Digital Composition
Integrating Digital Video Production
into the Undergraduate Research Paper
What You’ll Get
• How I integrated digital video into a student research
paper assignment
• Background about ENGL 120 and course learning goals
• Two sample student videos
• Examples of how I assessed the effectiveness of the
assignment
• Challenges I identified through assessment
How I integrated digital video
into research assignment
• What: Digital Teaching Initiative, ENGL 120
• When: Fall 2015
• Why: To find new strategies to meet course learning
outcomes; to promote digital literacy
• How: Faculty experienced with digital composition
mentored less-experienced faculty
But first…
What is ENGL 120?
• Expository Writing course required of all students,
with a few exceptions
• Challenges: Diverse student educational backgrounds
and academic interests
• Provides English Comp (EC) credit at CUNY
• Prerequisite or co-requisite for courses in other college
departments
• Skills translate to every college department
ENGL 120: Students should be able to…
1. Craft coherent essays and presentations that express
clarity of thinking and logical progression of thought.
2. Develop analytic reading and research skills.
3. Make effective use of instructor and peer critiques
to revise and edit drafts.
ENGL 120: Students should be able to…
4. Write in standard English prose, observing conventions
of grammar, spelling, and audience-appropriate diction.
5. Produce papers that incorporate others’ ideas
and scholarship with sources properly credited.
6. Create a final research paper employing standard
academic requirements (MLA style).
The Research Project
Media, representation, and influence
• How does the rhetoric of television news encourage Islamophobic sentiments?
• What are the consequences of gender stereotypes in commercials for
children’s toys?
• How does the co-opting of punk music into the mainstream discourage the
formation of new counter-culture musical movements?
• How does the rising popularity of the zombie genre in mainstream television
and cinema relate to Americans’ fear of foreigners?
• What does the rising popularity of queer hip-hop artists mean for hip-hop’s
current mainstream?
Research Project Scaffolding
• Annotated Bibliography, 3 drafts
• Literature Review short paper
• In-class presentation
• Research Paper, 10 pages, 3 drafts
• Digital assignment????
My Digital Assignment
1. 2-3 minute video presenting student research
2. 1-2 page written “treatment” outlining plans for video,
including chosen imagery, messaging, and other elements
• Between drafts 2 and 3 of research paper
3. Short reflection on process of creating digital video
and relationship to final research paper
Final Product
Cut to sample videos!
• “Destroying Latino Stereotypes – Jane the Virgin”
• “Cyber-bullying”
Grading Rubric
See here
How did this support course research
and writing goals?
• Papers were stronger overall than previous year
• Let’s ask the students!
Student feedback
“The digital video treatment helped me make revisions
between my second and third draft because it helped me
realize which evidence is the most effective... I realized
that I can not put out just any information, instead put
out my strongest information because I only have a
certain amount of time. I also removed evidence that
seem[ed] repetitive and did not connect to my overall
research.“
Student Feedback
“…it helped me understand my own thesis in a different
way. It turned the research paper into something more
dense and concentrated, stripping it down into the most
essential points for the time allotted. This definitely
helped me realize that the information I decided to show in
the video needed to be the most supported in my research
paper because those were the most important
arguments.”
Student Feedback
“…being able to condense ten pages into something short
and visual really helps give personality to a paper. This was
also a chance to, if I felt passionate enough, attempt to
convince my peers to think differently about the issue I
had raised (eliminating the stereotype associated with
video games).”
Positive Outcomes
• Enhanced student engagement
• Fostered camaraderie
• Students helped each other learn technology and/or
produce videos
• Some students who struggled with writing rocked the video
• Visual learners or techies could strut their stuff
• Something to do on the last day of class or designated final
exam time!
• Students could use as part of portfolio for internships/jobs
Challenges
• Citing digital sources
• Rolling credits?
• Copyright issues
• Inconsistency in results
• Replace draft 2 of paper with draft 1 of video?
QUESTIONS
???