I went to the Union Shop to buy a sandwich today. The whole foyer area was very quiet, but I was thinking about a recent occasion when it was thronged with people.  I don't know how many people reading this blog know about the great 'Lip Dub' event.  A couple of weeks ago almost all the Students Union societies organised their members to lip synch two songs - one by Queen and the other by Take That - while dancing, acting and various other things related to their society.  What is more amazing is that the resultant film lasts just under 7 minutes and was taken as a single shot with the camera tracking right through the Union Building, down into Bar 1, out into the garden, through the Interval, into the Atrium area and back to the front entrance.  Anyone who hasn't seen it is strongly recommended to have a look at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL_ju4E1NHQ

or search on Youtube under 'lip dub sheffield'.  Although it's only been posted on the site for around 10 days the video has already had around 11,000 hits.

Students can organise far more innovative means of communications than many around the university (possibly including many academics) realise.  Another student communications exercise that I've been a fan of for some time consists of the video diaries made over the last four years by a Sheffield student who calls herself 'Laurbubble'.  I'm not sure whether I should give her real name, but suffice to say that she is now a final year student in Germanic Studies, having spent her third year abroad.  Laurbubble has been making video diaries since she arrived at Sheffield, and has a very engaging way of putting her point across - as well as excellent video-editing skills.  She has made 74 videos (as of today), some of which have received over 30,000 hits.  I will recommend three here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMoZIUl0BMY

which is her advice to new first year students, 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1o4R1xfHw4&feature=related

which contain her reflections on types of fresher students, and finally

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL_ju4E1NHQ&feature=fvsr

which is a reflection on her first week in Germany on her exchange year.

For the final class in my third year option I said that student groups could choose their own way of putting across the material they had researched.  The topic was the eays in which high status migrant groups are changing the ways of life in major European cities (Japanese in London, British in Paris etc.).   I expected that most would use Powerpoint - in which they had become expert during the semester. Or they would produce a slide pack (as used by the UK Civil Service in briefing ministers).  But amongst the things I got were: a scripted series of dialogues involving a high status Japanese migrant in London ringing his boss in Tokyo; a role play discussion by three British female migrants including one who was about to return to the UK with her two teenage children; a piece of high quality desk-top publishing of a leaflet; and an extended pitch of a business case for the setting up of a web site aimed at British expats in Saint Petersburg.  All of these contributions were full of interest and relevance to the overall topic.

Perhaps I should more often give my students the opportunity to go 'off piste' and determine their own means of communication.  Oh, and 30,000 hits for a video looks pretty good as an impact statement for the forthcoming REF!

That's it for 2011.  I started this blog in January 2010 with the intention that it would last only a year.  Last December I asked for votes on whether it should continue, and you gave it the thumbs up.  I rather enjoy doing it, so I'm going to continue into next year - unless I see that the readership statistics are consistently going down.  Happy Christmas to all readers.