Discussion
"Blue Water" by Pixabay is licensed under CC0.
“Take the plunge and do it” is the final imperative of Chapter 5’s
Advice from Composition Instructors for Teaching Video Composition.
While COVID-19 has forced many to do just that--through short instructional videos, online synchronous class and revising assignments and courses, etc.--VanKooten’s Transfer Across Media: Using Digital Video in the Teaching of Writing helps make that jump more strategic. The text’s empirical research, constructive research methodology, theoretical grounding, and explicit pedagogical focus serve as helpful safety net in taking the plunge toward teaching for transfer of learning through digital composition.
The main text includes many student example videos suitable for in-class (virtual or face-to-face) discussion and analysis. Being able to see and hear the students respond to interview questions could be a generative tool for teaching reflection and meta-awareness, hence supporting potential
transfer. The appendices offer sample assignment sequences, directions, and lesson plans.
VanKooten concludes, “[v]ideo is a site where students can connect, strengthen, and extend the web of their writing knowledge through multimodal production.” Given the complex, multidisciplinary, overlapping conceptions of transfer, VanKooten is careful not to argue that including a video assignment in a writing class is a foolproof strategy to increase student rhetorical literacy or transfer of that learning, but she does offer a multisensory, descriptive, evolving understanding of transfer.
In addition to her insights of transfer, VanKooten’s contributes dynamic access to her research methods, subjects, and data through video, and a model of a receptive teacher-scholar with openness to learning with and from her students. VanKooten's effort in situating the student's video compositions within scholarship on digital literacies and transfer should help guide teachers—especially those less familiar with video production—in assigning, evaluating, and responding to students' multimodal texts. Transfer Across Media: Using Digital Video in the Teaching of Writing makes sure that if we do jump into teaching writing through video composition, our splash ripples in ways that support student learning.
Advice from Composition Instructors for Teaching Video Composition.
While COVID-19 has forced many to do just that--through short instructional videos, online synchronous class and revising assignments and courses, etc.--VanKooten’s Transfer Across Media: Using Digital Video in the Teaching of Writing helps make that jump more strategic. The text’s empirical research, constructive research methodology, theoretical grounding, and explicit pedagogical focus serve as helpful safety net in taking the plunge toward teaching for transfer of learning through digital composition.
The main text includes many student example videos suitable for in-class (virtual or face-to-face) discussion and analysis. Being able to see and hear the students respond to interview questions could be a generative tool for teaching reflection and meta-awareness, hence supporting potential
transfer. The appendices offer sample assignment sequences, directions, and lesson plans.
VanKooten concludes, “[v]ideo is a site where students can connect, strengthen, and extend the web of their writing knowledge through multimodal production.” Given the complex, multidisciplinary, overlapping conceptions of transfer, VanKooten is careful not to argue that including a video assignment in a writing class is a foolproof strategy to increase student rhetorical literacy or transfer of that learning, but she does offer a multisensory, descriptive, evolving understanding of transfer.
In addition to her insights of transfer, VanKooten’s contributes dynamic access to her research methods, subjects, and data through video, and a model of a receptive teacher-scholar with openness to learning with and from her students. VanKooten's effort in situating the student's video compositions within scholarship on digital literacies and transfer should help guide teachers—especially those less familiar with video production—in assigning, evaluating, and responding to students' multimodal texts. Transfer Across Media: Using Digital Video in the Teaching of Writing makes sure that if we do jump into teaching writing through video composition, our splash ripples in ways that support student learning.
References
Nowacek, R. (2011). Agents of Integration: Understanding Transfer as a Rhetorical Act. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois UP.
Selber, Stuart A. (2004). Multiliteracies for a Digital Age. Southern Illinois University Press.
VanKooten, Crystal. (2020). Transfer across media: Using digital video in the teaching of writing. Logan, UT: Computers and Composition Digital Press/Utah State University Press. Retrieved from https://ccdigitalpress.org/book/transfer-across-media/index.html.
Selber, Stuart A. (2004). Multiliteracies for a Digital Age. Southern Illinois University Press.
VanKooten, Crystal. (2020). Transfer across media: Using digital video in the teaching of writing. Logan, UT: Computers and Composition Digital Press/Utah State University Press. Retrieved from https://ccdigitalpress.org/book/transfer-across-media/index.html.