Introduction
0.3 Meet the Participants
The student participants in the first-year writing study were fun, energetic, and smart. They were conscientious learners and growing writers whom I had the privilege of getting to know as an outside observer. Through the one- to two-minute introductory videos below, you too can begin to get to know these students. Many of the videos in this section were composed by Oakland University undergraduate Writing and Rhetoric majors and research assistants Kevin Gauthier and Nathan Elam. Kevin and Nate were collaborators on Transfer across Media funded by a 2016–2017 CCCC Emergent Research/er Award, and I am grateful for their help and creative energy. Please take some time to view and listen to their work, which enables you to meet the wonderful students who were part of the first-year writing study.
As part of recruitment for the study and the IRB informed consent process, I gave all students who agreed to participate a choice of being identified using a real name or a pseudonym. As you will see and hear, I have chosen to identify many of the participants by their real names with their permission. Students also either gave permission for the use of their recorded images and voices in presentations and publications or indicated that they preferred that their recorded images and voices not be used or shown. The choice to identify participants made the most sense considering that recognizable faces, bodies, and voices appear throughout this eBook. As such, I have tried to present an ethical, careful, and kind glimpse into these students’ identities and experiences.
Alan, Gerry, and Sam
I interviewed two students from Julie’s Basic Writing class: Alan and Gerry. I also completed one interview with Sam, who was an advanced student working in the course as the Embedded Writing Specialist.
Meet Alan
Meet Alan, a 35-year-old Marine Corps veteran who was attending school funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment program while he worked full time. This video featuring Alan was composed by Nate Elam.
Descriptive Transcript
| Audio | Visual |
|---|---|
| [No audio] | White letters appear on a black background, reading "Introduction: Meet Alan". |
| Alan: Once I start typing or pick up a pen, start writing, the information just flows, right? I'm a big movie person. I will watch just about anything that comes out in the theaters. I go to the movies all the time. It's like an escape from the reality of life. And to me, music is what makes or breaks a movie. | Alan sits at a table and speaks to Crystal, who is off camera. Alan is a white and American Indian male wearing a black polo shirt. There are shelves of books behind Alan. He gestures as he speaks. |
| [No audio] | White letters appear on a black background, reading "Alan describes his experience in WRT 102". |
| Alan: So we did a video on Oakland University's Technology Center. The video covered a broad spectrum of what exactly, in a broad manner, what the Technology Center is, what its purpose is, the layout of the facility, what the resources are that they offer, as well as the atmosphere. And then we did a, an interview | Alan sits at a table and continues to speak to Crystal. |
| Alan: where the three of us together came up with questions. We used Quick Time to make the video. At the end of the interview, we brought the music back through like a | Alan sits in his writing classroom with a small group. The group is gathered around a laptop computer and is discussing the video on the screen. Alan speaks to Sam, the Embedded Writing Specialist, who is sitting next to him. |
| Alan: kind of a smooth transition. And the student was answering, the student aide was answering, it, like the sound effects went down, and the music came up. So it was a good transition. | Alan sits at a table and continues to speak to Crystal. |
Meet Gerry
Meet Gerry, a 19-year-old student in Julie’s Basic Writing course. This video featuring Gerry was composed by Nate Elam.
Descriptive Transcript
| Audio | Visual |
|---|---|
| [No audio] | White text appears on a black background, reading "Introduction: Meet Gerry". |
| Gerry: I am 19 years old, and I am originally from Chihuahua, Mexico. | Gerry sits at a table and talks to Crystal, who is off screen. Gerry is a Hispanic male wearing a blue button-up shirt. He gestures with his hands. There is a pair of glasses on the table. He is sitting in front of a cabinet and wall, which are both covered in posters. |
| Gerry: I got here six months ago, and now | Gerry sits in a classroom with computers. He and the other students in the room watch the instructor, who is off screen. |
| Gerry: I'm part of a fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon. I'm a part of Gold Vibrations, a cappella singing group. | Gerry continues to sit at the table and talk to Crystal. |
| [No audio] | White text appears on a black screen, reading "Gerry describes his experience in WRT 102...". |
| Gerry: I feel, I really feel like this class has been helping me a lot. Because I'm not used to write papers in English. I wasn't any good. So this class, it's been helping, it's been helping me a lot. Well, my video was about FYAC, the First-Year Advising Center. | Gerry continues to sit at the table and talk to Crystal. |
| Gerry: I made it with D'mitria, my partner. It was all about why should you go to the First-Year Advising Center. | The classroom is shown from a new angle, showing Gerry raising his hand and participating in class. |
| Gerry: If I'm a freshman, why should I go to the First-Year Advising Center? The whole video was all about Lisa Hook, and me asking questions and she answering. But in the middle, we had a lot of transitions, and with a lot of different pictures. And the questions were written. | Gerry continues to sit at the table and talk to Crystal. He gestures with his hands. |
| Gerry: There was classy jazzy music in the background. I got super excited. 'Cause I love making videos. I love everything that it's, you know, music or recording or making little clips and movies. | Gerry and his partner D'mitria are shown working together on the computer in their class. |
| Gerry: That's great. I'm happy with it. | Gerry continues to sit at the table and talk to Crystal. He counts on his fingers and gestures with his hands. |
Meet Sam
Meet Sam, an advanced undergraduate student majoring in Writing and Rhetoric, who served as the Embedded Writing Specialist in Julie’s Basic Writing course. This video featuring Sam was composed by Nate Elam.
