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Academic assignments must be enhanced by the use of technology, rather than dominated by it. Student generated digital media assignments are able to heighten learner engagement by taking advantage of new accessible technologies such as phone memo tools, MP3 recorders, and pocket-sized video cameras as well as simple audio, screencasting and video software. These technologies allow the academic pioneer to extend the learning environment and the methods available to them in supporting deeper learning. At the same time they can help to address the needs and expectations of students preparing for a world that values digitally fluent graduates. This paper compares the experience of four modules which have each taken innovative approaches to running such digital media assignments. In each case the learners' capacity to respond in an academically meaningful way will be considered and the academic's capacity to devise, support and deliver the assignments will be reviewed. The presenters will report on the practicalities, risks and benefits of setting innovative digital media assignments and identify common emerging themes from setting, marking and offering feedback on the student work. The four case studies that inform this paper involve a digital storytelling assignment in Computer Science, an assignment that requires the student production of supplementary digital media to a written report on Virtual Reality Applications, a narrative machinima assignment for Game Design students, and a digital poster assignment for a Business module on emerging markets. Initial findings in this ongoing work indicate that a lack of precedent necessitates a further layer of academic resourcefulness, risk and commitment, especially in relation to working with existing technical infrastructure and support. A well articulated assignment brief, tutor modelling, and proactive and reactive guidance are some features that need to be in place. The assignments allow some students to flourish, whilst others are less ambitious. These findings, and others, will be discussed in more depth. In conclusion, these small studies show how emerging digital media technologies extend the range of methods available to staff and students in the sector's blended learning environments; however, infrastructural development is required before such innovation can be expected to scale.
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Digital Responsesthemes emerging from the setting ofdigital media-enhanced learning assignments
Andrew MiddletonOksana Fedotova, Richard Mather, Cathy Malone and Diane RushtonSheffield Hallam University (cc) h.koppdelaney
This is about...
Extending the learning environment with digital media
Digital voices
Being an innovator
Learner-generated media
Capacity and benefits in setting and responding to
User-generated digital media assignments
(cc) kevindooley 2008
Responding to digital variety
1. Digital posters2. Virtual reality
machinima3. Digital storytelling4. Games-based
machinima
(cc) Flutterbudget 2010
4 interviews with academic innovators4 with their students
4 Case Studies
1. Digital posters Digital posters:Learner’s screencast voice structured by a simple graphic arrangement
20 students x 2 (FT and PT )Business module on Globalisation
What: developing academic literacy skills through EBL towards creating a common pool of background data on emerging markets in different countries.(cc) Moleitau 2009
Machinima:“digital films created in IVWs or digital games.“Accessible and open spaces in which to form representations of knowledge.
(Middleton & Mather 2008)
16 students
What: Produce an artefact that provides insight on an aspect of virtual reality that has interested you.Machinima techniques were adopted by several students
Middleton, A. & Mather, R. (2008) Machinima interventions: innovative approaches to immersive virtual world curriculum integration. ALT-J: Research in Learning Technology, Vol. 16, No. 3. (2008), pp. 207-220.
2. Virtual reality machinima
(cc) Planetart 2009
3. Digital storytelling
(cc) torres21 2009
Digital stories:“media artefacts combining still images and sound, created and edited by individuals or groups using cameras and computers." (Jenkins & Lonsdale 2007)
13 Computing Innovation studentsWhat: evaluate multimedia technology by producing a digital story and writing a report.Martin Jenkins and Jo Lonsdale (2007) “Evaluating the effectiveness of digital storytelling for student reflection,” in ICT: Providing choices for
learners and learning (presented at the ASCILITE, Singapore, http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/singapore07/procs/jenkins.pdf.
4. Digital commentary
(cc) awesomerealm 2009
Digital commentary:analytic layer over machinima of game play.
93 Theory of Game Design students (Level 4)
What: students are required to analyse complex interactive media using their digital narrative.
Headline findingsFrom interviews conducted with staff and students
“I wanted to give them a space that they could take some ownership of, and that's what happened.”
(cc) fatmandy 2009
Academic readiness
Using media professionally can be scary
Personal experience led to confidence:“You can’t expect students to do what you haven’t done”
What we can do is often determined by timetabling(space, software, hardware)
To give and support digital media assignments“I was enthused [by Digital Posters] and I was quite surprised given that I am quite IT phobic... I think the students pick that up”
“I don't think I'd have set it if I hadn't been able to do it myself.”
