What Are Digital Media Assignments?

Digital media assignments ask learners to create a piece of work, deliverable, or artifact using digital tools. The digital media could be a video, website, infographic, podcast, or social media post.

A digital media assignment can also ask learners to use digital content to support written explanations, narratives, or reflections.

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Video

Website

Infographic

Podcast

Social Media Posts

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What is your experience with digital media assignments? What types of digital media have you included in your assessments? What types would you like to explore?

How Do Digital Media Assignments Benefit Online Learners?

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Aligning Digital Media Assignments to Learning Outcomes

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When should you consider a digital media assignment?

Just because you can assign a digital project, does not mean you should. Technology has the potential to create barriers to learning if not used appropriately. Therefore, instructors must carefully consider when and how to use digital media assignments and ensure that adequate resources are in place to support learners throughout the process. Failure to do so may result in frustration, poor performance, and inaccurate measures of learner achievements.

As with all assessments, begin by considering the intended learning outcomes. Does the use of a digital media assignment align with, advance, or reinforce the learning goals? Does it make sense for learners to communicate their ideas through a video, website, or infographic rather than in writing? Is the selected media format (e.g. video versus infographic) appropriate for demonstrating course or program learning goals?

A good test is to consider whether this type of media aligns with an authentic career or life task. Linking digital media assignments to authentic scenarios harnesses the benefits of both alternative and authentic assessment strategies. It brings context, relevance, and value to the assessment, and uses technology to support learning, not for technology’s sake. Examine the following examples of digital media assignments aligned with learning outcomes and authentic tasks.

In the interactive element below, use the menu bar (☰) on the left or the arrows on the right to view the content on all 6 pages.

 

Idea IconDigital media assignments can be adapted for formative online assessment as well. For example, ask learners to create a simple mind map summarizing a lesson and post it to the course discussion board. Or use tools such as VoiceThread, Padlet, and Jamboard that allow learners to comment through a variety of media formats.

 

 

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Rethinking Assessment Strategies for Online Learning Copyright © 2022 by Seneca College; Durham College; Algonquin College; and University of Ottawa is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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