Student Perceptions of Screen Recording and Screencast Assignments in First-Year Writing
Description
The study has IRB approval and participant consent was collected through writing. This data set contains an Excel spreadsheet with multiple tabs for each survey question. The data set includes responses from participants who had consented to participate in the study. Where applicable, the researcher codes are included. Our study addressed the following research questions: What prior experience with screen recordings did students in seven different sections of First-Year Writing courses report? How did students in seven different sections of First-Year Writing courses taught by two different instructors perceive the effects of screen recording assignments on understanding their writing process? How did those students feel about the screen recording assignments? We gave students a survey using Microsoft Forms in class during Week 14. We asked them to complete it as part of normal coursework, and if they did not complete the survey in class, then they were to finish it for homework. The survey included questions that helped us determine the levels of experience students reported with both creating and viewing screen recordings (the umbrella term we used during instruction to refer to both screen recordings and screencasts), as well as demographic questions that asked students to state which class they were in. Other close-ended questions asked students to rate their confidence using technology prior to and after completing the course and the number of essays they had revised prior to the class. Likert-scale questions also ask students to rate the degree to which they agreed with statements related to whether the screen recording assignments helped them “better understand” their writing and research process, their perceptions of the difficulty of the assignments, and whether the assignment helped them “think about my revision practices.” Open-ended questions were included asking students to describe how they felt about the screen recording assignments, the factors that affected their feelings, and how the assignment affected their technology skills. We argue that the screencast assignment was the most positively received by students because it required students to use transmediation in the writing process, cohesively blending speech, writing, and video components in the writing process. Overall, our research showed that student-led screencasts and screen recordings can offer students unique affordances to incorporate transmodality and multimodality in the writing process.
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Author 2 used student-led screencast assignments that asked them to record their screens, with a web-based program called ScreencastOMatic, while either gathering research or reflecting on revisions. Author 1 used student-led screen recording assignments that asked students to record their screens while research writing, watch their screen recordings after, and reflect on their writing workflows. In all her classes, Author 2 assigned a screencast revision assignment that asked students to create five-minute videos demonstrating how they engaged in the writing process whil e completing their projects and making last-minute edits. Students in 101 completed two revision screencasts for two separate assignments, and students in 102 completed one revision screencast and had the option to complete a second for bonus points. In addition to the revision screencasts, students in 102 were also asked to complete a screencast where they explored academic research. In this assignment, students recorded themselves using Google Scholar and our university’s library databases to find academic research and saving their research in some systematic way (e.g., Mendeley). Students were also asked to discuss the challenges and benefits of each research tool and describe the type of academic research they found. Author 1 used screen recordings in her First-Year Writing classes to help students focus their attention on the on-screen tools and processes they used to complete their work. Lockridge and Van Ittersum (2020) describe writing workflows as the tools that writers use, including, but not limited to: word processors, programs, mobile apps, colored pens, sticky notes, and phones. Author 1 asked students to record their screens for at least five minutes while writing an essay that required them to work with academic sources (one source required for 100 and four sources required for 102). For both classes, the assignments were divided in two parts: the essay and the reflection on the writing process. The first part of the assignment asked students to summarize (100) or synthesize academic articles (102). The second part asked them to watch their previously recorded screen recording, describe their writing workflow, and reflect on how their writing process has grown or stayed the same over time. They were also invited to reflect on how their writing workflows could be improved in the future. Additionally, Author 1 assigned her classes to read and discuss Wingate and Harper’s (2021) research on undergraduate writing processes.