Video Learning Object:

Background: This project was created to outline the Education Specialist Degree in Instructional Technology at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina. Inspired by the mascot and "Chant's Up" gesture, this was designed and developed with the University's branding as the foundation of the design. 

Audience:  Potential Education Specialist Graduate students in the Instructional Technology program

Responsibilities & Evidence: Multimedia Design based on Learning Theory, Visual Design Artifact, Narrative artifact, Video Learning Object, Instructional Material for CCU marketing.

Tools Used in Development: Camtasia, LogicPro, Canva, PhotoBooth, BlueYeti Microphone, Valera Green Screen, Ring Lights

Process & Skills Demonstrated:  Camtasia was used to produce a a color-keyed talking head (with cutaways) instructional video in 16:9 resolution/ horizontal orientation. This production demonstrates technical proficiency using basic cutaway techniques. Color key compositing with good lighting and a uniformly colored background (green screen) was used so that it could be easily extracted.  For the best quality audio, a Logitech for Creators Blue YetiPremium Multi-Patter USB Mircophone was used.  Mayer and Clark Instructional Design theory was carefully considered to create a judicious combination of audio, video, graphic, screen capture, and text . Consistent, predictable rhythms were created.

Learning Theory: I used the CRAP Principles throughout starting with the Contrast of the teal background and my black clothing. I also used contrast when designing the powerpoint colors to make the elements stand out. Consistency of the narration was created through repetition of the CCU "Chants Up" sign 👌🏼 for the Top 5 Reasons  to consider CCU's Ed.S program. Repetition was also used throughout with the design of the slides. Alignment was carefully considered when building the text on the slides  to allow for additional information to be displayed or for a talking head. Proximity was used when adding related elements to certain talking points throughout. 

Instructional Screencast: The target content of this instructional design video is to share the Parent-Teacher Center resource on www.starfall.com with the specific focus on ready-made and customizable worksheets that are freely available from this Educational Foundation and Non-Profit organization. The intended learners are homeschool parents, teachers, and any stakeholder in a child's education. The revised video is 6 minutes long to allow for adequate cognitive processing time between instructional steps that explain how to download, and print, ready-made and customizable worksheets. I added dead air into the video to allow for more processing time before moving on to the next step. 

I began by explaining what the video would teach thereby using the Pre-Training Principle by equipping the learner with with knowledge that made it easier to know what the video would be about and what the takeaways would be from watching it. 

I used Mayer's Signaling Principal of Multimedia Design by using my curser, zooming in and also adding call outs. I also used the Coherence Principal by removing seductive details, irrelevant words and "extra" pictures from the video. 

In effort to create framing continuity, I undid the cropping from my first take to create a 16:9 ratio throughout the entire video.  I followed the contiguity principal by simultaneously presenting (revised) narration and pictures/video. Additionally, I rerecorded several audio assets that had been previously recored using a headset (that created the very noticeable difference between audio clips that were recorded with the iMac microphone and then the headset microphone).

I also purchased a Blue Yeti after my frustration with the sound quality on this project. Moving forward, I will be using a new microphone. 

Instructional Animation:

Audience:   K-5 students learning or reviewing Open/Closed Syllables, Orton Gillingham Educators, Professional Development

Responsibilities:  Visual Design,  Instructional Learning Animation 

Tools Used in Development:    Camtasia, LogicPro, Canva, Google Slides

Process & Skills Demonstrated:   

I merged option three and four into one instructional animation video that is just under 5 minutes long. The instructional animation’s purpose is to create a visual representation and explanation for a very difficult concept to teach to young readers, open and closed syllables. According to Core Phonics, “Open and closed syllables make up almost 75 percent of syllables in English Words” (Standback 1992). This animation was designed for educators, parents and Orton Gillingham tutors. It could be used at home or in classrooms as a way to introduce this concept.  It is accessible through YouTube.

I started my rough draft in Google Slides by duplicating the house slides and alternating the open and closed doors. I used several tools to create this animation to assist in visualizing and explaining an important process in my teaching and training discipline.  Additionally, storytelling was used to engage a younger audience with the help of the characters Silly and Bull.

My design sequence went through several edits to simplify the graphics and create a very concise story to explain the concept without overloading the learner.  The Coherence Principle guided my choice in backgrounds that were simple but meaningful. For example, the Closed Syllable Short Vowel House has a green roof to match the green box used around the Short Vowel Sound/Spelling Cards. The Open Syllable House has a yellow roof top to match the long vowel Sound/Spelling cards that are yellow. The graphics and text used were all supportive of the learning goals. The Signaling Principle was used to direct the learners eyes to emphasize key parts of the word when the vowel is long or short.  I did choose to use graphics and text on the screen while narrating in certain parts of the animation. While this contradicts the Redundancy Principle, I felt it was important because of the content matter. Voice overs were timed appropriately to align with Mayer’s Temporal Contiguity Principle. I also used the Modality Principle by engaging visual and auditory channels by using animated visuals with voiceovers. 

Production tools that were used in this animation were:

• Google Slides initially served as my rough draft template to create the slide-by-slide house for CVC and CV words with a door that open/closed. Then, I realized I could make a more child-friendly animation of the houses in Canva. I first used tweening in Google Slides to open/close the door. 

• Canva was used to build the characters, the house templates and some of the background animation in the final production. Canva also enabled me to add assigned behaviors to individual objects (such as Bull’s arm or Silly’s arm that waves). I also used some tweening to create the an animated stop-motion for some of the slides where Bull closes his arms (and the door). 

• Camtasia was used to string together all of the pieces and also enabled me to add myself into the video as the narrator and to show important multisensory  visual cues for the short vowel sounds.

• Logic Pro was used to find additional audio assets such as:

  •  Cartoon characters' audio assets: laugh sound, “oooooooo” sound and “what” audio asset that Silly and Bull say in the product.

  • Go Love Teach Intro and Outro music

Additional Multimedia Publications