Microsoft Word - kearney1.doc


Australasian Journal of
Educational Technology

2006, 22(2), 189-208

Spotlight on authentic learning: Student
developed digital video projects

Matthew Kearney and Sandy Schuck
University of Technology, Sydney

The recent convergence of video and computer technologies presents new
opportunities and challenges in education. Video production resources such
as cameras and video editing software are now widely available in many
schools and homes. The ease of use of these resources has encouraged
teachers to use them across the curriculum with students of all ages.
Furthermore, students often find this work exhilarating and perceive these
tasks as deeply relevant and highly contextual. This paper probes the
authentic nature of student developed video projects and builds on the
literature relating to authentic learning with new educational technologies.

Introduction

Over the past decade, digital video editing software has developed from an
expensive, rather clumsy tool, to a cheaper, user friendly tool with many
capabilities that facilitate learner control. This development has given rise
to a host of new applications in education, including the ability of students
to capture, edit and generate their own video. As a result, student
generated digital video projects (referred to subsequently in this paper as
DV tasks or DV projects) are now being used in many classrooms to
support, extend, or change pedagogy and curriculum outcomes.

The project on which this paper is based studied the use of student
generated digital video in five schools. Two foci of the project were the
nature of student learning from DV tasks and the pedagogical approaches
being used with this technology. One of the characteristics of the video
tasks that was noted in the study was their authentic nature. This paper
analyses current understandings of authentic learning, examines teacher
and student beliefs about the perceived authentic nature of student
generated digital video tasks, and provides evidence of the authentic
learning noted in the DV tasks from the study.



190 Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2006, 22(2)

Background literature

There has been extensive literature discussing the use of digital video for
teaching and learning. In recent times, with the development of software
that is more accessible, both in terms of price and ease of use, student
generated DV is becoming more commonplace. As a result, the use of
student generated DV in schools is increasingly becoming an area of
interest to researchers of ICT in education. This paper focuses on one
characteristic of such usage in five schools: the authentic learning that arose
through the student generated DV task environment.

Authentic learning

There is general agreement that authentic tasks provide real world
relevance and personal meaning to the learner, although issues of what
constitutes authenticity and how to design authentic learning tasks are still
emerging (Radinsky, Bouillion, Lento & Gomez, 2001). Useful initial
developments have drawn on situated learning theory and suggest that
authentic activities can simply be defined as “ordinary practices of the
culture” (Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1989, p.34). However, it should be
noted that learning environments cannot be ‘pre-authenticated’ by
teachers, designers or even communities of practice (Petraglia, 1998), and
ultimately authenticity “lies in the learner perceived relations between the
practices they are carrying out and the use value of these practices” (Barab,
Squire & Dueber, 2000, p. 38).

CTGV (1990) believe authentic tasks involve ‘life like’ tasks, which require
decision making and exposure to real world information, and also allow
students to generate their own problems to solve. They also delineate task,
factual and process levels of authenticity. Task authenticity refers to the
extent to which tasks are realistic and offer problems encountered by real
world practitioners. Factual authenticity refers to how particular details of
a task (such as characters, instruments etc) are similar to the real world,
while a process level of authenticity refers to how learner practices are
similar to those practices conducted outside of school.

Radinsky et al. (1998) used two useful models of authentic learning
environments: a simulation model and participation model. Tasks that fit a
simulation model of authenticity use the classroom as a ‘practice field’
(separate from the ‘real community’) but still provide contexts where
learners can practise the kind of activities they might encounter outside of
school. These tasks are valuable in that support is available from a teacher,
but have limitations, as they are not an integral part of the ongoing activity
of a community. Alternatively, under a participation model of authenticity,
students participate in the actual work of a professional community,



Kearney and Schuck 191

engaging directly in the target community itself. Students adopt real roles
in out of school communities and tasks are ‘ecologically’ authentic (Barab
et al., 2000) to the degree to which learners engage in authentic practices of
a community (Lave & Wenger, 1991).

Reeves, Herrington and Oliver (2002) proposed ten characteristics of
authentic activities for designers and teachers, based on an extensive
literature review of the area. They then used this framework to discuss how
online environments can facilitate authentic tasks. The authors contend that
authentic tasks have real world relevance, are ill-defined, comprise
complex sub-tasks to be investigated over a period of time, provide the
opportunity to examine the task from different perspectives and are
collaborative in nature. Furthermore, such tasks provide opportunities for
learner reflections, are applied across different subject areas, are seamlessly
integrated with assessment, involve the creation of valuable products and
allow a diversity of solutions.

DV tasks and authenticity

Potter (2005) focused on ways that DV work can be used in an expressive
and ‘culturally authentic’ mode. He found that very young children
utilised the video medium to create a range of sophisticated and rich
representations, and emphasised that children are operating in a medium
which is familiar and culturally closer to their experiences of life outside
the school than is usual with the school curriculum. Indeed, part of the
motivational impact of DV projects seems to emanate from their capacity to
engage students in real world problems (Jonassen, Peck & Wilson, 1999)
and relevant out of school interests, particularly their knowledge of TV and
film (Parker, 2002). Another key factor is making sure that students’ films
reach a ‘real’ audience (Burn & Reed, 1999; Coleman, Neuhauser & Zwaag,
2004). Furthermore, Burden and Kuechel (2004) found that pupils respond
better to digital assets produced by their peers and teachers (the language
and appearance of some professional assets was a demotivating factor for
some pupils.)

