Multimedia Writing Portfolios - Fall 2015

Students in JRMC 2202 Multimedia Writing at The American University in Cairo were required to produce digital portfolios of the work they completed in the course.

Each portfolio should have at least the following components:

• Home page
• Twitter Scavenger Hunt (TSH)
• Interview
• Photo Essay
• Infographic
• Covering an Event
• About/contact page

Students use Weebly to complete their portfolios. This decision was made in 2014 after determining the ease of use in building a website via the Weebly platform. The drag and drop component is super simple. The best part is that the end result has the potential to be organized and professional.

Students were given some time in class to work on the portfolios along with feedback.

This course is one of two media writing core courses for the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication.

The goal of the portfolio:

• It should be error free because it is a showcase of their work to share for prospective internship or job opportunities.

Students should also be proud to display their body of work from the course in a public platform and in a professional manner.

This semester I taught two sections of this course. Here are the students' digital portfolios:
Multimedia Writing Section 1
Mahmoud
Moataz
Kenzi
Farida
Lobna
Alaa
Layla
Farrah
Habiba
Mariam
Ahmed
Alia
Yehia
Youssef


Multimedia Writing Section 2
Dalia
Monica
Daniella
Sara
Samia
Nada
Nouran
Christina
Nadine
Hussein
Nehal
Noura
Farah

Multimedia Writing Project Portfolios

Multimedia Writing Project Portfolios

Students in JRMC 2202 Multimedia Writing at The American University in Cairo were required to produce digital portfolios of the work they completed in the course.

Each portfolio should have at least the following components:

• Home page
• Computer Assisted Reporting (CAR)
• Twitter Scavenger Hunt (TSH)
• Interview
• Photo Essay

In the near future, some of the students will also create and post an infographic.

There were other assignments/projects in the course including the Covering an Events assignment, but these are the components that will be featured on their portfolios.

In the past I had used Epsilen, a platform utilized by the university. However, Epsilen has not kept up with the digital times and it's a bit chunky.

After some research, I determined that Weebly was the best platform for this task. This decision was reached after watching a few introductory videos and the ease of use in building a website via the Weebly platform. The drag and drop component is super simple. The best part is that the end result has the potential to be organized and professional.

Students were given some time in class to work on the portfolios. They were also given detailed feedback after they posted a 'draft' of the portfolio.

The goal of the portfolio:

It should be error free because it is a showcase of their work to share for prospective internship or job opportunities.

Students should also be proud to display their body of work from the course in a public platform and in a professional manner.

This semester I taught three sections of this course. Here are the students' digital portfolios:

Multimedia Writing Section 1:
Nouri
Haidy
Yara Al K.
Mireille
Yomna D.
Nora
Yara El.
Youmna El.
Nushka
Karima
Mohamed
Yasmine


Multimedia Writing Section 2:
Salma B.
Hania
Salma R.
Nour
Youmna
Sarah
Hanan
Rowaida
Hana
Mayar
Yehia
Norhan


Multimedia Writing Section 3:
Haneen
Farah A.
Hannah
Nadine
Passant
Alaa
Noha
Farrah
Zeina
Rawan
Amira
Nourhan
Eshraka
Farah T.

Congratulations to the students for their efforts. And good luck in to their future careers in the media.

Photo Slideshow: Sham El Nessim Gathering

Produced by Hania Elkady

My theme narrates my personal Egyptian family tradition during the national holiday of Sham El-Nessim that takes place at the beginning of the spring which always falls on the day after the Eastern Christian Easter, yet shared and celebrated by all Egyptians alike.

As a family, we are always invited to my grandparents' house to celebrate this occasion together. As they have always taken care of the responsibility of buying the salted fish "feeskh" and Herrings fish altogether with onions, salad and Tuna fish. Actually, their long-lived housekeeper takes care of that process; beginning with buying the fish from the market, cleaning it and preparing the table and definitely, takes care of the smell afterwards. Normally, my aunt would be invited as well, but she was travelling this time. So, it was just my family consisted of my mother, younger sister and older brother in addition to myself, or the photographer in this case.

The funny thing about this Sham El Nessim; that the older generations like my grandparents are the ones who enjoy this occasion the most, while the younger generations like my siblings and cousins who hated the smell and ate pizzas or something else. So, I never thought about that before when I used to eat with them, I just realized that when I played the photographer role.

Photo Slideshow: The Chocolate Devil Cake

Produced by Sarah Hassan

Hello there chocolate lovers! Finally the weekend is here to bake my father's favorite dessert dish; chocolate cake covered up all over with chocolate frosting, namely, The Chocolate Devil Cake.

I've always loved to bake this cake ever since my grandma taught me when I was a kid. Its chocolate temptation makes you just want to keep eating it. So I decided to share my grandma's recipe with you!

