A proposed HSK multimedia assessment framework for effective use of multimedia assignments in a higher education setting

Multimedia is described as the combination of more than one type of media to create a finished product. The types of media could include images, illustrations, text, video, audio and animations (Mayer 2009). An example of a multimedia assignment would be a narrated presentation video, made up of written text, images, illustrations and the student’s voice narration. According to the recent literature, multimedia assignments can provide opportunity for students to develop visual presentation skills (Riordan et al., 2020), to deepen their active learning (Coulson & Frawley, 2017; Pirhonen & Rasi ,2016), and to demonstrate their assessed skills using new and engaging methods of working (Ledonne, 2014). Many modules across the School have increased their use of multimedia assignments as a medium for students to present their summative assignments rather than using the more conventional written essay assignments. Recent examples include the use of narrated PowerPoint presentations, recorded practical skills videos, audio podcasts, narrated digital posters, digital stories using Powtoon animations. Unfortunately, the use of multimedia assignments in the School, has also caused a lot of unforeseen problems and frustrations for both the students and the teaching staff. This negative experience is reflected in the views of Arvidsson and Delfanti (2019), Earnshaw (2017) and Martin and Zahrndt (2017) who highlighted that multimedia assessments involve specific knowledge or skills, which are only attainable with initial formal training. Hence, the HSK Educational Technology team provided support which offered students scaffolding support when working on multimedia assignments (Reyna & Meier, 2018). At the conference, we will present the HSK multimedia assessment framework as a guide to successfully use multimedia assessments and how the HSK Educational Technology team can enable and support the academics in transforming their assessment approach towards multimedia assignments. References Arvidsson, A., & Delfanti, A. (2019). Introduction to digital media. Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119276296 Coulson, S., & Frawley, J. K. (2017). Student generated multimedia for supporting learning in an undergraduate physiotherapy course. In H. Partridge, K. Davis & J. Thomas (Eds.), Me, Us, IT! Proceedings ASCILITE2017: 34th International Conference on Innovation, Practice and Research in the Use of Educational Technologies in Tertiary Education. (pp. 235–244). University of Southern Queensland Earnshaw, R. (2017). State of the art in digital media and applications. Springer, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61409-0 Ledonne, D. (2014). Multimedia assignments: not just for film majors anymore. Chronicle of Higher Education, 60(32). https://www.chronicle.com/article/Multimedia-Assignments-Not/145939 Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia learning (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.10.1017/CBO9780511811678 Martin, J. M., & Zahrndt, J. (2017). Media and digital literacy: a framework for instructional strategy. In M.G. Strawser (Ed.), New media and digital pedagogy: enhancing the twenty-first-century classroom. (pp 33–54). Lexington Books Pirhonen, J., & Rasi, P. (2017). Student-generated instructional videos facilitate learning through positive emotions. Journal of Biological Education, 51(3), 215-227. https://doi.org/10.1080/00219266.2016.1200647 Reyna, J., & Meier, P. (2018). Using the learner-generated digital media (LGDM) framework in tertiary science education: a pilot study. Education Sciences, 8(3), 106. https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/8/3/106 Riordan, M. A., Abo-Zebiba, Z., & Marsh, J. (2020). A comparison of multimedia and traditional paper assignments in an introductory psychology course. Teaching of Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628320954192