Shewbridge and Berge (2004) discussed the need for teachers to harness the
natural interest that students show for these tasks, to create imaginative
and authentic learning opportunities for students. These authors
emphasised the increasing relevance of digital video production to
education today and discussed benefits such as media literacy, active
learning, experiential learning, play and motivation. There are many other
papers in the literature describing authentic learning processes using
student authored DV projects and associated learning benefits. For
example, Levin (2003) described the authenticity of his high school history
students’ production of DV products telling the story of Holocaust



192 Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2006, 22(2)

survivors. A major goal of the project was to forge links with the
community by meaningful engagement with the world outside the
classroom.

In summary, there is a growing body of literature which is useful in
developing understanding of the nature of authentic learning through use
of student generated digital video. The study described in this paper set
out to gain a deeper insight into this area and to expand on some issues
regarding the authentic nature of DV tasks. We further explore the role of
the audience and its relationship to authenticity, the authentic assessment
of DV tasks, and other pedagogical practices that contribute to the
authentic nature of DV tasks.

The study

In our study we sought to gain an understanding of the way that teachers
and students interact and learn in classrooms in which practice using
student generated digital video occurs. A qualitative research paradigm
was used in this interpretive study (Erickson, 1986; Lincoln & Guba, 1985)
to examine the experiences occurring in five case study classrooms. The
study explored four research questions concerning teachers’ rationales,
school context, learning outcomes and pedagogical approaches. (For papers
discussing these questions and related findings, see Kearney and Schuck,
2005; Schuck and Kearney, 2006; Schuck and Kearney, 2005.) As well, we
ensured that we remained open to questions and theories that might arise
from the data in a grounded theory methodology (Strauss & Corbin, 1998).
Indeed, a strong theme to emerge in the study, and the subsequent focus of
this paper, was the authentic nature of the DV tasks and related learning.

The research question that arose as these data were analysed and
interpreted was:

What is the nature of authentic learning in this student generated
digital video environment and how are its characteristics
manifested? To gain an understanding of this question, we examined
the nature of the observed tasks and the teaching approaches used in
the various learning environments of each case in the study.

Participants

Five case schools were selected across K-12 (ages 5 to 17) so that there were
both primary and secondary schools and a range of curriculum areas and
pedagogical contexts for the use of the technology. The schools were
located in two Australian states (New South Wales and Victoria) and
comprised two state primary schools (District PS and Southern PS) and



Kearney and Schuck 193

three secondary schools (Princes HS, Park HS and Pathways HS). One of
the secondary schools was a state school and the other two were both
Catholic system schools. The schools investigated were all well known as
schools that were implementing innovative approaches using student
generated digital video (see Schuck & Kearney, 2004 for further details).
Pseudonyms are used in this paper to protect individual teacher and school
identities.

Data collection and analysis

Each school was visited by at least two members of the research team,
which comprised the two authors and two research assistants. Data were
collected in a number of ways. Initial open ended questionnaires were given to
teachers and administrators to collect demographic information and views
about administrative structures, and to probe rationales for use of student
generated DV. Observation of lessons was conducted using a semi-structured
observation schedule. Video of class activities was also taken (see Schuck &
Kearney, 2006a for discussion of emerging issues relating to our use of
digital video as a methodological tool). Interviews were held with teachers,
administrators and selected students in focus groups. Students were
selected for these interviews by means of purposeful sampling (Bogdan &
Biklen 1998). Finally, artefacts made by the students were collected as well
as school documentation about ICT management, rationale and use. The
curriculum documents pertaining to the lessons were also examined.

The story of each case school was constructed and developed from the
multiple sources of data on that case. After each field trip, researchers
transcribed the data from notes, audio tapes, and video tapes. The research
questions provided a framework for the case studies. After all case studies
were completed, the final stage was to collaboratively consider the five
cases in terms of the insights they provided regarding the four research
questions, and look for common trends, discrete differences and influences
that might have caused these differences. It was at this stage that the
research question regarding authentic learning emerged.

Sample DV tasks from study

Over sixty different student generated digital video projects were part of
the data in the study. Some samples discussed in this paper are introduced
and summarised in Table 1 below.

A more comprehensive and specific discussion of the DV tasks
encountered in the study can be found in Schuck and Kearney (2004).



194 Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2006, 22(2)

Table 1: Sample DV tasks from study

Class/ subject Teacher /
school Brief description

Yr 7 French Helga /
Pathways HS.

Students making videos in French to send to their
sister school in France.

Yr 8 Science /
Maths

Mal / Pathways
HS.

Students were making animations of local
astronomy concepts such as eclipses and moon
phases. Maths students were filming objects
moving down a slope to inform a graphing
exercise.

Yr K Jayne / District
PS

Children would film other students presenting
their daily news items.

Yr 5/6 Group Nancy /
District PS

20 children formed a ‘news team’ to report on
school news and present a weekly web based
newsletter containing video based items.

Yr. 3 Kate / Southern
PS.

Children were studying human virtues by
making a video in which they portrayed a
particular ‘virtue’ and its benefits to others.

Yr. 5/6 Michelle /
Southern PS.

Children used video to develop metacognitive
skills.

Yr. 10 RE /
History

Ray / Park HS. RE students were producing a drama on Moses
and History students were doing a simulation of
a news item on the 1967 referendum.

