This Course at MIT

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Course Overview

This page focuses on the course 20.219 Becoming the Next Bill Nye: Writing and Hosting the Educational Show as it was taught by Elizabeth Choe, Jaime Goldstein, Chris Boebel, George Zaidan, Joshua Gunn, and Natalie Kuldell in IAP 2015.

This course gives students the opportunity to script and on-screen host 5-minute YouTube science, technology, engineering, and/or math-related shows to inspire youth to consider a future in science. Workshop-style lectures, with industry guest speakers, focus on developing students’ basic scripting, hosting, and video production skills in the context of understanding digital media literacy, K-12 education, science advocacy, and engaging a lay audience. Students critically analyze case studies of popular hosts and shows in addition to completing iterative, project-based assignments and peer-critiques, culminating in a 5-minute final episode.

Selected groups have the opportunity to continue optional development of episodes with a professional production crew for the MIT+K12 Videos Science Out Loud series during the final week of IAP .

Course Outcomes

Course Goals for Students

After taking this course, students should be able to:

  • Thoughtfully and clearly communicate science, technology, engineering, and/or math topics to a lay audience in an engaging manner - textually, visually, and verbally
  • Understand the media production process - from design to premiere of their own videos
  • Develop their own hosting and scripting style stemming from an understanding of what makes a successful communicator and guide
  • Critically analyze video-based entertainment and education, particularly in the context of K-12 students
  • Transfer video production skills to future projects
 

Instructor Insights

An image of instructor Elizabeth Choe and guest lecturer Joshua Gunn sitting on a sofa during an interview about the course.

In the following short videos, Elizabeth Choe and three guest lecturers describe various aspects of how they taught 20.219 Becoming the Next Bill Nye.

In the following pages, Elizabeth Choe and Jaime Goldstein describe various aspects of how they taught 20.219 Becoming the Next Bill Nye.

 

Teaching Reflections Timeline

A screenshot of the interactive timeline, showing an embedded video with accompanying text and links, with a side-scrolling bar of various events below.In the following interactive timeline, Elizabeth Choe shares self-recorded confessional-style videos that illustrate a day-by-day account of what what went well and what could have been improved in the teaching of the course.

20.219 Teaching Reflections Timeline

 

 

Curriculum Information

Prerequisites

Instructor permission

Requirements Satisfied

None

Offered

20.219 is a Selected Topics course in Biological Engineering; different offerings feature different topics. This was the first semester that Becoming the Next Bill Nye was offered.

The Classroom

  • Seven students and an instructor sit at tables arranged in a u-shape. Two people have open laptops in front of them.

    Room 1 of 1

    Lectures and Workshops

    Lectures and workshop sessions were held in a classroom with moveable tables and chairs. Blackboards, whiteboards, and A/V equipment were available.

 

Assessment

The students' grades were based on the following activities:

The color used on the preceding chart which represents the percentage of the total grade contributed by attendance. 25% Class participation
The color used on the preceding chart which represents the percentage of the total grade contributed by class participation. 20% Daily blog/vlog reflections
The color used on the preceding chart which represents the percentage of the total grade contributed by in-class reports. 25% Workshop products
The color used on the preceding chart which represents the percentage of the total grade contributed by essay assignments. 30% Final project

Class participation

  • Because this was a workshop-based course, and because sessions built upon each other, it was crucial for students to attend every class.
  • Meaningful peer feedback was crucial throughout the production process, and students were expected to be involved and engaged in this workshop-based class (discussions, table reads, rough cut annotations, etc.)

› Read More/Read Less

 

Student Information

Fewer than 10 students took this course when it was offered in January 2015.

Breakdown by Year

The class included undergraduate and graduate students from MIT, along with exchange students from Singapore University of Technology and Design.

Breakdown by Major

Participants came from a variety of schools, departments, and programs including the Sloan School of Management, Naval Architecture, Math, Mechanical Engineering and D-Lab.

Enrollment Cap

24

 

How Student Time Was Spent

During this 3-week course, students were expected to spend 20 hours per week, roughly divided as follows:

In Class

15 hours per week
  • Met 5 times per week for 3 hours per session; 13 sessions total; mandatory attendance.
  • Class sessions included lectures and workshops related to the educational video genre and the media production process.
  • Several class sessions included opportunities for students to work one-on-one with the teaching staff, which included the instructors, a teaching assistant, and guest lecturers.
 

Out of Class

5 hours per week

Students wrote daily blog/vlog reflections, completed readings, and created iterations of their final project components.

 

Semester Breakdown

WEEK M T W Th F
1 Guest speaker scheduled; workshop session held. Guest speaker scheduled; workshop session held; assignments, blog/vlog due. Guest speaker scheduled; workshop session held; assignments, blog/vlog due. Guest speaker scheduled; workshop session held; assignments, blog/vlog due. Guest speaker scheduled; workshop session held; assignments, blog/vlog due.
2 Workshop session held; assignments, blog/vlog due. Workshop session held; assignments, blog/vlog due. Filming and editing for final projects. Filming and editing for final projects. Filming and editing for final projects.
3 No classes throughout MIT. Screening session held; assignments, blog/vlog due. Filming and editing for final projects. Screening session held. No session scheduled.
4 No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
Displays the color and pattern used on the preceding table to indicate dates when classes are not held at MIT. No classes throughout MIT
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when workshop sessions are held. Workshop
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when students can film and edit their final projects. Filming and editing final projects
Displays the symbol used on the preceding table to indicate dates when assignments such as blog and vlog entries are due. Due date (assignments, blog/vlog)
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when no class session is scheduled. No class session scheduled
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when guest speakers present to the class.Guest Speaker
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when screening sessions are held. Screening session