Storyboarding

Overview 

What Is It?

A storyboard is a graphic organizer in a form of images or sketches displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing or planning a motion picture, motion graphic or interactive media sequence.

"A primary tenet of all symbolic interaction theory holds that the self is established, maintained, and altered in and through communication" (Stone,1962).

In his examination of communication, Stone demonstrates that all communication can be broken down into two parts; discourse and appearance.
The term discourse refers to auditory whereas the term appearance is visual.
For Stone (1962), visual communication "sets a stage for, or establishes, the types of verbal discourse possible"(Huff-Corzine,1986).

Additionally, storyboards provide the visual component, the primary component for communicating with one's self as well as with others. This is the reason they serve as powerful tools for learning more about one's self, as well as for organizing "stories" to be shared with larger audiences in auditory formats.

REFERENCE
Ibiblio.org. (2016). Storyboarding 101: Turning Concepts into Visual Forms. [online] Available at: http://www.ibiblio.org/ism/articles/huffcorzine.html [Accessed 6 May 2016].
Benefits

-The product team would get an overview of the screen with one look.
They would get a clear picture of the visual that is being used, plus the suggested animation along with the interactivities involved.

-It is possible to improvise on the design ideas provided by the ID based on the visual ideas

-Most information can be compressed and summarized visually instead or presented through lengthy instructions. visual elements essentially communicates the depth of the course to both the designer or production team.

-The interface is illustrated in storyboards which helps to understand the course clearly before its development.

-Visual storyboards make it easier for a production team to integrate various course elements e.g. content, graphics and animation to create the final eLearning course.

-If sticky notes are used to make the storyboard, they can easily be moved around if necessary

Drawbacks

-A lot of time is required to make these storyboards.

-As new ideas come up, the entire storyboard might need altering

REFERENCE

Custom Training and E-learning, Anywhere Anytime!. (2016). Advantages of Designing a Visual Storyboard. [online] Available at: http://blog.commlabindia.com/elearning-design/advantages-visual-storyboard [Accessed 6 May 2016].

Further Development Of My Prototype 

I had my prototype reviewed for the very last time today. judging by what was mentioned in the feedback, it seems as though i should design the artefact to aid people of learning styles other than that of the visual learning style.

Including features such as spoken words could help the users, especially young children, to memorise the way in which the words are said. it is a known fact that children adapt to accents or pronunciations rather fast.

Initial Prototype Ideas

The Purpose Of The Artefact

The job of the artefact will be to teach children the language Mauritian Creole. Though it is not an academic language, I feel that it would be a good opportunity for them to learn something new, solely for amusement purposes.

I feel that this game could be rewarding to a certain extent as it would introduce a child of a small age to new forms of learning, i.e. learning from carrying out mini tests etc. Additionally, they would feel a sense of encouragement if they manage to get a good result by the end of the game, as it would essentially show them that one can succeed in anything if they have the will to succeed.

The Game

The game is basically voyage throughout the continents of the world. The starting point is Europe (The UK). The game consists of a world map that shows the user where they are. A boat symbol is used to display this.

A lesson will be taught then the child would need to carry out a mini test. This will occur during the voyage (to get passed each continent, a user would need to have got the question right) then after each mini test, they are shown their progress (where they are on the map). This is repetitive until they reach Mauritius.

Chosen Platform

The game will be created on a PowerPoint Presentation. This is a good 

application to use as it enables the use of animations, imagery, macros and 

minimal coding to aid with the event driven procedures.

Target users

The artefact will in the main be aimed at children aged 6-8. I felt that this was a good age range to target as it is known that young children adapt to languages faster than older aged children. Some researchers argue that “the earlier children begin to learn a second language, the easier it will be for the child” (Krashen, Long, & Scarcella, 1979).  The artefact will make use of simple and easy to understand vocabulary which should not be too hard for a young child to understand.

Theme: Imagery and Colour Palette

I would be using tropical themed images to match with the climate of the Mauritius Island such as; the sun, palm trees, a dodo or the seaside. This theme should essentially bring out a positive mood as it draws out happiness and excitement from a sunny atmosphere.

The chosen colour scheme will be bright but not intolerable to the user, so no florescent or neon colours will be made use of. If I had chosen a dark colour palette there is a chance that that the child may get easily bored.

 Initially Planned Content

The game will be teaching children a simple selection of useful vocabulary such as; numbers, weather, animals, objects. I might also teach them the way to describe facial expressions.

To teach the facial expressions, the game could show an image of a facial expression and have the describing word either beside it or below the image along with the translated word. Later the user could be tested by being shown the image then asked how to say the expression in creole without any hints provided.

Feedback Methods

The feedback which is to be used in the artefact will be somewhat effective. A child is provided feedback after every time they click on an answer, so it can be said that the feedback is timely. The method used to give the feedback is a message shown on-screen.

Words of encouragement is used to make the child not feel disconcerted for getting answers incorrect. The artefact is designed to constantly give the child a chance until they get the answer right before moving on to the next lesson. This applies to the mini tests.

Additionally, the child is not told where they had gone wrong, it is up to them to remember which answer they clicked previously to get it wrong in the first place. I felt that this method should help to improve a child’s remembrance skills.

A child is also given feedback for the final assessment. They are shown their deserved trophy, if they did not achieve the gold trophy, then they are encouraged to retake the test. 

Assessment Types

The artefact will be using three types of assessment methods; formative, formal and the objective method.

Formative – Mini tests would be carried out throughout the learning course. These are just used to keep the users mind active and does not contribute to the end result.

Formal – This assessment is brought to the user at the end of the program (after all the mini tests) it is designed to see whether the child has been able to memorise what had been taught all the way from the start of the course. A trophy is awarded based on however many answers were correct.

Objective -  The final assessment will consist of four questions which would be one word answers.  One will be a “true or false” type while the rest is translation-based. I felt that this would be an essential means of assessing children as it is a common approach used in online gaming. So this means that the children would be familiar with this method.