Assessing Design in Students' Digital Projects
“But this isn’t an English class,” my students protest, when they discover that I have given their poorly written paper a grade less than A. “I thought you were grading this on the ideas!” “Yes,” I agree. “And your ideas are scattered, nebulous, and contradictory. The clunky and incoherent sentences are only a symptom of the real problem.”
No, I don’t really say it quite that bluntly, but I do launch into my speech about how the process of crafting and revising your writing is part of the process of defining and developing your ideas, etc., etc. Good writing is good thinking.
So we take it for granted that we need to include various aspects of writing among our assessment criteria when we assign papers. But as we venture into assigning more new media projects, we may hesitate to evaluate the design component of those projects in courses not specifically focused on design. There are two reasons, I think, for this hesitation: 1) we fear that we are judging mere appearances rather than substance, and 2) we doubt our own competence to make informed judgments, beyond our subjective preferences.
If we are going to assign our students to work in new media, however, we need to give them feedback on their designs, for the same reasons that we need to give them feedback on their writing: because the purpose of any such assignment is (or ought to be) to require students not only to interact with course content, but to formulate coherent ideas about it, and to communicate those to others.
In order to evaluate design in a way that is not only clear and consistent, but also substantive and useful to the students, we need to be able to articulate criteria for good design. Fortunately, this is not as hard as you might think! Using the materials on this page, you can create a design rubric that will help your students use design effectively, and allow you to grade it fairly.
The fundamental questions that you need to ask, and that you need to get students in the habit of asking, are, What are the most important ideas you want to convey with your project? and, To whom do you want to convey them (who is your audience)?
Sound familiar? Right. It’s the same way you’ve been teaching and grading writing for years. So all you need to do is translate your criteria into visual terms. For example:
Tone. In a written assignment, you might evaluate this based on vocabulary, length and complexity of sentences, and use of first person. In design, you are looking at color scheme, typography, and graphics, but you are still asking the same basic question: does the work show awareness of its audience and a contextually appropriate attitude toward the material?
Organization. You know how to assess whether a writer’s sentences and paragraphs flow logically from one to the next while working to construct an argument. Ask yourself the same kinds of questions about the layout of a new media project: are the parts that relate to each other actually near each other?
You can undoubtedly sense all this intuitively when looking at a visual project, but pinning it down to specific components will be much more useful than telling a student it just doesn’t “feel” right.
“No,” you explain patiently, “this isn’t a design class.” And you communicate to your students, through classroom activities, grading rubrics, and feedback on their papers, that design is crucial to how they express ideas in visual media. It’s not just the frosting.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Design and Digital Pedagogy, Part II: Design and Participation in Class Blogs
A simple google search turns up numerous sites offering advice on the pedagogical uses of blogging, sample assignments, assessment strategies, etc. (Not to mention the heated debates over Blogs vs. Term Papers - but let’s not go there.) Much harder to find, however, are discussions of the design of class blogs, and how design considerations may affect student participation, and even the quality of student work.
It seems obvious enough that an attractively designed page will be more inviting to students, will encourage them to spend more time there and to put more effort into their posts. But there’s more to it than luring them in with eye candy. The visual look of your page can communicate to students whether you are inviting them to a “hang,” where they can show up in their mental pajamas, relax on digital beanbag chairs, and chat over popcorn and root beer, or to a dinner party, where they will need to tuck in their shirts and use the correct fork. If you opt for the more formal tone, how will you balance academic standards with giving students a sense of ownership of this digital space? The more students can identify positively with the class blog, the harder they will work to make their posts meet the standards that the visual presentation subconsciously conveys. If your blog is open to the public, what kinds of readers would you like to attract? Professionals in the field who will respond substantively to the posts? Your students’ peers? Younger students, so that your class can act as the “experts”? Your design will convey to users who is invited in, and how they are expected to behave.
All that still seems pretty obvious, and more or less superficial. But consider a particular pedagogical problem. A colleague of mine recently attempted to use a blog as the medium for discussion of a particular book among his students in a particular course. The results, he said, were so disastrous that he will never attempt it again. Now, this colleague is no technophobe, has no fears that the blog spells the end of liberal education as we know it. So what was the problem? One student, he said, had posted so frequently and so diligently, with long diatribes that attacked the book under discussion and the opinions of other students so vigorously, that the other students felt he had completely hijacked the space, and either stopped putting effort into their own posts, or stopped posting altogether.
There are low-tech approaches to this problem, of course: just as he would have done with a student who was dominating discussion in the classroom, my colleague spoke to the student in person, urging him to tone down his rhetoric, etc., all to no avail. But could design have prevented this from seeming like such a problem in the first place? What if the class page was set up so that, from the home page, the user saw only the first few lines of each post? That would have the effect of equalizing all of the voices in the conversation, at least in the initial view. Neither the students nor other readers would have to scroll down past one classmate’s endless rant in order to get to the thoughtful comments of others farther down.
