http://lokjackgsb.edu.tt/executive-education/north-campus-open-programmes.html?id=297
Chapter 9: Developing Instructional Materials
When creating design it is imperative that the ID will consider how the materials will be delivered. Is the ID the instructor, is it self lead instruction or will another instructor be delivering the materials? When the ID is the instructor it is not as imperative to write down every last detail, however; when another instructor is involved nothing should be left to chance.
Materials development, like many processes in the ID will be driven by a budget, time restraints and facility. In a corporate setting an ID may have a team of people driving a training, whereas in a school setting it is often the instructor that will be in charge of design, instruction and materials. Although it is attractive to develop or purchase brand new materials budget should always be considered and at this point any existing materials should first be considered. The authors go on to talk about media production and expense, these are generally far more expensive then a beginning designer realizes, creating simple video can be far more complex and time consuming then one without those skills realize. Hearing this makes me realize how lucky I am to be trained in Final Cut Pro, I work in video almost everyday and I can see how this will be a big boost on my resume. I have cut over 100 videos and I really enjoy it! I was trained at the U in the continuing education department, this I would recommend to all of the graduates in our program, of course for many it may be cost prohibitive, my work paid for it. Instructional materials are of great interest to me, this is the part of ID that I want to be a part of, I enjoy creating materials.
Things to consider when creating materials, an assessment piece should be included for the instructor, this will include post-test and may include pre-test. As I mentioned earlier, existing training materials should be considered, can they be used or adapted to save time and money? Don’t reinvent the wheel, SCORM is a first reference spot when writing objectives and creating material. http://scorm.com
However; with that being said it is important to note that older materials may contain biases and outdated cultural aspects or old instructional best practices, in this case new materials should be created and the outdated ones should be put to rest for good. From here the ID will create a rough draft and may include protyping at this point, the authors site that learners will learn as much through a rough draft as they will from the actual final materials, by using a rough draft, time and money will be saved.
When considering the development of instructional materials the ID must look at the overall content, assess who how the instruction will be disseminated and by whom, they must consider available materials and their current relevance. Having answered these questions a rough draft will be created and a run through will a target audience will help to refine the instruction process.
Visual Principles: Designing Effective Materials
Now the fun begins! I love this part of teaching. Visual literacy has become an integral part of everyday living, there are signs and billboards and media all around us bombarding us with information, some of it useful and some of it just advertising. For example when skiing you will see this sign:
It is to be interpreted as make sure all loose clothing is tucked away. This is a simple example, a more detailed sign would be one that is with the first aid station:
It is to be interpreted as make sure all loose clothing is tucked away. This is a simple example, a more detailed sign would be one that is with the first aid station:
http://www.downtonparishcouncil.gov.uk/Defib.htm
http://stonehousesigns.com/news/ansi-b771-annex-d-ski-lift-signs-explained
http://stonehousesigns.com/news/ansi-b771-annex-d-ski-lift-signs-explained
The use of visual learning styles can be used in all aspects and subjects of teaching and it makes learning great fun when students, using a hands on approach, are able to create. When creating visuals it is imperative that the designer considers age and culture, different ages and different cultures decode visuals differently, thus the subject matter being taught may not pertain to a particular individual if they do not have the background knowledge to process the visual. One must have a great understanding of history and current events to process a political cartoon, this is very difficult for me, I think I look too literally at these visuals. The authors touch upon using visuals to motivate and engage students. On the website I manage we encourage our authors to include pictures in their articles, people are more likely to read articles with a picture included (http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33423/19-Reasons-You-Should-Include-Visual-Content-in-Your-Marketing-Data.aspx)and it breaks up the article making it feel less daunting. The teacher will consider which type of visual to include in teaching depending on their student, there are 6 categories, they are: realistic, analogical, organizational, relational, transformational and interpretive (Clark & Lyons, 2004). Once the type of visual has been decided on the instructor must consider the following: Arrangement, Balance, Color, Legibility and Appeal, it sounds a bit like being an artist. When reading about types of visuals and visual elements it is interesting to then look at a newsletter or website and see who has and who hasn’t used these design methods. For example it talks about the rule of thirds and the upper left being the most important, on our website www.opentohope.com our logo is in the upper left, good job! It is interesting when reading about doing a power-point, I tend to like to use all of the bells and whistles, but this chapter is talking about keeping it consistent, a very good point, in this way the learners brain doesn’t have to readjust to every slide, they learn how to read them early on and can focus on the content, not how to read it, great advice.
I believe this chapter is one I should keep close at hand when doing any designing, it is written very simply and all of the visuals are very helpful, there is so much to be learned from it, it will be a great source for me in work and as I present in school with the visual checklist close at hand.
Chapter 3: A Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning
http://epltt.coe.uga.edu/index.php?title=Information_processing
We can only store about 7 units of information in short term memory (site); the goal then is to move the information into the long term memory, we can help students remember and retrieve by using organization, elaboration and schemas, by relating other information they already have in LTM there will be clearer understanding and better retrieval and application. (Schunk, 2011). The goal then is to get information deeper into the memory using depth of processing, the levels of processing (Schunk, 2011) then are: physical, which is visual; acoustic, which is sound and semantic. Semantic is the deepest level of processing and information is more likely to be assimilated and through accommodation attached to a schema. (Schunk, 2011)
The author refers to presentation-mode which is verbal and printed word and non-verbal which is pictures, video, etc. The sensory-modalities focuses on auditory and visual. He then combines the two auditory/verbal and visual/pictorial. It is interesting to use metacognition and observe what I am thinking which supports what the author is saying. When someone says the word cat, I automatically think of a black cat, chocolate, I think of melting chocolate ice-cream. My nephew does not link the word with the picture, therefore if you say the cat was on top of the fridge he does not automatically envision the cat on the fridge like you just did. This has resulted in severe learning differences for him and one of his jobs is to create images of what people say to him. When the author moves on to talk about limited capacity it was interesting to view my mind, he goes on to describe a tire pump and how it works, I followed along visually at first, but as the description became so long I then just drifted away and quit trying to follow along. This brings us to cognitive load, again this issue comes up, it is important to not to overload the learners, but not enough information will be boring and students will tune out. How much information is given at a time depends on the age of the learner and the difficulty of the information.
The goal of the learner should be to engage in active cognitive processing the key here is structure; the ID needs to present the materials so that the learner can create schemas in which to assimilate new information. The design should guide the learner on how to structure the new information, thus guiding them to commit new information from STM to LTM.
The author refers to 5 cognitive processes in which the learner must engage to create meaningful learning, they are: 1. Selecting relevant words for processing in the working memory, 2. Selecting relevant images for processing in visual working memory, 3. Organizing selected words in verbal mental model, 4. Organizing selected images into a visual mental model and 5. Integrating verbal and visual representations as well as prior knowledge. (Chapter 3p. 54) The mind is an incredible thing, isn’t it, it’s amazing we can do this and the majority of the people have no idea they are doing it! Though learning about cognitive processing, I as an ID can create successful multimedia in which to engage learners and create successful instruction.
Schunk, D. H. (2011). Learning theories: An educational perspective (6th ed.). Pearson.