Student-Made Video Projects in a Computer Technology Course

Communications skills are universally recognized as important within the education of engineers, however these skills are often underemphasized in engineering and technology courses. One new approach to emphasizing professional communications skills is the assignment of student made video projects. Some scholars argue that video has become the current vernacular of our culture. Video engages an audience in ways unique to the medium. Becoming fluent in communicating with video technology expands the versatility of future engineers and engineering technologists. Advances in digital video technologies have made these video projects within the reach of most undergraduate students, however many students have surprisingly little experience in this area. Outside of traditional media-making degree programs, few college students are required to create an edited video during their undergraduate experience. This paper explores the implementation of a student-made video project in a computer technology course. The action research described is grounded in a media literacy framework that uses a mixed methods approach. The video project explored has similar goals as a traditional undergraduate written research paper, only having a video replacing the paper as the finished product. Students must do research on a topic related to Internet and computer networking technologies and present their findings in a video format. Introduction College students are enthusiastic users of mobile and social media technologies in their private lives, but are not often invited to make use of these in the classroom. Educators often assume that the ease with which students use certain digital technologies translates into having fluency with using all digital technologies; that students are “digital natives”. 1 However, using technology to socialize with friends or for entertainment is not equivalent to using technology for learning by developing critical thinking or communications skills. Anthropologist and digital ethnographer Michael Wesch observes: “The surprising-to-most-people-fact is that students would prefer less technology in the classroom (especially *participatory* technologies that force them to do something other than sit back and memorize material for a regurgitation exercise).” 2 The video project described here strives to do just that—to push students into using technology for their own active and participatory learning via a form of inquiry known as action research. If Wesch is correct, and most students are resistant to learning activities that bring them out of a passive role, this presents a significant pedagogical problem to address. Action research is an approach that uses a participant observer studying his or her current environment. 3, 33 In the case of educators, this is typically within a classroom or course that is already being taught. Action research can serve as a bridge between theoretical and practical knowledge. 4 It is practical research that addresses an immediate, local need while providing opportunities for deep reflection leading to individual professional growth. 5 P ge 24130.2 Although there are similarities, action research should not be confused with case study research. Typically, case study research involves an independent, outside observer studying a phenomenon in a naturally occurring environment, whereas an action research study includes a researcher who actively participates in his or her own environment. For educators, this is often a classroom in which they teach. Action research creates “a synergy between the practitioners and the researcher as they test, modify and test again research ideas for solving real-world problems”. 33 Dorothy Craig cites three main reasons for conducting action research: “1) to bring about change and improvements, 2) addressing targeted goals and objectives that are attainable by the researcher, and 3) promoting collaboration and community among research participants which may result in improving conditions and situations for all members of the learning community”. 3 For this project, students in the spring 2013 Networking 1 course at Kansas State University Salina created “video term papers” in an assignment incorporating key aspects of traditionally written research term papers into digital videos that were ultimately published on YouTube. The project emphasizes the following core media literacy competencies: 1) search strategies 2) reading, viewing, listening and discussion, 3) close analysis of texts, and 4) multimedia composition. 6 Applying Craig’s framework to this video project, a desired change is 1) shifting from student passivity to active engagement and learning; a goal is 2) incorporating communications and media literacy skills into a STEM course; and a collaboration is 3) students doing an undergraduate research project that requires acquisition of new knowledge, skills and abilities, as well as sharing what they have learned with others. Communication Skills Communications skills are universally recognized as important within the education of engineers. ABET accreditation requires “an ability to communicate effectively” as a general learning outcome for engineering students. Communication and other interpersonal skills can make or break the career of an engineer. As J. Ben O’Neal notes, “most engineers are limited in their career not by a lack of technical knowledge, but by an inability to reason verbally, communicate their ideas to others, and furnish leadership.” 8 Perhaps the most important of communications skills for students is writing. Writing is the process through which students think on paper, explore ideas, raise questions, attempt solutions, uncover processes, build and defend arguments, brainstorm, introspect, and figure out what is going on. 9 Writing organizes and clarifies our thoughts. Writing is how we think our way into a subject and make it our own. Writing enables us to find out what we know — and what we don’t know — about whatever we’re trying to learn (Zinsser, 1988, p. 16). 10 While writing complements the derivation and problem solving exercises common in science and engineering courses, including it often represents a challenge to professors teaching in these areas. Therefore, writing is traditionally taught by writing faculty instead of by those teaching in P ge 24130.3 engineering courses and curricula. Much of the difficulty arises from STEM educators feeling inadequate or unqualified to teach writing, while others may simply lack interest or willingness to dedicate course time towards this effort. Availability of time during a course semester is always a concern, however when writing is about thinking and understanding course concepts, it is not a peripheral activity but one that is one central to student learning. Communicating Through Video A variation on traditional written communication comes in the form of digital video. Some scholars recognize video as the “current vernacular.” 6, 15, 16 Poe argues that students who make successful videos must learn to closely read texts and to think critically. 16 Ludlow recognizes the student created video project as a reasonable substitute for written research term papers that are traditionally assigned and presented in college courses. Some scholars describe student video projects as flexible and easily integrated into courses regardless of academic area and even suggest that students can learn material from videos made by other students. 19 “With the ease and availability of video recorders and platforms such as YouTube, visual communication using small videos is becoming more prevalent. More practicing professionals will be expected to develop short informational videos to share concepts, document operations and train coworkers.” 17 One unique course offering at University of Illinois called Writing With Video began as a pilot course in 2005, and has since been added to the regular catalog. Although it substitutes video creation for traditional writing, this course satisfies the university general education requirements for advanced composition. It can be challenging for college students who have only used written communication throughout their academic careers to make the shift into “writing with video.” In a media studies course taught entirely with YouTube, Alexandra Juhasz’s students, “realized how well trained they actually are to do academic work with the word — their expertise — and how poor is their media-production literacy.” 21 Video and motion graphics are transforming how science and technology concepts are communicated largely because video can show processes in motion rather than still snapshots of one point in time. Biology professor Rob Lue explains, “We’re at the beginning of a new age in how we teach. Fifteen years ago, when I talked about this [visual pedagogy], few of my colleagues embraced it. That has changed. You will see a lot of visualization tools used at any scientific meeting—when, for example, you discuss a model with other biologists. It allows you to communicate swiftly, and it’s not just the speed, but the level of sophistication you can get across.” 22 Educator and author Amy Leask argues that incorporating communications into STEM education invites a wider diversity of people to explore these fields. “Blending literacy and communication skills development into STEM benefits girls and women in that it validates skill sets that have traditionally been labelled [sic] as female, and brings a new perspective to these subject areas. Moreover, storytelling makes STEM more inclusive, appealing to younger children and to male learners who might otherwise P ge 24130.4 not be as interested.