The Slide Remix: Students as co-creators of course content

Contemporary students are accustomed to interactive, visually engaging media, prompting instructors to consider how traditional classroom materials align with students’ broader media experiences. The “Slide Remix” is an activity designed to enhance student comprehension and application of communication theory through collaboration. Students re-create instructor-provided lecture slides while incorporating their own perspectives and examples. Grounded in Anderson and Krathwohl’s revision of Bloom’s taxonomy and principles of media literacy, this activity promotes the co-construction of course materials, fosters student investment in learning, and challenges participants to communicate concepts in engaging ways. Steps to implement the activity, examples of student creations, and adaptations for varying courses are discussed.Courses This activity has been used in media and society, computer-mediated communication, and research methods courses but may fit any course.Objectives Students will apply, analyze, and evaluate core concepts in communication theory by revising instructor-provided slides; evaluate communication concepts by selecting and justifying examples, images, and other media that accurately represent course ideas; develop materials that demonstrate theoretical accuracy and engage the material and their classmates by teaching from the slides they create; and communicate course concepts by presenting and explaining their remixed slides to classmates using clear, engaging, and accurate instruction.