Learner-generated digital media (LGDM) projects have been used extensively in secondary and higher education in the last decade. However, the methodology used to design, implement, and evaluate LGDM projects has been inconsistent. Challenges for teachers include planning the learning task; allocating marks and creating rubrics; providing feedback; and training students in the digital media principles needed to communicate effectively in the digital space. These are design rules around layout, colour theory, typography, images, and basic video principles which should be part of the curriculum. This chapter introduces some theoretical models to help pre-service teachers develop digital media literacies and systematically design, implement, and evaluate LGDM projects in the classroom. It also provides the tools to scaffold student learning via digital media content creation. The author discusses best practices for implementing digital media assignments, with an emphasis on STEM education.
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A crucial strategy to improve student outcomes is producing outstanding teachers (Darling-Hammond, 2010). However, educational research in Australia has highlighted a lack of support for in-service teachers, particularly in rural and remote areas (Burnett et al., 2014). There is a consensus that students in secondary schools across Australia are less interested in STEM disciplines than others (Timms et al., 2018). This fact translates into fewer student enrolments in science disciplines at universities. In-service teacher professional development is one of the multiple variables that may cause this lack of interest. Therefore, it is essential to prepare in-service and pre-service teachers with innovative ways, mediated by digital technologies, to engage students in learning STEM-related disciplines. Learner-Generated Digital Media (LGDM) projects have the potential to help teachers to engage their students in learning STEM-related content while also developing digital media production skills (Reyna, 2021b). Empowering pre-service teachers to design, implement, and evaluate LGDM projects using a systematic approach could significantly enhance student learning experiences. Providing digital media production training could boost pre-service teachers' self-efficacy and confidence to implement LGDM projects in the classroom and have a positive impact on secondary students engaging with STEM-related disciplines.
In the higher education landscape, digital media has been used extensively for content deployment in blended learning environments (Bonk & Graham, 2012; Garrison & Vaughan, 2008) and flipped classrooms (Bergmann & Sams, 2012). Since 2007, LGDM projects have become popular in tertiary education, firstly as a reflective practice for pre-service teachers (Kearney et al., 2012) and more recently as a pedagogical agent for content in science disciplines (Nielsen et al., 2018). Teachers have been overly optimistic that students can produce effective digital media artefacts (Hoban et al., 2015) even if they do not receive basic digital media production training in the classroom. LGDM has thus been incorporated into learning activities without systematic approaches to design, implementation, and evaluation of student learning. The New Media Consortium’s (NMC) Horizon Report in the US has highlighted that the technology problem in developed countries is no longer ownership but fluency in its use (Alexander et al., 2016). It is posited here that LGDM projects should have a dual aim of learning the subject content and developing practical digital media skills. These skills need to be embedded in curricula; otherwise, students will not acquire them.
The promotion of LGDM projects in STEM-related subjects aims to: (i) facilitate student learning of complex scientific concepts via multimodal representation of content using digital media; (ii) develop critical, problem-solving, and research skills while building a storyboard; (iii) develop students’ digital media literacies with formal training; (iv) expose students to teamwork, collaboration, and conflict resolution; and (v) help students understand cross-cultural communication, cultural safety, and understanding of diversity via LGDM group work.