Category: DM7900 – Digital Media Principles

For this week‘s lecture, my task was to prepare a presentation that explores trends within my area of research – learning design. This became an interesting little project for me, as I was able to research some case studies online and interlink these with theoretical knowledge gained from books. 

It was interesting to consider the benefits of involving mobile devices in education as well as simulations, especially in light of the Coronavirus pandemic. However, I became most interested in the topic of “datafication.”

Having taught in FE colleges, I have had some awareness of datafication within education. Our courses would regularly be monitored for metrics such as student attendance and retention, high grades, and predicted grade. These would be benchmarked with student entry-data from their school exams, alongside data from other institutions from across the country, to better understand the performance of the course. Underperformance could result in meetings and support being arranged to ‘raise standards’.

While researching, I was interested to read the ethical concerns raised regarding the use of ‘intelligent uniforms’ to track student attendance or facial recognition to provide teachers with real-time feedback based upon their students. Although I understand that both of these technologies raise ethical issues concerning how we collect data, I ponder to what extent the issues are raised are new concerns, or being raised through fear of using such cutting-edge technologies.

When I would conduct tutorials with my students, showing them their teachers’ notes, noted dates and times of phone calls to home, recorded transcripts of email chains, and attendance metrics alongside their school, mock, and predicted grades, many students were taken back by this. I remember one student responding with one word, which she muttered uncomfortably, “wow.” To me, she didn’t seem to have any knowledge of the existence of a file of data being solely about her, even though it is standard practice for educational institutions to collect this. Perhaps she didn’t realise that we had a need for the data. I wonder whether her surprise was because she had become used to hearing about these metrics, but hadn’t considered how her own data could be collected, stored, and made useful to someone else who isn’t her.

I’ve made the whole presentation available for download on the below link.

In this video, I reflect on my attempt at using Spark AR to create a simulation of the Rembrandt Lighting setup.

In our lecture this week, we followed an Adobe Aero tutorial from the Adobe Max 2020 conference. I hadn’t used Adobe Aero before, although I was aware that it was used to build AR experiences.

I found the software itself extremely intuitive in comparison to other 3D-based software packages, such as Unity or Cinema4D. However, as Aero primary function is to build AR experiences rather than 3D objects, this is to be expected.

I particularly enjoyed the interactivity elements that I could build into the experience, which I think has massive potential for use in an educational context. I explained to my lecturer how I could see this software being used to build an AR version of a film lighting setup for students to view and replicate on set. As the MA programme developed, I might consider adjusting my plans for a future module to address using AR to develop a learning experience like this, especially if the Covid-19 pandemic is still present and blended learning is still as popular as it currently is.

In this week’s lecture we experimented with producing Facebook filters by using a combination of software packages – Figma and Spark AR Studio. 

Despite having an awareness of filters for mobile applications such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, I’d never given thought to creating them myself; this week’s experiments mostly surprised me by how accessible they are to consumers. Although a computer with reasonable specifications is required, no part of the process required intense resources, and all interactive elements were fairly intuitive. 

We used Figma purely for its online image-creation abilities. For example, we uploaded a face mesh texture and used this as a map to draw upon. In my experiment, I tried to replicate David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust face paint.  

Spark AR Studio required us to input these meshes (minus to mesh texture), and then map this onto a face. Moving previews of real people (with differing face shapes, hair, and skin colour) were available for modelling your outcome. 

You could also add invisible planes around the faces of these models. I’d imagine this would greaten the possibilities of this software – with some extra illustration and animation skills, perhaps someone could produce birds flying around a model’s head? 

In relation to my own studies, I could imagine using these filters to demonstrate how lighting setups can produce a variety of different outcomes – perhaps as a replacement for the Lighting Guide posters that adorn walls of photography studios in many sixth form colleges. This would also negate the need for any lighting equipment, or even the presence of students in the same room as the teacher. This could be useful for online teaching, especially if the physical aspect of setting up lights could be demonstrated using a different software solution. 

As part of this weeks lecture we were given access to an Adobe XD tutorial. It involved a variety of tasks that culminated in producing a mobile app with very similar functionality to TripAdvisor.

I really enjoyed how accessible Adobe XD is to use. Even though I didn’t produce the app itself, only a high-fidelity prototype, I was still very impressed by how easy it was to produce a professional-looking outcome. I was also surprised to learn that a lot of the graphical elements that are native to Apple’s iOS and to Android devices are freely available to download – this goes a long way towards making a high-fidelity prototype simulate the finished product.