Yr. 11 IT Ray / Park HS Students were making advertisements.
Yr. 7 ESL/ Yr.
10 English

Carole /
Princes HS.

Students were making ‘infomercials’.

The authentic nature of student generated digital video
projects

As indicated above, one main theme to emerge from the project’s data from
all five schools is the ‘real world’ nature of students’ learning when they
produce their own digital video products. This theme led to the posing of
the question discussed previously: What is the nature of authentic learning
in this student generated digital video environment and how are its
characteristics manifested?

Numerous students and teachers perceived DV projects as very different in
nature to other, more traditional class tasks, and indeed most students did
not perceive these projects as ‘school work’ or ‘study’. The following
sections further probe the authentic nature of these projects with
illustrative views of authentic learning and assessment that arose in these
contexts. Data were ascertained from interviews and questionnaires,
researcher observations and document analysis.



Kearney and Schuck 195

The nature of the observed tasks

The following sections illustrate how the structure of the DV tasks
encouraged authentic learning. The characteristics of authentic learning
that were observed in these tasks arose from the open ended nature of the
tasks, the way student autonomy and task ownership were encouraged in
the tasks, the meaningful nature of the student roles in their groups, and
the targeting of peers as the audience. Data illustrating these aspects of
authentic learning are discussed below.

Open ended tasks, student autonomy and task ownership
The DV tasks we investigated were similar to real world tasks in that they
were typically open ended and involved learner choice (Petraglia, 1998).
Learners were given considerable control over their task development, and
subsequently they displayed high levels of autonomy and ownership over
their products (Chan, 2001).

Many students were given a broad directive and were required to choose
the content of their film and, on a few occasions, the film genre and
intended audience. They wrote their own scripts and storyboards and were
creative with their filming. For example, the Year 10 students at Park CHS
chose the medium in which to present their RE and History assignments
and then had full responsibility for producing the material for the videos.
This meant they chose how to present the material, they wrote the scripts,
they researched the topic, and they came to their teacher when they needed
to ask questions about the technology.

For example, the Year 10 History students at Park HS were studying the
1967 referendum on whether Aboriginals should be included in the census.
They were asked to make presentations on this topic using the medium of
their choice and one group chose to present their assignment in digital
video format by making a DVD on the topic. They requested assistance
from their IT teacher, Rory, and worked on the production both in and out
of class time, often coming to Rory’s computer lab during lunch. They
scripted and acted, filmed, and edited in iMovie. They put in various effects
to add to its professional appearance before copying it to a DVD to show
their class. Their final production was a slick 10 minute DVD production
involving the group’s leader acting as the newsreader ‘at the desk’ of the
Channel 7 news (set in 1967). During their news bulletin, they staged three
interviews ‘in the field’ to probe pertinent issues surrounding the
referendum, from different perspectives. Students acted as reporters and
interviewees, integrating an impressive range of historical facts and
appropriate humour (usually playing on the 1960s ‘hippie’ era) into their
presentation. The influence of the real life news services was obvious in
their production.



196 Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2006, 22(2)

A noteworthy aspect was the students’ initiative in presenting their
assignment in this way, and the motivation, enthusiasm and learning that
was evident from doing this project. One of the students in the group
explained later that the news format was a familiar one to most of their
peers and they were very concerned about effectively communicating their
idea to their peers.

It was really flexible and there were all the different techniques we could
use, but in the end, we used it as a news report. This was a familiar form,
because a lot of people watch the news every night, so this would make it
more interesting for them as they would recognise that format.

Another student expressed similar ambitions: “We tried to do it [their DV
task] in a way that would allow people [their peers] to understand, rather
than just read a report. Just the way that we knew people our age would
understand it. Also, to be funny.”

The group knew the news format would be a familiar and comfortable one
for their peers’ viewing and this knowledge influenced their decision to go
ahead with this film genre. Another student later explained how the
‘neutral’, unbiased nature of the news reporting genre allowed them to be
impartial in their presentation of the topic.

We tried to give both points of view—it came from both ways. It [their
production] had a point of view from the average person who did not really
like it and there was [the other view] that this [Aborigines being included in
the census] would be a break through and this would really happen.

Indeed, the news format provided the students with a powerful context to
explore and present multiple perspectives on this issue. Their ownership of
the task and the autonomy with which they acted was encouraged by the
nature of the task and the technology.  Similarly, Kate allowed her Year 3
students (Southern PS) to drive their DV activities. The children chose their
groups and what virtue (‘virtues’ was the topic of their films) they would
use in their project before working together on a detailed storyboard. These
students also chose their audience and made suggestions for the final
format of their film presentations. For example, one child suggested that
they get the audience to give them notes on ‘virtues’ they had seen and
another child suggested they develop cue cards to help with the talking.

Almost all teachers encouraged students to take a ‘risk taking’ approach to
their movie making skill development, and encouraged them to learn from
their mistakes. For example, Carole (Princes HS teacher) realised that
several groups still needed to work on their storyboards but she allowed
them to begin filming and make their own mistakes to realize that they
needed more in their storyboard. Students looked at their footage in small
groups and the teacher circulated and assisted. They learned from their



Kearney and Schuck 197

filming mistakes and re-filmed if necessary. Similarly, the six year old
students from Jayne’s K class (District PS) were given considerable
autonomy in their daily filming of the class news. After brief initial
instruction, she assumed students knew how to use the camera and that
they would ask questions if they needed help. Jayne said she thinks of her
students as “directors” and in this way, she let students “realise themselves
that smoother filming is better”. Students had recently started to notice
aspects relating to sound recording and use of the camera’s microphone.

