Brief description of the activity/assessment
Students post to our group Instagram account @intro.culural.anthro.auc an image synthetizing their thoughts on the week. They think about what really stood out for them in terms of discussions, readings, fieldwork. They then add a line or two of text but the main focus is on how the image speaks for itself. The Instas are not graded, but marked as +/- and students need a total of 10 to complete the semester. As the instructor, I create an instagram account at the beginning of the semester and share the credentials and password with students so they can post directly there. This is to protect students’ privacy, to ensure equity because some aren’t on instagram or don’t want to use their personal instagram accounts for the course. They sign each post with their name or pseudonym for me to be able to keep track. This activity also fosters a sense of public reciprocity essential to ethics of anthropological fieldwork.
Ways to assess student work
Formative (Ungraded)
Step by step instructions for students
Sample explanation for students about how this activity develops their digital literacies
The idea is to engage with a broad audience through instagram, which helps students work on course related content while using a tool is already part of their daily lives. This improves their digital literacies through interacting with a public audience online, ideally, which is essential in anthropological fieldwork. The goal is also it being part of Universal Design for Learning because it brings them to think and express themselves visually, rather than simply relying on text. It also creates continuity so for them it’s a way to build digital consistency in establishing their fieldwork practice. The way the activity instructions are designed helps students think about privacy, posting from personal vs. course account, equity…etc.
Average preparation time for faculty
30 – 60 minutes to create the instagram account and adapt the instructions document for their course and context. You can also think about how you want to grade this activity for students, which would take some time to incorporate it in the syllabus.
Average time it takes students to complete this activity
Less than 30 minutes per week (one log a week). Students do this weekly. Faculty can adjust this frequency as they see fit for their courses. This is is meant to replace weekly reflection papers/logs.
Necessary tools/technologies
Instagram accounts and a smartphone with camera. The instructor also needs to create an instagram account for the course.
Possible adaptations
Being mindful of student privacy and safety if they choose not to post using their own names or personal accounts. Talking to students about this in class is helpful and giving them a chance to post anonymously.
Additional information for faculty who plan to adopt this resource
Being mindful of student privacy and safety if they choose not to post using their own names or personal accounts. Talking to students about this in class is helpful and giving them a chance to post anonymously.