The aim of this course is to enable the students to carry out an ICT-based educational design process while taking the context, target group, values, purpose and use into account. The result of the design process must be an ICT-based educational design concept in the form of a product, a prototype, a sketch, a plan, etc.
The course is interdisciplinary in nature and finds its analytical approach in key theories, methods and models within the fields of design, ICT-based education and IT pedagogy. The course includes a clear practical and experimental dimension.
The course is still under development and is updated regularly with an increased focus on connecting theory and practice. See a brief description of the course content here.
This activity helps further the development of the students’ ability to reflect on their own codes of practice and values through a simple, comfortable, efficient and formalized practice. To do this, video is used to establish a reflection room with the purpose of adjusting behaviour and targeting academic work.
The video format was chosen because it allows you to use both audio and visuals, and since it can be paused at any moment. Afterwards, the video can be used to make the students aware of their own communication patterns. Video is also used to create an awareness that communication – e.g., in an exam situation – is more than simply what is being said. By including video, the significance of gestures, facial expressions, accentuation and interaction with artefacts can serve as objects for multimodal interpretation.
Video can be saved as proof of academic progress and/or as a basis for collective coordination of the academic requirements and expectations. The recordings make it possible for the students to reflect on their quality and level in an academic context. For this reason, it can be used to create a reflection room, where the participants can observe and construct focused collaborative reflections in order to adjust their behaviour and target their academic work. Video can combine feedback, feed-up and allow for individual and useful feed-forward.
Before the teaching:
To begin, the teacher ensures that the students are divided into groups of three to four people and that group rooms or similarly calm premises have been booked for recording the presentations.
The teacher asks the students to bring an iPad, smartphone or similar to record with, and to bring their latest product (text, design, artefact, etc.)
The students prepare a short presentation (two to three minutes) on the relevant academic product. Presentations must be oral and should not be accompanied by a manuscript or digital aids like PowerPoint.
During the teaching:
The individual student notes the focus point(s) they want other group members to keep an eye on during their presentation. Form A: Observation focus is completed individually.
Presentation and recording:
The students spend two to three minutes individually presenting in front of the other members of their group (three to four students).
One of their fellow students records the presentation on the phone/iPad that belongs to the person presenting. Since the audio quality is essential afterwards, the recording must be made in a calm environment. The person presenting should try to speak loud and clear.
The academic focus should be made clear through the inclusion of relevant concepts, methods, and models or – in our case – codes of practice and values that affect the designed product. The teacher can allow the student to bring relevant notes, models or similar, if appropriate.
Matrix group work:
After recording, the students gather in new groups of the same size (matrix groups). In these groups, the students are assigned roles:
Role 1) Listener: The person whose presentation is being analysed
Role 2) Analyser: The one who analyses the video
Role 3) Observer: The person(s) who observes, takes notes and sums up (fills out form B: Analysis)
The analyser (Role 2) watches the recording of the listener (role 1), pausing as they see fit. During the viewing, Role 2 speaks without pause or interruptions (think out loud). Each sequence (typically 10-15 seconds) is retold with an awareness of the chosen focus.
When Role 2 has finished analysing Role 1’s presentation, Role 3 summarises based on the chosen observation focus (form A). Afterwards, the person who presented asks follow-up questions about the analysis using open questions to ensure a clear understanding.
Then the group members switch roles, until everyone has had each role.
Follow-up:
The follow-up can profitably be supplemented by writing in a logbook, where each students notes focus points for the next phase of the academic work (formative self-evaluation supported by the peer feedback in the activity itself).
Video-based reflection loop made the students very aware of their own communication strategies, and it strengthened their competencies in systematic formulation and reflection on their own communicative practice in an exam-like situation.
In our case, we emphasised that the students had the chance to watch and rewatch their own presentations. This made it possible to use the recording – along with the notes from the reflection loop – as very precise feed-forward in the design process that we were working on.
All parts of the activity can be completed online with video conference platforms that have a recording option.
Make sure that the students know that it is a confidential activity.
If the video-based reflection loop is completed before an oral examination, the follow-up can include a written reflection, where the students note two or three specific areas with room for improvements.
The recording oral presentations can eventually be used as documentation for participation.
Faculty: Arts
Degree programme: ICT-Based Educational Design (ITDD)
Course: Design: theory, method and practice
Study level: MA
Size of class: Usually suitable for smaller classes, but works with all class sizes.
Form of instruction: Classroom instruction
Extent: Activity
Primary activity type: Collaboration
Applied technology: Video recording on mobile or tablet
How the case is carried out: Classroom teaching using learning technology
