Design principles - Technology in the classroom

TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM

Design principles

Introduction

• As we introduce and use digital media in our classrooms we need to pay attention to design principles

• as we create media• when we select media• when we use media

• It is all about CLARITY.

Scott McCloud

• Scott McCloud is a comic artist• He has written books to teach others how to

create successful comics• He was the comic artist for Google when his

comics prepared the way for the new browser Chrome.

• He believes good design comes down to 5 choices: Focus,Frame,Image, Word, Flow

Focus

• What exactly do you want to teach?• What is the focus of the lesson, the image, the

text, the presentation?• What do you want your students to know at

the end of the session? The presentation?• Is your message clear at the start?• What can you leave out?

Frame• What is your angle?• Are you focussing on detail and complexity or

is it a general overview and contextualisation?• Is it inclusive?• Where are the boundaries for today?• Where does this lesson fit in with the rest of

your narrative?

Image

• Are your images inclusive?• Do you want your images to teach a subtext?• Are the images crystal clear?• What kind of atmosphere are you setting?• Are your images able to contribute to visual

literacy?

Word

• What register are you using and why?• Are you using words which will convey

meaning to students?• Do you need to include clarification of terms?• Are you preventing misconceptions?• Are you captioning when and where you can?

Flow

• Are you showing how one thing leads to another?

• Are you showing how this connects to prior knowledge, life, the world, other subjects?

• Have you explained which part of the picture you are in at the moment and where that can lead?

• Are you making connections with what you have taught and what comes next?

Resources

• A photographer’s frame of mind

• Literacy Today

• A rhetoric of sequential art

• 30 graphic novels in 30 days

Acknowledgements

• Microsoft Office 2010• Templateswise.com• Scott McCloud

• @sally07 January 2013