Category: AL883

Effects of Digital Storytelling Projects on Student Learning in the Humanities

This study will interrogate the ways in which digital storytelling might affect student learning in humanities courses. With an increase in online learning, traditional methods of student assessment may shift in terms of course assignments and projects. Digital storytelling has the potential to give students more agency in their coursework by developing their own way of articulating their experiences and tying it to course content. Additionally, students will have the opportunity to develop a variety of skills using digital tools to creatively express their point of view while still participating in the important work of doing research and developing a well informed narrative.

Research Questions

Can the incorporation of digital storytelling into humanities curriculum increase student understanding of course material in an interdisciplinary arts and humanities course in a way that leads to an overall increase student grades?

Will student engagement with course content be greater when students are asked to complete digital projects versus more traditional assignments and lead to more time spent working on course assignments?

Review of Literature

Barber, John F. “Digital storytelling: New opportunities for humanities scholarship and pedagogy.” Cogent Arts & Humanities, vol. 3, no. 1, June 2016, doi:10.1080/23311983.2016.1181037.

In this essay, Barber describes the ways in which digital storytelling might be incorporated into the humanities classroom to encourage alternative ways of developing narrative, creating interactive projects, and supporting collaborative work. He defines and describes methodologies of digital storytelling and makes suggestions as to how instructors might incorporate it into their pedagogy.

Benmayor, Rita. “Digital Storytelling as a Signature Pedagogy for the New Humanities.” Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, vol. 7, no. 2, Jan. 2008, pp. 188-204, doi:10.1177/1474022208088648.

This essay makes the argument that digital storytelling creates a pedagogical space in which students can develop multimedia narratives that encourage social and cross-cultural collaboration and learning. Benymayor traces one student’s project from conception to completion to specifically breakdown how the creation of a digital story reinvigorates humanities pedagogy and inspires students’ scholarship in new and exciting ways.

Clarke, Robert Garth Hipkins and Sharon Thomas. “Digital Narrative and the Humanities: An Evaluation of the Use of Digital Storytelling in an Australian Undergraduate Literary Studies Program.” Higher Education Studies, vol. 2, no. 3, 2012, doi:10.5539.hes.v2n3p30.

This study analyzes the effects of the implementation of digital storytelling projects into literature courses at an Australian university. It hoped to determine participants’ attitudes toward multimedia projects in the classroom as well as the amount of training involved for instructors. The researchers determined that overall, student attitudes toward developing digital narratives in the classroom were positive.

Coventry, Michael. “Cross-currents of Pedagogy and Technology: A Forum on Digital Storytelling and Cultural Critique: Introduction.” Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, vol. 7, no. 2, Jan. 2008, pp. 165-170, doi:10.1177/1474022208088646.

In this introduction, Coventry provides a brief overview of the ways digital storytelling has been incorporated into research projects as well as into pedagogy throughout the 2000s.

Coventry, Michael: “Engaging Gender: Student application of theory through digital storytelling.” Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, vol. 7, no. 2, Jan. 2008, pp. 205-219, doi:10.1177/1474022208088649.

Coventry explores how digital storytelling can provide an alternative way for students to engage with material by providing a new medium for them to present their ideas. He focuses on a single student’s project to breakdown how students work through the process of creating a digital story and embrace it as a means of absorbing and reiterating course concepts.

Fletcher, Christopher and Carolina Cambre. “Digital Storytelling and Implicated Scholarship in the Classroom.” Journal of Canadian Studies, vol. 43, no. 1, 2009, pp. 109-130, doi:10.3138/jcs.43.1.109.

This essay investigates the ways in which digital storytelling projects can interface with the idea of implicated scholarship in the classroom. It exams different instances of digital storytelling being used in universities as a pedagogical tool and questions how these kinds of projects may shift student awareness of social issues.

Lunce, Carol. “Digital Storytelling as an Educational Tool.” Indiana Libraries, vol. 30, no. 1, 2011.

Lunce’s essay explores the benefits of incorporating digital storytelling in the K through 12 and higher education classroom and addresses the training requirements for faculty. She provides suggestions on how to organize a workshop for interested faculty and points readers toward several useful tools and resources.

Sadik, Alaa. “Digital Storytelling: a meaningful technology-integrated approach for engaged student learning.” Educational Technology Research and Development, vol. 56, no. 4, Nov. 2008, pp. 487-506, doi:10.1007/s11423-008-9091-8.

