As noted in my teaching philosophy in addition to developing assignments that enhance life skills through knowledge attainment, I strive to create new and innovative projects. Using five central topics to the course, students were to first work on a ‘collaborative piece’. They were given the opportunity to work individually, in pairs, or in groups as large as five people. In order to create opportunities for the students to develop a product that best suited their abilities and interests, they were provided with the following instructions:
“A Collaborative Piece contribution must be of academic merit, relate to the applicable topic, and be relevant to the overall course. The contribution may include, but is not limited to, a video, a story, drawings, a song, a poem, etc…”
Upon the completion of the collaborative pieces, the students were to work with their classmates that created an assignment based on one of the five central topics. Thus, approximately twenty-five (25) students would now be working together. Their goal was to create an informative video that incorporated all of the completed collaborative pieces. Having the collaborative pieces completed in advance ensured that everyone contributed in some fashion to the project, and warranted that the foundational work was already complete. They were provided with the following instructions:
“All of the Collaborative Piece contributions need to be amalgamated together to create a 30 minute video. The Collaborative Piece contributions can be altered from their original submission. For example, if there are two song contributions, these songs could be meshed together – or kept separately. Another example may include artistic drawings that can be slightly altered to better illustrate a story. All videos are due on the same day. Only one mark will be awarded per project.”
Student Feedback:
“She has always put the learning of the student at high priority, and has taken great lengths to ensure her courses teach well about the subject matter as well as life skills. For example, recently she created a new project in a course title Human Movement and Aging, in which the class was divided into 5 subjects. This put close to 25 students working in one group, on one topic. It taught us the subject matter but also leadership, teamwork, and collaborative skills.” ~ Brittany Annan