By Charlotte Ellis (Learning Technology Media Adviser)
Video assignments provide students the opportunity to be creative which not only demonstrate the required learning outcomes of an assessment but also to develop and showcase their digital capabilities. This form of assessment promotes creativity and can work well for individual or group assessment, as the students can draw upon each other’s strengths. Students have commented within module feedback that the Create website:
“assisted me with extra understanding of creating a media assessment”
“I loved how I could go back on what we’d learnt in class to confirm my understanding”
“the technical support & resources they are really informative and assisted me in creating the assessment.”
Overall, they have found the video assessments valuable to further their realisation on how this kind of digital literacy can be applied to their future employment. Some comments from students:
“I like the fact I was challenged to be creative. This is something I thought I would hate, but it was actually fun”
“Enabling me to expand on my skills and develop my confidence when working in groups”
“building new skills”
“very fun”
The academic staff that have video assessments within their modules have also seen the benefits to students and to themselves in running this style of assessment:
“from a personal perspective they are enjoyable to review and mark (not a word commonly used in assessment). From a student perspective: interest (there is lots of choice in the assessment design), enjoyment (creativity type skills), variation (opportunity to do something different) and perceived ease (compared to an essay or exam).”
““Giving student options regarding the format with which they capture and record their learning and development for both formative and summative work has been a big change to my way of thinking this year.”
Academic staff have also noted that they have used this method within other modules and has overall shaped their future approach to assessment. Staff have also found the assessment process and Create website informative, consequently it is now being used as a training material for staff development of digital capabilities. External examiners have also commented on this style of assessment:
“I think this is a worthwhile and challenging course for students full of useful critical, creative and transferable elements”
The university has accounts for full access to the online editing software WeVideo
“I think the tool is ace. Simple and easy to use.”
TEL has created a website to assist both yourselves, as academics, and your students when creating video and other media-based assignments which allows your students to start their projects anywhere on any device either on the web or through their app. The University of Derby has the paid for version for your students to use. Video assessments are a great addition to any module, if you would like your students to have full access to WeVideo please contact TEL@derby.ac.uk and visit this information page.