Instructional Design Project: STEM Middle School Video Club Learning Modules. Rome Fiedler. Katie Kerns. Holly Mothes. Gabor Smith.

Transcription

1 Running head: INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN PROJECT 1 Instructional Design Project: STEM Middle School Video Club Learning Modules Rome Fiedler Katie Kerns Holly Mothes Gabor Smith Tami Warner The University of Akron

2 2 APPENDICES A. Evaluation Survey Upon Completion of Module 1 - Three Main Shots B. Multimedia Club Tentative Schedule C. Movie Shooting: Storyboard Planning Sheet D. Evaluation Survey Results E. Dr. Tsai s Support Letter

3 3 Introduction The instructional design project that was chosen by this team focused on providing technology instruction for a middle school video club. The students in the video club attend the STEM school in grade ranges from 5th through 7th grades. The club s advisor/instructor requested help in designing online, easily accessible instructional modules for three areas, audio recording and editing, movie making and animation. The students were given a survey prior to the design team becoming involved with the club to determine their current knowledge on the three subjects, what their interests in the club were, as well as their interest level in various school classes. The design team used the survey as well as on site visits to observe and work with the students to gather information and to assess the learning environment, tools and opportunities that exist. Analysis Phase Introduction to the Learning Situation The STEM Middle School video learning project was requested by Dr. Tsai to supplement her teaching at an after school Multimedia Club. During the first two weeks of the program students completed learning tasks with movie maker and face to face instruction with Dr. Tsai and her graduate student Nick. A projector and computer are used to lead students through the instruction, allowing them to follow along during the lesson and then practice on their own laptops. The club has flip video cameras at their disposal; however issues have risen with importing the videos into movie maker. The laptops they also have available have a webcam function built-in, making this an alternative to the flip video cameras. Mrs. Hall the technology coordinator for the STEM school suggested the students prepare a movie as a group to submit to the 2014 annual C-Span Student Cam competition.

4 4 Identification of the Learning Problem The learning problem described by Dr. Tsai was that students need to know what it takes to make a good movie. Students want to know how to shoot a good scene and then have the skills/tools to import and edit their work without having to start over each time they have an element in the video they no longer want. Teaching students the video design principles would give them guidance into what it takes to create the quality of movies the students would like to create. The basics of Movie Maker and how to create audio files for the movies they create using Audacity were requested modules for the club. Statement of the Learning Goal The learning goal for the Multimedia Club is, upon completion of the three learning modules and assessments, students will understand and be able to proficiently use Audacity, Movie Maker, and animation software to create and produce a movie of their choice. Each module contains an assessment to determine student s understanding of the program featured. After viewing the presentation about Audacity, students will be able to record and create a sound file with an added effect for Dr. Tsai to review. After viewing the Movie Maker module, students will be expected to export a video for Dr. Tsai to view that has been split three times using Movie Maker to create a partial sequence of a video. Finally using the animation software PowToon, students will be able to create a brief PowToon for Dr. Tsai to view and give them feedback. Detailed Needs Assessment The instructor s needs for the project were to create efficient, single learning modules that can be accessed online with no password needed. She encouraged the necessity of acquiring free tools and resources that are accessible to students at school and at home. The modules