Descriptive Transcript
| Audio | Visual |
|---|---|
| [No audio] | White text appears on a black screen, reading "Introduction: Meet Sam". |
| Sam: So the EWS program, or embedded writing specialist program, is something that's been going on at least for the past several years. | Sam sits at at table and talks to Crystal, who is off camera. Sam is a white male wearing a dark button-up shirt. He gestures with his hands. He sits in front of a bookshelf. |
| Sam: And it's been primarily students from the Writing Center, who work at the Writing Center, but we have had a couple who are just Writing and Rhetoric majors. And additionally, it would be open to people who are just strong writers that are looking to kind of get maybe some teaching experience. | Sam is shown walking around a classroom helping students. There are computers at every desk. |
| Sam: I don't, I've kind of always had an interest and a passion for trying to transmit what I know, you know, trying to teach people. | Sam continues to sit at the table and talk to Crystal. |
| [No audio] | White text appears on a black screen, reading "Sam describes his experience in WRT 102...". |
| Sam: This is the best experience I've had so far | Sam continues to sit at the table and talk to Crystal. He has taken his glasses off and gestures with them before putting them back on. |
| Sam: especially doing the video first, which I think speaks - it's so interesting. And I think, | Sam is shown in the classroom helping two students at their computers. |
| Sam: I don't know how I would feel to be one of the students, but I would be, I would be kind of perplexed because it's a writing class right? Why're we making a video? But I think it's important because - maybe I only think it's important because we, I know what I know now, and we - writing is interdisciplinary. But you're giving students skills to write beyond the paper. To communicate, to argue in ways that supersede just words. | Sam continues to sit at the table and talk to Crystal. He gestures with his hands. |
Daijah, Fawaz, John, Mikayla, Samuel, and Tiara
I interviewed six students from Lauren’s Composition I class: Daijah, Fawaz, John, Mikayla, Samuel, and Tiara.
Meet Daijah
Meet Daijah, an 18-year-old undergraduate student in Lauren’s Composition I course.
Descriptive Transcript
| Audio | Visual |
|---|---|
| [No audio] | White text on black screen appears, reading "Meet Daijah". |
| Daijah: I'm eighteen. I'm majoring in pre-dentistry. This is my first semester here. Crystal: What do you like to do for fun and in your spare time? Daijah: Sleep, and shop, and hang out with a few friends. Before Writing 150, I was more more of a, more of the, still stuck in the high school, you have to have like a thesis, a conclusion, the body. I'm more of a better freestyle writer. Like I'm not good on specific topics. Freestyle writing as in, like you have to write about maybe something that happened to me personally. Or I can just write about anything that I want. | Daijah sits at a table talking to Crystal, who is off screen. Daijah is an African American female wearing a black shirt and jean jacket. She is sitting in front of bookshelves. She is holding a blue pen and sometimes gestures with her hands. |
Meet Fawaz
Meet Fawaz, a 31-year old undergraduate student in Lauren’s Composition I course.
