Teaching and Learning Tip #30 HSU Student Snapshots: Helping Students Find Their Voice

April 17, 2018

Spotlight:
Looking for Classroom Management Resources? Check out the Teaching/Instructional Resources on the Center for Teaching and Learning website.

Tip #30: HSU Student Snapshots: Helping Students Find Their Voice Through Digital Storytelling

Contributed by Tim Miller, Library

Have you been thinking about assigning a video project? Are you interested in helping your students develop digital literacy skills? Do you want to help your students share their stories and find their voices?

“Student Snapshots” is a collection of video stories from Humboldt State University (HSU) students in their own voice. These stories are about the experiences of students as they live in Humboldt County and explore both the county and the HSU campus. Student Snapshots are quick 1-minute stories that share your unique experience from your own vantage point.

What have been your experiences navigating Humboldt County? In what ways do you feel--or not--like a member of the community? Your story is important and you have something to share with HSU and beyond. If you have never made a video before, this is your chance to learn how. We will help you learn how to film and edit a video--you can even borrow the equipment from the HSU Library, or use your own devices. You will be in complete control of your story and your video.

We will be gathering these stories over the next few years; by sharing your voice, you will be helping to build an anthology of student stories, told by students themselves. Our goal is to build communication and understanding between HSU students and the Humboldt community.

IdeaFest: April 19, 3-5pm

We will be screening the first Student Snapshots at this year’s IdeaFest at 4:00 pm in the Center for Teaching & Learning Classroom (Library 317). The Student Snapshots screening will be in conjunction with We Are Your Community, a poster and video project by Masters of Social Work students Erin Youngblood-Smith and Amy Mathieson sharing posters and video interviews about the experiences of African American students with the community.

These projects create a foundation for the campus and community to better understand how HSU students experience the university and surrounding areas. Join us to learn how you can add your story to these projects and share your experiences with us through our interactive photo booth and testimonial posters.

View the Snapshots and learn more about the project:

Integrate digital storytelling into your course

If you are interested in aligning this project with your course or promoting it with your students, please get in touch with the Digital Media Lab (dml@humboldt.edu). We will be continuing this project during the 2018-19 year and hope to build a video library of students’ stories.