This study was run in Egyptian classrooms where digital stories were created through MS Photo Story, which has limited storytelling applications. However, the study concluded that since most students met the pedagogical goals of the assignment there is a clear potential for digital storytelling projects to increase student understanding of course content.

Smeda, Najat, et al. “The effectiveness of digital storytelling in the classrooms: a comprehensive study.” Smart Learning Environments, vol. 1, no. 1, 2014, doi:10.1186/s40561-014-0006-3.

This study was run in Australian elementary and secondary schools. The focus was less on the technology itself increasing student engagement but more on whether this kind of digital project could help transform the classroom into more of a social-constructivist environment for learning.

Yang, Ya-Ting C. and Wan-Chi I. Wu. “Digital storytelling for enhancing student academic achievement, critical thinking, and learning motivation: A year-long experimental study.” Computers & Education, vol. 59, no. 2, 2012, pp. 339-352, doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2011.12.012.

In this study, the researchers investigated the impact digital storytelling had on learning in high school students learning English as a foreign language. The researchers determined from quantitative and qualitative data they collected that digital storytelling did have a significant impact on increasing student performance in the course over those who participated in a lecture-only style course.

Methods

I will develop two surveys for students: one to be completed at the beginning of the study and one at the end. This survey will ask questions about their previous experiences using various technologies related to digital storytelling, if students have heard of or utilized digital storytelling before, what the term digital storytelling means to them, and the role they feel it might or has played in their humanities education. All students participating in the creation of digital storytelling will be asked to complete these surveys. Additionally, I will ask any participating instructors (or do it myself, if I’m running the study in one of my own courses) to write reflections on the process of scaffolding toward the digital storytelling projects. These reflections might discuss the ways students respond to using certain technologies, any difficulties with tools training, issues with time management, or student comments on the projects. I also might compare the grades of students completing more traditional final projects such as essays with those of the students completing digital storytelling projects. This would need to be across different sections of the same class in that term, or data could be compared to a previous iteration of the course the had the same content but more traditional projects. Both students and teachers will be asked to log how long students spend working on the digital storytelling projects, and this information can be compared with the time students spend working on more traditional projects. The quality and content of the digital stories themselves, with student permission, might be a point of analysis.

Constraints

This study would ideally take place across a single semester, and therefore issues of time constraints are probable. The instructor will need to have good time management skills in order to incorporate the instruction needed to provide adequate background on how to use certain digital tools before students can begin their storytelling projects. Alongside the course content, these technology skills would need to be scaffolded throughout the course. With the use of audio clips, images, and video students will also need to have a clear understanding of the related copyright issues. If survey results are inconclusive, the study may need to be run again with a larger group of students. The comparison of grades between students also poses a potential issue–this method of analysis is dependent on running a study in a course that has already been run at least once. Alternatively, the study would need to be run in a course that has multiple sections taught by an instructor with the flexibility to simultaneously teach students how to develop digital storytelling projects in one section and more traditional projects in another. However, with both of these options, it still involves comparing different students’ grades rather than comparing a student’s work on a more traditional project to that same student’s work on a digital story, which could potentially skew results.

Results

Upon reviewing student surveys, grades, time logs, and teacher reflections, if the study was successful these tools would report an increased level of engagement and understanding with course content through the creation of digital storytelling projects. If the results of the study indicate that there was a decrease in student engagement and understanding after the incorporation of digital storytelling, we would hopefully be able to pinpoint through these means what when wrong. For instance, if time management was an issue when figuring out how to teach the digital tools alongside other course content, the process for this could be revised and then implemented in a new run of the study. If results are inconclusive, the study may need to be run on a larger group of students or over a longer period of time to see results.

As an educator, it is my goal to foster student engagement in the arts and humanities through technology and develop their ability to participate in interdisciplinary collaborations and conversations. In my classroom, I create a space where students feel safe trying, failing, and reattempting to navigate new ideas, tools, and methodologies. I can only lead by example, and, as such, I will need to be open with my students regarding my own attempts at tinkering.

I often construct my lessons around the idea of the classroom being a workshop. I encourage students to bring the assignments and projects they are working on and share what is working for them and what they need help with. When I worked for the IRIS Center for Digital Humanities at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, I rotated through several different classes to teach students how to utilize various digital tools. I would first demonstrate how I would use the tool, show students what I had done in the past that caused problems, and walk them through how to make a final product. However, the most important element of this is ensuring that the end of each class had enough time to attempt to work with these tools on their own. I can walk around and address questions and concerns of individual students, and students could share what they have learned with their peers.