Furthermore, this format would encourage students to craft their first sentences more carefully, in order to spark a reader’s interest, and to convey the main idea. The structure itself builds in an intrinsic reason for what otherwise seems to students like just one more pointless requirement: “Wait - we have to have a main idea?”
So, should you rush right to your class blog and adorn it with cutesy pictures, flashy fonts, and eye-catching colors? Maybe. But first, you will need to think carefully about what you want your blog to accomplish. Then you will want to study the other posts on this page for design principles that will help you achieve your goals.
It seems obvious enough that an attractively designed page will be more inviting to students, will encourage them to spend more time there and to put more effort into their posts. But there’s more to it than luring them in with eye candy. The visual look of your page can communicate to students whether you are inviting them to a “hang,” where they can show up in their mental pajamas, relax on digital beanbag chairs, and chat over popcorn and root beer, or to a dinner party, where they will need to tuck in their shirts and use the correct fork. If you opt for the more formal tone, how will you balance academic standards with giving students a sense of ownership of this digital space? The more students can identify positively with the class blog, the harder they will work to make their posts meet the standards that the visual presentation subconsciously conveys. If your blog is open to the public, what kinds of readers would you like to attract? Professionals in the field who will respond substantively to the posts? Your students’ peers? Younger students, so that your class can act as the “experts”? Your design will convey to users who is invited in, and how they are expected to behave.
All that still seems pretty obvious, and more or less superficial. But consider a particular pedagogical problem. A colleague of mine recently attempted to use a blog as the medium for discussion of a particular book among his students in a particular course. The results, he said, were so disastrous that he will never attempt it again. Now, this colleague is no technophobe, has no fears that the blog spells the end of liberal education as we know it. So what was the problem? One student, he said, had posted so frequently and so diligently, with long diatribes that attacked the book under discussion and the opinions of other students so vigorously, that the other students felt he had completely hijacked the space, and either stopped putting effort into their own posts, or stopped posting altogether.
There are low-tech approaches to this problem, of course: just as he would have done with a student who was dominating discussion in the classroom, my colleague spoke to the student in person, urging him to tone down his rhetoric, etc., all to no avail. But could design have prevented this from seeming like such a problem in the first place? What if the class page was set up so that, from the home page, the user saw only the first few lines of each post? That would have the effect of equalizing all of the voices in the conversation, at least in the initial view. Neither the students nor other readers would have to scroll down past one classmate’s endless rant in order to get to the thoughtful comments of others farther down.
Furthermore, this format would encourage students to craft their first sentences more carefully, in order to spark a reader’s interest, and to convey the main idea. The structure itself builds in an intrinsic reason for what otherwise seems to students like just one more pointless requirement: “Wait - we have to have a main idea?”
So, should you rush right to your class blog and adorn it with cutesy pictures, flashy fonts, and eye-catching colors? Maybe. But first, you will need to think carefully about what you want your blog to accomplish. Then you will want to study the other posts on this page for design principles that will help you achieve your goals.
The Challenges of Video Production
Thanks to programs like iMovie, there is no longer a technical hindrance in creating dynamic videos. Instead, the challenge lies in creating an interesting story and telling the story through appropriate audio and visuals. To demonstrate these goals in story telling, I created a short video about living on or around UVic's campus for DHSI. By explaining my thought process in creating this video, I wanted to illustrate the questions that occur in trying to create cohesion between form and content in video.
Elements of the video that enhance the story are the short, quick shots, the fast-paced music, and variety of footage. You see a lot of people and they each have a captivating personality. For example, the footage of Ali McGhee was shot while we were sitting in a dark, fairly bland computer lab but her manner of speaking and what she has to say is intriguing. Check out how she looks directly in the camera, not at me. That gives the impression that she's having a conversation with the viewer and makes the video more personal.
Still, it is not a good idea to only include headshots. Headshots will get boring, so I added additional visuals that were associated with the commentary, like screencasts of GoogleMap or photos. Because one of my goals was to be informative, I wanted to be clear about where to go and what to use. I wanted everyone who sees this video to know that the 26 bus is in Bay 7, instead of surveying the bus station until you saw the Bay 7 sign. Similarly, I show the BC Transit website and the process of finding the schedule. By the way, fare is $2.50.
