ABSTRACT
Assessing student understanding can be done in a variety of ways. With advancements in technology, student-made, multimedia artifacts have become viable alternatives to written tests. Part of these technological advancements have made student-produced videos not only affordable, but practical and engaging forms of assessment. The seven steps within a Collaborative Video Production activity (CVP) provide a framework for conducting video projects in the classroom environment. The seven steps in a CVP activity are establishing collaborative groups, creative thinking and decision-making, storyboarding and scriptwriting, creating and gathering props, videotaping, editing, and viewing.
There are eight jobs in a CVP activity that can be divided between a recommended three- to five-member group. These jobs consist of producer, director, storyboard creator, scriptwriter, props manager, actor, videographer, and editor. Although each student within the group contributes ideas and assistance to the various aspects of the production, the student assigned to a specific job is ultimately responsible for its duties. This ensures each group member is tasked with contributing to the process and the final product. The final step in the process (viewing) not only provides an opportunity to celebrate group achievement, it gives students the chance to reflect on and think critically about their efforts and how they might improve upon them for future projects.
There are a number of benefits that have been noted for students who are involved with video production projects. In order to create a video that adequately demonstrates the group's understanding of a particular concept or topic, the students must apply sustained effort in analyzing the subject in order to create an adequate product. This results in an authentic learning task that can increase conceptual understanding. CVP activities also meet the criteria for a meaningfully engaging task which is necessary to generate student interest. Even if the concept or topic of the video is not one a student is personally interested in, being involved in a meaningfully engaging task can lead to situational interest, which is a type of interest that can be triggered by an activity. This is significant since interest has been found to have a positive effect on both motivation and learning.
