Post 327: What is a Reading Short Video post, a Writing Process post and a Metacognition post?

What is a Reading Short Video post, a Writing Process post and a Metacognition post?

Three kinds of DQ activities you can have in your Online Writing Class (OWC) are the Reading Short Video post, a Writing Process post, and a Metacognition post.  By having a variety of activities in your forums, you can keep your online writing students fully engaged in the class. You can also read Scott Warnock's blog entry on the subject of Different Kinds of Message Board Posts.http://onlinewritingteacher.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html

1. Reading Short Video Post

In the Reading/ Short Video post, the teacher assigns a video for the students to watch that is related to the class topic. Students are then required to watch the video, take notes, and analyze how this video relates to the class topic, how this video relates to their lives, and what take away lessons related to the class students get from the video. Of all the activity posts, Warnock says that this video post is the most popular. It seems students love to watch videos and so the reading/watch a video post is the most popular thread! I think it is because videos get you more involved because you are using all of your senses!

Out of all the posts I post to my family on the What's App app, I sent a video of one of my relative's vacation during COVID19, and it was the video post that got the most family response! Videos bring the experience or class concepts to life so I advise teachers to use more video discussion posts in your online classes!

I would often assign a video for students to watch and then have them discuss that video in class. For instance, if we are reading a short story, poem or novel and there is a movie based on that short story, poem or novel, I would have students watch that movie and compare the movie with their reading and ask which one they liked better and why. 

2. Writing Process Post

In the Writing Process Post, students discuss their Writing Process. The Writing Process consists of three parts, Pre-Writing, Writing and Re-writing. As the student progresses in writing his paper, students discuss at what stage of writing they are in. For instance, the pre-writing stage has many sub-stages such as brainstorming, clustering, mindmapping, asking research questions, answering research questions, finding a thesis statement, finding body paragraphs to justify the thesis statement, revising the thesis statement to fit the research, literature review and outline.

I use the Writing Process posts in all my writing classes from English major seniors writing their Online Capstone paper to incoming Freshman Composition students just starting their college experience. All students need to be aware of the writing process.

3. Metacognition  Post

The Metacognition post is very similar to the Writing Process post, but instead of just telling others what stage of the Writing Process you are in, you also describe your thinking process of what exactly what you are thinking about as you do your brainstorming. You would tell others, "As I brainstorm, I think about A, B, C," So you describe how you brainstorm and as other students learn your thought process, they learn more about the very process of brainstorming. This is the concept of Writing About Writing that Warnock talks about in his book.

When I used to teach face to face, I used to tell students exactly what I was thinking as I wrote alongside them in group writing activities. When students understand what thinking processes is involved in writing and students engage in those same thoughts, students find it much easier to brainstorm, outline, write and revise their papers.

Warnock, Scott. Writing Together: Ten Weeks of Teaching and Studenting in an Online Writing Course