Inspired by this, I decided to experiment by producing my own prototype of an application. I had an idea in mind to produce an application to support my role as a Media Trainer at the University – it would feature news, training schedules, and training resources such as videos, guides, and official manuals.

I already have access to the University’s branding guidelines as well as some knowledge of working in marketing, so felt confident that I could emulate the University’s corporate image. I included the correct typefaces alongside the branding colours and other graphical elements. Adobe XD also gave me access to a Wireframes UI kit, which provided demonstration graphics such as icons and buttons.

I loved the ability to create “Assets” within Adobe XD. Aspects such as colours, character styles, and symbols, formed groups that could easily be applied across the prototype. As a result I was able to consistently use these styles. For example, I included only three sizes of font throughout the prototype, whereas without the “Assets” function I could have become carried away and included an inconsistent mix of different sizes.

The most challenging aspect of the experiment was using the prototyping mode. This enabled me to control how the use of it interact with the prototype. For example, how long the splash screen would be displayed, which buttons would lead to which pages, and even the animations between interactions.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t successful in producing a scrollable menu. I found myself browsing YouTube videos to try to understand how to integrate this function, however my version of Adobe XD did not seem to have the buttons available. I resolved that my 2018 version of the software did not have this function yet.

Overall, I found this to be a really exciting part of the course so far. I have attached a video preview of the prototype that I’ve made. I would love to get more involved in application design, and although it is not my primary interest on this course, I definitely feel that it has potential to form a secondary income or just a hobby.

Earlier this week I purchased two really useful books to study during the Masters program:

1. Laurillard, D. (2012). Teaching as a Design Science: Building Pedagogical Patterns for Learning and Technology. New York, NY: Routledge.
2. ‌ Beetham, H. and Sharpe, R. eds., (2020). Rethinking Pedagogy for a Digital Age: Principles and Practices of Design. New York, NY: Routledge.

Both books address teaching and lecturing alongside technology, relating them together as a ‘design science’. I haven’t considered teaching as an iterative design process before, nor the practical impact that technology is having on the education industry, so I’m excited to see how the content of these books will challenge current understandings.

This week I’ve also made a start on developing my skill set with prototyping software. I watched the ‘Getting Started with the Adobe XD’ tutorial as part of the Adobe Max event. I haven’t used Adobe XD before but I’m aware of its uses for prototyping. This is the first time that I’ve seen the software in action, and I’m really impressed with it.

I was particularly struck by features such as character styles, components, and repeat grids, all of which make the process of designing a prototype incredibly efficient. I can see how this would be beneficial for both low fidelity and high fidelity prototypes.

I plan to watch more of the Adobe Max videos on Adobe XD over the weekend and checking out the LetsXD website for more tips (https://letsxd.com ). I’m also really looking forward to following a tutorial, provided by my lecturer.

As a formative piece of assessment, this week I gave a presentation about my plans for the DM7900 module and the rest of the MA programme. 

I began by listing my learning goals: 

1. Research UCD (User Centred Design) theory in relation to accessibility and education
2. Practise iterative design processes as well as prototyping and working with personas
3. Develop proficiency in specialist software packages such as Adobe XD, Figma
4. Practise research, analysis and project management skills required for PhD study

I felt well prepared for the presentation as I could include my study plans, which I’d been working on for quite some time. I explained the modules I intend to study, my motivations for studying them, and presented a Gantt chart to explain how I’d tackle these in the following two years.

A considerable amount of my presentation explained how I plan to learn a variety of software packages as well as some key concepts within UX design, which I currently understand very little about. I drew upon David Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle as well as Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger’s Community of Practice model to address two strategies that I’ll use to pick up these skills; this was well received. My lecturer felt that I’d evidenced enough material to create a written proposal for submission.

As part of the feedback I gained from this, my lecturer let the group know that we have an educational licence for Invision Studio, a software package for prototyping mobile applications.

My lecturer also mentioned that we could work together as I work on my PhD application. She’s currently studying her own PhD, so it’d be really useful for me to work alongside someone who has experienced the processes before me, so I’m looking forward to that!

This week’s lecture focused on Accessibility issues on the web, such as functional and clinical disabilities. Barriers to accessing digital content can stem from visual, auditory, mobility, dexterity, and cognitive function difficulties.