As I have shifted from that role into that of a Teaching Assistant for Michigan State University, I have had to adapt some of these approaches to more appropriately fit the recitation sections for large Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities courses. For these courses, I need to condense the information discussed in the biweekly lectures and transform it into a more hands-on activity for students. I always aim to provide a variety of different opportunities for students to engage with course material as a distinct shift from their passive reception of the material in the lecture hall.

In a recitation section, I try to shift student participation toward a more social constructivist approach to learning. This often involves group work as well as a lot of discussion. Group work may consist of anything from a presentation to joint artwork representing course concepts. In terms of discussion, I like to try different group dynamics by consistently making students move about the classroom and participate in everything from a one-on-one conversation to a discussion involving the whole class. However, I also try to create space for individuals in my classroom—I invite students to write a brief reflection at the beginning of class and list any questions they may want to ask but may not feel comfortable bringing up as part of a larger group discussion.

Regardless of course or subject area, I try to help my students take an applied approach to engaging with class concepts so that they can begin to comprehend how these concepts can relate to their life outside of the classroom.

Course Quality Analysis

Specific Review Standards from the QM Higher Education Rubric, Sixth Edition

Course Overview and Introduction

1.1 Instructions make clear how to get started and where to find various course components. 3/3

The navigation bar clearly labels where students can access course components. Additionally, the powerpoint on the main pages breaks down these categories.

1.2 Learners are introduced to the purpose and structure of the course. 3/3

1.3 Communication expectations for online discussions, email, and other forms of interaction are clearly stated. 1.5/2

These expectations are clearly stated, but you have to either click several slides into the powerpoint or over to the syllabus to find them. 

1.4 Course and institutional policies with which the learner is expected to comply are clearly stated within the course, or a link to current policies is provided. 2/2

1.5 Minimum technology requirements for the course are clearly stated, and information on how to obtain the technologies is provided. 1.5/2

Students know they are required to use digital tools and participate in online discussions as part of the hybrid course, but I could more clearly state that they need internet access through some sort of device for success in this course.

1.6 Computer skills and digital information literacy skills expected of the learner are clearly stated. 1/1

1.7 Expectations for prerequisite knowledge in the discipline and/or any required competencies are clearly stated. 1/1

I scored the course on a 1 for this, but since it is an intro course it really doesn’t require any prerequisites.

1.8 The self-introduction by the instructor is professional and is available online. .5/1

Since it is a hybrid course I chose to do my self-introduction in-person, but I do make my contact information available in the introductory powerpoint and at the top of the syllabus.

1.9 Learners are asked to introduce themselves to the class. .5/1

Once again, I’m prioritizing this as an in-person activity, but they are asked to introduce themselves to their discussion groups.

Learning Objectives (Competencies) 

2.1 The course learning objectives, or course/program competencies, describe outcomes that are measurable. 3/3

Course learning objectives are described in multiple places on the website, and I feel this is one of its strengths. 

2.2 The module/unit-level learning objectives or competencies describe outcomes that are measurable and consistent with the course-level objectives or competencies. 1.5/3

This could definitely use some work. While I do list specific readings, assignments, and activities with context, I could more clearly relate this back to the course-level objectives.

2.3 Learning objectives or competencies are stated clearly, are written from the learner’s perspective, and are prominently located in the course. 3/3

2.4 The relationship between learning objectives or competencies and learning activities is clearly stated. 1.5/3

I do attempt to this, but upon reflection I think I still might be able to do it more clearly–the activities are clearly described and connected back to the general course themes of DH but could be broken down further.

2.5 The learning objectives or competencies are suited to the level of the course. 3/3

I actually feel one of the biggest strengths of this Intro to DH course is that it is designed so the material can be picked up and attempted by anyone. The goal is tinkering and exploring rather than mastering these tools, so students can be exposed to a wide variety of tools and then focus more on certain areas as they move forward in other DH related courses.

Assessment and Measurement

3.1 The assessments measure the achievement of the stated learning objectives or competencies. 3/3

3.2 The course grading policy is stated clearly at the beginning of the course. 2/3

I clearly break down the distribution of grades across assignments but I could more specifically describe a grading scale.

3.3 Specific and descriptive criteria are provided for the evaluation of learners’ work, and their connection to the course grading policy is clearly explained. 2/3

3.4 The assessments used are sequenced, varied, and suited to the level of the course. 2/2

3.5 The course provides learners with multiple opportunities to track their learning progress with timely feedback. 2/2

The course is structured as a hybrid so in-person class sessions can serve as workshops that will allow students to gather feedback from the instructor and peers at every stage of the course.

