Digital skill building assignments
Overview
This resource contains a series of 9 digital skill building assignments that were initially used in an online course of postsecondary students from a variety of disciplines. The assignments were mapped to the course's learning objectives and introduced students to a variety of digital literacy skills. Each of the assignments has a short description followed by an 'over to you' section, which asks students to either practice the skills or reflect on what the skills would mean for them. More details about how to use the resource can be found in the Usage Notes.
Linking v. embedding
The short video below (less than 2 minutes) explains the difference between how to insert a link to a video or podcast, and how to embed the content so you can view/listen to it directly on the page.
Over to you...
- Head to AZLryrics and find lyrics to your favorite song. Post the link below.
- Head to YouTube or Vimeo and find the music video associated with the song lyrics.
- Using the HTML editor, embed the video below. If the song contains profanity or questionable images, please include a note to that effect with your post as a courtesy for our learning community. In case some of us might be watching/listening to the video with others around, we would appreciate the heads-up.
Copyright, licenses, and why you might be interested in this
This short video (less than 3 minutes) explains what copyright means for you. We commonly see this associated for brands. When you own the copyright to works you produce, no one else can use the works without your permission. As a student at [name of your instituion], [determine who owns the work that students produce] for your classes - papers, assignments, projects, etc.
Within the past few years, an alternative license called Creative Commons has emerged. This license has several different types (see them explained), which enables works to be shared, remixed, and adapted. Creative Commons licenses are especially useful for educators who wish to adapt learning materials such as books, images, and videos for their specific class needs. Since you hold the license to the work you create as a student, you may elect to use a Creative Commons license.
Over to you...
- Head to SoundCloud's Choosing a license for your track page and read through it.
- Based on the above resources, which license option would you choose to grant to your track/s? (Keep in mind, each track can have its own license - not all tracks need to have the same licenses). What are your thoughts about granting a Creative Commons license to work you produce for your classes?
Pre-planning tips for multimedia assignment
You will save yourself LOTS of time in the long run if you spend some time pre-planning your assignment. Ask yourself these questions:
- What is your topic? (academic, personal, popular)
- What is your message?
- Who is your intended audience?
- What is the purpose of your message? (for example: what you do want your audience to DO, THINK, or FEEL after they view and interact with your piece?)
This pre-planning stage - especially identifying your audience - is even MORE important with a multimedia assignment than a traditional academic paper because the audience will help you make wise decisions about your media AND your tools(s). Media and tool(s) choices directly relate to how effective your final product will be.
Over to you...
Take a few minutes to write out the answers to these questions.
Audience
Consider these questions when thinking about your reader/viewer:
- How many times are they going to revisit this assignment?
- What are their goals when they visit this assignment?
- What is the context in which they will visit it? (will they be on their phone or their desktop computer? Will they be listening or reading while in transit?)
- Does your content require them to interact with your multimedia assignment in any way? (e.g., the Buzzfeed quiz)
Your Goals
Yes, this is an assignment for a course you are taking. However, take a step back and consider your own goals and career when thinking about the assignment. Ask yourself:
- Is this assignment something you can repurpose or build on later in your student career?
- Do you want to link it on your LinkedIn profile as evidence of your good work?
- If you have a portfolio or personal website, is this assignment a candidate for inclusion in it?
Planning
Budget time for:
- development of the content, including interviewing, gathering materials, and developing a first draft
- learning a new presentation technology (if you elect to use a technology that's new to you)
- peer review
- changes to your multimedia assignment based on peer feedback
Presentation tools: What is a storyboard?
Storyboarding is a way to help you organize the components of your multimedia assignment. The term originated from live-action and animated films and helped directors plan the visual effects of the movie. The use of storyboarding has since expanded to many fields (including in my field of instructional design). Storyboarding can be used with basic tools, such as a whiteboard, notebook. There are also various apps and web-based programs if you are curious about them and want to further explore.
Similar to the pre-planning work you did previously, storyboarding is another important aspect of a multimedia assignment. It can help integrate your content (in this case, perhaps specific sections of your interview) with different pieces of media that you might use, such as images.
Over to you...
- Read through the storyboarding article from UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.
- Watch the video that shows how to create a storyboard.
- Practice storyboarding - you might elect to use a small segment of your interview to get a sense of how the process works.
- Post (or link) your work below. Have fun with this! There's no right or wrong way to approach it: the point of this is to create something that's helpful for YOU.
Working with images on the web
Using images in your multimedia assignment can be an effective way to illustrate your main points or to help your audience better understand concepts and ideas. But what images can best serve those purposes? How can you figure that out? Deciding which images are best suited for your assignment is one component.
After you have found an image - or images - to use, the second component is making sure you properly give credit to the creator. When we write formal research papers, giving credit to previous written work is a practice known as citation. When using images from the web in our work, you may either cite the source, or you might provide an attribution.
Over to you...
- Read through the images resource article from Powtoon. Note: Two resources that I frequently use to find images for presentations are not included in the article: Flickr and The Noun Project - if you're not familiar with them, spend a few minutes browsing through the sites.
