MIDTERM PROJECT

Each of you can choose and write about 3 Chinese pop culture terms (the slogans, buzzwords, a TV show or movie, a new or recent fashion trend, a dance craze, sporting event or phenomenon, a video game, a celebrity icon, comic book series or hero, etc.). You will have the opportunity to contribute your definitions of Chinese pop culture terms to an OER dictionary that will be written by the whole class. Research and write around 400-500 words about each popular culture terms you find, including the term in English, pinyin and Chinese, definitions, your explanations, which contexts they are used, previous examples and your example. You can integrate visual aids, artwork, posters, etc. into your explanation. It is encouraged to elaborate on a specific popular culture phenomenon and/or example to explain the terms. Just make sure to use the correct citations when you cite those. There will be explanation videos of how you can post and submit on the OER platform—Pressbooks. You will be graded by the innovation and popularity of the terms, clarity of your explanations and examples, as well your elaboration/critical analysis. Midterm project is due on March 12th (Sunday), 11:59pm. But you will be asked to submit terms of your choice by Feb 19 (Sunday), and your first term by Feb 28th. (The early submission is to make sure you are on the right track).

What does it mean to make an OER Dictionary?

Open educational resources (OER) are free educational materials that are openly-licensed, allowing reuse, modification, and distribution by users. Creative Commons licenses, which let users know how they can use your work, can be applied to anything you create to make it more “open”, allowing specific uses under the terms you choose. The OER dictionary created as the midterm project will be published online and readable by anyone. The resource can help other students and professors in similar courses, and anyone who reuses your work would attribute you as the original author. You will be able to opt-out of sharing your work publicly if you are not comfortable doing so, and opting-out will not impact your grade. If you choose to include your work in the published dictionary, you may also choose whether and how you would like to be credited (i.e., you can indicate how your name will appear, or you can be credited as an anonymous contributor).