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EDCI-531-Case Study 3 Assignment

Case Study: Interactional

STAR is a rigorous gifted and talented STEM-field summer program that has been in operation

for twenty five-years on a college campus. The students are ranging from middle school to high school

grade levels and remain on campus throughout their time in the program. Students from all over the

world look forward to being a part of this program because it offers highly engaging and stimulating

courses ranging from veterinary education, physics, engineering, to culinary arts, fashion, and leadership

101. On average, there are 500 students attending this program where they are able to select two courses

of interest, which all of the courses are project-based and are held for three hours a day. The program

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offers three phases with different program dates, so a student could register for a week or two week

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course.

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This summer, the program would like to begin a videography and photojournalism course. They

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know that many students would be interested, but they are unsure about how the curriculum should be

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planned for this course to run well. Usually at the end of the program, the program has a gala where

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students can showcase their work. The instructor of this course, whom teaches college students on

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instructional technology, must develop a curriculum that allows students to increase their skills in

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videography and photojournalism and present this curriculum to the STAR program for approval. Seem

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as how this will be the instructors first time working with the program, and is preparing for an interview

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with the STAR Program, she would really have to provide a curriculum that would aid all students, allow

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the students to interact with each other, meet the programs goals, and be practical. In addition, since this

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is a gifted and talented program, she should also address the needs of her gifted and talented learners. In

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the interview, she must provide examples of what all she plans to teach and how this can benefit the

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students and the program.

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Reflective Questions:
1. What are some ways that the teacher can get all students involved despite the variance in their
grade levels?

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2. Are all the students competent in videography and photojournalism?

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3. Has the teacher had any experience working with students in a classroom capacity? What about

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gifted and talented learners?

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4. Will there be a balance between independent and group work?

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5. How will the teacher challenge learners that have already developed many of these skills?

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6. How will the teacher work with students that are beginners in this field?

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Solution:

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As the instructor plans this curriculum, she must take into consideration Vygotskys theory of

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social development which focuses on students learning through their interaction with one another. She

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has been placed in a unique situation because she would be able to place students of varying skills into

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groups to complete certain assignments. According to Driscoll (2005), The more advanced partner,

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whether adult or peer, will function to bring about cognitive development in the less advanced partner (p.

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257). This will allow students to observe what other students are able to do and strengthen their skills in

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that particular area. For example, one of the components the teacher must teach is interviewing. With the

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class full of diverse students, this could be a great opportunity for students to get to know each other and

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develop cultural awareness. The students could be placed into groups, develop interview questions that

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focus on cultural awareness, such as someones favorite holiday or their top three things that they value

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most in life. After which, the group would record their interviews with their other classmates. After their

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allotted time, the students can review the results and create a graph on the top responses to see what

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majority of the students stated. In addition, the students would use a video editing software, Camatasia, to

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create a video that includes the following components: text overlays, music, transitions, still image, and

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the chart. Through this activity, the students will be able increase their knowledge of cultural awareness

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and notice that, although their classmates may be from other locations, they have differences and yet

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many similarities. The students will be provided an opportunity to show their videos to the class, where

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the other students will discuss how the video was enjoyable and where the video could be strengthened.

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This, in turn, will create a learning community within the class and will also allow the instructor to assess

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how competent the students are in videography.

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Another aspect that must be considered is how to increase the skill set of gifted and talented

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learners. As stated earlier, many of the students are interested in videography and photojournalism, but

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some may actually have experience, whereas others have not. One of the most common mistakes a

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teacher can do with gifted and talented learners is to provide them with busy work leaving them

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unchallenged and unmotivated. After the first video assignment, the interview video, the teacher will be

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able to assess which students are more competent in this field, and could possibly know more than the

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instructor. In this situation, the instructor could keep these students challenged by presenting these

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students with other interesting videography and photojournalism skills and have them demonstrate these

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skills to the other students. With this being a learning community, the students may be more interested in

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acquiring new skills from another student, which they may interpret as achievable because it was

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presented by a fellow student.

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Similarly, beginning learners would need to be assessed and challenged in the course as well. It is

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really important that the instructor assess each students zone of proximal development as to what the

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students are able to do on their own, what they are able to do with assistance, and what they are not

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capable of doing at this specific moment. With this in mind, it is appropriate for the instructor to start

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with the basics of videography and photojournalism and provide group work so that the students can

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assist each other before introducing the final project that comprises all of the prerequisite skills to make

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this video possible.

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to self-regulate themselves as to where they should be in their projects. This would also instill proper

Along with this, the instructor should create benchmarks that would allow students

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time management skills, which lessens students being off-task and allows students to get a feel of how a

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professional videographer or photojournalist must meet deadlines.

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These prerequisite skills would all lead the students to their final project of creating their personal

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video or movie. Through the interaction that they would have with one another from the beginning of the

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course, the students would have acquired many skills to produce a great video. As for the gala, the

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students final videos would be shown, along with their Weebly websites that would take the form of an

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e-portfolio to upload all of their work throughout this course. This would be a great resource for students

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because they could add or remove videos from their website after this course and use this as a building

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block for any future interest in videography or photojournalism.