Descriptive Transcript
| Audio | Visual |
|---|---|
| [No audio] | White text appears on a black screen, reading "Meet Fawaz". |
| Fawaz: My name is Fawaz Alkhudhayr. I come from Saudi Arabia. I'm 31 years old. I'm married. I have two boys and a daughter. My wife and I, we decided to complete our education, so we came to Oakland University. Crystal: How would you describe yourself as a writer before this 150 class? Fawaz: I'm horrible. Actually, I think I learned all the styles for writing in English here in the ESL institution. When I arrived in America, I didn't, or I couldn't say like one sentence. It was really like zero in English. I love writing in my language, | Fawaz sits at a table and speaks to Crystal, who is off screen. Fawaz is a Saudi Arabian male wearing a blue button-up shirt with a brown suit jacket. He sits in front of a cabinet and a wall, both covered in posters. |
| Fawaz: but because the rules is very different between the Arabic and English. We start writing from right to left and English from left to right. | Fawaz sits at a computer and writes in a notebook in a computer lab classroom. There are other students in the class, and an instructor oversees Fawaz and his fellow classmates. |
| Fawaz: So I have to switch even my idea, even how I am thinking, | Fawaz sits at the table and continues talking to Crystal. |
| Fawaz: which is really hard sometime to come up with correct sentences sometime. But I feel like my skills in writing getting better. | Fawaz is in his classroom talking to his instructor. |
| Fawaz: And then I feel, still I need more time to be really confident. | Fawaz sits at the table and continues talking to Crystal. |
Meet John
Meet John, an undergraduate student in Lauren’s Composition I course. This video featuring John was composed by Kevin Gauthier.
Descriptive Transcript
| Audio | Visual |
|---|---|
| [No audio] | White text appears on a black screen, reading "Introduction: Meet John". |
| John: My name is John Moore, and I come from Detroit, Michigan. And I love to play basketball, and I love to play video games, and hang out with my sisters, and love to hang out with my nieces too. I was real comfortable writing in high school. | John sits at a table and speaks to Crystal, who is off screen. John is an African American male wearing a dark t-shirt with red lettering on the front. He is sitting in front of bookshelves. |
| John: Always, English was my best subject in high school, and I always had no problem, you know, | John is shown sitting at a table with classmates, writing in a notebook. |
| John: writing. | John continues to sit at the table and speak to Crystal. |
| [Quiet piano music continues.] | White text appears on a black screen, reading "John details his experience in Writing 150...". |
| John: This is kind of a paper, really. I mean you're really giving them key concepts in the field I mean, you're basically writing, but you're writing it through words, | John continues to sit at the table and speak to Crystal. He gestures with his hands. The words "Key Concepts" flash across the screen in white text in the bottom right corner. |
| John: you know, you're telling them and you're explaining it to them. And it's like, I wouldn't say this isn't a writing assignment either. I think this was like a really, a really better writing assignment. A more advanced writing assignment. | John sits at a computer as an instructor looks over his shoulder and talks to him. The words "More Advanced" flash across the screen in white text in the bottom right corner. |
| John: So, I find this, I found this just expanding, you know, your regular writing class. She gives us a presentation, now we have to reconfigure our whole, you know, mindset on how to attack this. | John continues to sit at the table and speak to Crystal. He gestures with his hands. The word "Reconfiguration" flashes across the bottom right corner of the screen in white text. |
| John: So, that was real cool. | John continues to sit at the table and speak to Crystal. |
Meet Mikayla
Meet Mikayla, an 18-year-old undergraduate student in Lauren’s Composition I course. This video featuring Mikayla was composed by Kevin Gauthier.