5 5 should be visually interesting and motivating for middle school students and provide them with how-tos that supplement the face to face instruction Dr. Tsai is providing. She would also like the video design principles to be addressed and explained through examples, along with providing students with advice on how to create a good movie and how to shoot a good movie. Dr. Tsai believed that a wiki, AkronVideoLearning, would be a great place for the students to locate the tutorial modules and it would support active class learning. A needs assessment was given to the students of the Multimedia Club to determine what they are hoping to get out of their time with Dr. Tsai and to provide insight into the skills they currently possess. Students were asked why they wanted to be a part of the Multimedia Club and the answers varied from wanting to have fun, learning something new, and learning about the computer, to learning to create videos, video editing, making video games and movie clips, and finally one student discussed a dream of being a computer programmer. The students were also asked what they wanted to learn while participating in the Multimedia Club and their responses were: learn how to animate, design videogames and computer software, taking videos that have been previously made and making them better through editing and cutting scenes, and finally adding cool effects to videos/movies. Students overwhelmingly wanted to gain more information about creating videos and movies. When asked their interest in learning different multimedia techniques the students wanted to know about video editing (8 students), screen casting (8 students), audio editing (8 students), podcasting (6 students), making wikis (5 students), digital storytelling (5 students), and blogging (4 students). The students were also surveyed to determine their knowledge base regarding a variety of multimedia tools. Focusing on the software that would be used in the project modules, one student has a great deal of knowledge about Audacity, four others have some knowledge, and

6 6 eight students have no understanding of the program. Windows Movie Maker has been used more by the students, with five reporting extreme knowledge on the program, three have a great deal of knowledge, four have some knowledge, one knows just a little, and one student does not have experience with it. Three students have a great deal of knowledge regarding Wikis, one student has some knowledge, one knows just a little, and seven do not have experience with the program. The other programs/tools that students have a great deal of knowledge and experience with are: Flip Cameras and Webcams. The programs they have some knowledge about are VoiceThread, PowerPoint, and Word. Finally, the programs/tools they students have just a little or no knowledge about are: Alice, Game Maker, Google Docs, Google Sites, Jing, Kodu, Screen- Cast-O-Matic, Voki, and Wordle. Detailed Learner Analysis The team used the Kemp, Morrison and Ross Model, found on the Springboard site to guide our learner analysis (Springboard, 2013)Students in the STEM Multimedia club range in grade levels 5 to 7, are of advanced learning abilities, most are very outgoing, and they are a part of the 1:1 laptop program. The majority of the students in the club are in the fifth grade (ages 10-11), eleven, with one sixth grader (age 11-12), and three seventh graders (age 12-13). When asked about their three favorite classes at school, the technology class was the overwhelming favorite with eleven students voting for it. Gym and science were tied for second with nine students choosing each class. There are no physically disabled students in this club. Design Phase Task Analysis/Content Analysis Single learning modules for Audacity, Movie Maker, and an animation software package (not specified) are desired by the instructor. The modules are included on the club s wiki and

7 7 clearly state the learning objectives and the learning task/assessment that students should be able to complete after reviewing the Slide Share Presentations or videos. Additional information about different shots students can use in their movies and what each shot is used for is also included on the wiki. Finally, a short video from The American Film Institute (AFI) provides students with recommendations for making good films. A link at the bottom of the module gives students a list of the AFI s top 100 movies, so they have additional resources to check out for examples of great movies and what it takes to be a great movie. (AFI ScreenNation, 2013) Identify Learning Theory The Constructivism Learning Theory will be employed in the design of the modules and wiki for the Multimedia Club. Students will use the face to face teachings, their prior knowledge, and the wiki modules to construct their own meaning and learning in the creation of their movie project (Problem Based Learning) (Learning-Theories, 2013). Clearly Written Performance/Learning Objectives Written in an Objective Hierarchy Audacity A. After viewing the instruction slides in the club wiki the students will be able to open a audio file, B. After viewing the instruction slides in the club wiki the students will be able to manipulate the file. C. After viewing the instruction slides in the club wiki the students will be able to fade or increase the volume in their audio file. D. After viewing the instruction slides in the club wiki the students will be able to import and export their audio file.

