Storyboard
This storyboard represents the first pass at the Design stage of ADDIE because it is the first pass at trying to take the plan created in analysis and make it more concrete. In this step, I visualized the flow of the learning for the course, including potential activities and a rough sketch of the color scheme and graphics that might be used.
Savvy Start
Revisions Based on Feedback
One classmate mentioned that my font and color combinations might be difficult for users, and might not be the most accessible for folks with vision challenges. That led me down a rabbit hole of which fonts to use for maximum accessibility. I chose my original fonts because I like the combination of Merriweather for titles and Raleway for text, but Raleway is very thin, and perhaps not as readable as I thought. I changed my fonts to two listed as accessible in more than one source on the topic, and I lightened the background of my text boxes to increase the contrast between the background and the text. I also took off the background images from the first two slides and instead set them to be the same light blue as the rest of the slides. Hopefully, those changes will make the course easier for all folks to read.
Two of my classmates mentioned adding a progress bar, so I have mocked one up. The actual one will really track progress, but the one that is there now can at least give an idea of where the progress bar will go. I will also explore the capabilities of the LMS to see if I can do the same checkmark interface that we have in Canvas as we work through the lessons in our modules. It is important to note that the progress bar shown in the prototype is not accurate, but is just a placeholder.
I also received feedback that my text, in places, was long and could be overwhelming. This is true– my brian works in paragraphs! For the student personas, I broke them into bullet points to make them easier to read. I also changed slide #7 so that instead of presenting a wall of text, the text is hidden behind two buttons. When the user clicks each button, they’ll see the text behind it. Hopefully, that will enhance readability and reduce cognitive load.
I changed the language for the feedback page (slide 10) to replace “Positive Feedback” with “It was effective when…” and “Negative Feedback” with “Next time try…” That language more aligns with how my current organization frames feedback, and as was pointed out in my prototype feedback, is less loaded than “negative feedback.”
Finally, I have tried to be more clear in my course description and in the introductory notes that this course, while 90% asynch, does have a synchronous component, and therefore should be undertaken by a cohort of teachers working on it in the same 4-6-week time frame. It should also have an administrator (coach or leader) who ensures that all participants can access the course materials, and who makes the pairings for the final assessment so teachers do not have to do that work by themselves.