Descriptive Transcript
| Audio | Visual |
|---|---|
| [No audio] | White text appears on a black screen, reading "Introduction: Meet Mikayla". |
| Mikayla: My name is Mikayla, obviously. I'm 18. I'm a troubled writer, I guess you could say. | Mikayla sits at a table and speaks to Crystal, who is off screen. Mikayla is a white female with dark hair wearing a gray shirt and a jean jacket. She is sitting in front of bookshelves. |
| [No audio] | White text appears on a black screen, reading "Mikayla details her experiences in Writing 150...". The words grow larger. |
| Mikayla: I'd say that I'd be like, well you're not, when you communicate with someone, you're not just writing. There's a lot more to writing and communication. I mean, | Mikayla continues to sit at the table and speak to Crystal. |
| Mikayla: writing, you don't think of writing emails, but that's, that's a form of writing, and that's a form of a lot of people's majors. | Mikayla is shown sitting in class working next to other students. |
| Mikayla: There's, you know, online things like Prezi and Animoto that you're going to have to use in your job. | Mikayla continues to sit at the table and speak to Crystal. |
| Mikayla: That's a form of communication. That's a form of writing, that if you're just writing essays, you're never going to learn how to use it. It's interesting, I guess, because I'm learning a lot. | Mikayla is shown sitting in class working at a computer next to classmate John. John speaks to her and she responds. |
| Mikayla: I'm trying new technologies like Animoto and, you know, being able to refresh my memory on old ones like Prezi. And I'm learning about the programs and what they do. | Mikayla continues to sit at the table and speak to Crystal. The words "New Technologies" appear in the bottom right of the screen in black text. |
| Mikayla: So it's a learning experience, but it's kind of complicated. But it's the programs and what we're actually learning and the information we're gathering, the primary and secondary research, that is so important, | Mikayla is shown sitting in class working at a computer next to other classmates. She looks up from her computer and reaches for her phone. The words "Gathering Information" appear in the bottom right of the screen in white text. |
| Mikayla: that if you don't at least try it, you're going to be stuck. You know, your boss tells you, "okay go interview these people, and put together an information in a Prezi. You've never done it before, you're going to be like, "What?" | Mikayla continues to sit at the table and speak to Crystal. |
| Mikayla: We have better rounded communication skills and writing skills because it's a different form of writing. It's not an essay writing, it's a presentation writing. | Mikayla continues to sit at the table and speak to Crystal. The words "A Different Form of Writing" appear in the bottom center of the screen in black text. |
Meet Samuel
Meet Samuel, an undergraduate student in Lauren’s Composition I course.
Descriptive Transcript
| Audio | Visual |
|---|---|
| [No audio] | White text appears on a black screen, reading "Meet Samuel". |
| Crystal: Well, why don't you just start by telling me a little bit about yourself, like who you are, what do you like to do. Samuel: Oh, ok. I'm Samuel Mojica. I'm from Pontiac, down the road. I like boxing. Oh, this is my first year, second semester. | Samuel is sitting at a computer desk, talking to Crystal, who is off screen. Samuel is a Hispanic male wearing a maroon sweatshirt with white lettering. Behind him are more desks with computers. Samuel gestures with his hands as he talks. |
| Crystal: Ok, so when you first heard that this assignment was doing a short video and a Prezi instead of like a more traditional paper, what was your initial reaction? | Samuel is shown in a classroom working at his computer. Behind him are other students who are also working on computers. |
| Samuel: I thought it'd be easier, you know. Because, it's like, just have to do this. We don't have to write a big essay. Crystal: So how did that turn out? Samuel: It's a little more complicated than that. It's not just, you can't finish it in one day. It's a process, takes steps. | Samuel continues to sit at the desk and talk to Crystal. He gestures with his hands. |
Meet Tiara
Meet Tiara, an undergraduate student in Lauren’s Composition I course. This video featuring Tiara was composed by Kevin Gauthier.
Descriptive Transcript
| Audio | Visual |
|---|---|
| [No audio] | White text appears on a black screen, reading "Introduction: Meet Tiara". |
| Tiara: Well, my name is Tiara Thomas, and I am a freshman. | Tiara sits at a desk in a classroom and speaks to Crystal, who is off camera. Tiara is an African American female wearing a dark shirt with a blue winter jacket. Behind her are more desks. |
| [No audio] | White text appears on a black screen, reading "Tiara details her experiences in Writing 150...". |
| Tiara:I'm learning new things about writing, and new techniques and methods when I'm writing papers and stuff. It helped me grow in writing. | Tiara continues to sit and talk to Crystal. The words "New Techniques" flash across the bottom right corner of the screen in white text. |
| Tiara: It pretty much helped me to grow within my writing. Before I was at a high school level. Now I'm more like in a college level. Now I'm more, | Tiara is shown working at at computer in a classroom setting. The word "Growth" appears in the bottom right corner of the screen in white text. |
| Tiara: you know, mature in writing. Because anything dealing with video and creation and stuff is, | Tiara continues to sit and talk to Crystal. She gestures with her hands as she talks. |
| Tiara: it takes some time getting used to, especially if you haven't worked with it already. So you have to learn how to work everything. | Tiara is shown working at her computer next to three other classmates. Her instructor comes over to help her and gestures to the computer as she explains. |
| Tiara: So I'm kind of like halfway in the middle of my process, and I'm still not getting anywhere. I'm still figuring out how to work this thing. I think that I've learned more from this than when I was writing the paper, because I was just secluded to a paper and the pencil. | Tiara continues to sit and talk to Crystal. |
| Tiara: But as I'm on my Internet, I have a broad base, I have all types of things that I can do now. So it's definitely a new learning experience, and it's informative to people. | Tiara is shown in a classroom working on a computer. The word "Informative" flashes across the bottom right corner in white text. |
| Tiara: And I'm learning, I never learned, you know, how to do this type of stuff, but now I'm learning how to do this type of stuff. And this is important for our future. | Tiara continues to sit and talk to Crystal. She gestures with her hands as she talks. |
Crystal, Madison, and Sabrina
I interviewed three students from Katie’s Composition II class: Crystal, Madison, and Sabrina.