Congruent with the high levels of student autonomy were high levels of
task ownership. This ownership was evident in the pride they showed
when discussing their artefacts with us. For example, when students
displayed their work in Mal’s Year 8 Science lesson (Pathways HS), they
would point at the video presentation, sit up straight in their seats and look
proud (but faintly embarrassed), when their video was shown. Teachers
also commented on the ownership aspect of student generated digital
video. For example, Colin (Year 4 teacher at Southern PS) thought the
group ownership aspect was a powerful factor in his rationale for using DV
projects: “This is a team thing and they get ownership by seeing it on the
screen and they can put it on their CD and take it home to show their
parents.”

Meaningful student roles and interaction
The complex nature and large scope of the DV projects in the study
dictated a group learning structure and students subsequently adopted
meaningful roles and interacted in ways that imitated real world tasks. The
process of filming peers acting was particularly meaningful for students.

Generally, there were two ways that students divided tasks within their
groups: an ‘expert system’ and a ‘role rotation system’. In some cases,
students chose the area to which they wished to contribute, for example,
script writing, acting or directing the video. For example, the Year 3 class at
Southern PS used an ‘expert system’. The teachers felt it was vital that
students should be empowered to become leaders in the classroom and in
the school. Consequently, as students became experts in the various
applications and equipment they became a resource for others. The idea
was to ‘ask three other people before asking the teacher’ and the children
were supplied with a ‘yellow pages’ of experts. In other cases, they rotated
the roles. For example, in the example discussed above of the Year 10
History projects at Park HS, students all had a turn at doing the different
tasks. In some cases, students indicated that they did not like filming or
editing, while others indicated that they did not want to ‘act’ in the video.
Workable group arrangements seemed to develop through the students’
negotiations with each other and authentic teamwork skills were a valued
outcome from these projects. Conflicts appeared to be readily resolved, and



198 Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2006, 22(2)

in many cases, the friendship groups that formed worked extremely well
together, as members shared their goals and often worked out of school
time to complete their tasks.

Students also were acutely aware of filming their peers. The researchers
observed many filming episodes across the five case studies covering
footage of both people and inanimate objects, but students showed
particular enthusiasm when filming their peers. They especially enjoyed
acting in their own dramas and all students delighted in being characters in
their own movie. For example, in their focus group interview, some Year 7
French students (Pathways HS) stated unanimously that their favourite DV
production task at school was filming friends acting. Their teacher agreed
with this perception and she had noticed many times that her students love
to see themselves and their friends on the screen and this contributed to the
authentic nature of the tasks.

A project that illustrated the meaningful team roles that developed was the
Year 5/6 news group that existed at District PS. This project involved
approximately twenty senior primary students (all volunteers) who formed
an editorial news team to prepare and publish weekly items for the school
community on the school’s intranet based newsletter. Video clips were
used to capture a variety of events or episodes, including interviews and
general commentary. The students used iMovie to edit their videos,
including commentary and text additions. They received stimulus ideas
from programs they had seen on TV such as the news, movies and more
specific aspects such as special effects and digital animation.

The level of teamwork was high, there were clear roles and the students
were generally independent in these roles. They met regularly to discuss
possible items and write about current events in the school. The students
were responsible for both content and technical issues and did their own
filming, editing and production. The children had a variety of roles,
including technical officer, interviewers, writers and sports reporters. The
team worked well together and supported each other to achieve the best
possible outcomes. Indeed, Nancy had recently noticed an improvement in
the way her students worked together on their shared projects such as in
the way they managed roles and responsibilities, their discussion of what
they were doing, and general negotiating skills. She had often observed
students sharing and cooperating and encouraging each other and
arguments or tensions between students had become rare.

It was an excellent simulation of a real world (news) production team that
potentially involved the whole school community (anyone in the school
was able to submit an item to the team for consideration). The main
audience was the school community, especially other children in the



Kearney and Schuck 199

school. The students received guiding support from the teacher or librarian
and indeed, Nancy perceived her main teaching role as a ‘sounding board’
for students.

Targeting peers as a relevant audience
Projects in the study were aimed at a range of target audiences from
teachers and parents to community members outside the school. However,
many students commented that having their peers as the main target
audience provided them with an extra incentive to make a worthwhile film
as well as providing an opportunity to use appropriate language and
humour. For example, a Yr 7 French student from Pathways HS believed
that knowing her peers were going to look at her production motivated her
to understand the (French language) content of her project: “It helps you to
learn because if it goes up on the TV then the people [peers] really have to
read it to understand what you’re saying.” Indeed, the tasks acted as a
catalyst for students to project their personalities to their peers in an
authentic way. For example, another Yr 7 French student from Helga’s
class (Pathways HS) made the following perceptive comments: “The
pictures represent you… yes, they show your own personality.” In this
way, students’ awareness of their peers as the target audience was an
incentive for them to understand the curriculum material and related
concepts and to carefully select and use appropriate language in their films.

