Involving students in producing educational material, or as researchers in their own right, are not new ideas. Teaching is recognised as being a great way to learn. Involvement in authentic research can be an effective motivator as well as providing learning opportunities.
Digital technologies provide new opportunities in these areas: widening access to resources, supporting many forms of collaboration, and lowering the cost of production of high-quality materials.
Planning
You may find it helpful to consider the following:
- Aims: What are your aims in doing this?
- Motivator: What will be the motivator for students to produce the work (for example, assessment)?
- Audience: Who will be the audience for the material produced by the students?
- Resources: Are there existing resources they should contribute to, build on, or use as reference (for example, contributing to Wikipedia)?
- Skills & support: What skills will students need or need to develop? What support will be needed?
- Technology: Is the technology available and are there any associated costs?
Case studies
Further reading