Recording, Podcasting, and Writing
Last summer I planned how I would integrate eportfolio into my literature classes, and after two semesters of implementing and adjusting this, I believe it will work and may stay in place. What I’d like to do next is to design a way to implement what some call aural editing into my composition classrooms, and then, bring that into the eportfolio as another key artifact. I see this as at least a two-phase project. In the first phase, students would be required to use the tools in our learning management system, Canvas, to record the reading of their paper drafts. The idea is that, since the ear is a better editor than the eye, listening to their own diction and syntax will, among other things, encourage students to work toward more clarity and concision. Unlike simply reading aloud, which I’ve always encouraged, they would be able hear back what they have read, two doses of aural editing at least, the second without the distraction of reading off the page.
Ultimately, I would have students choose their best writing to record and include as a sound file in their semester eportfolio. I would need to decide how many recordings I would require over the semester (perhaps one for each major assignment?), how I would evaluate them (a set grade or a graduated value based on my view of the quality?), what would be its theoretical justification, and how to present the assignment to the students. This would certainly be another excellent active learning strategy to bring into the classroom.
In the second phase, I would create a pool of best candidates who would be offered the opportunity to re-record their work for possible inclusion in an extracurricular podcast. Over the last two months, I have been working with Dr. Megan-Brette Hamilton from our Department of Communication Disorders on the idea of an inter-departmental podcast focused thematically on “Language and Identity.” There are very many details yet to be worked out, not the least of which would be the legal permissions, but we are both excited about the prospects of this project and are seeking to apply for a Breeden Grant before this year’s November deadline. If we were both drawing on candidates chosen from our own students and we made their work the heart of the proposed podcast, then I would only be more optimistic about the worthiness and the success of the project. Eventually, the extracurricular podcast could itself become another resource we could bring back into the classroom, providing our students with examples and musings from their peers who have preceded them in our courses. Furthermore, there would likely be a way in the near future to frame the assigned recordings as an in-class podcast (that is, separate from the “Language and Identity” podcast), with access restricted to class members. Or perhaps I could offer a podcast assignment as an alternative to the eportfolio assignment, being sure to keep both assignments reflective.
As with last year’s redesign, I see this proposal as a way to promote our department’s and college’s goals for the students to become better analytical and critical thinkers, and, consequently, more informed citizens. Additionally, it promotes the idea of writing and communicating in a multi-modal culture even more than eportfolio alone, it amplifies the benefits of writing with context, and it adds another effective layer of revision to the process of writing.
