What Did You Think This Week? The Video Reflection in Sociology Online Courses

In Fall 2013, I piloted a video reflection assignment in the Sociology courses. Students were asked to reflect on the week by giving a video reflection. Students gave me information about their learning that I would not be able to capture through their assignments. Students also commented that the video reflection gave them a connection to their instructor. In addition, the video reflection resulted in me connecting with students on campus as I recognized them from the videos. For Spring 2014, I analyzed the videos and noticed that the social imagination was missing from videos and the topics did not always focus on the week's learning through sociological discussion.This has resulted in a rubric created to pilot in Fall 2014. The  rubric was included with the video reflection for hybrid courses(see attached). On average, 90-95% of the students receive a perfect score on the rubric each week. This was an improvement from video reflections without the rubric where on average 70-85% of the students received a perfect score in previous semesters. The rubric kept students on track with the goal of the video reflection.