On the Higher Ed Heroes podcast, hosted by Seb Kaempf and Al Stark (2021), they speak with Dr. Karin Selberg from the University of Queensland to discuss a project that she calls the “Me in a Minute” video. In this assignment, students have to tell their own story within a one-minute time period, something that they note can seem so short to some while so long to others completing this assignment. This project is meant to use the skills students learn in their liberal arts courses to create a video that could help them prepare for future experiences, such as job interviews, when someone asks the dreaded, “Can you tell us a little about yourself?” question.
Dr. Selberg makes the point that this not only challenges students to figure out what about themselves they want to share but it also provides them practice in using video technology, which some students may be comfortable with while others are not. Both of these are important skills; in a time where social media is becoming a replacement for a lot of our traditional writing, being able to create a video is a new and important way of messaging. Students not only have to figure out what to say, but they have to figure out the message in terms of their environment and what they wear. How will the video come across to their audience? Who is their audience? How do they wish to be perceived? It may be a short video, but there are many layers of preparation, not unlike writing a traditional paper.
The “Me in a Minute” video could fit into first-year composition classrooms in a multitude of ways. First, it can be used as a way of an icebreaker. Instead of having students go around the room and say one interesting things about themselves, it could be an assignment produced on the school’s LMS or social media as a first course assignment. However, because it may be an assignment that takes time and challenges students, it may work better as a replacement for an in-class presentation or even an “elevator pitch” proposal for a research paper. Video has become a resource not just for gaining information in class but sharing information with others.
As Dr. Selberg states, students may need time in class to work on this in order to brainstorm and outline what they wish to portray in their video. This, I believe, applies to all assignments—I think that if the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that the idea of “free time” is precious, and I have reverted into eliminating as much homework as possible and replace it with active learning in the classroom. So while videos may have to be completed out of class time, one could also challenge students to make the videos in different parts of the building or even outside, weather permitting, during the usual course session. Overall, this is an assignment that could easily slide into any course syllabus, and maybe it should, because as students often say, they want to be prepared for the so-called “real world,” and storytelling is an important part of that preparation.