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Design Document: PechaKucha

Design Summary for an Introduction to Media Literacy & Reader Response Theory - A Microlearning Training

Overview

This presentation will be an introduction to a professional learning microlearning training targeting Adult Basic Educators in Colorado. The training - in whole - will lead instructors in how to prepare and incorporate lessons concerning Media Literacy & Reader Response Theory meeting the College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS). This presentation will be an introduction to the what and why instructors should be doing this… hint: to develop critical analysis and critical writing skills.

Front-end Analysis: who, what, where, when

This presentation will be targeting the diverse field of Adult Basic Educators in Colorado who serve students in local community and faith-based organizations, community colleges, school districts, corrections facilities, workforce districts and libraries. The student base they serve is just as diverse, coming from a variety of backgrounds and literacy levels, but are all Adult Learners seeking to gain their initial diploma and/or transition into College & Career programs. To keep this presentation relevant, a direct connection to better their student’s will need to be made.

This presentation should also convey a message of the ease of use in planning and emphasize that Media Literacy & Reader Response Theory can cross literacy levels, meeting the students where they are (inclusive design). Clear introductory examples should be included to support learners in building a foundational understanding, and could include how a single image or chunk of text can be viewed “correctly” but have completely different meanings derived from the students background - exemplifying critical analysis.

The presentation will be the introduction to a microlearning training covering Media Literacy & Reader Response Theory, part 1 of 3 + a forum for learner interaction and planning. It will be distributed through the Colorado Adult Educators Professional Association (CAEPA) and will be housed within the association's learning management system.

Instructional Challenge or Opportunity (with learning objectives / outcomes)

Learning Goal:

  • Learners will build a background knowledge and interest surrounding the ideas of Media Literacy & Readers Response Theory.

Learning Objectives:

  • Learners will be able to describe Media Literacy & Readers Response Theory.
  • Learners will be able to explain why Media Literacy & Readers Response Theory is an important skill for their students.

Design Solution (with referenced support)

Describe how your project will help the learning audience achieve the learning objectives shared above.

This presentation is intended to be an introduction to Media Literacy & Readers Response. A following lesson on each topic will cover the use of these ideas in classrooms more in-depth. For an introduction, I wanted to just scratch the surface of the topics and create interest in continuing to the next lesson. To do this, I provided definitions and very broad examples of what the topics entail. I also kept circling the “why” we want to bring these skills into our classrooms and programs. I often brought both the educator and student considerations into the introduction and provided examples of outcomes we might achieve

Describe how the project achieves specific project requirements

I utilized the Pecha Kucha platform to meet the project format. The service provides limited tools to create a 20x20 slide show. Audio can be recorded internally within the application, however slides need to be developed externally. I turned to Google Slides to create the visuals. At several points throughout the presentation I addressed the viewer in thinking questions and guided them to think externally to their classrooms and programs. This was intentionally done to drive a relevant connection between the materials and their practice. I also noted outcomes that could be expected from implementing the materials, educators like to know the outcomes. Images were used sparingly, to add fun emphasis; they were intended to be animated GIFS but they got lost in the translation between technologies. Text on the slides are present to complement the narration and are not read to the viewer. The 20x20 slide show is organized into three-parts that I believe weave together to form a full message.

Describe how your design addresses inclusive design, UDL, and accessibility recommendations. And if your design does not address these recommendations, provide an explanation of why it does not. Include citations from our readings and viewings in support of your decisions.

The Pecha Kucha platform creates closed captions from the uploaded audio. I utilized a black background to reduce eye strain and drive the viewers attention to the minimal white text presented on each slide. Grey text was used for secondary text and titles were foregone to limit distractions. Fonts were kept large, the smallest font size used is 18 pt. I kept things uniform and consistent using three basic slide layouts. These visual techniques were recommended in the TED Talk, “How to avoid Death by PowerPoint.” I intended to use GIFs (images), but was not able to export slides in GIF format; however the images are large, clear, and uniform (not clipart). Images are intended to be fun and connect with the audio narration, providing added meaning. Narration was intentionally slow, to provide viewer time to process new ideas. This also narrowed the amount of information being spoken, so as not to cause the viewer cognitive overload. All these design decisions exist in our collaborative inclusive design, UDL, and accessibility recommendations.

Describe how your design addresses basic graphic, audio, and text design guidelines. Please be specific and include citations from our readings and viewings in support of your decisions.

