---
tags: course support, visual communication
---

# AMST201 Intro Workshop

## Summary
AMST201 "Themes in American Studies" is a course taught for PhD students in American Studies, and this year Women and Gender Studies as well. In the past, the course has recieved feedback that students in AMST are looking for more material that is attentive to issues of race/gender and more practice with developing skills that will be valuable to their careers as historians. This semester, Professor Robert Reid-Pharr is hoping to incorporate this feedback in his iteration of the course "Gender and the Archive."

The LL is supporting AMST201 students as they prepare presentations for an "academic conference of the future."

## Materials
[AMST201 Project Log](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hSc8nPVfm2SoyMefnmFmTDAAvu1NUgRAZq5J0ateqcI/edit#)
[AMST201 Syllabus](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Tkl4AADvrkxbiLcm9TD1cx8bBul1-hzt/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=114907127237527380532&rtpof=true&sd=true)

## Our pitch to AMST201:
**9/21/21:** an initial meeting that introduces them to the Learning Lab, the support we provide to faculty and grads doing public talks like Harvard Horizons, and the specific support we hope to provide them this term. Then we’ll run them through a very quick oral/visual presentation exercise in front of our video cameras to give them a taste of what awaits them.
**11/2/21:** students return to the Learning Lab to practice oral presentation skills, to discuss the visual elements of their presentations, and to think a bit about their conference’s public presence (the website, mainly, but optionally other elements such as social feeds or posters?)
between 11/2/21 and 11/16/21: the Bok Staff will be available during our open studio time to offer help with the visual elements of the students’ talks and website.
**11/16/21 and 11/23/21:** in the current plan, the students will perform their final presentations in front of our video cameras and take questions from the audience. If for any reason it makes more sense for us to record the presentations in advance, we can do that too--just let us know. For Harvard Horizons this year we posted the talks a week before the event, then the speakers each gave a 1-minute “elevator pitch” version of their talk and answered questions.

## plan for 20210921

[class-facing-doc](/jzekg36-S4SYm60cXec2GA)
the ask:
* intro to the LL
* explanation of the support we offer faculty and grads doing things like Horizons and Starr-Friedman
* specific support for YOU this term
* quick design and presentation exercise

elements:
* some talking on camera
* connecting through the switcher
* rapid-fire pitch activity
*
* design the page; design the conference
* presenting where you image the video being embedded
* we haven't really made this "live test of video embed location" literal yet
* look at some sample conference websites
* pros and cons of the typical conference (in discussion)
* who will be listening and looking and using?
* user stories?
* nudging at the role of the academic conference
* develop a story
* present on camera (on your page)

* steps
* references
* HH
* pre-pandemic
* post-pandemic
* conferences and conference papers
* Butler piece
* sample conference websites
* activity
* user stories (conferences)
* the archive
* YOUR project (on a single card)
* the conference poster/site for The American Gender Archive

## LINKS

* references
* [International Conference on Gender and Sexuality](https://genderconference.com/)
* [MLA Presidential message from Judith Butler](https://www.mla.org/Convention/Convention-History/Past-Conventions/2021-Convention/2021-Presidential-Theme-Persistence)

Harvard Horizons

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AzugdPPnV_w?start=48" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

and Victoria

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CufZCPkEDGQ" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>