IAP 2022 event

IAP 2022 Workshop Series

Selected dates: January 12-27

Craft and share your story by joining the Flipping Failure IAP Workshop Series!

Have you ever faced an academic challenge and wished you could share what you learned with peers?

Participants will have the opportunity to reflect on and share their experiences with a small community of undergraduate and graduate students in a safe environment. They will work with a media artist and a storyteller coach (and past winner of The Moth StorySLAM) to craft their stories into creative audio narratives to be featured in the Flipping Failure website.

Flipping Failure is a collection of stories told by MIT students about their academic challenges while at MIT. This community initiative aims to provide greater visibility to the struggles that we experience as humans while learning and living in an imperfect world. The workshop series will be a guided process of reflection and discovery to capture and transfigure your unique story. 

To apply, click here

Please submit your application by 11:59pm on Wednesday, January 5th, 2022. Admitted participants will be notified on a rolling basis.

Who should participate

Any undergraduate and graduate student interested in sharing their story of academic challenge, particularly through a creative lens. Participants will work with an artist to craft their stories and turn them into creative audio narratives. These narratives will be shared with the MIT community through the Flipping Failure website

Please note that to establish a close-knit cohort and provide adequate coaching;

  • space is limited to 6 participants.
  • attendance is required for all workshops.

Admitted participants will be notified on a rolling basis. 

We welcome stories of ALL academic challenges. We are also particularly interested in stories that address challenges in navigating professor/advisor relationships, searching for internships and academic jobs, deciding among different career paths (example, industry vs. academia), or balancing work and life. These themes recently emerged as particularly relevant to current MIT undergraduate and graduate students and are ones that are not as well represented on the Flipping Failure site.

 

Schedule and time commitment:

Approximately 9 hours of remote meetings (over Zoom) in total:

  • WED, 1/12 | 10-2 pm (includes a lunch break)
  • FRI, 1/14 | 10-12 pm 
  • WED, 1/19 | 10-12 pm 
  • 1-hour individual meeting scheduled at a time that works for you during week of Jan 20-27 

What to expect during the workshop series:

  • The workshop series will combine exercises in observation, mindfulness, and journaling with instruction in crafting a narrative and in sound art (recording environments, basic audio theory, spoken word in audio). Guidance and feedback to the crafting and shaping of your story will be provided.  
  • The majority of the time in workshops will be spent working on your stories and recordings. There will also be optional experimentation and brief exercises that you may complete on your own each week. 

 

Benefits of participation:

By participating in this series of workshops, you will have the opportunity to:

  • Reflect on the meaning of your past academic challenges and your coping strategies
  • Take a creative approach to storytelling and sound design in a highly collaborative and supportive environment
  • Connect with peers at MIT, hear their stories, and support their storytelling process
  • Help other students recognize and accept challenges as a normal part of academic transitions rather than as signs they don’t belong at MIT (through exposure to your story)
  • Resources to support your well-being

Prior knowledge needed

None. No prior experience with crafting narratives, recording audio, or producing podcasts is expected or required. The goal of this workshop series is to help you craft a narrative based on your own experience. Audio recordings will be used to serve this goal, with plenty of help provided by the workshop facilitators as needed. You are welcome to delve deeply into learning digital media techniques, but technical mastery is not expected or required. Students who are primarily interested in developing a narrative are encouraged to apply.

 

Tools needed

No special tools are required. Any additional materials you need will be provided to you by us.

 

Questions? 

Email flippingfailure[at]mit.edu