Media Text Analysis is a first semester course that introduces the students to how they best analyse different media texts. Learning the analytical craft itself is a large part of the course, and it is important that the students understand how to optimise their own analyses. 

It can prove difficult to check whether each student has understood what makes an analysis good, when there are 40 students in a class. The purpose of the activity is for the students themselves to suggest subject-specific criteria for a good analysis. As a teacher, I’m able to get a sense of whether the students have understood the subject-specific requirements for analyses, when they do this activity. The most important thing is not whether the students answer correctly on their first try, but rather to give them the opportunity to see other’s answers before reflecting on their own. 

The primary outcome of the activity was that the students got the opportunity to see whether they had the right sense of the analytical craft. As a teacher, I was also able to confirm that a majority of students were on the right way. The few ‘wrong’ answers weren’t used to shame anyone – instead, the correct parts were highlighted, and we came up with suggestions for how to reformulate them to make them fit. 

I would especially recommend this activity to teachers with big classes, where there isn’t time to talk to each student, since the activity gives a good impression of the class’s general level.