I may have answered many of these in the last question, inclusive design, UDL, and accessibility. Graphics, audio, and text design all should be thought about in those terms. If they are not inclusive in design, UDL, or accessibility it does nobody any good.

Formative Feedback

Provide each formative evaluation question you shared with your peer reviewers and explain why you asked each question.

What type of images would most enhance the audio? Additionally, does the audio still flow after fragmenting the continuous recording into slides? For the draft, I led with empty slides focusing attention to the narration. I was looking for feedback concerning the delivery of the message and new (uninfluenced) image ideas.

I'm thinking of types of MEME's or "Graphics" to use. If Media Literacy is about breaking down hidden messages, how many examples to show and what of? I asked this question to focus on the visuals and receive feedback about images vs text on slides. With an empty slate, I left my peers with plenty of leeway to describe which slides would most benefit from images vs text. They all thought incorporating MEME’s (GIFs) was a great idea. They also supported examples of types of media for media deconstruction to be used. I swayed away from these concrete visuals for the introduction.

How do I bring in example "TEXT" while also keeping things simple? Would example text be unnecessary as this is only an introduction and cause cognitive overload? Leading back to the last question, this was focusing on concrete text examples. Peer feedback focused on some supporting text (titles and definitions) to lead the viewer in understanding, however not too much. Share the specifics of all peer reviews and explain what you did, or did not do, based on your feedback.

Interestingly, my peers were uniformed in the feedback to the above questions. I was also in agreement. One reviewer thought images within a classroom would be appropriate, I did not include classroom images. Instead I used supportive text slides which were also referred to by all reviewers. Some thought images of types of media would be appropriate for different reasons. One being to show what media is (breadth) and the other for critical analysis. I found a GIF that flickered through simple images of a pencil, microphone, and paper. I also found a GIF of a newspaper with animated pictures (videos). These I thought showed that media comes in many forms. As for an example of media for critical analysis, I thought to hold off on these concrete examples for the next lessons. This is only an introduction building interest and background knowledge. Each reviewer also thought it would be helpful to have definitions in the slides. In the narration I included a definition for Media Literacy and Reader Response. These definitions now accompany the narration on the slides as well as “key ideas” of the presentation.

Address any feedback you have received from me.

Your feedback affirmed I was on the right track with the scope of the presentation and I had outlined learning objectives that were achievable in the 20x20 timeframe. You mentioned that the proposal was clearly outlined and focused, as well as thinking about the larger training at the early stage would be ideal. I agree and fully thought this out. This introduction needs to tie into the next component, so thinking about the next lesson(s) will help achieve unity. Thank you

Design Lessons Learned

Please provide a concise and straightforward, yet personal reflection on the most important lessons you learned in your process of creating this project.

When I first heard about the 20x20 Pecha Kucha platform in Digital Story Telling, I found it intimidating. But after collaborating in our inclusive design, UDL, and accessibility recommendations, working in our teams on a slide show, watching a TED Talk, and other sources I found it less so. Creating the first pieces of the design document helped get the presentation going. A 20x20 presentation doesn’t require as much narration as I was expecting, it was actually fairly comfortable to speak through the twenty seconds. I enjoyed how this project pulled on so many of the design concepts we have looked at thus far in the course. I utilized the actual Pecha Kucha platform and found it okay to work with to create simple presentations. Like many platforms that I’m discovering in LDT, it is a tool that pulls together user created content into some form. In this case, a slide show. The downside is without a paid account, audio is trapped in the platform. It is also misleading how recording the full-audio track doesn’t break it into twenty second intervals. This limits the ability to edit. Pecha Kucha also doesn’t support animations (GIF); well it does,, but does not animate them.

Google Slides (Original Slides) I found that I can set auto play on Google Slides, however its timings are 3, 5, 10, 15, 30… seconds. Skipping over twenty-seconds. I found the URL can be manipulated to correct this, but finding the “autoplay” button is not obvious. I recorded the audio out of Pecha Kucha with Quicktime, but did not proceed to import it into Google Slides because of the UI issue of autoplay.

Bibliography

Project Checklist

  • Rich with instructional value and designed to help your learning audience achieve learning objectives
  • Adheres to the structure and timing requirements of the presentation format (e.g., 20 images/slides, 20 seconds per image/slide for a pecha kucha)
  • Addresses inclusive design, UDL, and accessibility recommendations
  • Addresses basic graphic, audio, and text design guidelines
  • Avoids overused and copyrighted images
  • Reflects revisions based on peer reviews and instructor feedback
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