There are many benefits to using digital modes of assessment but arguably the one that is most relevant in the religious education classroom is engagement. Digital assessment provides an opportunity for developing feelings of mastery and belonging by allowing students to engage with media that they value and use to connect with friends and family, but it should not come at the expense of intellectual rigour. So how do we rope our students into enjoying themselves so much that they accidentally learn something along the way?
Planning a digital project
Digital learning experiences are most effective when delivery is carefully scaffolded. Many teachers will be familiar with the writing process (brainstorm, plan, draft, edit, submit). However, media has its own five step process:
1. Planning stage: brainstorm, organise ideas (mood board, graphic organiser), pitch, audience targeting, hook, angle.
2. Design stage: storyboarding, scripting, shot list, production timeline.
3. Production stage: recording/producing/creating sound and images, lighting, costume, make-up, sets and locations, atmospheric sound.
4. Editing stage: using software to compile the raw sound and footage in the correct sequence, transitions, music, SFX, titles, text, introduction and credit sequences, dialogue, narration, interview questions.
5. Publishing: final project is compressed into a sharable file, such as MP3 (sound), MP4 (video) or PDF (visual).
Alternative modes of assessment to the traditional essay
1. Podcast: a digital audio file made available on the Internet for downloading to a computer or mobile device, typically available as a series, new instalments of which can be received by subscribers automatically. Instalments are a series of recordings that are published, broadcast, or made public in sequence at intervals and may also be supported by PDF or ePub files.
Classroom application: Either students create their own context, or the teacher assigns a context and all students produce an episode of a podcast for one series. Just as in an essay, students structure an argument, find evidence to support their argument and demonstrate their knowledge. Unlike an essay, language is less formal, sound is also employed to help tell the story and to maintain audience attention (soundtrack, atmospheric/natural sound, sound effects and recorded interview) and interviews may be incorporated. Podcasts are designed to be broadcast to mass audiences, rather than just academic ones.
Advantages: Students may find the process of creating a podcast more engaging because it uses technological gadgets, offers greater scope for creativity and they may consume or have witnessed others consuming podcasts as a source of entertainment. It is less formal than an essay and involves some practical skills, so allows a greater diversity of talents to be demonstrated, allowing students who are ‘locked’ out of traditional written assessment objects to shine. Students do not have to deal with the complexity of adding images.
Disadvantages: Podcasts tend to be consumed by adults who are familiar with the medium of radio, so students may need to be introduced to the genre. Teachers who are not confident in delivering digital and media assessments may not offer students the opportunity to use all the skills required to make and deliver a product that resembles a podcast, instead encouraging students back into familiar territory by lowering requirements to the delivery of a recorded speech which may/may not include a jingle in the introduction. This denies students an opportunity for increased engagement, the development of digital and media literacy skills and the chance to learn how to target an audience effectively using sound and editing skills.
Examples: Arch D Radio (Adelaide Diocese), Living Fullness podcast (Diocese of Wagga Wagga), The Genius podcast for women by Karen Doyle, Busted Halo, Figuring out families (Majellan media WA).
Tools: Student headsets with microphones (or podcasting microphone for the classroom), Audacity (PC), Garageband (Mac), Music Maker (Free version), Ocenaudio (PC, Mac and Linux) or WavePad by NCH (Mac), Podbean (smartphone and tablet), freesound, Mutopia Project, Producer Planet free content, Google drive.
Tip: Don’t forget to turn the project into a sound file of manageable size and easy shareability by exporting it to MP3 format when editing is complete.
2. Mini-documentary: These short documentary films use pictures or interviews with people involved in real events to provide a factual report on a particular subject. In the classroom, it’s best to confine these products to 2-5 minutes in length.
Classroom application: Students exercise critical thinking, research, interpretive, analytical and media production skills to explore a theme, big idea or topic by providing rich content that responds to current events, issues or relevant topics. This helps students make connections with previous learning, current content and their own lived experience.
Advantages: It is a well-established genre and there are plenty of models to guide students in their projects. They promote creativity, problem solving, resilience and planning skills. Students grow in confidence by taking part in such a project and they make great additions to student assemblies.
