- Good communication and presentation techniques, ensuring delivery is appropriate for the audience which will differ in terms of seniority, understanding, cultural and communication, background and role.
- Knowledge of multimedia design as part of e-learning, learning and development, learning management systems, and / or virtual learning environments.
Context
For twenty years I taught the Adobe Creative apps, Web design, animation, video and games design in colleges and universities, often part-time parallel with design and management roles in print production. Experienced with several Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) including Moodle, Blackboard, Google Classroom and OneNote.
When the first pandemic lock-down started, I was teaching Games Design Level 2 at Eastleigh College. In addition to live online sessions, I recorded instructional videos to be available at the point that the students most needed the information: a tenet of androgogy (how adults learn, which can be different to children’s pedagogy). This asynchronous approach is particularly inclusive of students with caring responsibilities and mature students with conflicting commitments such as employment, with the added advantage that they could re-watch any part that was not immediately clear.
I felt it was important to create my own videos as many Google and YouTube searches resulted in advice that was outdated, incomplete or set at the wrong level for my teenage students, and for several of whom English was not their first language.
Unity to WebGL – get your project online
This example of a self-recorded video was more elaborate than most, with logos overlaid in post-production using Adobe Premiere Pro and music under Creative Commons licence.
The learning objective was for my students to get their games project work online so that I could provide feedback and the examination board at UAL could confirm their grades.
I 3D-printed the dog-faced Anubis figurine and used the same file in the simple Imps! Egypt Unity project that I created for demonstration purposes (use the mouse/trackpad as the camera view plus the W, A, S and D or arrow keys to navigate).
On a Mac, Safari does not automatically play WebGL sound, so online Unity projects are better viewed in Firefox, Chrome or Edge browsers
Gamification is a way to encourage and engage people with their learning. Badges, points and levels can be a good way to gauge and reward progress – with caveats as the more competitive aspects can be demoralising for those struggling at the bottom of a leaderboard, and too much reliance on extrinsic rewards can damage intrinsic motivators such as curiosity.
Feedback
The video received nearly 300 YouTube views. The recording of the live class below has now received 21,000 views, both for an intended audience of 30.
This is an example of a student’s project, successfully uploaded.
Appendix
An example of a live recording of my Photoshop class to allow the students to have repeat access to the information, especially those who were sick on the day. It is very much content delivery, shot with the camera in mind, and not a typical session with my students which would be far more interactive than this digital ‘chalk & talk’.
I have been experimenting with adding small ThingLink interactive elements to content on my animation Website, for example this page on storyboards.
In adult learning, individuals often take the initiative to diagnose their own needs, set goals, identify resources, and evaluate outcomes, with or without assistance. It promotes personal autonomy and lifelong learning, shifting responsibility from teacher to learner. Adults also favour ‘just-in-time’ learning, choosing what to learn next when they have a motivation of need, which is something a ThingLink interactive infographic can satisfy well.
My role as a Digital Resources Developer from 2019 – 2026 for the University of Southampton, involved creating engaging learning content for the Centre for Higher Education Practice (CHEP) as video and interactive ThingLink infographics, creating many SharePoint and WordPress sites and adding content to the main University site. I was our department’s ‘accessibility champion‘, a member of our Equality, Diversity and Equity (EDI) working group and proofreader.
During the pandemic, our department’s primary role became to advise our teaching colleagues about appropriate digital tools and associated pedagogy/androgogy in the pivot to online learning. CHEP’s ongoing role is to develop the academic practice of lecturers, researchers, knowledge exchange and enterprise practitioners and PhD student demonstrators.