The digital video you have just watched was created by a group of students who I worked with on a previous assessment task. We used my digital camera to record the footage and then we used MovieMaker to create a video which we included in our oral presentation and can now be viewed on our website 4 Easy Steps to Authentic Assessment. Digital video was a great medium for our learning group to present various views and theories on authentic assessment in a concise and entertaining format. We combined video footage with text and music to scaffold the viewer and make it more professional. The music was sourced from Creative Commons which allowed us to use royalty free music for our presentation. The finished product ran for a few minutes yet, many hours of research and knowledge refinement went into its creation which made it a great vehicle for gaining a deep understanding about authentic assessment from different perspectives.
Using digital video in education has many advantages and applications. Kearney and Schuck (2004) suggest some common ones are; communication, observation and analysis and reflection. Further, some of the benefits for learners include affective, metacognitive, higher order thinking, communication and presentation, literacy, organisational and teamwork, moviemaking skills, problem solving and creative thinking.
However, a threat of using digital video is the challenge of maintaining the rigour of the content and how it connects to curriculum outcomes needs to be upheld (Schuck & Kearney, 2006). Students can get carried away with the process of movie making and miss the point entirely, that is why it is important that Learning Managers scaffold the students keeping them on task and focussed on the learning outcomes. This could be accomplished by requesting that students present a storyboard of their movie prior to filming, providing students with questions to be answered as they go through the process or perhaps a checklist or task criteria sheet which they refer to frequently may assist the learners to make the necessary gains.
Digital video can be created with a digital video camera although most still digital cameras also have a video capability. Consequently, the digital still cameras will not produce movies with high quality sound as you have just experienced in the movie I have uploaded. Digital equipment can be expensive and in most cases there is never enough video cameras to go around therefore, it is helpful to know that videos can also be made using still photographs with accompanying music and text. Still digital cameras are less expensive and are genearlly easier to get hold of. Using MovieMaker is great way for students to develop their own videos because it is drag and drop format makes it so simple to use and better still it's totally free. Most children will be familiar with this free software and may have already made their own movies before. However, MovieMaker does offer some great features if you have any buddying Speilbergs in your class who want to explore, but you can make quite an impressive finished product just by using the basics.
There are so many different ways to use digital video, recently I wrote a SOSE Inquiry unit for a Year Seven cohort and as one of the assessment tasks I chose to use digital video as a medium for students to present their knowledge to an audience. The task involved the students to work in small groups to research a global environmental issue associated with climate change. They used their knowledge to examine the school environment and identify areas that may be contributing to the issue, for example, they may have found rubbish to be an issue so they needed to create solutions to reduce, reuse and recycle rubbish and implement them in the school. The criteria of their video was it must inform their audience of their chosen enivonmental problem, identify it at a local level and present solutions for the problem. The video also should entertain their audience and persuade them to help implement their solutions around the school. The task required higher order thinking and teamwork. This task links well to Kearsley and Shneiderman's (1999) Engagement Theory as it uses the basic principles of Relate as the students are working collaboratively, Create as they are solving problems and creating solutions both locally and globally and Donate as they use their knowledge through digital video to inform, entertain and persuade the rest of the school to join their cause.
In addition, Kearney and Schuck (2006) propose using digital video when going on excursions or to document student's experiments as it can be used as a tool to review and analyse details that may have been missed due to the excitment of the event. Furthermore, when students engage in creating digital video it can help motivate them to employ habits of mind such as persistence, thinking and communicating with clarity and precision and creating, imagining and innovating (Costa & Kallick, 2000).
Furthermore, Kearney and Schuck (2004) suggest that digital video promotes autonomous behvaiour as students remain on-task because they are engaged and motivated including students who are usually reluctant to learn. This is becuase the students' attitudes and perceptions have been adjusted as they do not view the project as "normal work". Further, the learners believe they have more choice and control over their work which heightens a sense of ownership. Additionally, the learners valued the prompt feedback where they were able to self assess which resulted in them refining and improving their finished product.
Other associated applications are digital interviews or demonstrations of learning for instance, Prep students could record themselves counting or saying the alphabet which could be used for assessment purposes, or be included in digital portfolios, or even as a reflection tool to show student progress that could be enjoyed by parents or the learners themselves. Such applications of digital video can support students with diverse learning needs especially those with low literacy but sound ICT skills making the classroom a more level playing field.
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References
Kearney, M. and Schuck, S. (2004). Students in the directors seat: Teaching and learning across the school curriculum with student-generated video [eletronic resource] Retrieved from http://www.ed-dev.uts/teachered/research/dvproject/pdfs/ReportWeb.pdf
Kearsley, G. and Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. [eletronic resource] Retrieved from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm.
Costa, A. and Kallick, B. (2000). Describing sixteen habits of mind [eletronic resource] Retrieved from http://www.instituteforhabitsofmind.com/what-are-habits-mind
Video courtesy of 4 Easy Steps to Authentic Assessment
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