Abstract

This qualitative study explores the factors that influence how mixed-gender groups collaborate on digital filmmaking projects at the CEGEP level. Prior research indicates that girls are often disadvantaged when working in mixed-sex groups within technology-rich learning environments, where boys have the tendency to choose more publicly acknowledged roles and dominate the equipment. The present study attempts to shed light on the social negotiations among teammates and the factors that contribute to the choice of production roles taken by girls and boys in mixed-gender collaborative video work. The study employs an action research design and involves my own final-year film/video production class comprised of 21 students at a CEGEP in the greater Montreal area. Results suggest that students’ gendered content preferences and classroom reactions to these preferences, the process of negotiating film content as a collective, the level of confidence with the production equipment, academic motivation, as well as gender and identity performances were among the factors that influenced girls and boys to make certain choices regarding the roles they would occupy on a film crew. The study explores these various factors at play, and attempts to create more equal learning opportunities for girls and boys in the classroom.