Instructional Materials

Overall, I felt like this was one of my course’s biggest strengths. My desire to use many of these instructional materials is what gave me the initial idea, and I was passionate about only using open source/open access materials. I had to make a few exceptions on the open access front, but those materials are still available to students for free through the library.

4.1 The instructional materials contribute to the achievement of the stated learning objectives or competencies. 3/3

4.2 The relationship between the use of instructional materials in the course and completing learning activities is clearly explained. 3/3 

4.3 The course models the academic integrity expected of learners by providing both source references and permissions for use of instructional materials. 1/2 

I could more clearly state permissions for use of the instructional materials. While the majority are open access and directly linked to their source, I could add a statement about this in the syllabus.

4.4 The instructional materials represent up-to-date theory and practice in the discipline. 2/2

One caveat on this: since DH is a constantly evolving field, I’ll need to keep a close eye on the instructional materials to ensure they don’t fall too far behind–particularly if I don’t have the opportunity to teach the course for a while.

4.5 A variety of instructional materials is used in the course. 2/2

Learning Activities and Learner Interaction

5.1 The learning activities promote the achievement of the stated learning objectives or competencies. 3/3

5.2 Learning activities provide opportunities for interaction that support active learning. 3/3

5.3 The instructor’s plan for interacting with learners during the course is clearly stated. 1.5/3

I could definitely provide more clarification on this front. Once again, I was depending on the hybrid nature of the course to allow me to do this in person. Other than listing my email address and requesting students schedule a meeting for office hours, I should better explain my presence on the class Slack page and my general availability.

5.4 The requirements for learner interaction are clearly stated. 2/2

Course Technology

6.1 The tools used in the course support the learning objectives or competencies. 3/3

I feel like this is a really strong component of the course. I selected each digital tool after extensive research and only after trying them myself to ensure they fit my learning objectives for the course.

6.2 Course tools promote learner engagement and active learning. 3/3

6.3 A variety of technology is used in the course. 1/1

Another strong suit of this course, as it should be for a Digital Humanities class.

6.4 The course provides learners with information on protecting their data and privacy. 0/1

While I don’t believe I have incorporated anything into the course that would risk their data/privacy, it is still important to address–especially in a technology based course.

Learner Support

This section as a whole might be my weakest part of the course. While I do make reference to university policies and briefly describe the VISA and various reporting processes, I could more clearly describe this information, or, at the very least, provide links. Additionally, I need to be sure that this information comes across as supportive and not as punitive. 

7.1 The course instructions articulate or link to a clear description of the technical support offered and how to obtain it. 1.5/3

7.2 Course instructions articulate or link to the institution’s accessibility policies and services. 1.5/3

7.3 Course instructions articulate or link to the institution’s academic support services and resources that can help learners succeed in the course. 0/3

7.4 Course instructions articulate or link to the institution’s student services and resources that can help learners succeed. 0/1

Accessibility* and Usability

8.1 Course navigation facilitates ease of use. 3/3

8.2 The course design facilitates readability. 3/3

8.3 The course provides accessible text and images in files, documents, LMS pages, and web pages to meet the needs of diverse learners. 2/3

As I mentioned in the accessibility weekly assignment, this area could use a bit more research. I could also work more multimedia into the website as a whole.

8.4 The course provides alternative means of access to multimedia content in formats that meet the needs of diverse learners. 1/2

See above.

8.5 Course multimedia facilitate ease of use. 1/2

8.6 Vendor accessibility statements are provided for all technologies required in the course. 0/2

I definitely need to look further into this. Although “vendor” doesn’t really apply in this instance, I could investigate to see if various digital tools have specific statements/policies addressing accessibility.

Reflection

I found this to be one of the most useful weekly assignments purely because it made me think about things I had not thought about previously. In particular, the section of this rubric regarding learner support really opened my eyes to some significant gaps in my course. The majority of policies I list are punitive, such as university policies regarding academic dishonesty. I think at some point I might want to completely rehaul the policies section of my syllabus and incorporate more information directed at learner support. At certain points, I wondered if this rubric took hybrid courses into consideration or were specifically built for fully online courses. Regardless, on questions I felt might be influenced by the hybrid nature of the course I still graded myself down. Even though this assignment made me more conscious of areas that need improvement in my course, it also made me feel more confident in my instructional materials and course technology.

