Digital Story to Communicate Community Outreach Experience (Communicate Social Awareness-Advocacy)
Students in Prof. William Goodman's Family Social Science course (FSOS 2101 (CEHD)) produced video digital stories documenting their outreach experiences highlighting various issues and local community support solutions.
Student Examples:
Breaking Free: Veronica Jasperson and Cheryl Bissonette (Fall 2010 class)
Student Comment: Veronica and Cheryl produced this video on sex trafficking and worked with a Twin Cities based non-profit organization, Breaking Free, to understand more about the issues, barriers, and other questions associated with prostitution/sex trafficking.
The Literacy Crisis: Marcie Lapointe & Jaquelyn Rapp (Spring 2011 class)
Learning Objectives
"I utilized this assignment as an advanced writing assignment in which elements beyond words on paper can be examined. Therefore, visual and audio art, visual and audio culture in the structure of an organized story." - Goodman.
This course was also part of the Writing Enriched Curriculum (WEC) strategy of the Family Social Sciences Department, and one of the few campus disciplines to identify multimedia production as a form of critical discipline specific "writing" competencies as part of WEC.
Demonstrated Learning Benefits
(Prof. William Goodman 8/8/11)
Some of the essential benefits of digital stories are:
1. Offers learners the opportunity to explore the relationship between in-class presented knowledge and its application in the social world.
2. Provides learners growth and development in multimodal literacies, beyond traditional print literacy in completing assignments for evaluation.
3. Challenges learners to examine the complexity of multimodal literacies and their effects, often accepted without question from digital age learners.
4. Encourages learners to venture from the confined position of consumers of technology to creators of technology to benefit social problems.
5. Advances the thinking process of practicing thinkers by situating learners in analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing digital work.
6. Creates a social learning context in which learners interact in teams, preparing them for the cooperation, negotiation, and compromise necessary in their future careers.
7. Encourages learners to examine a current social topic from multiple, system, perspectives including opposing viewpoints.
8. Offers learners an opportunity to refine, reflect on their favored, literacy skill set.
Subject Knowledge Acquisition
Applied knowledge in real world context
Applied practice (some volunteered with the organization)
Awareness - advocacy: Reflection on and communication of critical social issues & solutions
Issue and organizational Research (Info. Lit.)
Soft Skill Set Acquisition
Video production-editing skill sets
Audio/visual mixed media composition
Interview preparation and skill sets
Voice over narration (scripting)
Media Literacy (media arts approach: video production; critical media literacy approach: social awareness, alternative media distribution)
Project management
Group work
Challenges
(Prof. William Goodman 8/8/11)
1. [Some] Learners become disgruntled with the complexities of technology coupled with the process of creating a story, resorting to average and below average achievement that displays lack of initiative, involvement, and procrastination and disinterest in the structured assignment. Solution: Use of contract grading whereby learners self evaluate in terms of time available and motivation.
2. [Some] Learners failing to challenge their personal fear of technology even with available resources to assist them. Solution: Provide university resources that if used, guarantee production of a digital story. Scaffold the thinking and production time in an assignment calculator.
3. [Some] Learners objecting to working in two-person teams. Solution: Review the developmental learning objective, in class, of the course and the university.
4. [Some] Learners failing to see the digital story having purpose beyond one specific course. Solution: Engage other faculty to see digital stories as a useful teaching tool in their courses. Provide an efolio where learners may collect significant undergraduate work for examination by future employers and graduate schools.
5. [Some] Learners advance with the digital story without careful consideration of site, people, and story content. Solution: All digital story preparations (sites, people, and content) must be approved by instructor in advance of implementing further progress utilizing the digital story tools.
Course Assignment and Grading Rubric
Digital Story Grading Rubric (.docx)
External Campus Support Resources Utilized
Class visit from CEHD Media Specialist, Pete McCauley, and Media Librarian, Scott Spicer, with presentations on the production process, considerations for producing a quality digital story in the community outreach context, demonstration of prior student work, and campus production support resources available. We have collaborated to support this course multiple semesters.
Digital Storytelling How To Guide: Digital Story Website - Designed by Pete McCauley
CEHD Digital Video Production Overview - Designed by Pete McCauley
Post project debrief with Dr. Goodman, Scott Spicer, and Scott Marsalis (FSoS subject Librarian)
Custom Media Production Assignment Calculator (*[ELM Project Calculator] may be used in future courses)
Student Production Support from the SMART Learning Commons
Reserve Production Equipment
Schedule Video Production Project Support