Creating and sharing student-generated laboratory video documentaries to enhance reporting, communication and technical skills.

Graduate students entering employment find themselves in environments which demand high-level skills in team working, peer review, reporting and communication technology. To help prepare for this challenge we asked year one bioscience students (n = ca. 150) on an introductory chemistry module to produce a short video documentary relating to one of the experiments they conducted as part of the laboratory complement of their course. This video submission was an assessable element of the coursework, alongside traditional written reports. Students were asked to not only describe the procedure but also to reflect on particular aspects of the practical, highlighting anything they found difficult and offering advice to someone who may be repeating the experiment at a later time. In was hoped this would promote engagement with practical work during the session and prompt thought towards how the material relates to lectures and other parts of the course. To prepare students for the task a tutorial on capturing, editing and producing video was provided to the group. The students uploaded their footage to an in-house platform called YouTestTube.com, a website which contains social networking functions allowing students to ‘make friends’ with other students on the module, thus increasing interaction with their peers. Students were also tasked to view, rate and critique their colleagues’ videos. This platform has provided a collaborative and inclusive peer-learning environment where selected videos also function as reusable peer-learning objects for an often perceived difficult subject and at a time when transition issues to university study may be encountered. This presentation will review the YouTestTube.com project, highlighting the practical requirements of running such a project, and it will include videos and related comments from participating students. The presentation will also discuss feedback from students on how successful a learning experience, or otherwise, the project has been.