PROJECT PLANNING

MY GROUP PROJECTS IDEAS ARE HERE: 

http://helenaburns.blogspot.com/2015/03/group-collaboration-videos.html

BELOW ARE MY 2 INDIVIDUAL PROJECT IDEAS:

FUN PROJECT: CREATE MY OWN APP (HAVEN'T DECIDED THE WHAT YET)
Either turn a daily devotional book I wrote into a daily app OR a kind of movie review/guide app--since I do a lot of movie reviews, I want to group them by theme and let people look them up that way, with highlights to look for & questions for groups

SERIOUS PROJECT: PROPOSAL FOR SHORT VIDEOS PROJECT
(I'm shopping this out to a few places that might make this look really nice for me!)

Hello!

I would like to propose a short videos project on "Digital Teens: How Can We Be Ethical in Our Use of Social Media?" Our underlying question is: "How can we use media in a way that is more human rather than less human? Humanizing and not dehumanizing?" I just gave one-hour workshops at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress on this topic and the interest was high among youth and youth ministers to keep the conversation going! I am also speaking at NCYC (National Catholic Youth Conference--largest of its kind in USA) in November.

WHO: Sr. Helena Burns, fsp, is a member of the Daughters of St. Paul, an international congregation founded to communicate God's Word through the media. She is finishing her M.A. in Media Literacy Education; has a B.A. in theology and philosophy from St. John's University, NYC; studied screenwriting at UCLA and Act One, Hollywood; and holds a Certificate in Pastoral Youth Ministry. Sr. Helena also studied at the Theology of the Body Institute, PA. She is a movie reviewer for Life Teen & The Catholic Channel--Sirius XM (and for 6 years, “The Catholic New World,” Chicago’s Archdiocesan newspaper). She wrote and directed a documentary on the life of Blessed James Alberione: www.MediaApostle.com and is a co-producer on www.The40Film.com.  She is writing high school curriculum on Theology of the Body for Ave Maria Press. Her book for young women is “He Speaks to You”: www.tinyurl.com/DailyBook 
Sr. Helena gives Media Literacy and Theology of the Body workshops to youth and adults all over the U.S. and Canada, and believes that media can be a primary tool for sharing God's love and salvation. (She is a dual--not duel--citizen: AmeriCanadian.)

WHAT: 5-10 minute short videos (talking head with some visuals/diagrams/links to illustrative YouTubes that I already have in my Powerpoint) that lay the principles of good/thoughtful/discerning media use. A total of 60 minutes would be ideal to cover basics.
12 --5 minute videos OR 6--10 minute videos OR a mix of 5 and 10 minute videos depending on topic
The content would have to be essentially mine (in the sense that it needs to be in keeping with the tenets of Media Literacy Education). 

SAMPLE TOPICS: http://helenaburns.blogspot.com/2015/03/los-angeles-youth-congress-social-media.html

 

WHEN: I could fly to Arizona or wherever any time in April to shoot (shooting could be completed in a day).

HOW: Some videos could be the unchanging principles of Media Literacy. Others could be more ephemeral and would become outdated (e.g., talking about particular social media platforms that will become obsolete). My goal is to talk directly to teens (and parents/adults/youth ministers could learn at the same time), but one video directed specifically at parents/adults/youth ministers could also be done.

COST: I would do it free. If a plane ticket, place to stay overnight could be provided, that would be ideal.

Many thanks for your kind consideration!