a PowerPoint presentation.

First, I considered my audience. For the most part, it will be my fellow classmates, Dr. Lamb, and anyone who happens to discover my blog at http://www.blogger.com/. I want my information to accomplish three things: first, to provide my classmates and Dr. Lamb with something interesting to read, digest, and view as opposed to reading another boring history topic. Second, I want to keep in mind my audience's prior knowledge and background pertaining to Jack the Ripper. This means explaining ideas, events, and evidence as clearly and effectively as possible. And avoiding getting the viewer bogged down by too many facts. Finally, I hope to have identified, addressed, and explored all the required elements for this assignment! :)

Next, maybe I'll email my findings and personal theories, along with my very basic PowerPoint presentation, to the Ripperologist experts at http://www.casebook.org/. See what they think, be open to comments, criticism, and suggestions. Maybe something I've discovered will interest them and lead to a online publication on this famous website... or I could become a Ripperologist myself and create my own website full of primary and secondary sources, photos, and findings.

The purpose of this presentation is to share, inform, instruct, and provide some interesting facts, theories, conspiracies, and other things about Jack the Ripper. I am open to all comments and have include a poll for my classmates to vote on the identity of Jack the Ripper.

Overall, I want my PowerPoint to be more than just a regurgitation of my research. I want it to be an inviting and lively visual resource that hopefully will interest some of my classmates. Since I'm used to doing the dreaded research-end notes style, I think my fellow classmates and Dr. Lamb will find this presentation more stimulating.

I did consult Jamie McKenzie's "Scoring Power Points" online article for some helpful suggestions and tips. What I learned is I need to emphasize key concepts (theories to motives to) and provide sufficient evidence (use quotes and photos from http://www.casebook.org/) that will supplement my project's research, and persuade my audience. This strategy is best summarized by McKenzie's comments: "Those who wish to persuade, those who hope to convince, those who wish to illuminate and those who wish to communicate effectively must pay special attention to the audience who will be watching...." After all, some day students who are using this format for school assignments might some day be required to put together a business PowerPoint presentation to persuade a company to fund certain groups and communities.

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Works Cited

Kuhlthau, Carol. "Learning in Digital Libraries: An Information Search Process Approach." Library Trends 45 (1997). http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.ulib.iupui.edu/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=113&sid=f03a7983-19dd-4e13-93ca-3f9808c79013%40sessionmgr108

McKenzie, Jamie. "Scoring Power Points." The Educational Technology Journal 10 (2006). http://fno.org/sept00/powerpoints.html