Using positive psychology as a theoretical framework, this presentation will examine the potential of vlogging – video blogging – as a tool to build student confidence, agency, and autonomy in a higher education (HE) context. The focus is on discussion seminars, stressing the positive contribution of confidence, agency and learner autonomy to good mental health and wellbeing during undergraduate study.

With these issues in mind, the speakers will critically reflect on the benefits and challenges of using vlogging as a summative assignment based on their experiences with on-campus and online module delivery (Introduction to Sociology) to international students at foundation level. This will include context and rationale behind choosing vlogging as a summative assignment, the practicalities around setting it up, scaffolding – gradually removing the lecturer’s support, recommended software & potential technical issues, marking criteria & assessment challenges, organising follow-up Q&A session and student feedback on vlogging. Finally, to illustrate the potential of vlogging as a creative assessment tool, a student’s vlog exemplar will be displayed. Classroom observations were carried out over a 5-year period (10 cohorts of foundation students) during which students were demonstrably engaged cognitively, behaviourally and emotionally in seminars, and obtained overall good grades in the summative assessment.

The presentation will be particularly useful for those HE lecturers, tutors and practitioners who seek creative alternatives in module delivery to replace more conventional (written) assignments, especially in the era of Artificial Intelligence and tools such as ChatGPT. Also, colleagues who work with international students and face challenges around class/seminar participation may (hopefully) find some inspiration linked to the power of vlogging.

Keywords: Vlogging, positive psychology, student agency, learner autonomy, mental health and wellbeing.