Collaboration and dialogue

Abstract

In this paper I explore the use of video and multimedia technology in student writing as a method to facilitate students' critical reflection about their learning process and teachers' understanding of students' learning process. Use of video in instruction has become more available and popular. From a digital camera to a webcam and a mobile phone plus the Internet, our students are using video to express and communicate their thoughts and ideas with the world outside school. K-12 educators can also use video to communicate with and better understand students. When students need to write a paper or report that presents their understanding of a specific subject or topic, video and multimedia technology can enhance that learning experience, provide an opportunity for collaborative learning between students and their peers, and enable dialogues between a student and a teacher. Using this approach, students critically reflect on and talk about each other's paper development and video creation process. At several points in the process of organizing and presenting their learning about a subject (beginning, middle and end) or at certain important turning points, students may communicate their learning via reflective videos. Through collaborative learning, they study how to critique and reflect on their thinking and gain multimedia literacy by making and editing video clips. Then, they convert their papers into PDF files and choose the proper places to embed their video clips in their papers. As they read students' papers, teachers can click on these clips to gain background into the paper creation process and a deep understanding of the student's learning process. Furthermore, the new media-enriched paper not only records the student's learning process but also helps the student deepen their thinking about the presentation of knowledge and understanding of the subject matter, and helps the teacher aid the student in organizing learning and knowledge. Other benefits include stimulating students' motivation to participate in paper writing by recording a video.