Assessment 2 - Design Rationale

For our second assessment we were to produce a motivational video that demonstrated the benefits of e-learning but also relate it to our own teaching context.  My teaching context is for the library and information environment and my target audience are those that teach in the field but also those in management roles in the library and information profession. My personal experience of e-learning is mostly as an online learner but I have used my experience in this course and also in previous online courses to promote what I see as the benefits.

When designing the video I decided to keep things  simple and made use of a layout that allowed the viewer to concentrate on the text and hopefully as a consequence would have more impact. I did have some concerns that too much white background might not have as much appeal in video format but on the plus side it meant that there would not be too much distraction from the main message. One of the example videos in our lectures was my main inspiration, white text on black and using simple statistics to convey the message. I have also used animated graphics and clipart to add colour, humour and interest to the video and changed the colour of the text for variation. I have added music as I enjoy music when watching videos so long as it is pleasant music and suits the theme. As a child I was always put off from watching documentaries because of the type of music that usually accompanied them and didn't want to make the same mistake.

The message has been introduced in blocks, starting from simple, adding onto these first blocks then becoming more specific when relating to my own teaching context and audience. For content I have begun the presentation by introducing the basic learning theories behind e-learning, including objectivist, constructivist and connectivist and used the SAMR model to demonstrate how technology could transform learning. I have then gone into more depth by listing the benefits and the positive outcomes for learners.

When applying the benefits of e-learning to my own context I have then gone into specifics and outlined practical applications and benefits.  The challenge when producing the video was to decide what to include and what to leave out.  As the duration was to be 4-6 minutes decisions had to be made  about what was important.  For me and also for my context it was the power of technology in e-learning to redefine tasks, the global community of practice and learning, scaffolding and flexibility. I also wanted to convey how the attributes it developed had the potential to produce leaders in the field.

Music in video presentation attributed to

enoe / CC BY 3.0