I was reading Michael’s blog where he links out to Liz Kleinfeld, who writes about using “This I Believe” types of audio recordings for composition.  She discusses the changes that had to occur once a student with hearing disabilities entered her class.  She is having that student create a visual contribution to the assignment.

In my class, we do digital storytelling. This exercise allows students to include visual, audio, or both in a project that describes them.  They can use still images (photographs, drawings, paintings, etc.) or video to tell their story (which is usually a reflective piece about themselves or an issue that they want to share more about).  They can include music, narrative, and other sounds to enhance the work.  We talk about attribution, creative commons, copyright, TEACH, and Fair Use. We talk about the elements of good narrative, good photography/videography.  We discuss the use of technology (we use MovieMaker and iMovie in our labs).

Many of these are poignant, incredible pieces of work.  We really get to know one another even better through the use of this exercise (I also do the assignment alongside the students).

The magic in this, though, is that students who have trouble writing share in a way that is more conducive to their skills.  And it’s fun.

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In another composition area, Google for Educators just came out with a lesson on “Teach Collaborative Revision with Google Docs.”  I think it’s worth a look and it could be easily revised for university instruction.