UX Review

Since I will be asking students in my course to use a variety of different tools and websites as part of their learning, I wanted the navigation of my website to be as straightforward as possible. Students will be spending the majority of their time on the course units page, so I chose it for my UX review.

In terms of click testing, anywhere my students are trying to access should be immediately clear.  I have only included four pages in the navigation bar–blog, discussion, syllabus, and units–so it should be obvious to users which page they want to use as soon as they access the website. Once users click “Units,” they will be taken immediately to a units page with the Table of Contents at the top. From there, users can either scroll done the whole page or click the title of whatever unit they’re hoping to explore and access it through the linked Table of Contents.

Since I am not requiring my students to purchase any textbooks, I’ve linked all of the required readings on this page. As of now, none of the links are broken. However, I will need to check back periodically to ensure this remains the case. The only websites that are password protected are those linked from the MSU Library; therefore, students will be able to log in using their email and password.

I will develop a survey to distribute to my students toward the beginning of the course based on the System Usability Scale. Any areas they identify having trouble using I will rework to make more usable for the remainder of the course. Additionally, I would like to have some of my colleagues complete the usability test as well to determine if this website is scalable to other online courses without having my explanations like my students may have.

Reflection

I was not familiar with UX design before this course, and I thought it was very interesting to explore the ways in which this can affect students of an online course. When I have more time, I would like to run UX reviews on various DH projects that I commonly use to see what elements they include to make their websites user friendly. While my course is in WordPress, I would be interested to see the results of a UX review of a course housed on D2L. As a student  in their first semester at MSU, I’ve found the D2L has an extremely deep learning curve.

Accessibility Review

After going through my course with MSU’s Quickstart Accessibility Guide, I was able to identify some strengths and weaknesses. 

In terms of text, I specifically selected the WordPress theme because it has a white background with dark text. This contrast will hopefully make my website easy to read. To differentiate important points, I tried to work with different font sizes–often by using headers–rather than highlighting or changing the color of the text. This also allowed me to use a plug-in that used the headers to create a table of contents at the top of the page. For lists, I was sure to use bullets to indicate the structure. I deliberately avoided numbered lists because I did not want to denote any sort of hierarchy in my points.

The weakest part of my website is probably the use of multimedia.  While at this point I do not have any graphs, images, or charts, I will probably need to incorporate them at some point and will need to be sure I provide alternative text. The closest I thing I have is the schedule chart in the syllabus, for which I chose a simple layout and clearly labeled columns. I had originally considered doing a video for my welcome page, but I switched it out with a powerpoint. With the video I would have provided captions and a transcript, but I’m not sure how to make an embedded powerpoint more accessible. This is definitely something I will need to investigate further.

To make links clear to everyone, I avoided any sort of heading like “click here.” Instead, I always included some sort of descriptor of whatever was on the other side of the link. For readings, I linked the full title and author. For digital tools, made the name of tool the link but included a description next to it. I believe all external links are accessible, but I will need to consistently check back and make sure an appropriate level of accessibility is maintained by those websites. If not, I’ll have to replace some of the course material.

One topic I need to investigate further is whether my course content is keyboard navigable. I have limited expertise in this area, and while from my limited knowledge I believe the website is accessible in this way I definitely need to do more research on this front. 

Reflection

This week really made me think a lot about previous websites I’ve been a part of building, and how they could be improved in terms of accessibility. For instance, I’m recalling a DH project I consulted on that used dark text on a dark tan background. If that basic level accessibility was not met, I can’t help but wonder what other things many beginning DH projects need to do to ensure the accessibility of their websites. I also really began to think about the problem of linking to non-accessible websites, or websites that were once accessible but have not been  kept up to date. If an article is on a website that is non-accessible, the best action would probably to get that material from a different source, but what about unique projects? In the DH course I’m creating, I feel that a lack of accessibility goes against the ethical values I’m trying to instill in my students. As such, if a DH project is inaccessible I will do my best to avoid including in the course content or using it in a context in which my students and I can go through the project and figure out what would need to be done to make it accessible.

Copyright Cases

Copyright Case #1

Professor A. teaches a course about American cities, specifically focusing on Chicago and New York City.  As a part of the course in his face-to-face version he uses two video sets, Chicago – City of the Century (http://amzn.to/nEJmh8) and Ric Burns’ New York (http://amzn.to/qSYens). Typically he uses portions of 2 of the 3 discs in the Chicago set, and shows all 5 of the New York videos.

