By Jen Suwak
The Spring 2023 CEL Basics of Universal Design course was very helpful in conceptualizing small changes to course content for it to be more accessible to varied student learning styles. The course material and class meetings focused on the idea of a ‘plus one’ element, a small incremental change to a course that could work to expand flexibility and student engagement.
I chose to do a ‘plus one’ by adding an alternative grading feature in Documentary Production, CTM 350, for the ‘Conducting and Shooting an Effective Film Interview’ assignment in this course. This project provides a foundation for planning and research for the short documentary film that students produce as the semester-long project.
In this project, they learn preproduction, on-set production, filming techniques and social interaction techniques with film subjects in order to conduct an effective film interview.
In semesters past, I noticed that a few students seemed to struggle with this assignment, either from the intense social interaction required or the intermixing of keeping a subject’s attention while setting up, filming, and breaking down equipment. I realized that I could create another path to accomplishing the assignment that might open the learning possibilities for students. Perhaps there could be broader learning goals, and students could choose the ‘actionable’ item that ignites their desire to learn.
For a student that struggles with one aspect of an assignment, they may do well with another equally important aspect of it. I hadn’t previously thought about breaking down the Interview assignment in this way, and the last time that I taught the course, I noticed that a few students struggled with the direct social aspect of conducting an interview. I thought deeply about the CEL course principles of ‘Approaches to learning’, ‘Action & Expression’ and ‘Engagement’ and how I might be able to work on them with this assignment. I chose to expand a one-track assignment to expand to three separate tracks, with the hope that this broadening of action could provide a more engaging experience for learners. In the revised interview assignment, a student may choose to 1) Complete the research required to conduct an interview that works within a film topic, Or 2) Focus on the interview itself, setting, producing and the social interactions necessary to get the best subject responses or 3) They may direct the interview from the technical standpoint. I plan to implement this assignment change for the Spring of 2024, when I will again be teaching this course.
I realized that I did not have to expect every student to learn the whole interview process. That I could be flexible, and in doing so, the students could focus on the approach to the assignment that would best boost their engagement with the material.
These varied approaches still align with important learning concepts, however with this subtle change, I think the project will have more flexibility, and it will open up learning possibilities for a diverse body of students.
Jennifer Suwak is a professor in the Cinema, Television and Media Production Department at Kutztown University, and recently completed the Basics of Universal Design for Learning course as part of the Center for Engaged Learning's Inclusivity Institute.