A taxonomy of digital media types for Learner-Generated Digital Media assignments

Abstract

The notion of students as co-creators of content in higher education is gaining popularity, with an ever-increasing emphasis on the development of digital media assignments. In a separate paper, the authors introduced the Digital Media Literacies Framework, which is composed of three interrelated domains: (1) conceptual, (2) functional, and (3) audiovisual, each of which defines a set of prosumer principles used to create digital artefacts. This framework fills a gap in the literature and is the first step towards the provision of a systematic approach to designing digital media assignments. This paper expands on the Digital Media Literacies Framework through the incorporation of Technological Proxies and proposes a taxonomy of digital media types to help educators and students to visualise the skills needed to complete Learner-Generated Digital Media assignments. A taxonomy of digital media types is presented considering the conceptual, functional, and audiovisual domains of the Digital Media Literacies Framework. The taxonomy spans a range of Learner-Generated Digital Media assignments, from the creation of an audio podcast to the complexity of blended media or game development. Implications of the taxonomy for teaching and learning in higher education are discussed.

Using the Learner-Generated Digital Media (LGDM) Framework in Tertiary Science Education: A Pilot Study

“…Along with small sample size (from 3 to 79 students), the lack of standardised evaluation approaches and the qualitative nature of these investigations make comparisons between the current study and previous studies problematic. Also, different media types used in LGDM require different production skills, whether they be audio podcast, digital story, animation, screencast, or video [65], adding an extra layer of complexity when comparing studies.…”

“…Seventy-three percent of students used a storyboard to inform their digital media projects. Storyboards are essential to ensure the production of a quality digital artefact [85] but also to develop conceptual skills for digital media production [38,65,86].…”

“…Digital media production is time-consuming [62], iterative [63], and resource-intensive [64], with variations depending on the media type [65]. For example, creating an audio podcast is less onerous than creating a digital story or video.…”

“…Educators need to have a good understanding of the complexity of different digital media types before designing LGDM assignments. The Taxonomy of Digital Media Types Framework is used [65] to guide assignment design and weighting. For example, for a video group assignment, it is recommended that it be worth at least 20% of the total subject mark [28].…”

“…The lecture followed the Digital Media Literacies Framework (DMLF) and addressed the conceptual, functional, and audiovisual domains [65]. The conceptual domain was addressed by introducing principles of storyboarding, while the functional domain was covered with a general explanation of how video editing works in Movie Maker (Windows platform) and iMovie (Macintosh).…”