8 8 E. After viewing the instruction slides in the club wiki the students will be able to apply a sound effect to a sound recording,. F. After viewing the instruction slides in the club wiki the students will be able to save their work as an altered audio file. Movie Maker A. After viewing the instruction slides in the club wiki the students will be able to start Movie Maker. B. After viewing the instruction slides in the club wiki the students will be able to apply the correct video settings. C. After viewing the instruction slides in the club wiki the students will be able to start a new project in Movie Maker. D. After viewing the instruction slides in the club wiki the students will be able to import and export a movie E. After viewing the instruction slides in the club wiki the students will be able to split a video segment. F. After viewing the instruction slides in the club wiki the students will be able to create a complete sequence of video in the program. Animation A. After viewing the instruction slides in the club wiki the students will be able to visit the PowToon site. B. After viewing the instruction slides in the club wiki the students will be able to create a animation presentation at the Powtoon site. Clearly Stated Instructional Strategies

9 9 The instructional strategies that will be used are whole class instruction to introduce the learning modules and to provide students with examples. Then students will work in small groups or independently to use the modules and their prior knowledge to create videos using Movie Maker. The instructors will act as facilitators while the students construct their own learning. This allows students to work at their own pace at their own level so all students are learning and growing. The instructor is there to support and intervene or to challenge and enrich. Clearly Defined Instructional Sequence Starting with the instruction presentation slides for Audacity the student will progress through each training module ending with the video of what makes a good movie. The end of each module has an exercise that the student can complete. The successful completion of the activity will indicate that the learning objective has been met. Students will be evaluated on the module using a survey to determine the usefulness and effectiveness of the modules. Once students have completed all of the learning modules the students will use the knowledge and skills gained throughout the modules to create their own videos in Movie Maker. Site Organization, Navigation, and Conventions The wiki is designed with a home page and a site map on the right side of the page. Students are introduced to the site and contents on the homepage and will progress through the modules in the order they appear on the site. Once students click on the module they need to complete they are taken to a new page that clearly outlines the objectives for that page. Students watch a video module and then have a task they must complete to show they proficiency on the given subject. The wiki is easy to navigate from page to page as all pages are clearly titled to explain what each contains. The navigation bar remains on the right side of the page as students travel

10 10 through the modules, so they are always able to get back to the homepage or any other page they need to view. The conventions used on the wiki are middle school appropriate. The fonts, sizes, colors, backgrounds, images, and language are geared towards adolescent learners and were used to appeal to their needs and interests. The videos used within each module are accessible through the browsers used at the STEM school and do not require any special user requirements. Media selection rationale Development Phase The wiki was used at the request of the SME and was an effective tool to house the single learning modules the club needed to gain the necessary skills to create their video projects. Middle school students enjoy visual stimulation which is why video examples were used in the modules to supplement the instruction of the SME and her grad student. The videos allow students to work at their own pace and to start and stop as they need in order to use the information given in their projects. Issues of message design The design of the modules and the wiki kept middle school students in mind. Simple layouts that were laid out in the order in which they learned the material, will allow students to quickly and easily navigate through the wiki to find what they need to complete their video project. The layout, colors, and fonts were used to appeal to middle school students and were reviewed by middle school teachers to make sure the content and design were age appropriate. The graphics and fonts add to each learning module and do not distract students from the goal and content found there. Instructional resources/ Informational Resources

11 11 The instructional resource that was created for this project was the Akron Video Learning wiki. The wiki was developed to introduce students to their instructor and to provide single learning modules that address the key objectives of the club. The wiki was designed using graphics that were middle school oriented and interesting to their interests. Videos, tutorials, and photos were added to provide students with examples and instruction in producing audio, photographs, and video projects. The materials included in the wiki allow students to create their own learning as they work at their own pace. Students can work ahead or refer back to the learning modules depending on where they fall in their learning situation. Functional instructional product/website The working link for our wiki is Students have access to the wiki at school and at home. The links and videos are all active and browser friendly. Students are able to clearly navigate through the site due to its logical layout and explicit language. Assessment Plan The students will be assessed using a survey that was designed by our team. The four multiple choice questions will be used to determine the student s knowledge and retention of the instruction provided by our team member and learning module. The assessment will allow the instructors to gather data about the students to determine the strengths and weaknesses of each. This data will also drive further whole class, small group, and one-on-one instruction because it will provide instructors with the learning areas the students need intervention in. Implementation Phase Implementation of project with the target audience

