CITL Instructor Series: TikTok Projects as a Learning and Assessment Tool in Physical Oceanography

Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2-3 p.m.

Online; ED-1001

Presenter: Dr. Joseph Fitzgerald, Assistant Professor, Physics and Physical Oceanography, Faculty of Science

Scientific research/writing projects such as term papers are a time-tested component of undergraduate science education. However, students typically write several such papers throughout their undergraduate careers, which can lead to the perception that the assignments are “dry” and reduce student enthusiasm for scientific exploration. Term papers are also onerous to grade and are increasingly fraught as an assessment tool due to generative AI such as ChatGPT. In this talk I will discuss “TikTok projects”, which I have used in my introductory physical oceanography class (PHYS/OCSC 2300) for the past few years. In these projects, students are asked to delve into the primary literature and, rather than write a 5-page paper, instead develop a two-minute “TikTok”-style popular science video presentation in which they explain their research topic and its significance. Students have had a lot of fun with this project and tend to combine their scientific interests with personal expression. Student feedback on the assignment is very positive, and assessment is relatively AI-resistant compared with traditional papers. In this talk I will describe the assignment, including feedback and grading, and show some fun examples of successful projects.

For more information and to register please visit the CITL Website.

Presented by CITL

Event Listing 2025-11-04 14:00:00 2025-11-04 15:00:00 America/St_Johns CITL Instructor Series: TikTok Projects as a Learning and Assessment Tool in Physical Oceanography Presenter: Dr. Joseph Fitzgerald, Assistant Professor, Physics and Physical Oceanography, Faculty of Science Scientific research/writing projects such as term papers are a time-tested component of undergraduate science education. However, students typically write several such papers throughout their undergraduate careers, which can lead to the perception that the assignments are “dry” and reduce student enthusiasm for scientific exploration. Term papers are also onerous to grade and are increasingly fraught as an assessment tool due to generative AI such as ChatGPT. In this talk I will discuss “TikTok projects”, which I have used in my introductory physical oceanography class (PHYS/OCSC 2300) for the past few years. In these projects, students are asked to delve into the primary literature and, rather than write a 5-page paper, instead develop a two-minute “TikTok”-style popular science video presentation in which they explain their research topic and its significance. Students have had a lot of fun with this project and tend to combine their scientific interests with personal expression. Student feedback on the assignment is very positive, and assessment is relatively AI-resistant compared with traditional papers. In this talk I will describe the assignment, including feedback and grading, and show some fun examples of successful projects. For more information and to register please visit the CITL Website. Online; ED-1001 CITL