Students as producers
Involving students in producing educational material, or as researchers in their own right, are not new ideas.
Involving students in producing educational material, or as researchers in their own right, are not new ideas. Teaching is recognised as being a great way to learn. Involvement in authentic research can be an effective motivator as well as providing learning opportunities.
Digital technologies provide new opportunities in these areas: widening access to resources, supporting many forms of collaboration, and lowering the cost of production of high-quality materials.
Planning
You may find it helpful to consider the following:
- Aims: What are your aims in doing this?
- Motivator: What will be the motivator for students to produce the work (for example, assessment)?
- Audience: Who will be the audience for the material produced by the students?
- Resources: Are there existing resources they should contribute to, build on, or use as reference (for example, contributing to Wikipedia)?
- Skills & support: What skills will students need or need to develop? What support will be needed?
- Technology: Is the technology available and are there any associated costs?
Case studies
- Assessing student video projects
- Content system for group projects in Aerospace Engineering
- Hippocrates - online material to support face-to-face sessions
- Moving from paper-based portfolios to e-portfolios in Blackboard
- Pair report writing using a wiki
- Self and peer assessment
- Student-authored quizzes for revision with Peerwise
- Student e-learning projects in Medicine
- Teaching transferable skills through online peer collaboration and assessment
- Using a blog to support academic writing in Spanish
- Video Assessment for Maths School of Mathematics
- Virtual Exhibitions with Exhibita Pro
Further reading
- Documents from Lincoln's Student as Producer project
- Students as Producers: An Introduction from Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching
- Forums for undergraduate research