Because living at UVic isn't necessarily a chronological story, I decided to organize the video by the order in which a future DHSI participant would figure out the logistics of living here. I wanted to let the audience know what to expect by listing the questions at the beginning. Then, they would also know when to expect the video to end and that the last clip of Ali's experience with couch surfing is an aside. If I had included the footage of Ali within the main section of the video, it would have made the viewing experience inconsistent. She is offering a personal story while the others are giving tips and tricks. At the same time, what she had to say is important in case a participant does get stranded so I moved it to the end.
Keeping the outcome in mind throughout shooting footage and editing goes a long way!
Photography 101, On the Editing Floor: Post-Production
So you went out, bought your camera, took your photos
(paying heed to lighting and composition!). Now you’re ready to edit them. This
has become increasingly easy to do if you’re working with digital photography. There
are many high-quality photo editors available.
Adobe Lightroom 4 is software used by many professional photographers, it works on a Mac or PC computer and allows you to run batch edits across a large collection of photographs at one time. Lightroom allows you to tweak and improve your photographs but retains the original file for archival purposes. Adobe Photoshop is also a popular choice for editing your photos (there are many versions available from consumer to pro level). Picassa is free software that allows you to do some quick, easy edits (add colour filters, adjust saturation, the “I am feeling lucky” edit option will quickly fix any glaring problems with your photos). iPhoto for Mac users is easy to use and allows you to quickly share photos with friends, save photos in web-friendly file sizes, and upload your photos to social media websites.
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| Gimp 2.2 by Luana on Flickr. All Rights Reserved |
Adobe Lightroom 4 is software used by many professional photographers, it works on a Mac or PC computer and allows you to run batch edits across a large collection of photographs at one time. Lightroom allows you to tweak and improve your photographs but retains the original file for archival purposes. Adobe Photoshop is also a popular choice for editing your photos (there are many versions available from consumer to pro level). Picassa is free software that allows you to do some quick, easy edits (add colour filters, adjust saturation, the “I am feeling lucky” edit option will quickly fix any glaring problems with your photos). iPhoto for Mac users is easy to use and allows you to quickly share photos with friends, save photos in web-friendly file sizes, and upload your photos to social media websites.
Visit PC Magazine for more information about photo editing software (includes reviews)
Photography 101: Photographing People
Photographing people, especially if you don’t know them well, can be one of the hardest things to do. Some people may not want to have their picture taken. In some cultures, taking someone’s picture is considered to be very bad luck. Your subject might just be very camera-shy. Taking photos of people requires flexibility, patience, and respect. Don’t take pictures of someone who really doesn’t want his or her picture taken. It probably wouldn’t come out well anyway.
You will also likely have to overcome some of your own trepidation when you begin photographing people, but, if done well, these images will be some of the most interesting and rewarding pictures you can take.
So how do you make sure you get the best photo possible?
1. Get Close. It may make you nervous to get in someone else’s space, and you should probably ask permission before you do so, but you’ll be able to get a much more intimate, interesting photo this way.
2. Don’t Force It. Say cheese! Staged photographs can look cheesy, canned, or just plain boring. Sure, there’s a time and a place for people giving their best megawatt smiles all in a row, but the best photos of people tend to be the ones where they’re being natural (well, as natural as possible with a camera sticking in their face). People often start out quite stiff and nervous when you’re taking pictures of them “in the wild,” as I like to call it. My solution to this is to persist and stick around. After you take a gajillion photos, they will have stopped worrying as much about how they look and what you’re doing.
3. Take Some Time. If you have the luxury of hanging out with a person or group of people for a while, you’ll have more opportunity to get shots while they go throughout their days. This will provide you with some variety, and will give you a chance to take spontaneous, unstaged photos. Keep your camera on you at all times and be ready for any opportunity! Here’s a good tutorial if you want more info.
You will also likely have to overcome some of your own trepidation when you begin photographing people, but, if done well, these images will be some of the most interesting and rewarding pictures you can take.
So how do you make sure you get the best photo possible?
1. Get Close. It may make you nervous to get in someone else’s space, and you should probably ask permission before you do so, but you’ll be able to get a much more intimate, interesting photo this way.
2. Don’t Force It. Say cheese! Staged photographs can look cheesy, canned, or just plain boring. Sure, there’s a time and a place for people giving their best megawatt smiles all in a row, but the best photos of people tend to be the ones where they’re being natural (well, as natural as possible with a camera sticking in their face). People often start out quite stiff and nervous when you’re taking pictures of them “in the wild,” as I like to call it. My solution to this is to persist and stick around. After you take a gajillion photos, they will have stopped worrying as much about how they look and what you’re doing.
3. Take Some Time. If you have the luxury of hanging out with a person or group of people for a while, you’ll have more opportunity to get shots while they go throughout their days. This will provide you with some variety, and will give you a chance to take spontaneous, unstaged photos. Keep your camera on you at all times and be ready for any opportunity! Here’s a good tutorial if you want more info.
