Assessment Case Study - Let's Play Videos in English
Ashley Weleschuk, Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning
July 25, 2018
“I like trying things that are different in my class… It’s refreshing for students who are always writing essays” –Dr. Derritt Mason
Background
The landscape of digital literature for young people is changing. Dr. Derritt Mason explores this in the graduate seminar course, ENGL 607.02: The Virtual Child. He introduced the course for the first time in winter 2018, and had a cohort of seven Masters and PhD students. He used an assignment structure similar to that from his undergraduate course, ENGL 472. However, since he had the opportunity to experiment with other methods and employ different technologies, he introduced some new assessments. Since students explore different ways that young people consume media, one project is the creation of Let’s Play videos.
Strategies
Let’s Play videos are a common style of online videos in which a creator records themself playing through a video game. The player typically adds commentary as they play. These are very popular with communities of young people online. Dr. Mason received a Taylor Institute Teaching and Learning grant for the course, which allowed him to integrate many different technologies into the course, including lending each student a tablet to use for the semester. Students use the tablet to create two different Let’s Play videos, each worth 10% of the course grade. They record the first video as they engage with a chosen text for the first time. The tablets have screen and voice capture functions, which allow students to record their visual experiences as well as their commentary. Students have a maximum of 20 minutes for the video and are encouraged to include as much (or as little) spontaneous narration as they wish. The second video is completed later in the semester, once students have spent a lot of time reading and analyzing their text and can approach it as an expert. This time, students plan and script their videos ahead of time, applying a specific approach, such as using humour, offering a theoretical reading, or providing gameplay advice and tips for users. Dr. Mason encourages students to be creative in their videos. He does not assess only the video content. Students write a short (~ 500-word) reflection to accompany each video. The first reflection is an explanation about their initial experience with the text, where they mention key features and observations, and any surprising points or standout moments. For the second video, they critically reflect on their text and why they chose their specific approach for the video.
Two researchers at the University of Calgary, Dr. Catherine Burwell and Dr. Thomas Miller, discuss the literary power of Let’s Play videos in an article in E-Learning and Digital Media. Specifically, they explore how these videos encourage discussion about interpretation and finding meaning in games. Dr. Mason was inspired by this article and the capabilities of Let’s Play videos as an assessment tool. It was even more meaningful since one of the course topics is the role of Let’s Play videos in children’s literature. Alignment between content, learning objectives, and assessment is important for a successful course, and Dr. Mason has found a way to connect the form of literature being studied to the assessment that students complete. It is more meaningful for students to create videos, rather than just read about and watch them.
The main challenge with creating videos is figuring out the technology, particularly using the screen-capture function on the tablets. Dr. Mason hoped that students would be able to do all of their video editing on their iPads, but this was not always easy due to frustrations with application design. However, the results were well done, and students presented interesting perspectives using creative strategies.
Outcomes
Students had an overwhelmingly positive experience in the course and offered positive feedback. Dr. Mason experimented with his assessments and teaching, and students appreciated that. Although most of them were familiar with the concept of Let’s Play videos, they had never created one as an assessment before. It is a refreshing course and assessment, since it is not writing heavy and has room for creativity and customization. As graduate students in English, they spend a lot of time reading, researching, and writing papers. Getting to create videos with short reflections is different and enjoyable.
Dr. Mason enjoyed teaching the course and was incredibly pleased with students’ learning and engagement. He is in the process of adapting it for undergraduates for the upcoming fall semester, and is excited to see how a new group of students approach the course and what new perspectives they will bring. However, there will be more than twice as many students, which will come with its own set of challenges. Dr. Mason is making some changes to accommodate the larger group, but knows that it will still be somewhat experimental in nature. He believes in trying new assessments and exploring the possibilities for what teaching and learning can be.
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