In many projects, students used their videos as a vehicle to present a story
to their class friends. Many students said they appreciated this opportunity
to make a video based class presentation as an alternative to a ‘live’
presentation. They believed that the video alternative reduced the anxiety
of a live class presentation in front of their peers and improved their
performance. For example, Ashleigh (Yr. 8 student from Pathways HS)
mentioned in a student focus group:

Presenters do not need to get nervous as initially, the presentation is just in
front of their friends for the camera. People are a lot better at doing them [a
film], as they are in front of the camera and not in front of the whole class.
Everything can be prepared beforehand and the product displayed for the
class. They then do not have people laugh at them.

Students appreciated the extra time they had to edit and refine their video
presentations. This enhanced their confidence and communication skills.

Teaching approaches

The teaching approaches that were used reflected teachers’ rationales for
using digital video and generally  highlighted their desire to offer students
authentic learning opportunities. We indicate below some of the
approaches used and the way they illustrated authentic learning.



200 Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2006, 22(2)

Use of a contemporary communication mode and targeting new literacy skills
Many teachers mentioned that part of their rationale for using DV in their
teaching was its contemporary relevance to young people and its potential
use as a fresh communication medium. Many students were very familiar
with the video medium from their media rich, (often out of school) ‘digital
culture’ and hence they were communicating in a ‘culturally authentic’
mode (Potter, 2005). A number of the teachers expressed a desire to explore
new, interesting ways of teaching using contemporary tools they knew
would appeal to students. For example, Bruce (ICT coordinator at
Pathways HS) also stressed that one reason he liked to use DV in his
teaching was because it allows students to communicate a message in a
unique and fresh way. Similarly, Helga (French teacher) said her Year 7
students were bored with tapes and textbooks and she initially got
interested in DV because of her perceived need to make her lessons more
interesting and allow students to use a new medium to communicate and
develop their language skills. Nancy also commented on the contemporary
nature of DV tasks:

Digital Media is ‘the real stuff’! Kids can make use of software and tools to
create things that are of a professional standard. It starts with things they’ve
seen within the world or within the media that they’re wanting to model or
they’re wanting to put their ideas and experiences into that style of a
presentation… Digital video is a new way of talking about ideas, setting
scenes, influencing people, emotional… pulling music into it etc. It can
contain big ideas for kids to work with. (Interview with Nancy, Teacher,
Districts PS)

She also mentioned that students’ video based products were very much
‘in tune’ with the real world and as such, a final product could be utilised
in relevant ways. For example, her students were creating video based
news reports to be included in a weekly online school newsletter
(discussed in previous section).

Students perceived the development of their movie making skills as a
highly relevant part of their learning in their projects. When asked in their
interviews about their learning, students often emphasised their movie
making skill development. For example, the Yr 7 IT students (Princes HS)
liked learning about technology, learning for the future, interacting with
friends and learning to direct. They realised that they could practise these
skills and might be an actor or director one day. One student recognised
the usefulness of his new movie making skills to his future: “It [DV] will
help you in later life. For example, as an electrician or photographer.”
Indeed, the two Year 7 teachers at Princes HS emphasised students’ movie
making skill development as highly relevant to their potential work related
activities on leaving school.



Kearney and Schuck 201

Many teachers thought that a major reason for using DV tasks in their
classrooms was the potential development of students’ ability to make
sense of the video medium and to critically analyse film genres from the
world around them. For example, Michelle (Year 5/6 teacher at Southern
PS) had identified links between English syllabus outcomes and media
literacy outcomes, and married these learning outcomes as an integral part
of her English program. She worked heavily on immersing her students in
‘what is great video’. Similarly, at Park HS, there was a big focus on
developing students’ media literacy through the use of DV projects as a
mandatory part of the English Syllabus. For example, students looked at
different camera shots and how they help ‘tell different stories’. In his
interview, Ray (Park HS teacher) mentioned an increased student
awareness of the advertising genre as a pleasing literacy outcome for his
Year 11 IT students. He believed that his students’ productions of
advertisements helped them to understand how advertisements convey
messages. Indeed, Jayne (teacher at District PS) thought the use of student
generated digital video in her K class had helped her children to develop a
focus, and become more analytical of films and advertisements.

Authentic assessment practices
Self and peer assessment practices were a strong part of the assessment of
DV tasks in the study and in some case schools, these procedures were
integrated with e-portfolio assessment. Teacher observation and frequent
feedback throughout the production process also formed a key part of
teacher assessment practices. These practices were supported by literature
suggesting that non-authentic assessment (as measured by grades and tests
etc) can undermine task authenticity (eg. Barab et al, 2000).

Some teachers encouraged students to create video clips as a vehicle for self
assessment of their learning. For example, Michelle’s Year 5/6 students
(Southern PS) would periodically film themselves, effectively creating
‘chapters’ in the ‘story’ of their learning. She wanted her children to be
reflective in their learning and she believed that inclusion of these
‘reflective clips’ made for a more meaningful e-portfolio. (Indeed, some
students from this class cleverly made their reflections using a music video
genre.) Another teacher, Kate, used her students’ more informal self
assessments as a barometer for evaluating the students’ work. She believed
that her children were very critical of themselves and could easily self
assess whether they were happy with their work and felt their message had
been delivered effectively.

Carole’s students made similar reflective clips in her Year 10 English class
at Princes HS. Her students reflected on what and how they were learning,
what they had done well, what their weaknesses were, how the teacher
could support them better and what they needed to do to improve.



