Course Requirements
COMM 486, EDUC 485, EDUC 685: Multimedia Literacy
This course is all about empowering you to use multimedia to have a positive impact on teaching, learning, and communicating in the 21st century.
Participants will be expected to spend at least six hours per week practicing multimedia techniques, studying chapters in your course textbook about using multimedia effectively, and writing a term paper on a topic that interests you related to the impact multimedia is having on education or communication.
In the sidebar is a list of the specific assignments and how much they count toward your grade in the course. You can think of these assignments as consisting of three major parts, each of which counts for a third of your grade. The design and implementation of a multimedia project will constitute one-third of the final grade; online class participation will count another third; and your term paper will constitute the final third. All students must make effective use of the course discussion forum to communicate with fellow classmates and their professor. Students will keep track of their their progress in the course checkpoint blogs that the instructor will visit periodically to review and comment.
Assignment #1: Goal Statement
Your first assignment is to state the reasons why you enrolled in this course. Please tell why you decided to take this course and state briefly what you hope to get out of it. If you have only a general idea, go ahead and describe your goals in general terms. If you have more specific goals in mind, please enumerate them. I will use this information to help advise you and guide you through the appropriate course materials.
Assignment #2: Weekly Discussion Forum
Every student in this class is required to participate actively in the course discussion forum. To enter the discussion forum, log on to the course and click the Discussions option. One of the first messages you write in the forum should inform your fellow classmates about the nature of the project you are hoping to create. The forum is an excellent place to network with your fellow students and help each other learn to use multimedia effectively and understand its impact on society. To earn all your discussion points, write a thoughtful message at least once per week during the course. Creating a new discussion post counts the same as responding thoughtfully to an existing post. Use the discussions to share knowledge with each other during the course. You can write about emerging technologies, societal issues, multimedia tools, instructional design, or any topic related to helping your fellow classmates make effective use of multimedia.
Assignment #3: Checkpoint #1
This is your first checkpoint for submitting project logs to be reviewed by your instructor. In your log, please write about the contributions you made so far toward accomplishing your project's goals. You may also write about problems your project encountered and tell how you plan to solve them. The deadline for submitting this log is flexible, but in general, you should try to submit it about one third of the way through the course.
Assignment #4: Checkpoint #2
This is your second checkpoint for submitting project logs to be reviewed by your instructor. In your log, write about the contributions you made toward accomplishing your project's goals, and describe any problems your project encountered and tell how you plan to solve them. The deadline for submitting this log is flexible, but in general, you should try to submit it about two thirds of the way through the course.
Assignment #5: Checkpoint #3
This is your third and final checkpoint for submitting project logs to be reviewed by your instructor. In your log, write about the contributions you made toward accomplishing your project's goals, and describe any problems your project encountered and tell how you plan to solve them. The deadline for submitting this log is flexible, but in general, you should try to submit it during the final third of the course.
Assignment #6: Research Topic
A major part of your grade in this course is determined by a term paper that you write on a topic of your choosing related to a multimedia trend or issue in the field of education or communications. Your paper must be about six pages long and contain at least six bibliographic references if you are taking this course for undergraduate credit, or about twelve pages long with at least twelve references for graduate credit. Before you write the paper, you need to have your topic approved. Please tell what your paper is going to be about. Say why you have chosen this topic, tell how you plan to research it, and explain how the writing of this paper will help you achieve the goals you had for taking this course. Your instructor will respond by writing a comment on this assignment to let you know if your topic is approved. At any time, you can check for instructor comments by choosing the Assignments option on the Canvas sidebar.
Note for Graduate Students: If you are taking this course for graduate credit, your term paper topic must be related to teaching and learning with multimedia. In your course textbook, Chapter 9 is all about helping people learn with multimedia. When you write your term paper, be sure to talk about the principles of how people learn and refer to specific learning theories and multimedia learning principles that inform what you will be writing about. Chapter 9 is full of ideas that help you do that. Be sure to read Chapter 9 before you answer this assignment and reference ideas you learn in Chapter 9. You can make your term paper topic be about anything you read in Chapter 9 that interests you. If you are a teacher, or if you are an ARTC teacher certification candidate, make your term paper be something that will help inform your use of educational technology in your future teaching context. It is fine to challenge what you find and write about why you feel differently and cite from scholarly sources that support your thinking about this. You may also write about something you feel strongly about that Chapter 9 failed to address.
Assignment #7: Multimedia Topic
The largest part of your grade in this course is determined by the multimedia project that you will create. Your project must have at least seven screens if you are taking this course for undergraduate credit, or at least fourteen screens for graduate credit. Before you develop the project, you need to have your topic approved. Please tell what your project is going to be about. Say why you have chosen this topic, and tell how you plan to design it. Describe your intended audience, tell how they will use your project, and indicate how developing this project will help you achieve the goals you had for taking this course.
Assignment #8: Term Paper
The term paper you submit in this course must follow either the APA, MLA, or CMS style guides. Writing in a standard essay format works fine, but please note that your bibliography and your in-text citations (in parentheses) must follow either the APA, MLA, or CMS style guides. In your course textbook, Chapter 5 contains detailed instructions and links to examples of A-plus term papers written in all three of these bibliographic styles. Note: If you are an EDTC major, consider developing your term paper in the form of a Needs Assessment that can meet the requirements of your master degree program's Needs Assessment Performance.
Assignment #9: Multimedia Project
When you design your multimedia project, be sure to include navigational options that let the user decide the course of action, to the extent that is feasible or desirable. Remember that without such interaction, you have only a page-turner, and you should make your project be more than that. So be sure to study the course modules related to screen design and hypermedia design. Note: If you are an EDTC major, consider developing your project in the form of a Multimedia eLearning Environment that can meet the requirements of your master degree program's Multimedia eLearning Performance.
Assignment #10: Course Evaluation
Your final assignment in this course is to evaluate it. During the last couple weeks of the course, you will receive email at your udel.edu email address instructing you when the evaluation period begins and ends. This email tells you when the course evaluation window is open. You must log on to the course evaluation system within this window of time. The Web address of the course evaluation system is www.udel.edu/course-evals. After you complete the course evaluation, your instructor will give you credit for completing it. The responses you give are completely anonymous. While your instructor will be able to see the ratings and comments, it is impossible for your instructor to identify the person who gave a certain rating or made a given comment. Once you complete the evaluation, your grade on this assignment will be an automatic A.
