31.2: The Studio Story

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In 2004, I had the opportunity to design a graduate course in digital filmmaking. The decision was made to offer this course via distance delivery. As this was a new distance course, it was critical that it leveraged the existing technology creatively and model sound instructional strategies. Previously, I had taught other online courses, using a variety of software (First Class, Nautikos, Web CT, Blackboard, Elluminate Live!), and, in each of those situations, I had modified my instruction to match the software. This time I decided to try a different approach. I determined the instructional strategy would be studio-based, assuming the software (Blackboard and Elluminate) could be adapted to support it.

The course, Inquiry Into Digital Filmmaking, received very positive reviews from the students. The opening assignment, the creation of a short film, shared within the Blackboard discussion board via links to the students’ web pages, served three purposes:

as an icebreaker—literally, for one of the students;
as a pattern for the completion of the other tasks within the course and a chance for students to see how studio-based instruction might look in a totally online environment; and
as an opportunity for students to demonstrate their prior knowledge and skills with filmmaking.

The first purpose, an icebreaker, is critical for the development of positive learning environments (Dooley, Lindner & Dooley, 2005) and is consistent with Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction (Gagne, 1977). It supports the development of a collaborative, supportive community of practice that promotes risk-taking and social interaction (Crichton, 1998, 1993). It also provides an opportunity for students to introduce themselves and begin an authentic discourse (Wenger, n.d.) around a relevant topic — the successful completion of the course. The first assignment, a one-minute video showing “My favourite place to get a warm drink” was designed to be fun and to provide a way to begin building a sense of who the participants are in the course — a commonly cited best practice for facilitating online (Salmon, 2001). A warm drink was chosen for its universality and neutrality, as students, a mix of urban and rural, and from a variety of educational backgrounds and levels of film-making experience, were located in Hong Kong, Northwest Territories, Alberta, and Ontario.

The second purpose, a pattern, helps students to determine the rhythm of the course and its expectations. In studio-based courses, activities consist of required and elective components, and evaluation takes the form of critiques (crits). Sharing and trust within a community are essential parts of a studio environment, so a collective understanding of acceptable behaviour for constructive criticism is important. Rubrics and/or checklists, circulated in advance and negotiated during the completion of the activity promote a positive “crit” process. Patterns, as suggested by Alexander et al. (1977), help to break down complex concepts or activities into their component parts, allowing experts and novices to participate at their own levels. In the case of the icebreaker activity, pitching a story, story-boarding the actual film segments, and providing access to a final version constitute the pattern for task completion for the remainder of the course.

The third purpose, an opportunity to demonstrate prior knowledge and skills, is consistent with sound principles of adult learning (Knowles, 1995). Adults bring rich and varied life experiences to their learning. Because of this, they are capable of latitudinal as well as longitudinal learning. This means that they can encounter a new concept, link it to a previous experience, modify their understanding, and incorporate it into something new. The literature (Knowles, Holton & Swanson, 1998; Richards, Dooley & Lindner, 2004) suggests that adults come to learning highly motivated, so drawing on their need to know, prior experience, and readiness to learn is essential. Well-designed icebreakers can set that positive tone for the course, letting students experience the course expectations in a safe and supported initial activity.

The following scenario is from one of the films from the icebreaker activity in the Inquiry into Digital Filmmaking course. James was from NWT. The opening sequence shows the thermometer outside his house reading minus 30°C. He fires up his Skidoo and heads out through a wooded area onto the frozen lake. He bores a hole in the ice, sets up his chair, casts his finishing line, and pulls out his small Thermos. As he pours his warm liquid into his cup, he says, “Here is where you and I enjoy a warm drink in Res Lake!”

While other videos included cups of tea in snowy backyards, a Starbucks in Hong Kong, a kitchen in Toronto, and a cross-country ski trip in Banff, James broke the ice on many levels. Students watched videos and then engaged in conversation within the discussion forum, asking questions about the subjects of the film and sharing technical tips or tricks, details about locations, and other details. The short films also provided a first glimpse of the students—we actually saw each other and got a taste for one another’s lifestyles—something often missing in online learning.

Prior to sharing the videos, students were given some background on studio-based learning, a rubric for evaluating the films, and suggestions for how to participate in a critique of the work. Blackboard was used to organize the course, breaking the lecture content into weekly modules (course document section). The discussion board organized the 13 weeks of the course into discussion topics and hosted the film festivals for the students’ work. This allowed students to annotate to their QuickTime video links as well as organize the “crit” sessions around individual videos. Additional discussion areas were created for sharing technical tips, innovations and updates in hardware and software, and solutions to common problems. By designing the course around tasks and inviting students to solve problems collaboratively, a very strong community of practice (Wenger, n.d.) formed. Hosting a video course online presented numerous problems with file size, etc., but the studio aspect allowed students to customize assignments, experience things at their own pace and skill level and engage in rich conversations concerning tasks, problems, work, and social environment. Without a doubt, video, in a studio design environment, pushes the technology of the university server, as well as that of the instructor and the students, but the design creates the type of rich online social interaction and knowledge construction rarely found in the actual practice of many online courses.