Communication Studies Prof. Daphne Hartzheim on Choosing Visual & Technological

Professor Daphne Hartzheim’s communication disorders course focuses on autism and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), and students are required to perform in-depth research about effective evidence-based interventions for individuals with autism and those that use AAC. Daphne wanted to put students in a position to use communication-intensive learning to enhance students’ training to communicate about communication processing. So in lieu of a traditional academic research paper, Daphne assigned a short, PSA-style informational video project used for real dissemination to the video’s audience. Students choose their audience (administrators, parents, the general public, etc.) and topic, then storyboard, record and edit their videos. Daphne wanted to commit time in the course emphasizing the varying visual and aural elements of communication and how they fit layered together, and recording and editing film to convey this felt like a natural fit. This model worked for her because in addition to having to learn and apply current research to create something, it also puts students in a position to diversify their own communication skill sets as they prepare to work with clients and other stakeholders.