Writing courses traditionally begin with an assignment commonly called a literacy narrative. In this assignment, students are asked to explore some event or text that has challenged their ability to read and write. The term literacy, though, often means a certain kind of reading and writing that is only important to academics. A more engaging approach may be to broaden how we ask students to personalize writing and rhetoric concepts, to provide opportunities to make meaningful connections between course concepts and their prior learning and personal lives.
One way for students to meet these goals is to produce a digital text that broadens students’ understanding of composing, and allows them to produce content in new forms. For example, students may create a day-in-the-life vlog of the language or rhetoric they use. Another video-based approach could be an exploration of a chosen discourse community.
This type of assignment asks students to create, edit, and publish content in a new media with new tools they may have never used before. This can provide a great learning opportunity when we provide students with ample time, support, and fair expectations.
Of course, students can make an appointment to visit the Digital Writing Studio to use iMovie, and can work alone or with a consultant to conceptualize, plan, storyboard, and/or edit their video.
Student Samples:
Assignment sequencing and scaffolding
Planning
The planning stage includes deciding on topic and content, as well as the plans for recording (where, when, what equipment, etc.) Students should have a gameplan before they begin recording, such as a storyboard or project outline. In some genres, such as a video essay, students may need to compose a script during preproduction. Feedback is essential during this stage, so students have a good sense of direction before going into production.
- Storyboard: Students will benefit from developing a storyboard before they begin recording anything. Storyboarding helps students to identify which moments are most important to their project, as well as organize, visualize, and declutter their work. Start-to-Finish Storyboarding is a good guide to share with students, and they can use a simple template like the ones from Printable Paper to sketch out a storyboard for their projects.
- Script: Depending on the genre and purpose of their video, students may need a script or a rough outline of the points they plan to cover. Consider the project’s rhetorical context to determine how much scripting is needed. Vlogs are conventionally unscripted, but video essays are genres that are 100% scripted during preproduction. Many video essayists don’t memorize the whole script, but instead deliver one line at a time and during editing, create jump-cuts between each line.
Recording
During recording, you may encourage students to use their phones. The picture quality and recording capabilities of smartphones are quite good these days. While it may not be movie-studio quality, the familiarity and ease of access will make their phones the best choice for most students. Students should be encouraged to review their shots while on-set to see if something needs to be reshot before it is too late.
Editing
Make sure to allow sufficient time for editing. We suggest requiring a rough edit for feedback about a week before the project deadline. Particularly if students are working with software or technology that is new to them, it is likely editing will take a longer time than they expect.
Students can then use YouTube’s built in editor, Microsoft Movie Maker, or Apple’s iMovie to edit and upload it to a video host. Go here to access tutorials on using various editing programs. The After You Shoot course from YouTube’s Creator Academy may be especially useful. For adding music, we recommend these Creative Commons collections.
Uploading
Consider students’ rights to privacy when asking them to upload their videos. Students may opt to post to public YouTube channels, but they may also opt to post privately. Students should have the ability to set their own privacy settings.
Another option for distribution is MediaSite, which is a video management platform provided for all FIU students, staff, and faculty.
Grading
Consider using a contract grading approach to encourage experimentation and emphasize good rhetorical and composing principles. Requiring a reflective author’s note allows students to discuss their goals, intentions, and setbacks.