Communication
Communicate clearly to achieve professional goals using visual and verbal modes to explain and persuade.
Great Educational Video Project:
REFLECTION
This project was done in the EDTEC 544, Instructional Design course. I wrote the memo that explained the project and was responsible for the interface design, helped create the concept for the training and created the design portion of the PowerPoint presentation. This was a great lesson in how to communicate persuasively in both a verbal and visual manner.
At this time of this assignment I had been recently hired by the San Diego School District to teach Video Production at a new experimental small high school, MVAS (Multimedia and Visual Art School). Our other team members were either interested in the use of video as a teaching tool or had also taught video production. Our selection of a product to help teach video production was a natural. A bonus for me was that I learned several things I was able to immediately put to use in my classroom.
In the memo I had to make a case for the approach we took for our educational product and our end result. I learned how to use professional language to obtain approval based on solid analysis. I had to describe the Constraints and Enablers, write clear learning objectives, and explain how the project used Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction. I then had to describe a utilization scenario, the justification for the product, the formative questions and list the references used to create it.
I never wrote this type of professional proposal before in my working career. It was a real eye-opener to find out what needs to be covered for a professional approach. It was also a great introduction to the business of education. We were creating a product that needed funding and would later be sold to the public. It helped me realize how careful preparations need to be before a company would decide to invest in a project.
The accompanying PowerPoint presentation was a great lesson, too. The slides needed to succinctly summarize the points, while visually telling our story in a professional manner. I learned that in most cases less is more. Elegant and clear design keeps things professional and easy to understand.