As Professor A begins to move his course to an online format he is faced with the problem of how to show the videos to his online students. Please consider the following questions:

1. Can Professor A. digitize and stream the videos to his students?

No, Professor A. cannot digitize and stream the videos to his students without permission.

2. What could he do to minimize the risk of copyright violations and follow fair use?

To follow fair use, Professor A. could select small clips from the films to use in his course.

3. What are other options Professor A. might consider?

Professor A. might consider seeing if he can stream these movies through his library. He could also try to determine if the films are available through various streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, or some other service.

Copyright Case #2

Professor G. teaches a course in arts education. He has written many papers on the subject and as he moves his course online he would like to use some of them as readings for his course. He puts several of the articles up in his ANGEL course, but is then told by a colleague that he may be violating copyright law. Upon further inquiry, Professor G. is told that he must pay the publisher a certain amount of money per article, per semester in order to use them in his course.

1. How do you interpret this case? Is the publisher in the right to request payment?

Ultimately, it depends on the author agreement with the publisher. If Professor G. signed over all the rights to his publisher, he may no longer own dissemination rights of his work.

2. Could Professor G. make a case for fair use? How?

He could potentially make a case for fair use if he scans only a small portion of the work, perhaps a single chapter from a book, and argue that this is fair use.

3. What are some options Professor G. has for disseminating his work to students?

Professor G. could get around this issue by providing links to the articles/book chapters from the library in his online course. This would direct students to access the readings without posting them and breaking copyright. Alternatively, he could post a pre-print version of his writing.

Copyright Case #3

Professor M. is an avid “screencaster,” often creating several short narrated slideshows each week that she puts online for her students. Because Professor M. knows the power of imagery, she often uses visuals to help illustrate her points. Her students often give her positive feedback about these materials. Professor M. uses Google’s image search to find relevant images for her presentations, then puts them into her slideshows. One day, a publishing company approaches Professor M. about using her slideshows in an upcoming textbook. Please consider the following about Professor M’s case.

1. Is Professor M. violating copyright/fair use by using images from Google’s image search?

Since Professor M. is using the images for a not-for-profit educational use, the incorporation of the images into her slideshows for her course does not violate fair use. However, if the creator/copyright owner protests Professor M.’s usage of the images, it could be contested in court.

2. If you determine she is in violation, what might she do to come into compliance?

I do not believe that Professor M. is in violation of fair use, but if she wanted to be extra careful she could use images she finds in databases of creative commons licensed content or through searches for images that are labeled for reuse. Additionally, she could be careful in how she links the images to original sources.

3. What about the offer from the publishing company? Can Professor M. sell them her slideshows?

No, Professor M. cannot sell the slideshows if they contain these images. She does not own the images, and therefore cannot sell them. However, Professor M. could perhaps search for alternative images labeled for reuse to incorporate into the slideshows before she sells them.

Copyright Case #4

Professor D. is a tech savvy instructor who teaches film studies and multimedia creation in an online format. As a part of her course, she has an assignment where she models several video “remixes” – videos created from one or a variety of sources that often take inspiration from or follow known storylines (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T5_0AGdFic) – that she has created and then asks her students to create their own remixes and share them with others via YouTube.

Professor D. also takes short clips from Hollywood movies and presents them to the class as a part of her lectures to illustrate various topics associated with film creation and criticism. She owns the DVD’s of each movie and uses a “ripper” to pull portions of the clips, then places them into her University’s learning management system so only her students have access.

1. Is Professor D violating copyright/fair use in her remixing activity? Why or why not?

I think this activity could be okay since it is using small clips for educational purposes. Where it gets tricky is when she asks students to publish the remixes publicly to YouTube.

2. Are her students violating copyright/fair use in their remixing assignment?

Once again, I think as long as they are using the videos for educational purposes only it could be okay; however, if they post them to YouTube they may be in violation of fair use/copyright.

3. Is Professor D violating copyright/fair use in her use of the short Hollywood clips? Why or why not?

If she is only posting small portions of the clip to the learning management system, which is acceptable under fair use unless challenged by the copyright holder, she should not be considered in violation.

Reflection

What I found most interesting about this assignment was how flexible the rules of copyright/fair use can be, particularly when it comes to educational purposes. I found the university’s FAQ regarding fair use extremely helpful, and it is good to know that specific institutions may interpret the rules in certain ways.  The case in which the professor who wanted to post his own articles makes a good case for why in academia we should be striving to work more within the parameters of Creative Commons and Open Access. However, I understand that a lot of these publishing means are potentially considered less prestigious and can be detrimental to career advancement. Ultimately, this assignment raised very important issues that do not have an easy answer.

