Hi everyone.
I am sharing three OER video mini-lessons about the writing process and its constituent parts. The videos are scripted with meticulously edited narration, music, and visuals. It is my hope that they are more dynamic and engaging than live lecture captures or text alone. Think of them as digital/animated textbook chapters. Please share widely and utilize them in your courses!
- The Writing Process, Part 1: Broad Overview: “Big picture” examination of the process. Presents writing as flexible and context-dependent.
- The Writing Process, Part 2: Invention and Planning: Covers common prewriting strategies (e.g. getting started, generating ideas, and making effective plans) with animated and video-based examples. Includes multimodal approaches.
- The Writing Process, Part 3: Drafting, Revision, and Editing: Provides principles for best practices through animated and video-based examples. Also considers the limitations of formulaic structures (most notably the 5-paragraph essay).
Each video is about 10 minutes in length. They are broad enough to be used in any writing intensive course.
What should I expect from the videos?
- The videos especially target resistant students and those who struggle to see “the point” of writing.
- They present the writing process as unequivocally rhetorical, such that there is no one “correct” way to write. I acknowledge the messiness of the process, focusing more on adapting—to purpose, context, audience, personal preference—than following a series of prescribed steps.
- They unpack and refute common myths and misconceptions about writing and writers.
- They explicitly acknowledge linguistic diversity and culturally divergent notions of “good writing” and “correctness.”
Through all three videos, I try to maintain an encouraging tone, reminding students that there are many means to an effective end.
How can I use the videos?
- Include them in your online/hybrid course shells as assigned content. I suggest spreading them out in a few different folders/modules, rather than assigning all three in one week.
- Use them in a F2F class (play them live) to introduce the process or generate discussion. Encourage students to share personal experiences around the topics in the videos (particularly the challenges).
- Use the videos as “reading” prompts for an online discussion post (e.g. summarize/what did you learn?). Have students connect it to their own experiences with writing.
Eventually, all three videos will be located at professorsloan.com. In the meantime, just use the YouTube links above.
I hope the videos prove to be useful teaching tools. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
Phil
Philip J. Sloan, Ph.D.Professor of English & Writing Intensive Coordinator
Oakton College
Division of Liberal Arts
Des Plaines, IL 60016