Visual Principles Planning Document
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The document describes a PowerPoint presentation created to accompany an ASSURE lesson plan about the Great Depression and writing formal letters. The presentation follows visual design principles from textbooks on instructional technology. These principles guide the arrangement, balance, color, legibility, appeal, and universal design of the slides. The target learners are a 5th grade class with diverse abilities and backgrounds. The presentation aims to enhance the initial lesson plan and engage students through visual instruction.
Visual Principles Planning Document
- 1. Lisa Quraish CIMT 543 Spring 2012 Dr. Ziaeehezarjeribi Visual Principles “Create an instructional presentation for the lesson that you have already prepared for the ASSURE lesson plan. Follow visual principles and design guidelines introduced in the textbooks to create your presentation.” Introduction To enhance my initial ASSURE lesson plan covering the Great Depression and writing and formatting a formal letter, I have created a PowerPoint presentation to provide a general overview when introducing the lesson to the class. According to Smaldino, Lowther, and Russell (2012), “The design and use of visuals in instruction is an important consideration because so much learning involves visual imagery” (p. 176). Additionally, most multimedia has some sort of visual component, and most classrooms have one or more students who are visual/spatial learners. Diverse learners, special needs, or gifted students can all benefit from the use of visuals in instruction (Smaldino, et al., 2012). Smaldino, et al., (2012) provide a list of visual design guidelines that I followed when creating my project (p. 192). Target Learners This instructional PowerPoint has been created for a fifth grade class of 22 students at a rural elementary school. There are 12 girls and 10 boys. A number of students (6) are classified as “living in poverty” as can be seen by the free and reduced lunch rates. The remainder of the class comes from working and middle class families. Three students have identified learning disabilities. The school system practices 1
- 2. Lisa Quraish CIMT 543 Spring 2012 Dr. Ziaeehezarjeribi inclusion, so the special education teacher or aide comes in at least once a day to work with these students and they also have the option of going to the special education room for guidance on a project or test. No students have been officially identified as “gifted,” although quite a few (eight) are reading well above grade level and excel on most all assignments. Students show an appreciation for the use of visuals in the classroom and dislike working from a textbook. They seem to be better engaged in learning when I create the teaching materials myself. Subject Area Social Studies: The Great Depression English: Writing and formatting a formal letter Curriculum and Curriculum: Indiana Academic 5th Grade Language Arts Standards Technology Standards Writing: Processes and Features 5.4 Writing: Applications (Different Types of Writing and Their Characteristics) 5.5 Writing: English Language Conventions 5.6 Indiana Academic 5th Grade Social Studies Standards Roles of Citizens 5.2.8 Economics 5.4 Technology: NETS-S (2007) Communication and Collaboration: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and 2
- 3. Lisa Quraish CIMT 543 Spring 2012 Dr. Ziaeehezarjeribi contribute to the learning of others. Technology Operations and Concepts: Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. Learning Objectives Given Microsoft Word software, the learner will compose a letter in block format and score 13/15 or higher on the teacher created “Letters to Lady Obama” rubric. The learner will demonstrate a general understanding of the Great Depression by playing the teacher created PowerPoint version of “Jeopardy: Great Depression Edition” scoring 5000/6000 or higher when completing the game individually. Visual Design Smaldino, et al. (2012) provide “Visual Design Guidelines” to Guidelines be followed when designing visuals for instructional or professional use. (p. 192). Following I will explain how their guidelines were applied to the PowerPoint I have created for this Visual Principles assignment. Arrangement. – When planning a series of visuals, one needs to be consistent when arranging elements because viewers tend to unconsciously form expectations of where information will appear in the display (Smaldino, et al., 2012). For this reason, when using only text, or only an image, I chose to center the information on the screen. When using a combination of text and images, I consistently placed text on the left and images on the right. 3
- 4. Lisa Quraish CIMT 543 Spring 2012 Dr. Ziaeehezarjeribi Balance. – For visuals to catch the eye and serve an informational purpose, it is best to have an asymmetrical balance (Smaldino, et al., 2012). I have achieved this by leaving “white” space, distributing elements evenly but sizing and arranging them in ways that keep the appearance dynamic and informal. Color. – When considering color for PowerPoint slides it is helpful to consider background color, a color for the images or text, and a color for highlights. (Smaldino, et al., 2012). Smaldino, et al., (2012) provide a table listing “Effective Combinations for Background and Images for PowerPoint Slides…” (p. 193). I chose to go with one of their suggested combinations, using a light gray background, with blue and black text. Legibility. – “A visual cannot do its job unless all viewers can see the words and images” (Smaldino, et al., 2012, p. 194). In my PowerPoint I made sure to make the presentation legible by choosing appropriate color combinations for text and background and using high quality images that are not blurry and can be projected large enough for easy viewing without distorting the image. Additionally, I made sure text was large and consistent enough for easy reading. Appeal. – Instructional visuals need to capture and hold learners’ 4
- 5. Lisa Quraish CIMT 543 Spring 2012 Dr. Ziaeehezarjeribi attention (Smaldino, et al., 2012). I chose a font style, color scheme, and wording appropriate for fifth graders. Effective use of all of the previous guidelines will help to make an overall appealing presentation. The use of a combination of images, text, and video in my presentation will help keep learners’ interest by providing variety in instruction. Universal Design. – “Universal design accommodates students with a variety of learning levels, including disabilities and special talents” (Smaldino, et al., 2012, p. 195). The use of a PowerPoint presentation helps to meet diverse learners because it can be played on an individual computer and enlarged for visually impaired learners, the explanatory text will help hearing impaired learners, and the age/reading level appropriate text will make content accessible to students. 5
- 6. Lisa Quraish CIMT 543 Spring 2012 Dr. Ziaeehezarjeribi References Indiana Department of Education (2011). Indiana Standards and Resources. Retrieved from http://dc.doe.in.gov/Standards/AcademicStandards/StandardSearch.aspx Smaldino, S.E., Lowther, D.L., & Russell, J.D. (2012). Instructional Technology and Media for Learning. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. International Society for Technology in Education. (2007). NETS for Students 2007. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007.aspx 6