Media Production: Learning through Teaching

Putting students behind the camera can give them a voice and a sense of empowerment, fostering active participation in the learning process.

Through media production, students are asked to convey complex topics using clear, simple language and metaphor, so their content knowledge must be deep enough to educate others.

Video production is inherently a team effort (production requires a director, camera person, actors, an editor, etc.) and therefore creates an opportunity for learning in a social context, which has been shown to lead to better learning outcomes in climate change education. Video production also promotes the basic tenets of engagement theory, in which students work in small collaborative teams on projects that have an authentic outside focus (e.g., to educate others) (Kearsley and Schneiderman 1998).

References

Kearsley G, Schneiderman B. 1998. Engagement theory: A Framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Educational Technology 38: 20-23.