Reflections

My video argument...

Well, it is up on YouTube, anyway. I am having problems with the iTunes thing.

Anyway, reflection.

I chose to showcase our writing center since I worked closely with the director this year. I know the kinds of services they offer, but I only see a few students take advantage of the services (and, ironically, they are often strong students). We have been working on ways to get our message out, and an infomercial seemed to be the perfect way.

Could I have written a brochure? Certainly. A flyer? We already have several. We also have instructors who encourage students to use our services, with some even offering extra credit. But even if I had put together a brochure of quotes, they would not have had the impact of the tutors. The tutors are normal-looking, and more important, normal sounding students. And that never would have come across in print.

Could I have accomplished the same thing with a research paper? Never. For one thing, the audience is different. First year students are simply not going to read a research paper arguing the benefits of the writing center. They might watch an embedded video. One additional problem that I ran into is that our writing center website was unwieldy http://www.uca.edu/cfac/writing/owl/. This is not an address that students can memorize and use. So I bought a domain name, and have redirected it, so that www.ucawriting.net now takes students to the writing center home page, where they can schedule an appointment.

Strengths and weaknesses... I love that the tutors (and director) got to express their thoughts in their own words. If I were quoting them in writing, it just would not be the same. I love that we get to see some of the tutors. We see two very friendly, welcoming young women, and a young African-American man. I think that helps students feel more connected.

The video is a bit short. I certainly had enough material to make it longer, but I was concerned about class time. I cut it short (8.5 minutes) because at one point in class, Dr. Gossett said that 10 minutes should be the outside time limit. Another weakness is the sound. My voiceover is so much louder than the interviews. The help files say there is a way to fix this, but Adobe really needs to hire better documentation people.

I can say, expect to see more videos on our writing center page, in the future. This is a media that we find to be an exciting way to reach students. (Well, at least a video is more likely to reach them than a brochure).