Meet Crystal
Meet Crystal, an undergraduate student in Katie’s Composition II course. This video featuring Crystal was composed by Nate Elam.
Descriptive Transcript
| Audio | Visual |
|---|---|
| [No audio] | White text appears on black screen, reading: "Introduction Meet Crystal". |
| Crystal: Well, my name's Crystal. I actually, this is my third year in college, but my second year at OU. | Student Crystal sits at a table and talks to Crystal VanKooten, who is off camera. Student Crystal is a white female wearing a black sweatshirt. Behind her are book shelves. |
| [No audio] | White text appears on black screen, reading: "Crystal describes her experience in WRT 160...". |
| Crystal:My major is film, so you know, my end goal is maybe to, well my end goal is to direct and write to tell stories to help others. | Crystal sits in a classroom and listens to her professor speak. There are about 10 other students in the room, also listening to the professor. |
| Crystal:I'm swaying more towards documentaries, but I would also like to work for Disney. You know, people have a dream to work for Google when they go on to engineering and stuff. And I, my goal, my end goal before I die is to work, work for Disney at some point. | Student Crystal sits at a table and continues to talk to Crystal VanKooten. She gestures while she speaks. |
| Crystal: To me, I see it, and I say, you know, I say continuity. I don't say, you know, rhetoric. | Student Crystal is shown participating in class while her voiceover continues. |
| Crystal: You know, the editing that goes in with it. Interviewer: So you prefer the film terminology, you think? I mean, do you think it's the same, it's just called something different?" | Student Crystal sits at the table and continues to talk to Crystal VanKooten, who is off camera. Student Crystal scratches her neck and continues to gesture while she talks. |
| Crystal: I think, I think about the mise-en-scene, which would be, how does, how do all of these things come together? How does the lighting, the colors, the music, or the audio, how does all this come together to equal," | Student Crystal sits at the table and continues to talk. As she explains her thought process, the definition of the phrase "mise-en-scene" displays across the screen, saying "mise-en-scene noun (French) 1.a. The arrangement of actors and scenery on a stage for a theatrical production 1.b. A stage setting (Merriam-Webster)". |
| Crystal: you know, these feelings or this outcome? Which is the exact same thing that ethos, pathos, logos. Interviewer: It's rhetoric. Yeah, For sure. Crystal: So mise-en-scene. And I think, I do. I think about it in film terms. | Crystal sits at the table and continues to talk, but the words on the screen have disappeared. |
Meet Madison
Meet Madison, an undergraduate student in Katie’s Composition II course. This video featuring Madison was composed by Nate Elam.
Descriptive Transcript
| Audio | Visual |
|---|---|
| [No audio] | White text appears on a black screen, reading "Introduction: Meet Madison". |
| Crystal: How would you describe yourself as a writer and your writing abilities before this semester in 160? Madison: I feel like I'm a pretty good writer. I mean, I know it's not going to be very - like no paper's perfect when you first start out. And I know that. But I know how to write enough to make me feel like, | Madison is sitting at a table talking to Crystal, who is off screen. Madison is a white female wearing a white t-shirt with dark lettering. She is sitting in front of bookshelves. |
| Madison: "okay I think I did a decent job." But then when I give it to my teacher to peer-review it, it always comes back with so much work. | Madison sits and talks in a classroom with other students. She is gesturing with a pencil. |
| Madison: But I like when they give me a lot of work back because then I know exactly what to fix, and it makes my paper better. | Madison continues to sit at the table and talk to Crystal. She gestures with her hands. |
| [No audio] | White text appears on a black screen, reading "Madison describes her experience in WRT 160...". |
| Madison: A video's so much more different than an essay. Crystal: Yeah. Talk about what's different about it. Madison: Well, the video, you only have so much time and so much footage you can squeeze into a five to seven minute video, so you can't get your entire point across. But the video, you can show action and more emotion into it. Versus a paper, you can probably feel emotion while reading something if it's that strong. But seeing something and reading something is just totally two different things. | Madison continues to sit at the table and talk to Crystal. She gestures with her hands. |
Meet Sabrina
Meet Sabrina, an undergraduate student in Katie’s Composition II course. This video featuring Sabrina was composed by Nate Elam.
