Meet the 2024-2025 Instructional Innovation Fellows: Marking the First Step!

Anna, who teaches asynchronous graduate-level courses, believes every student has unique learning needs and preferences. Some students may thrive in creative writing, while others may prefer traditional academic essays or hands-on assignments over online discussions. Accommodating these diverse preferences can be challenging, but Anna sees it essential to fostering an inclusive and supportive learning environment.

What Is the “Choose Your Own Adventure” Model?

In response to these challenges, Anna introduced a “Choose Your Own Adventure” assignment model. This strategy allows students to design their own assignment pathways at the start of the semester, with the option to adjust their choices as the course progresses.

Each assignment has a different point value - ranging from 25 to 50 points - and students must choose a combination of tasks to reach 100 points by the end of the semester. For example, a student might choose to participate in Weekly Engagement Activities within Canvas, worth 50 points, and complete a Professional Application task, also worth 50 points, which involves relevant work outside of class.

Alternatively, they could opt for smaller assignments worth 25 points each as long as they accumulate 100 points. To manage the variety of personalized assignment plans, Anna utilizes Canvas’ “Assign to” feature, which allows her to tailor assignments to each student’s selected path.

What Were the Challenges and Outcomes?

• Students Like It: Anna learned that providing a personalized assignment plan improves engagement and assignment completion. This is because students choose their paths to learning mastery.
• Grading Flexibility: Anna noted that grading became more manageable through co-creating rubrics with students, ensuring that assessments aligned with the work they chose to complete.
• Addressing Inactive Students: Anna introduced one-on-one check-ins for students who struggled to participate to support their engagement.
• Q&A with Students: Through structured question-and-answer sessions, Anna emphasizes the importance of students understanding their role and responsibility in their own learning. Suggested deadlines help provide structure while offering flexibility for adult learners.

Aline incorporates digital storytelling as a powerful tool for engaging her students in critical narrative interventions, particularly within health promotion. Her approach centers on how individuals make sense of their health and well-being through personal narratives, allowing students to explore the academic and human sides of health issues.

Aline believes that storytelling can help students not only engage with academic content but also connect it to public discourse and personal reflection. Inspired by the Culture-Centered Approach (CCA), this theoretical framework places community members’ voices at the center of health research, positioning the researcher as a listener and collaborator.

“A participatory approach honors storytellers and the knowledge they’re sharing by letting THEM decide how to tell a story and providing them with tools and hands-on skills for actually putting the story together.” - Aline.

What’s the Process Like?

Aline leads her students through a digital storytelling workshop. The goal is for students to develop 1-3 minute visual narratives about health issues. The process includes:

1. Project Orientation: During this initial stage, students are introduced to the goal and objectives of the project to ensure that they understand the expectations.
2. Prompt Writing: Students use prompts to brainstorm and develop scripts, typically between 300-400 words.
3. Story Circles: Students share their story ideas in a group setting, receiving feedback to refine their narratives.
4. Voiceover Recording and Editing: The stories are brought to life through voiceovers, often recorded on phones, and undergo rough and final edits using tools like WeVideo.
5. Story Airing: The workshop culminates in a showcase of the final stories.

What Were the Affordances and Challenges of Digital Storytelling?

The DST project allowed students to apply the Culture-Centered Approach to their learning. Sharing stories helped them connect, and working on group projects taught them teamwork. Plus, creating live stories was fun. However, the project also had some challenges. Some students might feel uneasy sharing personal stories, especially on sensitive topics like health. Others might struggle to fully understand the assignment and need extra help. While collaboration is key, some students may find it uncomfortable. Clear communication of the assignment’s purpose and creating a safe space for sharing stories can help address these issues.