Plan

By referring to my learning contract and refined learning proposal, I carefully set deadlines and precise plans for myself to follow. The research on antimicrobial resistance was also done efficiently. By finishing my research earlier than the deadline set, so I was able to let my learning facilitator check my research earlier, receive feedback and improve my work, and move on to the next step without much rush. I was also able to focus on my other modules. In addition, I also searched up on some videos about the principles of animation before I started animating. I also searched up on audio editing and video editing so I would not feel so lost and maintain the quality of my work.

Perform

As creating a hand-drawn frame by frame animation is not easy and tedious, I feel like I did well in persevering and pressing on no matter how complicated the scene is going to play out. I designed the characters and came up with a storyboard, and a script first before diving into animation. By doing so, it made me more self-aware of the direction I was headed to. I also drew out some more detailed scenes in my sketchbook. This served as practice and allowed me to have a better consistency and stability to maintain the quality of my animations. Additionally, my extra preparation for the more detailed scenes made me feel less overwhelmed when drawing out that particular scene in my animation.

Monitor

I asked constantly my friends, family members and my facilitators to provide feedback for my animation draft, the character designs, the storyboard, and my script. Most of them commented that it was nicely done and simple enough to understand. They also gave suggestions and feedback for improvement. In addition, when receiving the feedback and critics, although it discouraged me a little as I did not expect such comments, it made me put myself in their shoes to understand their point of view. Understanding their point of view made me realize the reason behind their critics. Hence, I felt more motivated as it made me realize I can do even more and step out of my comfort zone to do better and reach the expectations of my viewers.

Plan

I was not really sure of what to plan in the first place. Hence, I procrastinated a little before finally decided to sit down and carefully read through everything to help answer my doubts and start planning. The plan was also too packed as I underestimated the amount of time taken to create an animation, not to mention that I am also very new in this department.

Perform

While working on my animation, I was consistently referring to my timeline i crafted in my learning contract and constantly pushing myself to finish before the deadline. As my timeline was too packed, I constantly overworked to a point where it affected my health and I had headaches, felt very fatigued and constantly snapped at my bother at home due to my sleepless nights trying to complete the animation in time. This led to more mistakes being made in the video and the lack of creativity due to my lack of sleep made my video look very plain. In addition, as my house is located next to a busy road, recording my voice overs for the animation did not make the situation any better. I was unable to record my audio in the morning and had to record it in the middle of the night. However, the sounds of the vehicles could still be heard and I spent even more time trying to edit out the audio leading to even more overwork. Due to my unstable mental condition, I eventually decided to redo my voice over. Additionally, I lost a lot of data in my animation as I was finishing up on my animation. I felt very frustrated and soon recognized the worsening state of my health. I took a step back and decided to take a small break to overcome my feeling of frustrations and shock. I eventually sprang back into action with an improvised timeline and had more ideas to liven up my animation with my improved state of health.

Monitor

Some type of the feedback I received was very neutral and did not really help me improve my animation, even after prompting them.

Plan

When planning out timelines, be sure not to overestimate yourself and always think twice if the plan is feasible and precise. Additionally, always have a backup plan just in case anything goes wrong in the Perform stage.

Perform

I would have constantly monitored my own health condition and took breaks when needed. This would be able to help me focus better on my animation without constantly tiring myself out. Additionally, always remember to save copies of the animation to prevent the loss of data. For the audio voice overs, without the case of Covid-19, I could have went to book a room or go out of my house where it is quieter to record my audio.

Monitor

Instead of immediately diving back into my animation to improve it after hearing suggestions, I could have consolidated the feedback given, so that I would be able to keep track of what I am doing.

Self-directed 🧐

In this project, I had to be responsible for my own learning. I had to make my own decisions and organize my own work. Before starting on my animation, I had little to no knowledge about animation and had no idea how to design character and do story boarding. I knew that nothing will happen if I do not take any action to learn the new skills required to carry out my project. Hence, I started watching videos, went through various websites and took down notes on the principles of animation, tips on designing my own character and story boarding. Although it felt weird doing the learning on my own and being unsure if I am doing it right in the first place, I felt more confident in myself as I learned more and familiarized myself with the controls.