Descriptive Transcript
| Audio | Visual |
|---|---|
| [No audio] | White text appears on black screen, reading "Introduction: Meet Sabrina". |
| Crystal: Okay, so how would you describe yourself as a writer and your writing abilities before this 160 class? Sabrina: Well, I tested out of Writing 150. So I felt like I was always a really great student in writing. And then, we just so recently learned that the way that they teach you to write in high school by doing, finding a thesis, writing two paragraphs about supporting yourself, and one counter argument is like, not the right way to do it in college. So that was - that's new to me. But, so that really helped me out. So I guess before, I was definitely a high school writer, and now I feel way more collegiate. | Sabrina sits at a table and talks to Crystal, who is off camera. Sabrina is a white female wearing a dark sweatshirt. Behind her is a bookshelf. |
| [No audio] | White text appears on a black screen, reading "Sabrina describes her experience in WRT 160...". |
| Sabrina: My video was about small collegiate class sizes versus large collegiate class sizes and which one is better for the college student. I got professor interviews, student interviews. | Sabrina continues to sit at the table and speak to Crystal. She gestures with her hands. |
| Sabrina: I did a lot of research, like secondary research on top of my primary research. All those class - | Sabrina is shown in a classroom with other students. She is participating in class and speaking to a professor, who is off camera. |
| Sabrina: she gave us that week where she helped us with the videos and audio and everything. And that way comforted me. It was like, I thought she was expecting us to make like a movie or something out of it. And it just ended up being this - a fancier PowerPoint, really, like for most of us. Which was way less stressful than I thought it was going to be. But at the beginning I was freaking out. | Sabrina continues to sit at the table and speak to Crystal. She gestures with her hands. |
Lauren, Logan, and Travon
I interviewed three students from Kelly’s Introduction to College Writing class: Lauren, Logan, and Travon.
Meet Lauren
Meet Lauren, an undergraduate student in Kelly’s Introduction to College Writing course.
Descriptive Transcript
| Audio | Visual |
|---|---|
| [No audio] | White text appears on a black screen, reading "Meet Lauren". |
| Lauren: I'm Lauren Maluchnik, and right now I'm undecided, but I am going to a pre-med pathway I guess. I would say as a writer, I was more worried about getting my ideas just on a page, | Lauren sits at a table and speaks to Crystal, who is off screen. Lauren is a white female wearing a gray shirt. She gestures with her hands as she talks. Behind her is a white board. |
| Lauren: and then I kind of left it alone for a really long time. And then I'd come back and kind of review it, revise it, that kind of thing. I don't know. | Lauren is in a classroom with computers, pointing at the screen of a classmate's computer and talking. |
| Lauren: I don't feel as though I really looked at my writing as something that was important, I would say. And I don't, I never really considered that it had value of any sort. You find a new appreciation for essays through the video. | Lauren continues to sit at the table talking to Crystal. She gestures with her hands as she talks. |
| Lauren: You see how techniques are used, visually, and you hear them. Look at what you're doing with your video. And, I don't know, 'cause I spent a lot of time, because I enjoyed it, but if they enjoyed it too, | Lauren is in the classroom with two classmates, pointing at a computer and discussing what's on the screen. |
| Lauren: think about what you had to do in order to make something you really like, and transfer that over to your paper. If you had to think, "oh I want to make this really personal," then use more personal experiences. And maybe even use first person in your writing. Whereas, try to, try to transfer what you're doing in your video to make what you think is cool in your paper. | Lauren continues to sit at the table talking to Crystal. She gestures with her hands as she talks. |
Meet Logan
Logan agreed to participate in the study using a self-selected pseudonym, and preferred that I not share video and audio containing her image and voice. She was an African-American female from Detroit, MI, who was studying neuroscience at the university. For fun, she wrote poetry and did spoken-word performances in the city. Regarding her writing, she described herself as “intermediate,” having realized that college writing was very different from and more difficult than writing in high school, which had come easily to her.
