At the beginning of the course, you collected and curated narratives about education. From there, you
applied theoretical frameworks to these narratives in order to connect your observations to broader
scholarly conversations. Now, you will culminate your inquiry this semester by embarking on a
self-directed research project that will result in a project that contributes new ideas, questions, or ways of thinking to the course inquiry, “What Does an Education Do?”
You’ll begin by identifying a series of
interrelated questions you’re interested in exploring; you’ll then research what others are saying about t
hose conversations, before adding your voice to the mix in your digital essay.
Similar – yet distinct from – the traditional essay, the digital essay allows the writer to embed links,
images, videos, and/or sound bites within their written text. Regardless of the form your Digital Essay will take, your task in this project is to theorize by adding something new to a conversation about
education.
After some preliminary planning for your line of inquiry, you will begin by collecting and curating at least four texts in an annotated bibliography. After selecting a citation method, you will write an annotated
bibliography with two parts, (1) a summary of the source, focusing on the “big picture overview” and
summary of any specific information relevant to your line of inquiry, (2) your own thoughts about how
you might make use of this writer’s work in the development of your project.
Take the question (How does cultural representation benefit students in school?),