This is a subject area that I currently know little about, yet I’d love to address it within future modules on the course.

Following the lecture, I’ve evaluated the BBC Good Food website in accordance to the W3C Accessibility Principles. I enabled tab-navigation and voiceover functionality on MacOS and Safari, then avoiding looking at my screen.

Initially, I found the experience frustratingly slow. Waiting for the voiceover to stop speaking before pressing tab again really lengthened the process of exploring the landing page. Tabbing faster just seemed to cause a loud din, which further irritated me.

However, bearing with the process for a few more minutes, I began to  appreciate the patterns of speech within the voiceover: ‘Link. Parsnip Recipes’ or ‘Visited. Link. Parsnip Recipes’ if I had visited the page before. 

Images were correctly captioned, so the voiceover explained what was depicted, and I was able to build a mental picture of the website. 

One limitation of the voiceover was its pronunciation of some common words like ‘Favourite’. After some research, it appears that this could have been caused by using an incorrect lang attribute within the page’s code.

I also found some issues in relation to colourblindness and colours chosen for rollover button on the website, however this wasn’t widespread. Emboldening text, or changing the shape or size of the button would have been a more suitable roll-over animation.

Readability was good, which could be expected as the website appears to use the BBC’s sans serif font, “BBC Reith”.

When designing the mobile and web experiences that I have in mind for later in the course, I’ll need to bear these accessibility considerations in mind. I’m particularly interested to apply this same evaluation to a virtual learning environment, such as Canvas – lack of consideration in this area could be a large barrier to learning for some students.

In the meantime, I’ll try to find some books in the University’s library addressing accessibility in User Experience Design.

In this week’s lecture, we were introduced to the Design Hierarchy of Need, which is based upon the Hierarchy of Need, coined by Abraham Maslow. 

The Design Hierarchy of Need places design features into five categories based upon their importance. The order of categories, from most essential to least, reads: functionality, reliability, usability, proficiency, and creativity.

As part of my lecture, I’ve analysed an injection tracker application by CrioSoft LLC, which is available in the Apple App Store, applying the principles of the Design Hierarchy of Need, which is pictured above. I assessed the current features and placed them in the categories according to how fundamental I believe they are to the product.

To go one step further I’ve also considered some potential features that I might include as updated if I was a developer of the application.

In practice, the Design Hierarchy of Need is useful because developers can focus on achieving features that are in the functionality, reliability, and usability categories of the scale first. This would allow them to distribute their application to the public for testing and even potentially begin developing a revenue stream from it before completion. From there they could continue working on less essential features while the application is live, feeding these to users via incremental updates.

I hope to make use of this knowledge in a future module. I definitely plan on either creating a website or an application at some point during the course. I imagine that as each module is only 12 weeks long I will not be able to create a fully-featured final outcome. I will likely need to make and justify decisions in terms of which features are created first, and which features are seen as required before the submission deadline.

While I’m studying on the MA Digital Media Practice programme over the next two years, I’ll be keeping this blog to journal my thoughts, experiments and progression.

During the programme, I intend to learn about the UI/UX industry with particular focus upon the visual development of mobile applications. 

I’ve worked in education for most of my career and understand the importance of ensuring accessibility and inclusivity when designing learning experiences. I’m particularly interested in researching how to consider these factors within UI/UX design. As the course progresses, I intend to try my hand at designing a range of mobile applications to meet different user needs. 

Each semester I’ll be studying one module on the programme (with the exception of Year 2 Semester 2, where I’ll need to complete two modules); the first module is ‘DM7900 – Digital Media Principles’, which requires me to research current issues and future developments within the UI/UX industry. I’ll need to decide on a pathway for two optional modules, and produce a proposal that addresses how I will reach my learning goals. This proposal will also address how I will implement project management tools, improve my digital skillset, and demonstrate an awareness of societal and ethical issues within the industry. 

I’m currently lacking plans for all future modules, so addressing this will be my focus for the next 4 weeks, as I’m due to present a proposal presentation in Week 5 for formative assessment. I’ll be sure to post my presentation here when the time comes.

As part of this blog, I’ll also steadily develop a portfolio of UI/UX experiments, prototypes, and observations, which will serve as a visual record of my development and outcomes. Some of these materials will come from in-class activities, while others will be from personal projects.