Engaging Learning Spaces

I believe the ideal learning space is one that promotes creativity, encourages discussion, and is accessible for all students. To meet this end, the furniture would need to be movable to change the flow of the space based on the activity. In terms of technology, at minimum a classroom should be equipped with a computer and projector. As students continue to rely more and more on their own technology, classrooms will need more outlets and dependable internet access so students will be able to fully participate in class. I also believe to promote engaged learning, classrooms benefit from windows and natural light. To stimulate creativity, students need to feel like they are in a comfortable, non-confining space that doesn’t feel wholly institutional.

One of my favorite learning spaces is at my undergraduate institution, Hanover College, where they have built an outdoor classroom. Hanover, a small liberal arts institution of about 900 students, is surrounded by a state park, so the institution is always looking for ways to create learning environments that incorporate natural spaces. The main one was the outdoor classroom–which is pictured above. Professors often chose to have class in this space when attempting to have their classes do brainstorming work or creative projects. Additionally, most indoor classrooms (when possible) had large windows. Almost no classroom had desks in rows and nearly every room was organized in a manner that was supposed to encourage conversation by having configurations where people faced one another.

Reflection

One thing I found interesting about this assignment was how it changed the way I thought about learning spaces I’ve engaged with as both a learner and a teacher throughout my time in higher education. As mentioned above, my undergraduate degree is from a small liberal arts institution, so I had the privilege of working in spaces with very few people. I was never part of a big lecture style course. For my master’s education, I was part of a small institute that was housed in an old, renovated house. This space was therefore organized very differently from traditional classrooms as every space had a much homier feel. Obviously, both of these examples are quite different from the MSU and the learning spaces I’ve interacted with here. In a way, I wonder if online learning can harken back to some of these smaller, more intimate learning spaces by providing a space for discussion where people can potentially be more easily heard than in a large classroom.

Designing a Discussion Activity

For my discussion activity, I was thinking about trying to have students troubleshoot a digital tool together. I would divide the class into groups of four to five students. I would then assign each group a different digital tool that they’d be responsible for exploring.

In their groups, students would work through using the tool and figure out what elements of the tool are the most difficult or confusing. Instead of immediately going to user guides or discussion forums on the internet, I would encourage them to play around with the tool they’ve been assigned and pose their questions and/or subsequent discoveries to the group.

For instance, I might assign one group TimelineJS from KnightLab. This is a very simple tool in that all they would need to do is create a Google Sheet and input data. However, there are opportunities for minimal coding to insert multimedia or customize the timeline’s appearance. The idea would be for students to brainstorm together to work through some of these processes that might be more difficult.

After the smaller groups of students work through their assigned tool together, they would be then be asked to contribute common issues and the solutions to the larger class-wide chat. Throughout the rest of the semester, students would then be able to use this as a resource as they experimented with these tools as part of their larger digital project.

Reflection

I’ve struggled a bit with online discussion in this course, and I want to figure out a way to really engage students. It may not be successful, but I am hoping that working through their frustrations with certain tools together might spark conversation. The way I often think in class discussions is by talking through the issue before I know the answer myself. I know sometimes when posting in discussion boards I spend more time trying to come up with a more well-formed answer that sounds a bit more complete, but it’s at the cost of the process that allows not fully-formed ideas to bounce off one another to collectively reach a stronger, well-rounded answer. My goal is to find a way to encourage more casual conversation, which may be heavily influenced by platform or technology.

Course Introduction

I’m envisioning my course site being in WordPress or some other content management system, so students would have to click through from the D2L page to get to the main course site. On this site, I would have a brief written message welcoming students to the course and asking them to click through the link to the main course website.

For my course website, I think I will have a static home page. I am in the process of acquiring this second site, as my attempt at branching it off from this one was unsuccessful. The home page will include an introductory video and a brief description of the course. The video will give students an overview of the website and a general timeline for the course. Additionally, it will begin to answer the question “what are the digital humanities?” and outline how students will be asked to interrogate the concept through different class activities. I’m also hoping to have a transcript of the video to make it as accessible as possible.

While the syllabus tab of the website will delve into it more fully, the first page will also address the general goals and objectives of the course. It will incorporate images and links to examples of existing DH projects to give the students an idea of what they will be working on going forward.  These images/links might include examples of coding, network analysis, mapping, data mining, or other kinds of DH projects.