Problem solving 💡

There were a lot of bumps while working on my project. The first was to identify the main points I plan to uphold in my video. I also had trouble designing the scenes so that they would look more lively and not so plain. I would always try to solve the problem by looking at the problem in another perspective. For example, for one of my scenes I had to do, I had to portray that the antibiotic can be inactivated by modification by the mutated bacteria. For the public to understand, I simplified the statement to "Rendering the antibiotic useless". I had no idea how to portray this point in a way where it is easy to understand just by looking at my animation. I eventually found the solution to my problem while watching Pokemon. I used this random stimuli to stimulate the antibiotic losing the fight to bacteria, similar to a "Pokemon battle". Additionally, to show the modification of the antibiotic, I showed the bacteria breaking the antibiotic's "sword", which modified and inactivated the antibiotic, for better understanding for the public. Hence by working on this project, I became more open to exploration and got better at evaluating my surroundings, which helped me acquire better problem solving skills.

Resilient 💪🏻

As my project was a very long and tedious process, I had to be resilient and push on no matter how complicated the scene is going to be. At the point where I lost almost all my animation data, I felt very frustrated and was on the verge of giving up. However, looking on the bright side, I realized that by redoing parts of the animation data that I lost, I could improvise on my initial ideas and make my animation more lively and relatable. Hence, I was able to complete the animation due to my resilience.

Communication 💬

In this project, it is very important to interact with my mentors from Nparks to deliver what they expect. Although interacting with them was stressful and pressurizing at first, as they were professionals and I only manged to interact with one of them in a video conference. I eventually overcame that and became more confident in sending them my messages as communications went on over the period of the project.

Information literacy 📜

As I had little to no information or knowledge on antimicrobial resistance, I had to read up on articles and learning site to learn more about it. Also, ultimately, I had to answer the questions I crafted up in the video. Hence, I did a literature review on antimicrobial resistance. Based on the information I gathered, I had to organize them, identify which points would be suitable for my video, and communicate the information in a simple way in my video for my audience to understand.

Digital design ✏️

In digital design, I had to consistently come up with ideas. It was challenging and I had to use many references to come up with a suitable design. Although it was difficult and confusing at first, it brushed up on my problem solving skills as I evaluated my options, got more comfortable stepping out of my comfort zone to experiment new things, and expanded on various ideas.

Animation 📺

Animation is a very tedious and long process. Hence, it tested my resilience and ability to persevere and push on. Animating also required a lot of planning. This made me more self aware of what I was doing. Animating was tough in the first place as I was entirely new to it and was not used to drawing everything frame by frame consistently for the entire day. It was challenging to adapt to this new routine. In addition, in order to start on my animation, I had to finish all my other assignments from my other modules earlier for a smoother process of animating. It improved my time management and priorities, and ultimately helped me develop into a better person.

Communication 💬

In the workforce, communication is important, as good communication results in better understanding of each other and better teamwork. Better bonds would also be formed with my co-workers. By having better communication skills, I would be able to better convey my information to others, prevent misunderstandings, and form better friendships.

Information Literacy 📜

I would be able to organize and consolidate the information I have gathered in the workforce in the future. I will also be able to communicate the information in a simple way or others to understand.

Digital design ✏️

I would be able to design materials that might be required in the the future when I am in the workforce. I would have more choices in the industry I can pursue, other than the Veterinary industry. I would also have better problem solving skills and time management.

Animation 📺

I would be able to create animations that can be appealing to a wider range of audience and leave messages that can make more impact. I can use animation to spread messages to the public. I would also have more choices in the industry I can pursue, other than the Veterinary industry. In addition, I would have more resilience, better time management and priorities.

Yes! Guided learning has been an eye opener for me! Throughout the time I have spent working on my project, I feel that I have grown to be a better person. The materials provided such as the learning logs, learning contract, and the concept of PPMR (plan, perform, monitor and reflect) etc. helped me to have a better control of my time management and my life. In the past few semesters, I have been rushing all my assignments and preparation of tests. However, although the workload for this current semester (2.1) is definitely more than my last few semesters, I realized that I am still able to take a short break and spend quality time with my family and friends. After much reflection, I realized that I have planned a better schedule for myself this semester, thanks to the skills I picked up after being more independent and self-directed in my learning. Learning as also became enjoyable for me. Animation sounded like an impossible fantasy before I knew about guided learning. After taking on guided learning, I made the impossible possible! I felt a sense of accomplishment and had more confidence in myself. Guided learning has been worth it!

If I were to take guided learning again, I can't wait to see what I would learn next! 😁