Students post photographs along with their written responses to the discussion board.
Why Use This?
Posting photos with written responses engages and motivates students and is a great way to connect online. It can also draw attention to real-life examples of course concepts.
How Does It Work?
In the discussion prompt, students are asked to post photos along with their written responses.
The “Photograph Your Environment” discussion promptOpen accessible text version of previous image
Introduction
Step 1: Photograph Your Environment
WARNING Start this discussion activity after you’ve completed the lecture.
Now it’s your turn! Take 4–6 photos of your work, home, or community “health” environment. At least half of your photos should demonstrate how your built environment does not support good health decisions.
Possible examples include the cafeteria food line at work, the bike path or busy roads outside your home, the inside of your refrigerator at home, etc.
NOTE You may need permission from your employer to take photos from work. Please do not include people in the photos; only include artifacts from the environment.
Step 2: Discuss Your Environment
Post your photos to the discussion along with a brief response (3–6 sentences) to the discussion questions below.
Discussion Questions
Does your health environment support or work against your healthy intentions?
How does/does it not?
Keep In Mind
It is important to remind students about privacy concerns. For example, if they are taking photos at work and sharing them, it would be a good idea to have them get permission first.
Consider beginning the course with an activity like this to pique interest, then doing it again about halfway through the course to add some momentum.
Testimonial
Carousel that shows one slide at a time. Use the Right and Left arrow keys, or the Previous Slide and Next Slide buttons to navigate.
Adding photographs to a discussion not only feels different for the students, but it is also a different type of activity which will stand out for them. It leverages a different technology, and photos are a great visual tool to solidify class insights. It requires students to explore class topics through a very personal lens (no pun intended).
This activity does double duty: it serves as an introduction to the health environment and it’s a social connector. By sharing their living environments in the context of the course, students are bridging the social gap that often comes with asynchronous online learning. This builds momentum by starting the course off with an activity that is exciting to students and inspires them to learn more in the weeks to come.
