CREATING MEDIA AS LEARNING: THE CHARMS AND CHALLENGES OF DIGITAL MEDIA-BASED ASSESSMENT Louise Thorpe Educause Learning Initiative Web Seminar – 2 March

30,000 students and 3,000 faculty Over 600 programmes of study – largely vocational and liberal art Graduate employability – 89% within 6 months One third of students from local community 3,500 international students from 120 countries 2

AIMS OF THE SESSION Why consider digital media-based assessment? What are “charms” of assessing students in this way? What practical considerations need to be considered? What are the “challenges” of this approach? What might the future hold? 3

DIGITAL MEDIA-BASED ASSESSMENT Students are asked to produce, individually or in groups, a piece of assessed coursework where the output is required to be in a single or mixed media format (eg audio, video, still image). This assessment may be summative, formative or diagnostic….or a combination thereof. 4

WHY CONSIDER DIGITAL MEDIA- BASED ASSESSMENT? 5 Authenticity Assessment as learning Creativity Engaging and interesting

WHY CONSIDER DIGITAL MEDIA- BASED ASSESSMENT? - AUTHENTICITY 6 10 characteristics of authentic activities (Reeves, Herrington and Oliver, 2002) 1. Real-world relevance 2. Ill-defined, requiring students to define the tasks and sub-tasks needed to complete the activity 3. Comprise complex tasks to be investigated by students over a sustained period of time 4. Provide the opportunity for students to examine the task from different perspectives, using a variety of resources 5. Provide the opportunity to collaborate

WHY CONSIDER DIGITAL MEDIA- BASED ASSESSMENT? - AUTHENTICITY 7 10 characteristics of authentic activities (Reeves, Herrington and Oliver, 2002) 6. Provide the opportunity to reflect 7. Can be integrated and applied across different subject areas and lead beyond domain-specific outcomes 8. Are seamlessly integrated with assessment 9. Create polished products valuable in their own right rather than as preparation for something else 10. Allow competing solutions and diversity of outcomes

WHY CONSIDER DIGITAL MEDIA- BASED ASSESSMENT? ASSESSMENT AS LEARNING 8 Constructive alignment (Biggs 1999) Technology enhanced learning is often followed by traditional assessment Higher order skills – analysis, synthesis and critical evaluation

WHY CONSIDER DIGITAL MEDIA- BASED ASSESSMENT? - CREATIVITY 9 o Assessment as creative expression o The output frequently exceeds the initial expectation o New interpretations of the topic can be enriching for all o Contributing to the collective resources o Communal constructivism (Holmes 2001) "in this model, students will not simply pass through a course like water through a sieve but instead leave their own imprint in the learning process.“ Bryn Holmes on Communal constructivism

WHY CONSIDER DIGITAL MEDIA-BASED ASSESSMENT? ENGAGEMENT AND INTEREST 10 different challenging modern like real life fun to do learn new skills think differently work with others

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS Access to equipment File sharing and collaboration Submission and storage 11

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS Skills and fluencies Supporting faculty and students Assessment criteria 12

CHALLENGES OF MEDIA-BASED ASSESSMENT 13 Is the balance right? Are we replacing one affordance with another? How many simultaneous media-based assessments can someone handle?

CHALLENGES OF MEDIA-BASED ASSESSMENT 14 What happens when the novelty wears off? What assumptions can we really make about students’ skills? What support do we need to (can we) offer?

WHAT MIGHT THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE? 15 Easier and easier Choosing the media Mashing the media New opportunities

REFERENCES Biggs, J. (1999): Teaching for Quality Learning at University, (SRHE and Open University Press, Buckingham) Holmes, B., Tangney, B. FitzGibbon, A., Savage, T Mehan, S. (2001) Communal Constructivism: Students Constructing Learning for as well as with others Reeves, T. C., Herrington, J., & Oliver, R. (2002). Authentic activities and online learning. Quality Conversations. Proceedings of the 2002 Annual International Conference of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA). pp , Rule, A. (2006). Editorial: The components of authentic learning, Journal of Authentic Learning, 3(1), ditorial_rule.pdf ditorial_rule.pdf 16