202 Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2006, 22(2)

According to Carole, their self assessments were revelatory. She found that
their evaluations often revealed achievement of learning outcomes that
otherwise may not have been obvious to her, for example some students
reflected on quite sophisticated movie making and media literacy skills.

Group members were frequently observed giving each other formative
peer feedback during the process of making their films. Colin (teacher at
Southern PS) reported on this aspect of his Year 4 children’s projects in his
post-lesson interview: “They showed their work to others. That was the
main thing that stood out!” This peer feedback process contributed to a
heightened sense of awareness of their film’s attributes and flaws. Indeed, a
key aspect of authentic learning here was the way that students gained
feedback on their work. Often the students’ best and most immediate
‘feedback’ on their work was their viewing (either via the small camera
screen or later, on the computer) of their own films. This feedback on their
work is very different (and often supplementary) to other methods of
deferring to a supervising teacher or other “expert”. Students see their
work from different perspectives as they listen to the comments and
experiences of others in their group (Shewbridge & Berge, 2004).

Teachers often relied on their own observations for informal assessment of
many learning outcomes, including development of movie making skills,
language and teamwork skills, conceptual understanding and affective
outcomes. The emphasis here was on both the process and the final
product. For example, Colin placed emphasis on observing students’
conversations and their general use of relevant language in assessing their
conceptual development. He also observed and gauged their learning in
the pieces of writing they did after their projects. Likewise, Kate
commented on the language used by her Year 3 students at Southern PS
during and after their projects and observed behaviour changes in
students. For example, she observed increased student understanding of
their ‘virtues’ topic by listening to the children’s conversations: “You can
see if children have ‘taken on board’ the content of the virtues by their
language in what they say.”

An example of authentic assessment in the Year 7 ESL class at Princes HS
illustrates the variety of ways in which authentic assessment can be
implemented. A major outcome of Carole’s (Princes High) lesson with her
Year 7 ESL students was to practise oral and written English. The way
these students engaged in the various aspects of the lesson was quite
impressive. The technology afforded the students the chance to practise
their oral English through interacting with peers and adopting roles that
required their understanding of language that differed from their own
everyday speech. The story boarding also mandated their recording of
written descriptions, again affording English practice.



Kearney and Schuck 203

Student learning was assessed in numerous ways. Carole evaluated both
the quality of students’ final products and made formative assessments of
students’ learning by reading their learning logs and making informal
observations. She valued the final products in terms of the overall quality
of their final production, as well as smaller components such as the use of
music, framing of shots, use of special effects, and how effectively it
communicated the intended message. She also placed an equally strong
emphasis on the process of the creation of the DV by assessing students’
storyboards and observing their activities in the classroom. She made
informal observations of student behaviour and listened to students’
conversations. She focused here on aspects such as how well groups were
working together, reflecting and fixing mistakes. Finally, her students
made peer and self assessments of their work in their learning logs.

Summary

The DV tasks in this study allowed students to communicate through a
contemporary medium in fresh ways, and helped them develop new
literacy skills that were perceived as being relevant to their future careers
(Yildiz, 2003). Peers provided a relevant and motivating audience and
students particularly enjoyed filming their peers. They also enjoyed real life
film production roles and developed teamwork skills that will be useful in
later life. Tasks were open ended, demanded a high level of student
initiative and resulted in useful products to share with peers. The authentic
nature of DV tasks was enhanced by practices such as self and peer
assessment and informal teacher observations.

Discussion

Authentic learning in the context of DV projects comprised learning in
ways that fitted with real world contexts, where the learning was
motivated and developed by the context. Skills and concepts for ‘effective
living’ in contemporary society were developed, although most tasks
lacked links to out of school professional communities. Students enjoyed
this unique opportunity to ‘find a voice’ through their DV tasks, in an
attempt to communicate in a contemporary way with a wide peer
audience. Indeed, students showed an acute awareness of their peers as
both the subjects of their filming and the target audience for their projects
and this awareness was a pivotal factor in their notions of authenticity.

Effects of peer audience

Numerous researchers have noted that the creation of DV or other
multimedia ‘products’ was made more authentic by increasing the extent
to which the products were shared with real audiences (Burn & Reed, 1999;



204 Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2006, 22(2)

Coleman et al., 2004; CTGV, 1990). We have attempted to further explore
the links between audience and authenticity in the context of DV tasks. In
many cases in this study, students were acutely aware of their peers as an
authentic audience for their films. Their knowledge of audience was central
in students’ choice of themes, language, props and ways of presenting
information in their videos, and also motivated students to present high
quality work. This relationship between ‘author and audience’ was a key
influence on students’ development of motivation, critical analysis skills
and conceptual learning outcomes and seemed to enhance the ‘use value’
(Barab et al., 2000) of these tasks for students.

Student awareness of their peers as the main target audience was noted as
a significant factor in students’ development of motivation. We observed
that DV work initially provided extrinsic motivation for many students,
especially ‘reluctant learners’. For example, the novelty of using
contemporary equipment and the perception of DV work as ‘fun’
contributed to initial task engagement. However, inherent in many DV
projects we observed were classic elements of ‘situated motivation’ (Paris &
Turner, 1994) such as challenge, choice, control and collaboration.
Although students did not perceive their DV projects as ‘work’, they did
report a sense of challenge at various stages of their projects and many
students reported a sense of satisfaction and pride when their video was
completed. High levels of choice and various dimensions of control, such
as students being able to choose roles, pace themselves and get prompt
feedback, were also a feature of many DV tasks, as discussed in previous
sections. There were ample opportunities to interact with peers in
meaningful ways (such as filming each other acting) and these aspects had
a positive influence on the perceptions of task ownership. However, a key
dynamic underlying all of these aspects was the opportunity for students
to project their personalities to their peers through a contemporary
medium. Consequently, many learners became more interested in the
actual content and topics being studied as the projects progressed. For
example, we observed some abstract and probably unappealing DV task
topics but by the end of these lessons, we observed a significant degree of
genuine student interest in these topics.