Logan decided to participate in this study because she could do so while remaining somewhat anonymous. I’m glad I am able to include Logan’s experiences through prose—as you will read in later chapters, she learned a great deal from composing video. Logan was a dynamic speaker as well—not often in class, but certainly in the interview room with me. She would talk at length in response to my interview questions, tapping her long nails on the table for emphasis, giving detailed descriptions of how video brought her out of her comfort zone. I wish I could share Logan’s voice and energy through video, but I respect her preferences and use only prose to present and analyze this data.
Meet Travon
Meet Travon, an undergraduate student in Kelly’s Introduction to College Writing course.
Descriptive Transcript
| Audio | Video |
|---|---|
| [No audio] | White text appears on a black screen, reading "Meet Travon". |
| Travon: My name is Travon Jefferson. I'm a freshman at the University of Michigan. I graduated from Cass Technical High School in Detroit. I'm 18. I want to major in business and accounting, so hopefully I'll get into the business school. Usually when I write, I just write. I really don't revise or nothing. I just write. I'm starting to get more in depth on my writing. Instead of just like, just staying on the surface, | Travon sits in front of a desk with a computer and a phone and talks to Crystal, who is off screen. Travon is an African American male wearing a blue button-down shirt. He is twisting in his chair and has his head resting on one of his hands. |
| Travon: I'm starting to actually get way deep beneath, and actually pulling out examples and stuff like that. I'm really good with actually reading something and analyzing it. | Travon is shown in his classroom interacting and laughing with his peers. He is sitting next to two classmates, and is gesturing as he talks about what they see on their computer screens. |
| Travon: But when I'm writing, I do try to really imagine my audience. | Travon is shown again in front of the desk, talking to Crystal. |
| Travon: Like, okay, I don't want to talk too much about myself 'cause then, they'll be like, okay, and get to the point. I don't want to sound too factual, 'cause, okay, it's boring. I try to just find a happy medium, where it's just entertaining, and I can follow it. | Travon is shown back in his classroom, talking to a different classmate. They are both looking at the same computer screen, and Travon points to items on the screen as he explains. |
| Travon: So I know if I can follow it, I know the reader can follow it. | Travon is shown again in front of the desk, talking to Crystal. |
Marlee, Shannon, and Vivian
I interviewed three students from Angie’s Introduction to College Writing class: Marlee, Shannon, and Vivian.
Meet Marlee
Meet Marlee, an undergraduate student in Angie’s Introduction to College Writing course.
Descriptive Transcript
| Audio | Visual |
|---|---|
| [No audio] | White text appears on a black screen, reading "Meet Marlee". |
| Marlee: So I'm Marlee Beckering. I'm from Grand Rapids, Michigan. I love English and writing. Well, English 125 is a required class, but I took my section because I was, | Marlee sits at a table and speaks to Crystal, who is off screen. Marlee is a white female wearing a blue and yellow shirt. She gestures with her hands. On the table is a laptop, pens, and some wires. Behind the table is a white board. |
| Marlee: I'm very interested in journalism. I'm not sure where I want to go, but I have a cousin who's in journalism and the correlation between new media | Marlee is shown in a classroom with other students. She is looking at a laptop with a classmate and talking. She gestures with her hands. |
| Marlee: and writing was really interesting to me. As a writer, I'm definitely a person who, if I can, I like to put my personal opinion in a paper. But I'm also, I get really nervous about it coming on too strong. | Marlee continues to sit at the table and talk to Crystal, who is off screen. She gestures while she talks. |
| Marlee: But my parents definitely helped me when I was learning to write in high school really focus on grammar and sentence structure. So I'm very particular about having good sentence structure and about vocabulary that's not repetitive. | Marlee is shown participating in class with other students. She gestures with her hands. |
| Marlee: But I really like all types of writing from research papers to position papers. In high school, I did all honors and AP classes for English and I never felt like, I mean, I always got A's. I never felt like I was the best in the class, but I always felt like, I can do this if I work at this. I can get A's. | Marlee continues to sit at the table and talk to Crystal. |
Meet Shannon
Like Logan, Shannon agreed to participate in the study using a pseudonym, and preferred that I not share video and audio containing her image and voice. She was a white female from Chicago (“the city, not the suburbs,”) who had not declared a major but was leaning toward social sciences. As a writer, she told me she saw herself as “fairly decent,” but going through a “weird” moment of transition as she moved from writing in high school for AP Literature, which had been very prescribed, to writing in college, which was “a lot less structured.”
