Access: Or Lack Thereof
In one class, two boys
set out to make a proposal documentary about the
parking situation on campus, a common source of discontent for most
college students on any university campus.
The previous semester I
had met with the directors of the Presentation
Technology Department, at their request, to explain why my students
should be permitted to check out digital cameras for the purpose of
filming documentaries.
While they were quick to
grant access to the cameras, they were equally
quick to emphasize that they were not equipped to teach students how to
use the editing software in the production of their multimedia texts.
They were just too busy to provide instruction, and that was not the
function of their media labs.
As I had no intention of
teaching students how to use these
applications, I emphasized that the students who opted for the
documentary project knew that they were on their own in the process of
video production. When I give the assignment, I make it clear that
students must either have a previous knowledge and competency of
movie-making software or be willing to put in the time to learn how to
use it if they choose to make a documentary. (Since writing this in
2007, I have decided to include one or two instructional days in my
classes to go over some of the basics of Windows Movie Maker. I also
discuss copyright at this time.)
This raises the issue of
both access and instructional shortcomings in
student-produced documentaries. Again we turn to Meek and Illyasova's
review for insights into these problems:
We worry that we lack
not only the imagination, but also the technical
skill and the pedagogical savvy (can we teach as we learn ourselves?)
to engage such literacies in front of college students. Even so, we
cannot ignore the power that images and sounds have over us and our
students. (2)
In Wysocki's fifth
opening to Writing
New Media,
she assures us that
We do
not have to become
experts in different production technologies. What I hope we teach is
an alertness to how different technologies of production--of writing,
of photograph, and so on--have the status and position-building weights
and possibilities they do because of how they fit within the broad but
contingent material practices and structures in which we all live. (23)
Providing students
access to digital video technologies and offering
them adequate instruction in the use of these technologies can be
problematic. Nonetheless, our own lack of expertise in these
applications cannot prevent us from allowing students to succeed with
them. There are resources available that instructors can direct their
students to in order to foster their success. Meek and Illyasova point
out that
such
attention to
providing the resources students need to teach themselves how to use
software helps them better negotiate the duel demands of the practical
and theoretical aspects of the course. (4)
This instruction can be
as simple as leading students to tutorials
provided on YouTube or related websites, or to those provided in the
software applications used.
The media lab agreed to
lend cameras to my students on a three-day,
check out basis. Nonetheless, when the disgruntled parkers attempted to
check out equipment, they were turned away. I had to write numerous
emails, make several phone calls, and eventually resort to begging
staff members of the media lab to grant access to the digital cameras.
After I finally reached
one of the directors, she apologetically
assured me that my students would have access to the camera they
needed. She even went as far as to buy another digital video recorder
to ensure that one would be available for the use of my students and
their documentary projects. This instance brought to light the need for
communication and collaboration between departments in order to insure
student access to digital technologies. In the interviews conducted by
Meek and Illyasova, instructors pointed out the need for "consensus"
when assigning student digital video assignments:
Developing coursework
for students is only one piece--and certainly not
the first piece--of a curriculum that supports digital video or any
other multimedia composition. Payne and Honeycutt "recommend a critical
threshold of knowledgeable people (technically, politically,
pedagogically), collaborative planning/implementation, and a solid
communication infrastructure." (4)
Basically, as an
instructor experimenting with digital video
assignments in a composition classroom, you need backup.
Adding the proposal
element to the documentary project gave the
assignment a strong basis in rhetorical principles. Topics of interest
that were covered in fall of 2006 included the consumerism of
Christmas, the exploitive consumerism of Abercrombie culture;
abstinence and sobriety versus sexual experimentation and drug and
alcohol use among college students, poverty in South Africa (from the
perspective of a native); the positive news in Iraq (from the
perspective of a young veteran), and the damaging images of skinny in a
consumer culture where beauty is defined by the mass media.
Adding the proposal
argument element to the video assignment enhanced
the value and significance of the videos students produced. >>
Image by arycogre