(cc) fatmandy 2009
Learner readiness
Students expectations are varied
Many not done anything like this before
Digital media - not the easy optionDigital media - the open option
Students trust academics
To being given digital media assignments
Student: “I just had so many ideas, I thought I can do this, I can do this.”
(cc) I’maGirafe 2008
Setting the assignment
Alignment in rich assessment(Primary and secondary outcomes)
Danger: students can think this is about media
Focus on content – not form(even if the form is what is different for you!)
Clear, early and regular briefing is keyAssessment grids/rubrics Class and podcast briefing
Manageability: time-delimited design
Things to think about when setting digital media assignments
“I didn't want it to be at all ambiguous”
“There was no room for misunderstanding”
Literacy and ‘bridging’
Creating an enquiry framework
Asynchronisity: layers of engagement
Different media reveal different insight
Familiar forms and language leading to critical thinking
Learning through digital media assignments
Student: “I put my diagnostic screencast on YouTube, I felt it was a much easier way to get ... people to comment on it.”
“We just sat there with a phone and recorded ourselves speaking into it for quite a while, then we'd listen back to it and figure out what we were missing.”
Student: “It was quite easy to go over [6 minute limit] …it helps you to really focus what you were trying to put across.”
(cc) akshay_pulipaka 2008
On assessment designAssessment for learning
“I didn’t want to ask them to develop skills in something that would not be useful to them ever again.”
(cc) Pink Sherbet Photography 2006
Early non-critical task: remove anxiety, form expectations, identify problems and other ‘hurdles'
Specify hardware, software, duration, formats, quality
Students love to over-complicate things! DON’T let them!
Test submission method(s)Check and agree file quotas beforehand
PrepareKeep It Simple Stupid
Student: “Once I started I got over the main hurdle of what I was doing, how I was editing it and what I needed to do.”
(cc) Catharuna 2008
Peer mentors (academic and students)Develop a co-operative ethos (self supporting)YouTube screencasts sharing, etc
Communal ConstructivismHolmes, B., Tangney, B., FitzGibbon, A., Savage, T. and Meehan, S. (2001) Communal constructivism: students constructing learning for as well as with others. Proceedings of SITE 2001, Florida
SupportCommunity
How did you arrive at AVI?"That was stupid. I should have listened to the students. They actually laughed about it when I said it!"
(cc) Kalieye 2007
Open-endedness: “room”
Tension:creativity /motivation | manageability
CreativityExploring difference through a digital media assignment
Student: “The projects that we made were all about creative freedom, and that was great. Once I got into it I was loving it, and I'd love to do it again, and I'd do the report again and not make as big a hash of it.”
Valuing voice
Varied assessment diet
Clear framework for enquiry
Benefits 1Undertaking digital media assignments
(cc) Tanakawho 2008
Academic literacy(bridging or ‘becoming academic’)
Ways in to academic engagementInherent motivationResearch exigencyEvaluating sourcesVoicing knowledge – “finding and using the
right words for the first time”Selecting evidenceReviewing knowledgePresenting knowledge
Benefits 2Undertaking digital media assignments
(cc) Future darkmatter 2005
Communal Constructivismasynchronous collective knowledge building being responsible for each other
Authenticity”I felt like a games developer when I was doing it, I felt in that comfort zone, I felt I could do this, I could go out in the real world and actually do this for a living. It was great, I felt happy making that piece of work.”“Snap, me too.”
Benefits 3Undertaking digital media assignments
Student: “A really great way to showcase what you have learned.”
(cc) Afloden 2008
Many levels of engagement(e.g. Game-based machinima commentaries)
ActionRecordingAnalysisArticulationReflection
Self-efficacy:making innate creativity explicit
Inclusive
Benefits 4Undertaking digital media assignments
(cc) Amagil 2005
Conclusions 1
• Mediation– Open ended: room to think creatively– Multiple layers of meaning through
asynchronous engagement– Richness: focus on primary outcomes and
know there will be secondary outcomes
• Media innovation– Layers of complexity have to be managed – Start small, find a mentor– Stop it if it’s not scalable or sustainable– Fix down technology to open academic
creativity(cc) miss_blackbutterfly 2008
Communicate– academic rationale and expectations– rubrics, talk throughs, feedback
Co-operative ethos (different to collaboration)Bridging – deeply engage learner, develop confidence in
knowledge construction methods – Being creative - becoming responsible and
critical
Conclusions 2
(cc) Nrbelex 2007
Thanks to all of the Flickr photographers who post their work usingCreative Commons licences
