Think about a time you had a large, multifaceted project to complete. You probably felt stressed and overwhelmed. Most likely, you instinctively broke that project up into smaller chunks or tasks that made the work more manageable. The same should be true for projects we assign to our students.
We know that scaffolding involves breaking down complex tasks into smaller, more manageable steps, and providing assistance to students as they progress through each step. Scaffolding provides a structure that supports student growth, creates autonomous learners, and gives students more confidence in acquiring new skills (Dede & Sochacki, 2021). Breaking up an assignment into smaller parts, with multiple due dates, for a gradual build is less likely to overwhelm students.
Scaffolding a Creative Assignment
Here is an example of a scaffolded creative assignment where students are asked to create a digital story using Adobe Express. The series of assignments walks students through the stages of the overall project, each intentional in design to grow in complexity, provide time for feedback and self-reflection, and build on previous work.
Assignment 1: Low-stakes Introduction to Adobe Express
In the first assignment, students are introduced to the tool, Adobe Express, by creating an introduction of themselves to share with the class. This provides students the opportunity to become familiar with the features and capabilities of Adobe Express in a low-stakes activity and, bonus, get to share about themselves and make connections with their peers.
Adobe Express, part of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, is a user-friendly design tool that offers a wide array of features for creating visual content. It has an intuitive interface, provides starting templates, and includes a vast library of resources such as images, icons, and fonts. These features make Adobe Express an ideal choice for instructors looking to introduce a tool that is both powerful and accessible to students, even those with little prior design experience. Some examples of projects students can create in Adobe Express include digital stories, video presentations, interviews, infographics, newsletters/brochures, and webpages, just to name a few. Adobe Creative Cloud is available at no cost to all U-M faculty, staff, and students.
Assignment 2: Creating a Project Plan
Next, students are asked to create a plan or storyboard for their project. This could be done in Adobe Express itself, or in a word processing document such as Google Docs or Microsoft Word. What matters is that students are thinking ahead about what they want their final project to look like. This step also allows instructors to see what students are envisioning and provides them with the opportunity to give feedback. In addition, this would be a great time to incorporate peer review so students can give and receive feedback of their own.
Assignment 3: Drafting the Written Content
Ask students to draft the written content for their final project just like they would for a traditional essay assignment. Having a draft of their content will make the process of creating their digital story in Adobe Express much less overwhelming. This is another assignment that would greatly benefit from peer review and instructor feedback.
Assignment 4: Selecting Images and Media
Three days after hearing information we may remember 10% of it but add a picture and memory increases to 65% (Page & Duffy, 2021). Adobe Express allows users to put a lot of emphasis on visual content so it is important for students to be intentional about the images and media they select for their project. For this assignment, students will curate a collection of images, graphics, and videos they plan to use for their project. Ask students to provide an explanation of each visual element and how it will add value and meaning to the written content they drafted in the previous assignment.
Assignment 5: Building the Digital Story in Adobe Express
This is the fun part where students finally get to take all of the hard work they completed thus far and pull it together. When creating a digital story, I recommend students start by creating a web page in Adobe Express. Students can make use of the templates or start from scratch. When their final project is complete, they can publish and share the URL to their digital story.
Scaffolding creative assignments with Adobe Express bridges the gap between creative aspirations and practical skills, ensuring that students not only meet course objectives but also develop the design skills necessary for success in a visually driven world. If you are interested in using Adobe Express for creative assignments and would like help getting started, complete this consultation request form. The LSA Learning and Teaching Consultants are always happy to help.
References
Dede, M. & Sochacki, J. (2021, May) Scaffolding as a RoadMap: Guiding and Supporting Student Learning. Faculty Focus. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/course-design-ideas/scaffolding-as-a-roadmap-guiding-and-supporting-student-learning/
Page, J. & Duffy, M. (2021) Visual Communication: Insights and Strategies. Wiley- Blackwell.