Disadvantages: These assessments can be time-consuming to execute and require the teacher to be both flexible and active, constantly checking in with students to monitor their progress, support them to manage their time and solve problems. Well-planned and structured lessons, good communication and teacher leadership on time management are essential.
Examples: ‘The Catholic Church in China | A Short Documentary’ by America – The Jesuit Review, David (Catholic Leatherworker Mini-Doc) by Pope Culture, Sister Peter Marie by Pope Culture, Called to Serve – An Example of Faith on the Job – Catholic mini-documentary by Diocese of Erie,
Tools: Student headsets with microphones (or podcasting microphone for the classroom), recording devices (tablets, cameras, smartphones), iMovie (Mac), Adobe Premiere Rush (Tablet or smartphone), VSDC Free Video Editor, Olive video editor, freesound, Mutopia Project, Producer Planet free content, Zoom, Teams, Google docs, Google drive, Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI). Consider: tripods, shotgun mikes, lapel mikes, hand-held mikes, lighting, and reflectors.
Tip: Don’t forget to turn the project into a sound file of manageable size and easy shareability by exporting it to MP4 format when editing is complete. Also, don’t forget students will need location contracts when filming on private property and release forms signed by parents to use images of children under 18 years of age.
3. Video essays: Edith Cowan University library defines video essay as ‘a multimodal form that combines written, audio and visual modes to communicate an idea. As a structure, the video essay is thesis-driven, and uses images with text so that the audience can read and interpret the idea or argument in a multimodal way’.
Classroom application: Students create a well-structured and cohesive argument in the same way a written essay does by also incorporating curated sound and pictures to support the argument. Visual essays can include photos, video, artwork, graphics, tables, charts, narration, sound bites, music, sound effects, text, animation and cartoons.
Advantages: The main advantage of creating such an essay is that students find them more interesting to create than a standard essay. They also help some students to create a stronger argument than they could using words alone. The combination of narration, soundtrack, video, images, and quotes can also engage a wider audience more effectively. It’s also hard to leave a video essay to the night before, so it encourages students to develop planning and time management skills.
Disadvantages: Teachers are called on to manage classroom time and equipment effectively to support students to finish their products. Teachers also need to master the digital skills required teach students how to create video essays and to mark them fairly and effectively. Both teacher and student must understand that images, sound and script work together to create an effective argument.
Examples: 'Why Pope Francis is visiting South Sudan’ by America – The Jesuit Review, ‘Top 10 moments of Pope Francis’ by America – The Jesuit Review, Understanding Inclusion: Why Belonging At Work Matters by Harvard Business Review, Brain Basics: Anxiety for Kids - with Lee Constable
Tools: The same tools as for creating documentaries, Unsplash, Wikimedia Commons, Canva, Adobe Express, Powtoon, Opentoonz.
Tip: The best way to recognise a good video essay is by understanding what it is not. Video essays are not essays read to camera with pictures as wallpaper and a nice song underneath for soundtrack. In a good visual essay, sounds, images and editing techniques work together to support and strengthen the argument.
With any of these media products, the best place to start teaching is to analyse an example of the genre with students, perhaps using a framework such as KWL or PMI and then to let students start thinking about their own project. Ask students what the purpose of the media product is, and who the intended audience may be.
Digital assessment modes echo student media and entertainment consumption habits. Students relate to digital products, these products mimic how students share their experiences with their friends, and this gives them a chance to create something that feels relevant and that they see as valuable. These feelings should be harnessed to help students in their quest to create quality products in the religious education classroom that support them to create knowledge and meaning about their faith and Catholicism.
We hope this guide is a helpful tool for teachers to use to find safe ways to deliver these assessment modes.
You may also find some of our other classroom guides useful.
Australian Catholics film viewing guide for classrooms
Writing skills on the decline but Religious Education can help
The New 7Ps - The Education Hub Guide to lesson planning and preparation
Smile until Easter - The Education Hub Guide for teachers on making the first week count
'Media for Good' in the religious education classroom