Not Just Another Research Paper: Understanding Global Sustainability through Digital Documentary

Abstract

This article evaluates the impact of extending a traditional written research paper into a digital documentary on students’ perception and level of comprehension of a global sustainability issue. An adaptation of Moon's (1999) five-stage map of learning was used to assess the written and digital projects students submitted to a statewide conference. The assessment was enriched by a survey gauging students’ feelings about the process of creating their papers and documentaries. Results show the value of the written paper (expository) as a reflection artifact of a student's personal worldview. Transforming the message into a digital documentary encourages students also to appreciate global issues through the eyes of cultural “others,” a process Hanvey (1982) called “perspective consciousness.”