At the top of the page, there will be a navigation bar that includes links to the syllabus, the different units of the course, assignments, and resources that link to various digital humanities tools. I’m hoping to to keep the menu small so students will not be overwhelmed when first perusing the website.

Reflection

What I found most interesting about this week’s assignment was that it made me realize how important the introduction to a course can be. I’ve always just thought of course introductions as a general syllabus day, but how you present the course from the beginning can really influence how students approach the class. When I first wrote up my assignment for the course introduction, I didn’t include the idea of having a video introduction until I realized how a link to the syllabus and/or course objectives didn’t fully capture what I wanted to students to get from the course. I’m also hoping to look into ways to make sure that the website is fully accessible. I considered having students interact by doing brief introductions on some sort of discussion board, but I haven’t decided yet. Since I proposed a hybrid course, if the students are meeting in person I might prefer if they introduce themselves to each other face to face.

Educational Research: Incorporating Digital Artefacts into the Classroom

In their study “The creation of digital artefacts as a mechanism to engage students in studying literature,” Geoff Walton, Mark Childs, and Gordana Jugo investigate whether they can increase student engagement with their national literature using digital tools and methods to create “e-artefacts.” The study was implemented in classrooms in Croatia, Denmark, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom, and it was up to the teachers how the technology was incorporated into their curriculum. The researchers grounded their work in prior studies ranging from 1999 to 2016 that investigated student reading experiences, how technology supports learning, the importance of student creativity, and social constructivist approaches to teaching (1062-1063).

Due to the study taking place across not only school districts but in different countries, the researchers admit that the way teachers incorporated student technology use was different across the board. As such, the majority of their data was extracted from focus groups held with the “teacher practitioners,” which occurred at each of the different schools and promoted in-depth sharing of results and ideas. Additionally, researchers collected comments from students, but they were used “for illustrative, not analytical, purposes” (1065). This variance in implementation methods and the resulting dependence on purely qualitative data could be considered a limitation of the study.

While the researchers were unable to clearly determine whether the use of digital artefacts in the classroom increased students’ love for their national literature, they could pinpoint several positive results from the incorporation of technology with approaches to literary studies. They found that students enjoyed using the digital tools, collaborating with their peers, and having more agency in the creation of their coursework. Additionally, teachers witnessed an increase in student excitement as students delved deeper into texts to develop their digital artefact (1067-1070).

In many ways the study was a resounding success, but there were several limitations to the study. Different schools have different policies, and while some environments encouraged student collaboration, others (especially in the UK) struggled with this change in the orderliness of the classroom (1069). Teachers also struggled with the time constraints that come with incorporating new technology into their curriculum. Units took longer since they had to set up the technology and help students learn to use it before the work on the digital artefacts themselves could begin. Students also needed additional one-on-one attention, creating another time issue (1068). However, teachers indicated that these roadblocks could be worked around given more flexibility within their individual school standards, which they felt could be negotiated.

Ultimately, I do believe that this article will be helpful to my teaching. The study demonstrated that the use of digital artefacts in the classroom as an alternative approach to teaching literature can have many positive effects on student learning. Through the creation of the digital artefacts, my students would have to spend more time with the assigned text and close read it on a level they may not have done otherwise. This article highlighted potential obstacles to keep in mind—particularly in terms of time management—but I feel that with careful consideration these problems could be resolved.

Work Cited

Walton, Geoff, et al. “The Creation of Digital Artefacts as a Mechanism to Engage Students in Studying Literature.” British Journal of Educational Technology, vol. 50, no. 3, 2019, pp. 1060–1086., doi:10.1111/bjet.12785.

Reflection

What I found most interesting in this week’s assignment was that by examining various research articles to determine which study I would use, I was able to gain a better understanding of educational research as a whole—particularly action research. Additionally, I could detect trends in educational research across the different journals I consulted for this assignment. As a student in the English department, I do not have to engage with articles of this kind very often, so it took me a while to work through the structure of the document and how to interact with descriptions of methodologies and data. It was also interesting to see the appearance of social constructivism in practice in this article, as it helped me understand it differently than I did last week when reading about theory. Looking forward to the research proposal assignment, I now feel like I have better understanding of what that project will need to look like. I will definitely want to further investigate different methodologies for conducting educational research, and while I’m somewhat critical of this article’s use of self-reporting in focus groups as their primary method of gathering data, I’ll be interested to see more information on best practices for the gathering and use of qualitative data, quantitative data, or a mix of both in educational research studies.