The theme of this meeting was Student Involvement.
Paul from MedIT started us off by sharing the highly successful, student produced podcast series made for a course focused on Cardiovascular concepts. The course covered complex concepts, which students seemed to struggle with year after year. They needed to be presented with a more engaging and relatable method of learning. One student, Abe, excelled in explaining these concepts to his classmates using simple metaphors. Using his voice over some animations, the team created a video podcast series based on his metaphors. 92% of students said they videos were helpful. They found that sticking to a loose script can both keep things on track, and keep the tone friendly and casual. They did note, however, that projects happening “off the edge of people’s desks” can progress very slowly. On the bright side though, when the final product had been produced, it will likely be relevant for at least three years.
Examples:
1. Re-Entry
2. Wall Stress
Next up was UBC Studios speaking to the Vantage College piece. In it’s early days, Vantage College needed a recruitment piece that would speak to an international audience, and entice them to enroll. The student engagement aspect was very pronounced, as students assisted with every stage of production, and acted as producers, writers, wardrobe and makeup. The client was thrilled with the overall product, and it won a 2014 Hermes Platinum Award. Some challenges included the naturally high turnover rate of students, and the multitude of creative voices involved. However, students have great enthusiasm to learn, and having one Creative Director to keep things on track ensured that the video was a success.
Examples:
1. Vantage College
Jamil from MarComm shared their Imagine Day 2015 and Class of 2016 pieces, which were almost entirely created by students. The main goal of the Imagine Day video was to have a very quick turnaround time, so new students could enjoy revisiting their experience just a day or two after it happened. Students played crucial roles in pre-production, did all of the production (in very high spirits, despite the downpour!), and completed the main editing work. The Class of 2016 piece had a bit of a longer turnaround time, and it aimed to get new students excited about the opportunities available at UBC. Budget was kept quite low using student work and equipment, and students really enjoyed sharing the finished videos on social media.
Examples:
1. Harvest Feast
2. Imagine Day 2014 Summary
3. Commuting to Campus
4. Arts Internship Program
5. Class of 2016
To prepare students in the Dietetics program in the Faculty of LFS for their mandatory internships, one course had them create instructional videos. Duncan explained that instead of sifting through pages of written material on appropriate business wear, or workplace safety, students created short, fun videos to share with other students in the class. Because they were not outward facing videos, they were funny and casual, and ended up being very engaging. Although the videos were fairly ‘rough’, they were created on a minimal, or possibly non-existant budget, the hands on aspect made them a huge hit. Wiki Embed ended up being a very useful tool for this type of project, as it allows it to grow as the years go on.
Examples:
1. Dietetics internship resources created by students in FNH 480
The meeting’s Chairperson, Rosemary from UBCO, shared the Mental Illness PSAs created by students. The 3rd year English students made short videos highlighting issues of mental illness, and the best selected ones were shown on TVs around campus and on Shaw TV. This instilled a sense of pride, as students could see their work being aired.
Examples:
1. Mental Illness PSAs