This is where we’ll be discussing “Writing With Video: What Happens When Composition Comes off the Page?” by Maria Lovett, Katherine Gossett, James Purdy, Carrie Lamanna, and Joseph Squier. Along with the reading itself (available via eReserves) you might want to take a look at the “Writing with Video” web site. There are lots of examples and such of the kind of thing that is discussed in the chapter.
I think this essay is pretty straight-forward and for the most part, it rings true with my own experiences teaching students to make videos and making some videos of my own. The “writerliness” of the act of videoing sort of surprised me when I first did it myself, and I’d be curious to hear from you who have done book reviews and/or who are in the process of book reviews what you think of this.
A couple of key points I’ll highlight: first, I think that the point they make in the last paragraph on 290 is very true, that the goal of these activities is not to make “great filmmakers” per se, but rather, to raise awareness of how that process works. You learn a lot about any kind of text by making one, and that includes video. Though it is also worth noting, as these folks do in a footnote someplace, that there is an increasing demand for multimedia skills in the marketplace for people seeking jobs as professional and technical writers.
They bring up a similar kind of point on page 298, and here they are broadening the sort of role in the curriculum a class like “writing with video” might have, especially in relation to a traditional writing class. We talked about this earlier this term and I don’t disagree with this, though I will say that I wonder and worry about the questions of emphasis and when this sort of video writing is introduced. For a lot of the students I have had in first year writing here at EMU, I don’t think this class would serve them well because so many of those students are struggling with “words in a row” literacy. I mean, if I teach students in 120 or 121 how to make a really cool video but they still can’t write a clear paragraph, I think I’ve done them a disservice. Not that it’s an either/or thing, but it is a question of emphasis.
I do agree with the authors that having such a class is a great way to expose students to the processes involved in making any kind of video. And since there are some parallels between the process of preparing/producing a video and writing any other kind of text, I do think this could be a valuable course to offer.
However, the real issue I have is one that they bring up at the end of their paper: one of funding. As they explain, “To embrace new media composing, then, we must be prepared to secure and maintain this mobile, networked technology. We discovered with Writing with Video that there were no policies in place that could regulate or fund such a program. As the course grew, so did the demand for
technological infrastructure, and these demands exceeded what Apple and the university were able to provide. As a result, instructors have had to adapt to the changing availability of technologies.” (302)
Introducing a class like this, then, seems like it would have to be a huge interdisciplinary effort…and one I’m not sure would go over well with everybody.
http://www.daniellebreann.wordpress.com
I think Lovett et al mention the critical piece to making an assignment like this work as a writing assignment: “…this specific attention to the process of communicating with video as a rhetorical device separates it from traditional film and video production courses” (290). I enjoy working with multiple medias and see the value in videos, but I’m not sure I would have made the connection my freshman year. I think using this process in a particular way would be extremely effective. I think the documentary format would actually work to focus on the writing of the piece as well as the argumentation element Jackson & Wallin suggest. It would also help highlight the pros/cons of using video as a platform for your argument.
Apart from uses like this or perhaps analyses of videos, though, I have to admit it doesn’t seem to make sense as a foundation writing course in college. I like the idea and especially like their focus on writing with video but you have to have a good grasp of writing before you can start looking at its components in other media.
http://msyapin.wordpress.com
I’m curious, are we in the business of teaching people to write, or teaching them to communicate? Should we be teaching them about writing, or about composition? Does most of the rhetoric, persuasion, communication, and composition in the modern world happen through ‘words in a row’? Isn’t writing really a shrinking subset of the (predominately sophisticated) rhetoric and composition happening all around us? Should we be teaching students to use their laptops and cellphones as fancy typewriters? Is this how people really use these technologies to communicate, inform, and persuade? Should we feel under obligation to create curricula that map onto the world in which students (all of us) actually live?
I’m not sure if luddgate is one of us or a guest, but I’m going to guess guest….
There is a reference in this article to another article by Richard Lanham (and now that I think of it, both of the articles from the first half of the week make reference to it) called “The Electronic Word.” It’s kind of an old essay, but maybe it’d be worth reading yet this semester. In that essay, Lanham more or less asks this question about English studies–what business are we in– and he makes a compelling analogy to the journalism business. Journalism (particularly print journalism) is more or less a failing business because it decided that it was really in the newspaper business in that all of its assumptions about how it could make money were based on selling newspapers. Lanham argues that if English studies decides it is in the “book business”– that is, if we are only going to be valuing print (and by extension “words in a row”)– then we are going to be out of business too.
So that’s an important aspect as to why we need to be teaching more than grammary kinds of things, why we need to use media of a variety of sorts to teach rhetorical skills, and why we need to recognize that writing has always included aspects beyond just words (think of illuminated manuscripts from the middle ages, for example). That said, I think there is a lot more power in words in a row than luddgate might be implying here. I mean, the world still values people who can write words in a row well; it just doesn’t require those words be printed in rows on paper.
