As my fellow consultants know and any clients may have seen, the Writing Center has started offering an additional service in asynchronous consultations: screencasting. Well what is it and how does it work? Screencasting is when a consultant records a video of your paper with a voice over of them talking about different aspects of your paper. It’s simply a more auditory way for consultants to express their ideas and for clients to hear feedback in addition to reading it as comments. The hope was to make asynchronous consultations more personal and gain back some of that human connection we’re missing in the pandemic, but also to offer more resources for nontraditional students, auditory learners, and those who would prefer a more synchronous style of consultation but are unable to access it. There are also those with learning disabilities that may prefer auditory feedback over written feedback and to help make screencasting more accessible. While there is an ability to add English captions, they are roughly 80% accurate and we are currently working on protocols to make it 100%, however if a client wants/needs captions they can be requested on the client intake form. We are also currently looking into the ability to have captions in languages other than English. We all are very thankful to Finola for thinking of incorporating screencasting as an additional tool at the Writing Center and for learning more about it to teach the rest of our staff. Are there any drawbacks to screencasting? I wouldn’t exactly say so since it is optional and if this service doesn’t sound beneficial then no one is forced to use it. However, auditory feedback isn’t for everyone, especially since each client has different priorities for the session, such as addressing the prompt, clarity and organization of ideas, or grammar. I personally like screencasting to allow for a longer explanation and ability to offer more suggestions than in a comment in relation to the prompt or organization. I always try to keep my comments concise and to the point so it's clear to the client and so they aren’t reading a mini essay of feedback. However screencasting would allow for more elaboration on these ideas in a verbal format rather than written down. I personally would find it difficult to record a screencast if I was primarily focused on clarity and grammar since I wouldn’t have much more to say than what I wrote in my comment. So how does it work from a consultant point of view? Well this is just my process when I’m recording a screencast for a client as there are multiple ways to record one. I typically use screencasting to discuss places where more clarity or reorganizing ideas would help strengthen the paper, especially when it’s effect is larger than within a single sentence. I also only leave a screencast for a client if they have noted they want one on their client form. First I like to start by reading through the whole paper like I would for an asynchronous consultation without a screencast. This lets me see the larger framework of the essay and the flow and organization of ideas. I’ll note comments I have along the way so I know the ideas I want to talk about. I also keep reflecting on the comments I’m thinking of leaving, questioning how it connects to the rest of their paper, if I feel like anything is missing, generally building off the comment in relation to the rest of the paper. Sometimes on the first read, I’m not sure what I think but something might feel a little off and I finish the paragraph and go back to it, or even wait until I finished the paper and go back and reread. Most of the time, it felt off since the idea wasn’t being expressed clearly enough or connecting clearly to the main point of the essay or the paragraph. Once I’ve read the whole paper, I know what I want to say in my screencast and get ready to record it. I’ll record my screencast before writing my final wrap-up comment in case I think of anything new to add while recording and so I can write that comment while the video is processing. Usually this is about 30 or 40 minutes into the consultation which gives me plenty of time to record and allow the video to process, typically about 15 minutes since I take 10 minutes or less to record and give 5 minutes for processing. I find that doing a screencast allows me to think through my comments more and reword them in different ways or get the opportunity to explain something in more detail. Oftentimes I’m able to make more connections to other areas of their paper since I’m continuing to reflect while reading. Sometimes I even think of something new to say after thinking out loud a little bit and I’ll add it to my previous comment or note that I discussed it more in the screencast if it’s a difficult idea to put concisely in a comment. After I finish recording my screencast I’ll double check that the audio sounds good. If I know I started rambling or thinking out loud but not to the client, I’ll usually do some light editing to cut out parts not intended for the client’s benefit, or even cut out a really long pause. However I usually don’t edit my screencasts since I have an idea of what I want to say before recording and stay focused on those topics. Overall, recording my screencast takes less than 10 minutes and could be shorter depending on how much I have to say. Typically, my screencast recordings are 6-7 minutes in length and then I’ll leave my wrap up concluding comment while the video is processing before adding the link and sending the paper back to the client. Well I hope you understand screencasting a little bit better after this and are willing to try it in a consultation! - Sabrina and Finola
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January 2024
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