- Find out the difference between citation and attribution and why it matters.
- From the list of resources, select three images to post that you might use for an upcoming multimedia assignment. Please choose three different images from different sites: for example, Image 1 you might find on Unsplash, Image 2 on Wikimedia, Image 3 on Flickr, etc. Specify if you are including a citation or attribution for each image, and then let us know what it is.
Reverse image search
In this week's resources, you read about one of the ways in which victims found out about catfishing schemes through a reverse image search such as Emma Perrier conducted. The process is fairly easy to do.
The two leading reverse image search services are Google Search by Image and TinEye. Watch the videos below to learn how to use each service.
Over to you...
- Find an image online that's appropriate for a class setting.
- Conduct a reverse image search using one of the options listed above.
- In the discussion, post your image from Step #1. Tell us the name of the site on which you found it and insert the link to it. Describe the reverse image search process you used. What were your results? Did the site on which you found the image show up in the results?
Exploring digital tools
Are you the type of person to jump in and try a new tool just because it’s there? Most times, you’ll come up with a better final version if you let the content and your goals (as defined in the pre-planning steps) guide your tool choices. However, sometimes you just want to experiment. In this case, your choice of tool will likely dictate how your final product turns out.
Other considerations for choosing a tool:
- What’s the goal of your communication?
- What do you want the audience to take away?
- What’s the backbone of your story? (if dates and events, perhaps a timeline tool; if geographical, perhaps a mapping tool)
- Do you need to host your resources on a website?
- Do you have resources you want to embed?
- Do you want your audience to interact with it actively?
- Do you want your audience to be immersed in the media and have an emotional experience?
Low-barrier, media-rich presentation tools
| Tool | Learning curve | Best for telling a story that... | Examples |
| medium | ...can be told through panels of action | Varies by tool: see websites for specific examples | |
| PowerPoint | low/medium | ..has equal amounts of words and pictures (works better than Google Slides for adding low-barrier animated movement) | |
| Sliderding | low | ...has equal amounts of words and pictures | Sliderding example |
| Soundcite | low/medium | ...is primarily text to which you'd like to add emotional flavor or context using clips | Soundcite example |
| Timeline JS | medium | ...best for significant events and dates | Timeline example |
| Canva (has infographic templates) | low/medium | ...can contain equal amounts of words and pictures | Infographic examples |
| Spark by Adobe | low | ...has words and pictures. You can also use it to create videos from still images. | Spark example |
| Storymap | low | ...strongly dependent upon the audience seeing places | Storymap example |
| Powtoon | low/medium | ...may appeal to younger audiences with animated images and characters | Powtoon examples |
| Explain Everything | low/medium | ...uses words, pictures, or video to discuss complex concepts or ideas that need to be broken down | Explain Everything examples |
Over to you...
- Choose one or two of the tools that are new to you.
- Spend 5-10 minutes exploring the example/s and how-to resources.
- Share some thoughts about the tool/s you selected (or about using digital tools in general). How do you see the learning curve factoring into your decision about which one to use? What other criteria might you use in selecting a digital tool to use for a multimedia assignment?
Exploring screencasting tutorial
In its simplest form, a screencast is a video recording of your computer screen, and usually includes audio. It can be a great way to teach or share ideas. Common examples of screencasts are onscreen tutorials, video lessons, or slideshare presentations. A major benefit of screencasting is that the viewer can watch the screencast at a time when it’s best for them, because learning doesn’t always take place in a formal course (such as this). Additionally, the viewer can absorb the information at their own pace by pausing and rewatching portions.
Two of the commonly used tools for screencasting are Screencast-o-matic (free to use) and SnagIt (free trial). Both have time limitations on the recording lengths. Depending on the type of computer and browser you use, there are other options - search online to see what else might work for you.
Over to you...
- Choose one of the tools below and install it on your computer.
- Practice recording, saving, and exporting.
- Take note of what went well, what challenges you encountered, and how you solved the challenges.
- Record a practice screencast on a topic of your choosing that you think would be of interest to others in this course, and post it below.
The web we need to give students
Students' voices in educational technology
Educational technology encompasses a wide range of topics - how to teach and learn online, the tools used for teaching and learning (such as Canvas, which we are using for this online class), and student data (how its collected, who can access it, and who owns it).
Many educators have voiced concerns that students' voices are not heard in decisions about the use of educational technology. In response to this, some schools and educators have begun using a combination of websites and digital portfolios for teaching and learning. In her article, The web we need to give students, the author describes how this combination works and how it can shift the dynamic in teaching and learning.
Over to you...
- Read through the article.
- Reflect on your understanding of what the Domain of One's Own initiative is about.
- Imagine you were starting at your school as a first year student. How would having your own web space have changed your college experience? Post your thoughts below (you can write them or record a video).
Usage notes
**The digital skill building assignments were set up as Discussions in the Canvas learning management system. If you use Canvas at your school, you may be able to find this resource in the Canvas Commons: search for Digital Skill Building assignments to import them into your course/s. The assignments can be used in their current format, and instructors will likely need to make minor langauge edits to fit their specific educational context.