In this section, Noah Riskin describes his rationale for asking students to keep video journals in the course.
I asked students to reflect on what they were learning in the course through video journals. I chose this medium because of the freedom video offers, and to create a collective portrait of the student experience throughout the semester. Some students recorded their reflections with smartphones as they walked through campus, noting their observations about their bodily experiences, including social interactions and the body language of others. It was a dynamic way to facilitate both reflection and discussion.
Some students struggled with this assignment. They found it difficult to find new things to comment on each week. I nudged them to work through this and, ultimately, they were able to construct their reflections on a deeper level.
Despite the challenges, I found the video journals to be an important assignment because such an intervention starts with the student experience. The video journals allowed me to get a rich sense of the students’ overall experience in the course: their frustrations, breakthroughs, changing self-perceptions, etc.