Photo Essay: The Unique Abaza Lentils Dish

Produced by Nora Elbadawy

     Long time ago my mother family ‘Abaza’ created their own dish of lentils, which no one can make expect them so they called it ‘The Abaza Lentils’. There are different stories that circulate around the family about the history of this unique dish. As the Abaza family is formerly originated in Abkhazia, which is a small country next to Russia; it is said that back in time a member of the family created a new recipe using lentils to keep them warm and energetic during the cold winter, and called this dish “the Abaza lentils.” And since then this recipe is kept secretive between the family members and passed on from generation to another. Even after the family migrated to different countries the Abaza lentils recipe kept closely guarded and never changed. Another story about this dish’s history, also known within the family is that long ago when the Abazas came to Egypt they where located in Sharqia governate; and one day an Abaza men unexpectedly invited guests over for lunch and the wife was not prepared so she decided to put all –food- available together and at the end she created the Abaza lentils, which afterward became famous among the family.  As growing up the Abaza lentils was the main dish that is always severed in almost all family gatherings – in different family members' homes .- Every women in the Abaza family knows and should know how to do this dish. That’s why my grandmother taught my mother the recipe and my mother decided to pass it on to my sister and I. This dish is unique because it is only known among my family and no one can make it perfectly as my family members.

Photo Essay: Aspiring Simplicity

Produced by Karima Ragab

I knew I was travelling to Basata during spring break so I definitely wanted to find my story there because I knew I could easily get inspired there. It is only when I got there that I decided to base my photo essay on the story of Basata. With the owner, Sherif Ghamrawy, present all day long, I was able to contact him easily. It was my first time to travel to Basata so I was fascinated by it. From what he told me, I was able to define my angle which was the exposure of Egypt’s culture and civilization in every domain possible. The culture was portrayed in the food, the setting, the ambiance, but above all, the delightful simplicity behind it all. When I told some of my friends and family that I was traveling to Basata, many didn’t know what I was talking about. Therefore, it pushed me to write its story and hopefully reveal its simple beauty to those who haven’t discovered it yet.

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Photo Essay: The Glorious Moment of Katb El Kitab

By Youmna El Sherbiny

Katb el Kitab, the official marriage ceremony, is a tradition of the Prophet Muhammed, peace be upon him, so that the couple doesn't find difficulties in interacting with one another but rather to be legally married. It is such a bittersweet occasion for the father of the bride as he feels that she will be someone else’s responsibility and will go away; yet, happy because she is starting a new life with her beloved.Although I am not married yet but this event relates to me very much as ever since I lost my father, I imagine how he would have felt on such a special day, particularly because we always had talks about such events and related ones. This event was one of the closest to my heart as it is the marriage of one of my dearest friends;Rana Ibrahim getting married to Mohamed Rashed.

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Photo Essay: A Day by the Nile

By Haidy Abdrabou

I chose this topic for many reasons, from long time ago this is the first time as a family to relax and take time out from the hassle of life.

The story I decided to make has different variety of meanings. It is about memories, family tradition, and celebration.

When my father used to live with us, we used to go out as a family every week, but now it is difficult to keep this habit going. He has been away for several months for work, during that time he was having health problems regarding his heart, but in the end he ended up having a heart surgery.

Luckily, he is recovering now and feeling better everyday, and that makes me thankful to have him around in my life, this family outing was not only about mundane going out, it was our first time of us together celebrating both dad feeling well and Egyptian Easter.

Mainly, celebrating the joy of us being in each others company, one that cannot be taken for granted.

Photo Essay: Cooking Koshary, The Egyptian Tradition

Author: Alaa Adel Elsayed

     Koshary is one of the dishes that is invented entirely by Egyptians. Its history of invention is what makes it unique. Egyptians are said to collect all the remaining uncooked food ingredients at the end of every month and cook them all together. This historical story, in my opinion, has an economic value as well as a cultural and traditional value. Economically, the story highlights a way through which middle-class households sustain their living during the last days of every month when their monthly salary is over as the case with almost all working classes. It also served as an investment in what they have remaining instead of throwing it away in the trash.  The story of inventing koshary has also a strong cultural meaning as it shows how working-class Egyptians tended to handle their living when they are almost out of money at the end of each month. Additionally, it highlights some of the differences between social classes in Egypt. It would not be surprising for upper-class people to throw these ingredients away and not to care much about their possible uses. But the perceptions that the working classes have for things are always different, which is shown through the Egyptians’ investment that yielded in a new Egyptian dish.

     Although koshary was originally invented by middle-class Egyptians, it has gained huge popularity and become one of the favorite dishes for all Egyptians. In specific, it is one of my family’s favorites. It is a family tradition that my mother cooks koshary for special events, such as Eid al-Fatr and Sham El-Nassem (the spring day). Although it is common for Egyptians to eat a certain type of fish during this last feast, my family eats koshary, the tradition that has become a traditional celebration of Sham El-Nassem. Accordingly, this year my mother has decided to cook koshary for us as part of our celebration of this day.

    Furthermore, the process of cooking koshary is interesting to examine. It is one of the dishes that has many components used to decorate the final dish. Not only that, these decorative components are also to be cooked first as the cooking process starts before cooking the main ingredient which is rice.

    The presented slideshow shall illustrate more closely the process of cooking koshary for lunch for my family in celebration of Sham El-Nassem.