STUDENT VIDEO PROJECTS – EXAMPLES OF FRESHMAN MULTIMEDIA RESEARCH IN THE GEOSCIENCES WITH AN EYE TOWARD COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

The University of Massachusetts-Boston School for the Environment is one 7 sub units beneath the College of Science and Math. In 2009, the College instituted a Freshman Seminar specifically for science majors offered by each of the College’s entities, called Gateway Seminars. The seminars are designed to foster students colligate development through cohort building while accomplishing benchmark standards in oral/written communication, presentation skills, applications of technology, the scientific method, literary research and interpersonal skills. In the 2013 Fall Semester, the School for the Environment Gateway Seminar experimented with requiring video projects as a core requirement of the course for a mechanism to achieve all benchmarks. Students were required to work in pairs to develop video presentations that highlighted aspects of the GeoSciences and Environmental Sciences and demonstrate how the issues impact their home city of Boston. The class of 16 produced 16 videos with topics ranging from bleaching of coral reef to shipwrecks to climate change and erosion. Each video was designed to last approximately 7 minutes and required the submission of a script and detailed reference list. Four student representatives will present examples of the final video projects as well as their experiences in the project and how it relates to community/civic engagement

The Gateway Seminar Video Project was supported by the University of Massachusetts-Boston Community Engagement Scholar Initiative, the College of Science and Math, and the School for the Environment.