Melissa, I definitely agree that this sounds like an interesting idea (and sounds like a class I might have been interested in taking as an undergrad!), but I also have to second this: “You have to have a good grasp of writing before you can start looking at its components in other media.” Like Professor Krause pointed out, too, it’s unclear what benefit a class like this would have in terms of preparing students to compose in college (or beyond) if the emphasis were placed too much on video-making and too little on crafting coherent “words in a row.”
I do want to say that I really liked Lovett et al.’s discussion of how writing and video support one another to become a synergistic whole. While I think it might be challenging to balance writing and video to ensure one didn’t supersede the other, I think if you could attain that balance, it could be worthwhile experience.
One thing I was wondering about reading this: How much new media composition is taking place in fields outside the humanities (and maybe some social sciences)? And of that composition using new media forms, how much of it separates itself entirely from any written word? That is to say, how much of it involves assignments that are ONLY video or ONLY image collage or ONLY audio versus assignments with video or audio elements that are incorporated with the written word to create a combined multimodal effect? I’ve found that many of the multimodal assignments that I’ve taken part in usually have a component that requires some “words in a row,” so not having a grasp of that kind of literacy can have an impact on even multimodal compositions. Does anyone have greater insight into the kinds of multimodal projects going on in other disciplines?
Finally, and this is a bit tangential, but I’ve noticed in this article and in several others that I’ve read for another class that most student accounts and excerpts seem to be from high-achieving students. And I certainly understand why an author would make that choice, when trying to demonstrate the effectiveness and benefits of a particular class! What I’m wondering now, though, is how a class like this might impact a more middle-of-the-road student, or even a struggling student. Would these students make these same connections? And if not, what connections might they make? How would they perceive this class, and what would they get out of it?
Let me build off of two different things that Jackie said here:
* I do think that the emphasis in introductory writing classes– especially developmental writing classes and especially for a lot of our introductory students who aren’t as prepared as they should be– ought to be on words in a row, on research skills (the internet and the library), and rhetorical strategies that will be helpful in academic settings and beyond. Like I said, I worry about how multimedia projects can distract from those goals in classes like 120/121.
But I do think there’s a role for non-words in a row writing, and I do think there’s a benefit in doing it too. I agree with Lovett et al’s argument about teaching rhetorical strategies and exposing to students how asking students to work with different genres and mediums can teach a lot. In my 121, always have students work with things like posters, videos, presentations, and the like because I think it’s important for students to break out of the mold of the “research paper” and to experiment with different genres and forms. I do think that does teach students stuff.
* Why the good examples? What about the middle of the road student? I think you are making a good observation here about that, Jackie, and I agree it can sometimes be a problem with scholarship in our field. There’s a certain element of “I assigned this wonderful thing” (and that might be multimedia, it might be some kind of prewriting exercise, etc., etc.) “and my students just created these magical things,” when the reality is there are a lot of students who don’t.
I guess I look at it like this: first, if you’re trying to persuade an audience that something is a “good idea” (be that something multimedia writing, prewriting, whatever), then you give them the best examples. In other words, focusing on the food examples is as much of a rhetorical strategy as anything else.
But second, I think it’s always important to frame expectations about applying these lessons to our own teaching with our own contexts. This might not be a politically correct way of putting it, but I believe there’s nothing you can do as a teacher that can please everyone and to make every student successful. The analogy I like to give is I could show up to my classes every day with a case of beer, and a lot of students would be happy about that. But some students would say “oh, I don’t like that kind of beer” or “can’t I have two?” or “how DARE you bring beer to a class” or what-have-you.
1) I love the subtitle, “What Happens when Composition Comes Off the Page.” This lines up perfectly with the book I’m reading for my review, titled Remixing Composition.
2) I appreciate how, at the very beginning, the authors give specific examples of professions that use off-the-page composition.
3) This article is about a specific course devoted to writing with video. This interests me because as much as I’d like to incorporate video (or audio or other forms of) composing in a composition class, I also am very aware of the resource constraints – which reminds me of Bump Halbritter’s talk at WIDE-EMU/MSU re: the course he taught and the resources he was fortunate enough to have.
4) I like how they frame video composing as a “rhetorical narrative medium.” I think this lends itself well to a more full understanding of narrative (as documentary, story, research, rather than personal fluff, which is a personal interest of mine). I like how they discuss composing with all of the senses; something that may already be happening, but is sometimes silenced or made invisible by the final product in print-based or alphabetic text pieces. I also appreciate the time they give to students to acquire the vocabulary used in video composing – this makes the class seem accessible and user-friendly…which I think, for the most part, courses and/or practices associated with new technologies have done a pretty good job of. Perhaps a conversation to have about how “user-friendly” or “user-centered” new technologies are as opposed to say, print-based or closed-system practices.
