Mobilized Photography Final

KristinL
Community Team
Community Team
8
1970

In the spirit of the current Mobile Quest (Mobilize Your Assignments), I want to share some of the results of my mobile Photography I final I assign to my high school students.

 

Throughout the entire semester, I emphasize the Elements of Art (line, shape, form, color, value, texture, space) and Principles of Design (rhythm/pattern, contrast, balance, emphasis, movement, proportion, unity). The other key topic, besides the camera settings themselves, is composition.

 

Initially, I created this final in a last-ditch effort to have students showcase their understanding of key course vocabulary. Until last semester, I generally had students create a cumulative portfolio, but when our student server crashed, I had to come up with something practical and enjoyable. That's when I came up with the Mobile Final!

 

Each student was required to have the Canvas by Instructure‌ app installed on their personal smartphone. This part was easy since most of my students already had it on their devices! Then, students could choose from a variety of editing apps, but I suggested Snapseed (iOS + Android) and Pixlr (iOS + Android). This way, they'd be prepared to take the photographs, edit, and submit their work...all from their personal devices. I thought this was amazing since the entire activity could be done outside and within the hour-long time restraint of our scheduled final.

 

In their "Photo I Final" module, I added the following prompts, each as their own assignment:

  • Leading Lines - "Capture an image that utilizes leading lines. How can lines help guide a viewer through your image?"
  • Framing - "Capture an image that contains an excellent example of Framing. Framing is a technique that photographers use to help emphasize their subject. How can you surround a subject with other objects to exaggerate the importance of the subject?"
  • Exaggerated Perspective - "Capture an image that exaggerates perspective. Consider a subject, but then think about how foreshortening changes the way a viewer would interpret the images. (A good place to start would be worm's-eye-view...but don't be afraid to look at extreme angles of all types.)"
  • Rule of Thirds - "Capture an image that utilizes Rule of Thirds." Composition is everything! Demonstrate your knowledge of this key compositional tool."
  • Macro - "Capture a beautiful macro image. Get up close and personal with an object and emphasize texture!"

 

Each had their own directions and rubric. Students liked how they knew exactly what they needed to accomplish, and yet, they had some freedom on how to interpret the prompts.  It was amazing how many compliments I received about this mobile experience. Needless to say, this activity was repeated this semester...with warmer weather. Again, these students enjoyed the active learning and being able to demonstrate their learning, rather than only being evaluated what they could communicate on a written final.

 

This will be something that I continue to do. The unique combination of assigning a written final with a later (mobile) skills final really does provide me with some great ways to assess student learning.

 

Here are some highlights from each term:

Photo I 2016-2017, Semester 1

Photo I 2016-2017, Semester 2

 

Mobile On!

8 Comments
cgaudreau
Community Contributor

This is not only awesome, but an encouraging outlook on mobile. It also also encouraging to see assignments that fall into the top-tier of Bloom's Smiley Happy

At the start of each traditional semester, we have been wrapping a campus tour around Canvas use as a student, and this year are going all-in on mobile. While not strictly image-based as your assignment, they are encouraged to use the camera, Adobe Spark Post and some offline activities to get the most out of their devices and the campus.

Well done!

DaleDrees
Community Champion

Some Great shots too  @KristinL ‌! Makes me miss the Midwest!

rseilham
Community Champion

Kristin

Thanks for sharing this mobile assignment! That's awesome that you were able to turn a negative (server crashing) into a fantastic opportunity to try something else, that was ultimately very successful! 

I have been asked, but haven't heard of any faculty members that have successful in creating a photo assignment where the Canvas Mobile app was the endpoint for submitting the assignment. Did your students run into any issues? I know that the app can sometimes choke on largish file. 

As you stated, they used their mobile device to take the pictures. For the assignment, did you give any direction on camera adjustments, or was this all about composition? On another note, isn't it amazing how awesome mobile cameras have changed? The photos below are amazing not coming for a DSLR. 

Google Photos 

Google Photos 

Google Photos 

Thanks again for sharing. I'm going to share this with a few of my faculty and see if they can incorporate this into their course. 

Mobile on!

KristinL
Community Team
Community Team

Hi  @rseilham -

My students did not tell me about any issues regarding file upload, which is good. It also doesn't guarantee that they didn't have to try a couple times...some uploaded over 4G, others waited until they arrived home after finals that day so they could use WiFi. On a related note, I did hear a few students say "Whoa! This file is huge in Canvas!" when returning to the classroom as they checked their work.

I love this assignment. I mean, when students are out-and-about, they don't carry DSLRs or even point-and-shoots with manual settings. They have their phones. I figure this is a very practical way to show them that it's not truly the camera that "makes" the photographer. It's ultimately about your timing, composition, and point of view.

rseilham
Community Champion

Thanks,  @KristinL !  It's good to hear you aren't running into any issues. I think at UCF there are weird dead spots where you keep moving in and out of wifi and 4G, so that can cause issues. I'll encourage my faculty to try this type of assignment and report back! 

kmeeusen
Community Champion

Hi  @KristinL 

Awesome Final! Very engaging and authentic assessment!

You have probably already seen it, but if not, this FI would make the tasks even easier for your students  https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/2880-give-access-to-camera-to-embed-pictures 

Mobile on,

Kelley

Bobby2
Community Champion

 @KristinL 

Thanks for sharing. Some beautiful photos and lots of great learning taking place.

I agree with Christopher that the creativity of Blooms is alive and well in this example of learning.

Bobby2
Community Champion

Snapseed is great too.

I will be 'borrowing' your prompts for my grade 3 class, if that's ok Kristin .