Primed by the anticipation of their peers as the intended audience, students
also developed the ability to critique aspects of their own films and also
investigate ways of making the content of their films accessible. They
found it important to use genres that their peers would understand and
enjoy. This often involved developing a deeper understanding of the
underlying concepts so that they would be able to present these ideas in
different ways. In this way, students’ awareness of their peers as the target
audience was an incentive for them to understand the curriculum material
and related concepts and language in their film.



Kearney and Schuck 205

Improving authenticity in DV tasks

The tasks in the study shared many of the characteristics of authenticity as
discussed by Reeves et al. (2002). The tasks provided students with
contemporary ways of communicating, culminating in a product that could
be shared and discussed with a real audience. Real world contexts, such as
the news or advertising genres, provided students with an avenue to
explore issues from multiple perspectives. Tasks were open ended,
involved high levels of choice and encouraged student initiative. Authentic
assessment practices were often seamlessly integrated into DV tasks, and
small group practices provided students with relevant roles and
meaningful, collaborative interactions.

One aspect that warrants more attention is creating opportunities for
students engaged in DV tasks to reflect on their learning. Reeves at el.
(2002) advocate that well-designed authentic activities should give learners
opportunities to “reflect on their learning both individually and socially”
(p. 564). Although there were exemplary cases of this occurring, there were
numerous cases in the study where final class presentations became more
of a ‘show and tell’ and lacked insightful discussion of underlying themes
and concepts. Indeed, evidence of ongoing reflections via some type of
learning journal was minimal. Time constraints were a factor here –
teachers allowed students large amounts of time to complete their projects,
leaving minimal time for either journal writing or class dialogue centred on
students’ culminating class presentations. Further research is needed into
how new technologies such as digital video annotation tools, (text and
video) web logs, and e-portfolio software can support student reflection
during the DV production process, and how these contemporary reflection
tools might add to learner perceptions of authenticity.

Another interesting aspect that warrants further research is the effect of a
wider peer audience that reaches beyond the boundaries of the school.
There were only a few cases where students were targeting peers outside
their school. For example, the Year 7 French students (Pathways HS) were
exchanging videos with a sister school in France. Indeed, the year 5/6
children (District PS) were keen to expand their work and link up with
other schools around the world to share surveys, videos and make
comparisons. To what extent does a wider peer audience affect the learner
perceived authenticity of DV tasks? Indeed, in what ways can peers from
other learning communities collaborate on jointly owned DV tasks and
how does this affect their perception of task relevance?

Although there was a high degree of authenticity at the task and process
levels, ‘ecological authenticity’ (Barab et al., 2000) was seldom a feature of
the DV tasks in this study. The time and physical constraints of the school



206 Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2006, 22(2)

system again made it difficult for many teachers to immerse their students
into authentic communities of practice that ‘apprentice the learner’ into real
world environments (such as professional film making, linguistic, scientific
or industrial practices.) However, we did see some attempts to at least
make links with other professional communities. For example, a teacher at
Southern PS invited an expert geologist to come to their school and engage
in a science discussion initiated by the students’ films. As online
technologies create more opportunities for such collaborations with out of
school, expert communities (Shewbridge & Berge, 2004) and indeed, other
school communities, further research is needed into how these interactions
might affect students’ views of authenticity. Indeed, investigating these
kinds of questions will help meet increasing challenges to ‘bridge the gap’
between learning environments and ever evolving ‘real life’ communities
of practice (Stein, Isaacs & Andrews, 2004).

Conclusion

As contemporary media permeate education, an understanding of
associated skills, tools and processes is needed to engage students in
authentic learning processes. The cases we have discussed here, together
with the beliefs and perceptions of both students and teachers, clearly
indicate that student generated digital video projects can be used to
develop authentic learning. In contrast to more traditional tasks where
materials and processes are imposed on students by teachers, DV projects
were typically student driven and required a high degree of student
initiative. Students collaboratively designed their own projects, produced
them and evaluated them. Many were motivated by these processes,
particularly if their peers were the target audience. Students enjoyed the
unique opportunity to ‘find a voice’ through their DV tasks, in an attempt
to communicate with their peer audience. Indeed, they were aware that
other groups would be viewing their final product and providing their
own peer feedback, and this awareness acted as a catalyst for the critical
analyses of their own films. DV projects were seen as contemporary and
relevant learning tasks.

References

Barab, S.A., Squire, K.D. & Dueber, W. (2000). A co-evolutionary model for
supporting the emergence of authenticity. Educational Technology Research &
Development, 48(2), 37-62.

Bogdan, R. & Biklen, S. (1998). Qualitative research for education. An introduction to
theory and methods. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Brown, J. S., Collins, A. & Duguid, P. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of
learning. Educational Researcher, 18(1), 32-42.