5) Re: how new media changes composing, I was just talking to my roommate tonight about how new media places the instructor in a designer role or a curator role, rather than a master of x subject who possesses knowledge unavailable to students outside of that course. I think about how often I use Google to get information, and how easily my students can get the same information, and I see myself more as a curator of that information because, like one of the students in the article says, we are not working from scratch but rather from ready-made materials. This is interesting to think about in light of the organic farming/recycling movement…
http://parablematernal.wordpress.com
The resource/access to technology thing can be a problem, but if the expectations for these projects is low–as in Dan Anderson’s “low bridge” essay– it doesn’t have to be a big problem. I’ve had students in 121 make videos for a while now and there is almost always someone with a video camera. So they can’t make elaborate projects, but they can make and post videos pretty easily with a minimum of tools.
The bigger problem in my experience is time. My 121 student movie projects tend to be kind of lame, frankly, but that’s mostly because I don’t give them enough time to story board, write a script, edit a lot, etc. I want students to experience and work with new media and genres, but I don’t want it to be the emphasis in 121.
This was an interesting piece, and while not a video expert (by any means), and not a writing teacher, I can totally see how an integration of new media into writing composition makes sense. Obviously the logistics can be a bit dodgy.
I have made a few videos now over the last several months, and I wish I had some sort of background in it. It definitely incorporates many, if not all, of the same rhetorical aspects of writing, along with some others. This is apparent with the simple realization that video is linear and in that sense can be treated, in some ways, like a piece of traditional writing. It does involve what can be an entirely new set of skills, and it would seem that the problem(s) of technology (familiarity, access) would lessen as all the new forms of media are fully integrated into society. Time will heal this sore spot? It seems like technologies are being utilized more and more in the classroom.
I liked the overall goal: “We see this as a path toward creating citizens who are critical authors and consumers of media” (290). Yes! Let’s do that.
http://visiblycynical.wordpress.com
Sarah, I agree with you that the problem of access could be resolved over time. As you point out, digital technologies do seem to be used more in classrooms these days (though I have no idea if this is true across the board…only going off my own experience).
However, I don’t think access is the only potential issue with a class like this. Since the class is interdisciplinary, I think the question would be: who takes responsibility for it? Is it taught by English instructors? Art instructors? Computer science instructors? It seemed to me like Lovett et. al. make the point that a class like this would need to be sort of a group effort across disciplines, and that’s something I don’t know if I see happening at a lot of schools.
http://www.daniellebreann.wordpress.com
Re: interdisciplinary teaching, my friend is taking this class at U of M right now as a PhD student: http://www.michigandaily.com/node/65119
http://parablematernal.wordpress.com
Huh…thanks for posting that, Chelsea. That sounds like an awesome class, and a pretty impressive example of interdisciplinary teaching. How does your friend like the class?
http://www.daniellebreann.wordpress.com
I can understand how videos can aid composition. When people speak on them I wonder if the process of creating central ideas and getting them across in a video is really so similar to writing. During my undergrad, my adviser told me once that written English is different than spoken English. We think a lot less about what we say whereas when we write it takes a lot longer to come up with the perfect words; however, someone writing a script and then it being used to make a video makes sense to me. It that respect I see how videos have gone with composition for many years now.
Thought I had commented on this. Think I did the reading and forgot to post. oops!
In any case, as someone with no formal training or introduction to film studies, having gone through one promotional video recently and in the process of creating another one, it has been a huge learning curve.
At my place of employment, I think the idea of having me work on a project like this is because of my writing background and it being perceived as directly related to movie production. Well, I am here to tell you that it doesn’t. The structural differences in the process of story building is really different than I anticipated. Plus, you are not the only one involved. My first experience was chaotic because I had no idea what to expect. However, now that I am working with a trained film studies team, it is like night and day. I’m learning a lot about the processes’ involved in storytelling and interviewing and feel better organized. I certainly have gained as massive amount of respect for those in the film industry.
I agree to some extent with both sides of the coin discussed here about the impact of film making on composition and rhetoric at the freshman level. I think we sometimes underestimate students and what they are capable of. When it comes to technology as an end-user, younger generations are wizards. They can figure out how to use a program with little to no guidance. I think as educators, it’s our responsibility to create the multi-modal educational experience and approach to curricula if they are to really make those meaningful connections. Of course, as Professor Krause pointed out, there’s no one size fits all curricula, but if we expect students to be creative and innovative, then we have to be just as innovative and creative, as well. Offering options to assignments that incorporate various mediums of digital media is one way that I can think of to be all inclusive of students’ learning levels. I would assume too, that students have already been exposed to some type of video assignment involving in high school. I think too, in certain educational contexts, especially in foreign language classes, the interactive, learner based pedagogical model is imperative for language building at any age.
Looking back, I wish I had taken a video writing class. I’ve learned a great recently and value the multi-dimensional layers of organizing, writing, and technical skill that come together for digital productions.