Assigning students to publish on the web: Examples, hurdles, and needs

Assign students to create a website, video, or podcast, and they can become more engaged with content and more capable in communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and ethics. That is the promise. Still needed are documentation and dissemination of effective teaching approaches and suitable platforms to handle inevitable copyright issues. We characterise these needs here through a case study of one web publishing assignment in science that has run since 2003, brief descriptions of other new media assignments being undertaken by science academics in Australia, and the attractions and concerns thattheir colleagues voice. The discussion points to a critical question, the level of commitment of university academics to preparing their graduates to handle the complexity of relationships with stakeholders that the web can readily present. Are lecturers ready to take on the preparation of students to employ digital media to relate to audiences outside the university?