Kearney and Schuck 207

Burden, K. & Kuechel, T. (2004). Evaluation report of the Teaching and Learning with
Digital Video Assets Pilot 2003-2004. UK: BECTA. [verified 9 May 2006]
http://www.becta.org.uk/page_documents/research/evaluation_dv_assets03.pdf

Burn, A. & Reed, K. (1999). Digi-teens: Media literacies and digital technologies in
the secondary classroom. English in Education, 33, 5-20.

Chan, V. (2001). Learning autonomously: The learners’ perspectives. Journal of
Further and Higher Education, 25(3), 285-300.

Coleman, B., Neuhauser, J. & Zwaag, C. (2004). ‘Play it again, Zack!’ Video
classrooms: proven practice and projects. In Proceedings of World Conference on
Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2004 (pp. 4723-4728).
Norfolk, VA: AACE.

CTGV (Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt) (1990). Technology and the
design of generative learning environments. Educational Technology, 31(5), 34-40.

Erickson, F. (1986). Qualitative methods in research on teaching. In M. Wittrock
(Ed), Handbook of research on teaching, (3rd ed. pp. 119-161). New York:
Macmillan.

Jonassen, D., Peck, K. & Wilson, B. (1999). Learning with technology. A constructivist
perspective. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Kearney, M. & Schuck, S. (2005). Students in the Director’s Seat: Teaching and
learning with student-generated video. In P. Kommers & G. Richards (Eds),
Proceedings of Ed-Media 2005 World Conference on Educational Multimedia,
Hypermedia and Telecommunications pp. 2864 -2871. [verified 11 May 2006]
http://www.ed-dev.uts.edu.au/teachered/research/dvproject/pdfs/edmedia05.pdf

Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. New
York: Cambridge University Press.

Levin, H. (2003). Making history come alive: Students interview Holocaust
survivors on camera and publish their stories on the web. Learning and Leading
with Technology, 31(3), 22-27. [verified 11 May 2006]
http://www.howardlevin.com/download/iste-11-03.pdf

Lincoln, Y. & Guba, E. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Newbury Park: Sage Publications.

Paris, S.G. & Turner, J.C. (1994). Situated motivation. In P.R. Pintrich, D.R. Brown &
C.E. Weinstein (Eds), Student motivation: Cognition and learning (pp.213-237).
Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Parker, D. (2002). Show us a story: An overview of recent research and resource
development work at the British Film Institute. English in Education, 36(1), 38-44.

Petraglia, J. (1998). The real world on a short leash: The (mis)application of
constructivism to the design of educational technology. Educational Technology
Research & Development, 46(3), 53-65.

Potter, J. (2005). ‘This brings back a lot of memories’: A case study in the analysis of
digital video production by young learners. Education, Communication &
Information, 5(1), 5-23.



208 Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2006, 22(2)

Radinsky, J., Bouillion, L., Hanson, K., Gomez, L., Vermeer, D. & Fishman, B. (1998).
A framework for authenticity: Mutual benefits partnerships. Paper presented at
the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San
Diego, CA.

Radinsky, J., Bouillion, L., Lento, E. & Gomez, L. (2001). Mutual benefit partnership:
A curricular design for authenticity. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 33(4), 405-430.

Reeves, T., Herrington, J. & Oliver, R. (2002). Authentic activities and online
learning. In A. Goody, J. Herrington & M. Northcote (Eds), Quality
Conversations: Research and Development in Higher Education, Vol 25, 562-567.
Jamison, ACT: HERDSA.
http://www.ecu.edu.au/conferences/herdsa/main/papers/ref/pdf/Reeves.pdf

Schuck, S. & Kearney, M. (2006, in press). Capturing learning through student-
generated digital video. Australian Educational Computing, 21(1).

Schuck, S. & Kearney, M. (2006a, in press). Using digital video as a research tool:
Ethical issues for researchers. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia,
15(4).

Schuck, S. & Kearney, M. (2005). Teachers as producers, students as directors: Why
teachers use student-generated digital video in their classes. In Proceedings of the
Apple University Consortium Conference 2005 (Hobart, Sept), 11.1-11.13. Sydney:
Apple Australia. [verified 10 May 2006] http://www.ed-
dev.uts.edu.au/teachered/research/dvproject/pdfs/auc05.pdf

Schuck, S. & Kearney, M. (2004). Students in the Director’s Seat: Teaching and Learning
with Student-generated Video. A Research Report. Sydney: UTS. [verified 10 May
2006] http://www.ed-dev.uts.edu.au/teachered/research/dvproject/home.html

Shewbridge, W. & Berge, Z. (2004). The role of theory and technology in learning
video production: The challenge of change. International Journal on E-Learning,
3(1), 32-39.

Stein, S., Isaacs, G. & Andrews, T. (2004). Incorporating authentic learning
experiences within a university course. Studies in Higher Education, 29(2), 239-
258.

Strauss, A. & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures
for developing grounded theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Yildiz, M. N. (2003). Teaching media literacy through video production. Proceedings
of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications
2003 (pp. 1648-1651). Norfolk, VA: AACE.

Dr Matthew Kearney and Associate Professor Sandy Schuck
Faculty of Education, Kuring-gai Campus
University of Technology, Sydney
PO Box 222 Lindfield NSW 2070, Australia
Email: matthew.kearney@uts.edu.au, sandy.schuck@uts.edu.au
Web: http://www.education.uts.edu.au/