12 12 The members of the Akron Video Club, as many as 15 students, attended some of the club meetings on Tuesday afternoons in the Akron STEM School on High Street in Akron, Ohio. Discussion with Dr. Tsai showed the students were very tech savvy. There were 12 students, most of which were 5th graders; who attended the face to face instruction Nov. 12th. All were given an instruction sheet with the Wiki URL printed on the top of the page. Gabor Smith presented the first two modules on the making of a good movie, ending the instruction with a video of the American Film Industry s What makes a Good Video? (American Film, I,2013) One of the students had prepared a video during the previous week and shared it with the rest of the club. It was very creative, using many transitions, audio and images that he compiled. Description of implementation timeline STEM meeting one occurred on Tuesday, October 29th members met with Dr. Tsai and the group to analyze the needs of the group. A student survey was given to determine experience with technology, software and interest. Results were tallied to assist in the creation of our project. Meeting two was on Tuesday, November 5th the club wanted to see our wiki, we agreed; with the understanding that it was still under construction. Discussion to start with photography instead of movie maker was a topic, so our directional order was adjusted. Modifications were made to the project s path, but nothing was removed or replaced, only attention to the appeal was made. The actual implementation occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. Description of implementation process The first stumbling block that was encountered was the network privileges did not allow the students to view our Wiki.. Determining if the problem was a firewall or control issue was priority one. A solution would be to create a hotspot from a smartphone to view the wiki, but this will not solve the problem of how they will use the wiki once the team is finished with

13 13 implementation. The addition of handouts was added to enhance the presentation. After discussion with Mrs. Hall, the technology resource contact; changes in privileges were made to ensure students would have access to the site at school for future use. During the initial presentation several of the student s wanted individual attention and kept acting out. This made it hard to get through the presentation. On the other hand they absorbed 100% of what was presents as evidenced by the review survey taken the next week.. After the survey was collected the other graduate assistant had prepared a video to share, but the students quickly lost interest and started acting out again. It is clear that these students interests lie with action packed video that closely resembles current video games. Measures for the next meeting will be taken to reduce activity levels. To encourage participation and engaged learning having tangible examples that the students can actively participate with will be better than a 15 minute video that does not have the elements of the subject matter to identify. Gabor used items that were in the classroom to illustrate the various camera shots. A big Godzilla toy, the cork board, the back of a chair that had a decorative hole in it and the floor tiles all provided the necessary props so that the students could demonstrate some of the techniques that Gabor presented. The students were quite creative in finding items to help demonstrate their knowledge of modules one and two. Recommendations for changes The implementation would have been smoother if we had known that the school did not have an open network. Access to the wiki site was blocked for the first two meetings. There did not seem to be much structure to the club at first, and after just visiting to observe the club it did not seem clear what our part would be other than creating a web product that the club could use.

14 14 The original goal was to design a project for C-Span which was abandoned by Dr. Tsai, due to time constraints. The graduate students that were assisting the professor had met with the principal and technical resource person of the STEM school and had a better idea of the objective of the club. This club is the very first video club in the STEM school so the program is new. Control of the group was needed to assure good progress in the project. Some of our recommendations were assigned seats and rules that the students would design as well as assignments of items that the students would present at the next meeting. The assignment should be fun, and correlate with the materials that were cover at the current meeting. All students bring their laptops to the meeting and immediately turn them on, and go right to the games. Limiting the use of technology in the club would defeat the use of the wiki, but these are not college students and need more structure and guidance. Copyright knowledge needs to be incorporated into the materials also. Many of the movies that the students have produced have audio and video that were taken from the internet. The students need to be given the information on copyright rules. Implementation of evaluation plan Evaluation Phase Students in the Club were used for evaluation of the content material as well as the delivery method. After the completion of a session, the students were given an assessment survey to gauge their knowledge from the material provided. Each question was directed at the goals of the Module discussed in the previous session. Formative evaluation methods were chosen which allows evaluation of instructional processes and outcomes during development and small group trials. A summative evaluation was not appropriate because the learning modules did not run the full course of the class; the team's proposed content would occupy several weeks for