Though I do not share Shannon’s recorded image or voice through video in the chapters to come, I am thankful that I am able to include other data about her experiences. More than other participants, Shannon questioned the presence of video composition in her first-year writing curriculum, and it has been productive to think through her critiques.
Meet Vivian
Meet Vivian, an undergraduate student in Angie’s Introduction to College Writing course.
Descriptive Transcript
| Audio | Visual |
|---|---|
| [No audio] | White text appears on a black screen, reading "Meet Vivian". |
| Vivian: My name is Vivian. I'm a freshman and I'm in LSA, undecided, hopefully like business. Yeah, I'm from Troy, Michigan. This Twitter thing sounded really interesting. Or the technology and how it, and writing about it, it sounded really cool. | Vivian is shown sitting at a table, talking to Crystal, who is off screen. Vivian is an Asian female wearing a red and tan jacket and glasses. |
| Vivian: I can write pretty well but it takes a lot of effort, I guess. I can't just like, I have to write a draft, and then I have to edit it, like a lot. | Vivian is shown in her classroom, sitting at a table with her peers. She is explaining something to a small group of students as they listen. She gestures with a pencil as she talks. |
| Vivian: And it's like, it takes a lot of work. It doesn't really come naturally, I guess. | Vivian is shown again sitting at the table talking to Crystal. |
| Vivian: Well first, I'll write a draft. And then I'll let it sit for a while. Because reading my own work is kind of different than reading someone - like editing someone else's, like it's hard to do, I guess. And then, so then, I'll kind of forget about it. And then I'll come back to it, and then not really remember what I wrote. | Vivian is shown in her classroon sitting at a table with two classmates and working on a laptop. She is editing a video, and focusing on what she is doing. |
| Vivian: So then I'll be able to edit it. And then I edit it a lot. My organization in the paper is not really good. Like in the beginning, and then I have to, all my thoughts come onto the paper, but it's not coherent. It's, you know, and it's like they're good ideas, but they're not in order. So then I have to rearrange them. | Vivian is shown again sitting at the table talking to Crystal. |
Evan
Finally, I interviewed Evan, an advanced student majoring in Communication and Journalism who was a member of the Introduction to Writing for Digital Media course I taught at Oakland University in winter 2017. I added Evan as a study participant and interviewed him once after our course was completed because I was highly impressed with his processes of transfer across media and the video product he composed for our course. His experiences with video composition as an advanced undergraduate provide an interesting complement to those of the seventeen other first-year students. You can read about, see, and hear more of Evan’s work in Chapter 5.
Meet Evan
Meet Evan, an advanced undergraduate student in my own Introduction to Writing for Digital Media course in 2017.
Descriptive Transcript
| Audio | Visual |
|---|---|
| [No audio] | White text appears on a black screen, reading "Introduction: Meet Evan". |
| Evan: My college experience was maybe more abnormal than other people's in college, because I transferred so much, and I couldn't figure out what I wanted to major in and I just felt like I wasn't taking the normal college path. That was my, you know, last eight, nine years of life, which was trying to graduate and then work part-time at different jobs just so that I can make money. I have basically lived in Almont my whole entire life, in Michigan my entire life as well. So I always wanted to move out of my parents' house, and I did one freshman year. I just wanted to move away and get away from my small town in Almont. | Evan is shown sitting at a table, talking to Crystal, who is off screen. Evan is a white male wearing a green t-shirt and baseball cap. |
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Evan: I started going to OU, and just from there, just was focusing on the classes I needed to take to get that Comm. degree and just finish it so I could focus on something else. Crystal: Yeah, and you did! Yay! Evan: I know, finally. Crystal: So great! Evan: Finally did it. I know. Crystal: Okay. Well, let's talk more specifically about the video. Tell me about your composition process. Evan: I really wanted to do it for myself because it was the last semester and I just felt like I wasn't, I was beating myself up a lot about, you know, it taking me so long. And I was like, okay, I want to do something that I'll enjoy doing. I need to think about what materials I actually have, and think about, I don't know. I really wanted to do like a timeline type of reflection of my college experience. | Evan continues to sit at the table and talk to Crystal. |