Case Examples
The Video Essay as a Learning Tool
Harvard Kennedy School + The Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching (HILT)
Through a Harvard HILT grant, Docutribe partnered with The Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation to develop the Videographic Essay as a new, innovative model for experiential learning.
Students used documentary filmmaking to investigate public issues, engage communities, and integrate multiple forms of field-based research. The project demonstrated how storytelling can deepen learning, empathy, and leadership development. Its success helped establish part of the foundation for Docutribe’s Resilience-Informed Storytelling methodology.
"The [Innovation] field lab [—an experiental learning lab—] embeds teams of graduate students to collaborate with local governments to develop a holistic, data-driven strategy to prioritize and resolve the prevalence of problem properties...The students undertaking this experience are provided with the opportunity to apply problem solving skills in a public setting, to be challenged to think in new and creative ways and to understand how to lead change. The project also provides an opportunity to investigate the effects of innovation on a particular area of urban policy, with potential implications for theories of public sector innovation."
Community Engagement through Filmmaking
Cecily also taught at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government an interdepartmental course ‘Community Engagement through Filmmaking’ and interdependent studies, ‘Reading and Research: The Video Essay’ during which students produced their own documentaries showing topics of social importance that they are passionate about,and illustrated the role of the visual media in promoting social change.
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Community Engagement Through Filmmaking
A diverse group of Harvard students and alumni buzzed with excitment as they prepared to premiere their short films to a crowd at the Ash Center on Wednesday, May 9. Three months earlier this group, the videos’ creators, had little to no filmmaking skills.
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Behind the Lens: Cecily Tyler Is Building a New Generation of Citizen Storytellers
Cecily Tyler is building a new generation of citizen storytellers