15 15 each module of learning during a semester, possibly some modules taking an entire semester. Similarly, a confirmative evaluation was not appropriate for this study because this was the first time the materials were used, and long-term benefits could not be assessed. Collection of formative evaluation data At the following session of the club after implementation, a team member distributed the evaluation survey to the students. There were nine students and seven completed the survey. One student was absent the prior week and another completed the survey, but with the help of another student and one question was not fully answered. Of the seven surveys received all questions were answered correctly. All students had access to the Wiki, however one student encountered some technical difficulties which prevented access to the Wiki Site. Assessment and interpretation of formative evaluation data The purpose of the formative evaluation is to not only realize the strengths and weaknesses of the learning materials & methods, but more so to use these results to revise and improve the materials for future learning sessions (Kemp et.al,2010) Going forward the presentation of the content both Face to Face and on the Wiki, is well accepted by the SME and the students. The students are retaining the ideas presented, based on the survey results. The students reviewed the exercises and discussed the reviews and provided examples of what they remembered. Two students were able to create movies that included music to show the club. These students are very technology savvy. The presentation by the graduate assistant was good but the students lost interest. It was long, contained more text than pictures and the content was not relevant to them. The students identified the pictures as wide shots, long shots, and close up. There was not enough control in the class to have them identify light quality. The flaws are within the classroom management portion of the delivery. There are three students who

16 16 continually act out and misbehave, thus disrupting the flow of the lesson. The classroom management issues are taking time away from creating and learning. Recommendations for changes The students in the Club clearly do not have a good handle on classroom rules and acceptable behavior. With the students that seek attention continually and computer access, we have classroom chaos. Going forward we will reintroduce the club rules and add consequences for unacceptable behaviors. Assigning seats to the students and grouping them will facilitate classroom management. We will begin to add specific assignments to the club as well. Another item that is not covered on the Wiki is Copyright. We will add this as a module at a later time. While this is beyond the scope of our project, we feel it is necessary to deliver the objective of our Wiki. Once acceptable behavior norms are retained by the students, the Club will be more successful in their completion of the Wiki modules and the video project creation. Conclusion The instructional design project that was created by our team focused on providing technology instruction for a middle school video club. The club s advisor/instructor wrote the group a letter of praise detailing our excellent use of the ADDIE model (Morrison, Ross and Kemp, 2010) how pleased she was with the final product that was created for her club. The design team used student interest to drive the product and the instruction; as a result this allowed students to retain the information because it was relevant and meaningful to their needs. While our group experienced ups and downs, specifically regarding the access to the Wiki at school, we were able to persevere because of our organization and sticking to our timeline. Two of our members became very involved in the Club and as a result took on roles that were outside the scope of the project, but that allowed our group more insight into creating a product that was

17 17 purposeful and would lead to student technology growth even though a few of the modules we designed will not be used until the next semester. In conclusion, our team successfully followed the ADDIE model (Morrison, Ross and Kemp, 2010) to create a product that will benefit current and future student learning at the STEM middle school Multimedia Club.

18 18 References AFI ScreenNation. (2013) Making a good movie. Retrieved from Learning-Theories. (2013). Constructivism. Retrieved from Morrison, G., Ross, R.,& Kemp, J. (2010).Designing effective instruction. New York: Wiley. Springboard. (2013).Kemp, morrison, and ross model. Retrieved form

19 APPENDICES INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN PROJECT 19

20 20 Appendix A Evaluation Survey Upon Completion of Module 1 - Three Main Shots

21 21 Appendix B Multimedia Club Tentative Schedule

22 22 Appendix C Movie Shooting: Storyboard Planning Sheet

23 23 Appendix D Completed Surveys

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31 31 Appendix E Dr. Tsai s Support Letter