Digital Multimedia
This page describes an implementation of an assessment method by a lecturer or group of lecturers. The content of the page is the result of an interview conducted through the RAFT project in DIT in the 2013-14 Academic Year.
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Lecturer and Contact Details
Programme and year on which assessment was offered
- BSc Nutraceuticals in Health and Nutrition, Year 2
- BSc Food Innovation, Year 2
- BSc Pharmaceutical Healthcare, Year 2
Description
Students produce a short (3 to 4 minute) group (4/group) video production, detailing a biochemistry concept. The group decides the choice of content during the initial meetings and storyboarding of the idea(s). The content must address, in some way, a biochemical concept related to TFBC2001. This concept could be the basis of an important biochemical experiment, a creative explanation of a biochemical hypothesis, addressing a biochemical misconception, or exploring a biochemical model. The video can contain any form of multimedia (video, sound, audio, animation etc.) but it must be visual, engaging and creative.
Why did you use this Assessment?
This type of assessment is used as the students must engage with each other in the group at all stages of the assessment (brainstorming, design, production). The students must produce something that does not exist prior to the assessment and therefore removes the ability to “copy and paste” or plagiarise. The topic of choice often relates real life to the theory the student is studying in the module.
Why did you change to this form of assessment?
Initially the method of assessment was an individual essay for each student; however, this was a legacy assessment and did not adequately engage the students and the final product was, in many cases, a copy and pasted “patchwork” document with very little deep learning or understanding taking place.
How do you give feedback to students?
Feedback and, more importantly, feedforward are provided to students in small group face-to-face meeting within a week of the assessment announcement. This encourages students to form groups and carry out the initial brainstorming as soon as possible. In this meeting, all ideas are discussed and the student groups agree on the topic of their video. Further peer review feedback/forward is provided during the shooting and editing phase following the ‘two stars and a wish approach’. In this feedback/feedforward session students discuss their videos with other students in their class seeking affirmation of their video content and theme along with ideas to further improve the final product. Upon assessment completion, each video is discussed in class in a student centred, academic facilitated environment. This final discussion and feedback provides students with additional ideas for their reflective learning diaries.
What have you found are the advantages of using this form of assessment?
- Every assessment is different
- Allows students to be more creative
- Gets students to take ownership of their learning
What have you found are the dis-advantages of using this form of assessment?
- Initial student resistance to something new
- More organisation required to set up and plan out
If another lecturer was using this assessment method would you have any tips for them?
Do:
- Clearly plan out your timeframe and map it onto the current curriculum ensure alignment between learning outcomes and assessment approach.
- Ensure you give adequate support the students during the initial phase (brainstorming) and also during editing. You do not have to be an expert, if you give time in class for the students to highlight issues and see have other students groups experienced and overcome these issues before.
- Host the final videos ‘on the cloud’ (e.g. a private YouTube account). That way the students can re-watch each video and they become a reusable learning resource.
Don’t:
- Assume that all students are technology savvy; they will need guidance
- Let students drift for too long with out touching base with them. Sometimes a quick “how is the video shaping up” is all that is needed to motivate the student group.
- Don’t try to squeeze this type of assessment into a short time. It will take at least the full semester to correctly run.
Do you have any feedback from students about this assessment?
Overall the students liked the concept and the fact that they were in charge of their learning and the topic of their video. Some groups struggled with this freedom initially. Editing of video content was a major problem for some groups. Directing the students to suitable online resources, or running a workshop class on basic video editing can easily overcome this (e.g. using iMovie [MAC] or MovieMaker [PC]). Students noted they learnt a lot on the topic of their own video, but not so much from watching their peers.
