Beyond the presentation: student authored vignettes

By Simon Lancaster2014-03-06T00:00:00

Source: © Rachel Smith, University of East Anglia

Why stop at asking students to give presentations? The technology to empower them to produce versatile and reusable blended learning objects is readily accessible, explains Simon Lancaster

Requiring students to prepare a highly visual account of a topic using software like PowerPoint, Keynote or Prezi is common practice at every level of education. In higher education, presentations not only provide an alternative assessment strategy, balancing the reliance on examinations, but they also offer translatable skills training, which is essential for the modern professional workplace. However, there are disadvantages. The presentation is short-lived, all that preparative effort for a brief talk and, unlike an essay or report, it cannot be recalled in full to help with revision or be emailed to someone who was unavoidably detained.

Recently we discussed the potential of lecturers using video in chemistry learning and teaching and introduced the concept of vignettes, short interactive highlights of chemistry screencasts. Here we look at handing over the production of vignettes to the students.

Simon Lancaster shares his experience of having students create vignettes, alongside feedback and recommendations from the student group involved.

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