~ Group Projects: The Digital Documentary / Lisa
Spiro
|
|
Project: "Group Projects: The Digital Documentary"
Objective: Teaching students to understand and create digital media.
Abstract:
For
my class on the Documentary Across Media (HANS320), students worked in teams
to create their own "digital documentaries." These web-based documentaries
tell a story about a local place, tradition, or community (Rice students at
2 a.m, the oldest commercial building in Houston, BeerBike, and a hip-hop
DJ collective). They feature text, digital images, audio recordings, and even
video.
Time and resources: Developed 2001, $1500 funding, collaboration with Etext Center.
Technology: Web authoring,; digital imaging,; digital audio, digital video capture, and editing.
URL: http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~hans320/projects/index.html
Keywords: Project-based learning, new media.
I wanted to give students--particularly those in the humanities and social sciences--the opportunity to analyze the significance of digital media and to hone their own skills in developing digital media projects.
What were your educational goals?
The course combined theoretical discussions of media and the documentary as a genre with hands-on exercises designed to train students in developing digital media. For the final project, students worked in small groups to create their own "digital documentaries." This assignment aimed to enhance students' technical, design, and managerial skills, challenge them to think creatively and critically about an emerging documentary form, and make visible the talents of Rice students.
How did you get started, and what technologies (if any) did you use?
I had a real advantage in developing this course, since I manage Fondren Library's Electronic Text Center and could grant students access to our equipment and software. However, the Etext Center does not have a digital camera or a minidisc recorder, so I used my stipend to purchase this equipment. To develop their web pages, students used Dreamweaver; to capture and manipulate images, they used an Olympus Camedia digital camera and Photoshop; to capture and edit audio they used a Sony minidisc recorder and CoolEdit; and to work with video, they used a Canon Optura digital camcorder and FinalCutPro (only one group ended up using video in their fina projects). Guides to using both the software and the equipment are available at http://www.rice.edu/fondren/etext/howto/
How effective was it?
On the whole, the group projects were successful. The students developed strong projects that reflected not only their skills in working with digital images and audio, but also their understanding of documentary forms and their ability to present a coherent story. They valued the opportunity to learn new skills and to develop meaningful projects that would reach an audience "beyond the hedges."
What lessons did you learn, and what suggestions do you have for others?
I'd like to teach this class again so that I can apply all that I learned in the first go-round, including:
- Don't try to do too much. I was too ambitious in hoping to teach a course encompassing web design, audio editing, video editing, graphics manipulation AND the theory of documentary AND media studies. Ultimately I scaled back the syllabus and decided to emphasize the intellectual content of the course and the specific skills required for developing the digital documentaries.
- When working with technology, expect the unexpected, such as the monitor on the classroom podium going dead, the password to workstations in the computer classroom suddenly being changed suddenly, web sites included on the syllabus changing or disappearing, and so forth. It's best to be flexible and have a back-up plan.
- Be ready
to spend extra time helping students who have less experience working with
computers. Next time I might try pairing up the computer savants with less
computer-savvy students (that kind of peer learning went on informally anyway).
I did a fair amount of web surfing to find courses that had similar goals; probably the most interesting is Producing Historical Documentaries for Broadcast and Internet Radio at SUNY-Albany: http://www.albany.edu/faculty/gz580/documentaryproduction/
Educational Technology Services (ets@rice.edu)
Rice University, Copyright
1999-2002
Last updated:
April 11, 2002