Photography 101: Shot Composition
Ok, so now you’ve thought about lighting. What’s next? Well, you have to figure out where you want your subject in the picture. We’ve all seen photos where the person is in the dead center of the shot, surrounded by giant swathes of unused, meaningless space. So, first thing’s first –
Think about EVERYTHING in your picture
Really spend some time thinking about where you want to take your shots. Is there something interesting or unique about the place you’ve chosen to shoot? Is there a reason to include lots of background behind, or around, your subject? Is there an interesting pattern in the picture (repetition in shapes, figures, etc)? Is some random guy’s foot sticking into the bottom right corner of your frame?
Avoid the Center
Our instinct when we take a photograph is to shoot the subject right in the middle. If the subject is the most important thing, why shouldn’t it be in the middle? That’s how we know what to look at, right?
Wrong. Luckily, we have developed the capacity to infer the importance of objects in ways other than calculating how close to the center of a picture they appear. It looks pretty uninteresting and uninspired, doesn’t it? Instead of doing this, experiment with angles and perspective. Remember the “Rule of Thirds”: Every picture can be divided into nine segments in three sections. Your subject should never be right in the middle section. Instead, try moving it (or at least part of it) into the left or right sections.
Experiment!
Now that most casual photographers have moved into digital and away from film, you have lots of chances to take that perfect photograph, so don’t be afraid to experiment. Sometimes breaking all the rules can result in something you never expected. [insert final photo…of something] For more information and tutorials, go here and here.
Think about EVERYTHING in your picture
Really spend some time thinking about where you want to take your shots. Is there something interesting or unique about the place you’ve chosen to shoot? Is there a reason to include lots of background behind, or around, your subject? Is there an interesting pattern in the picture (repetition in shapes, figures, etc)? Is some random guy’s foot sticking into the bottom right corner of your frame?
 |
| There are a lot of elements in this shot, but they come together in a unified way. |
Avoid the Center
Our instinct when we take a photograph is to shoot the subject right in the middle. If the subject is the most important thing, why shouldn’t it be in the middle? That’s how we know what to look at, right?
Wrong. Luckily, we have developed the capacity to infer the importance of objects in ways other than calculating how close to the center of a picture they appear. It looks pretty uninteresting and uninspired, doesn’t it? Instead of doing this, experiment with angles and perspective. Remember the “Rule of Thirds”: Every picture can be divided into nine segments in three sections. Your subject should never be right in the middle section. Instead, try moving it (or at least part of it) into the left or right sections.
Experiment!
Now that most casual photographers have moved into digital and away from film, you have lots of chances to take that perfect photograph, so don’t be afraid to experiment. Sometimes breaking all the rules can result in something you never expected. [insert final photo…of something] For more information and tutorials, go here and here.
 |
| This shot is interesting because of the unconventional angle. |
Photography 101: Light
Now that you’ve decided on the camera you want, you’ll need to figure out what photos to take – and how to take them. To do this, you need some basic information on key photography concepts, like lighting and shot composition, and you’ll also need to know some tips and tricks for photographing different kinds of subjects. This series of blog posts will address these topics. We’ll begin today’s lesson with lighting. The first thing you have to decide is what kind of light you want.
Hard Light
“Hard” light comes from direct sunlight and very bright sources of light. It can also be produced by shining a small, direct source of light on your subject. Hard light can be useful for edgier, grittier photography. Knowing this, it makes sense that hard light will also bring out (and even exaggerate) any less-than-perfect qualities in your subject, so it tends to be less popular for traditional portraits.
Soft Light
Also called “diffuse light,” soft light is indirect and can come from a larger light source (not like the direct sun, more like a light that is bounced off a wall to fill a room). Soft light does exactly that – it softens your subject. It’s often a very popular light for portrait and glamour photography. Think of movie stars in the 1930s and 40s who always looked like they were being shot through gauze (which they often were!). That’s the kind of effect you’re going for here.
Hard Light
“Hard” light comes from direct sunlight and very bright sources of light. It can also be produced by shining a small, direct source of light on your subject. Hard light can be useful for edgier, grittier photography. Knowing this, it makes sense that hard light will also bring out (and even exaggerate) any less-than-perfect qualities in your subject, so it tends to be less popular for traditional portraits.
 |
| Hard light works well here. |
Soft Light
Also called “diffuse light,” soft light is indirect and can come from a larger light source (not like the direct sun, more like a light that is bounced off a wall to fill a room). Soft light does exactly that – it softens your subject. It’s often a very popular light for portrait and glamour photography. Think of movie stars in the 1930s and 40s who always looked like they were being shot through gauze (which they often were!). That’s the kind of effect you’re going for here.
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| Flickr user Lizbokt |
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