As part of their Sustainability 200 course, groups of students at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, have produced several video public service announcements that are designed to raise awareness of sustainability issues. Working with help from staff of the Media Commons, the videos have become a key part of not only the SUST 200 course, but the new Sustainability Leadership minor.
Nick Smerker, traveling multimedia consultant with the Media Commons, met Ann Quinn, lecturer in biology, at a sustainability minor planning conference at University Park in 2012. “Ann and I got to talking about her planned courses for that fall and realized a video project would be a good fit for SUST 200,” Smerker said.
The Sustainability 200 course is a prescribed course needed for a sustainability leadership minor, but anyone can take it, according to Quinn. “Penn State Erie was the first commonwealth campus to start the minor,” she said. “It’s an excellent minor for students in all majors.”
The course is taught by science teachers from two separate disciplines; Quinn and Jonathan Hall, a physics instructor. However, as Quinn said, it’s a good course for anyone with an interest in sustainability. “The students who gravitate toward the class are not just interested in sustainability but also in service learning and affecting a change,” she said.
“Our class strongly encourages students to take action about the environment,” Quinn added. “We participate in a class service project–International Coastal Cleanup–in the fall, and Trash to Treasure and post-thaw clean up in the spring.”How do the videos the students made fit into all of this? Quinn said that raising public awareness is a vital part of the sustainability philosophy. “Part of public service and affecting change comes through awareness,” Quinn said. “We started producing these videos a few years ago as a way to show that. It has been very successful. Overall, the students have enjoyed the project.”Quinn said there are several educational benefits that students get out of producing the videos. First, she said video production is not only a different way for students to learn about sustainability but also a great way to share what they learned with others. For many students, they are also learning new skills, such as video production and visual communications. And finally, she said she has noticed a great deal of gratification among students after the videos are complete and they view the final result.
Getting Connected with Media Commons
If you are faculty like Ann Quinn and Jonathan Hall and are interested in incorporating multimedia into your courses but are not sure how to do so, the Media Commons can help you.
“You can get started working with Media Commons by visiting our website at mediacommons.psu.edu and checking out the Faculty Resources we have there, including rubrics, sample assignments, case studies and more,” said Nick Smerker, Media Commons traveling consultant. “Getting in touch with the local consultant(s) for a given campus is the next step, as they will provide faculty with a custom training and support program tailored for individual courses based on one on one consultation.”
The videos are also being used outside of the SUST 200 course. “We intend to show them on our digital signage board around campus, and one group’s video is being used to promote Greener Behrend,” Quinn said.
The Media Commons and Smerker played an instrumental role in developing the videos for SUST 200. “I assisted Ann and Jonathan with the SUST 200 course projects from the ground up,” Smerker said. “Initial consultation on the types of projects, length of assignment, deliverables along the way and final submissions was provided by Media Commons.”
Smerker said that the assistance on the videos did not end after the initial time the course was offered. He continued to follow up and help them refine the process of creating the videos.
“After the first semester of offering the project, I worked with Ann to tweak the project for greater student success,” Smerker said. “In-class training on Media Commons resources, support options, and hardware/software tools was provided each semester as well as an in-person consultation on storyboards/project plans, and then online review of drafts and final videos.”
Quinn said that the assistance the Media Commons offered throughout the process didn’t just help the instructors, but the students as well. “Students can and do call the Media Commons with questions and problems as they put the videos together,” she said.
“Different students come in with varying levels of ability, but even students with little or no experience making videos can do pretty well after a Media Commons visit,” Quinn added. “I think the videos have really been a great addition to the SUST 200 class.”
(Story originally posted on the Penn State News blog.)