susan

Contents Module 1: Susan's Example

*Revision of Module 1
Module 2: Susan's Example

*Revision of Module 2
Module 3: Susan's Example

*Revision of Module 3
Module 4: Susan's Example

*Revision of Module 4
Module 5: Susan's Example

=__**Module 3**__= Yes, the MIT course, “Photographing the first Year” involves problem solving, which is, how to create a series of effective photographs to accurately capture the emotional spirit of your freshman year.

The whole problem, which contains three content elements, is taking a compelling photo that fulfills a niche in a series of photos.

The content elements might be: A. Manipulating light B. Manipulating color C. Manipulating focus and blur

Each of these content elements can be divided into two kinds: through the camera and through the computer.

A progression of problems for the first content element (A. Manipulating light, specifically through the camera) might be: 1. Using the auto exposure and daylight (this is the condition) 2. looking through your viewfinder, find your light meter 3. point your light meter at the subject, or some area, which lighted in the mid-range 4. take a photo in which there is a balance of darks and lights (usually what is considered a properly exposed photo).

A progression of problems for B. Manipulating color through the camera might be: 1. identifying the type of lighting you are in. Condition would be limited to daylight or indoor daylight. 2. learning where the white balance controls are in your camera (or if there is a white balance control) 3. adjusting the white balance 4. taking the photo in which the colors are accurately match real-life colors

A progression of problems for C. Manipulating focus and blur through the camera might be: 1. using an auto focus camera (the condition) 2. identify the different ways your camera might focus focuses (Area, spot, or continuous auto-focus 3. select spot focus 3. identify what you’d like to be in focus. Point the center of the viewfinder at your subject and depress the shutter halfway 4. Recompose the photo and depress the shutter.

This might be the first series of problem-solving events in the class. As each skill is mastered, the student continues to use it in subsequent assignments. In this way, the student has many opportunities to practice what they learn. For example, in problem B, the photo should be properly exposed as well as having natural color. In problem C, the photo will be focused, properly exposed and set at the right color balance.

The instructor could progressively introduce elements into the problem that require more complex skills. For example, after the student is able to take photos using the auto controls, the instructor might introduce these problems in future events:
 * taking a photo at night or in low light
 * using the manual controls on your camera
 * heightening particular colors for emotional effect, using filters or changing the color balance
 * deliberately blurring images for emotional effect

**Revision of Module 3** From the responses and our discussion on Tuesday, this course could be restructured as a set of two problems, but that have similar tasks. Set A would be concerned with technical skills, and set B with artistic content. The problems are listed horizontally, and the component skills are vertical.

Here is a possibility for Set A, which teaches technical component skills.


 * || Capturing the excitement of the first day || Capturing the story in the classroom || The Group Shot || Action Shots: Capturing the Sports Moment ||
 * Composition ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Light ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Color ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Blur ||  ||   ||   ||   ||

Here is a possible progression of problems for Set B, which teaches artistic content.


 * || Capturing the excitement of the first day || Capturing the story in the classroom || The Group Shot || Action Shots: Capturing the Sports Moment ||
 * narrative ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * significant detail ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Use of symbol and abstraction ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Portraits and close ups: personality ||  ||   ||   ||   ||

= **Module 4** = Examine the course you selected for Module

How did this course use multimedia to implement their instructional strategies? The instructor delivered course content through PowerPoint presentations. This enabled the instructor to “tell” while he was showing examples or non-examples. This also enabled him to show many portrayals of the task.

As this is a face to face class, student responses can be elicited in a discussion. “What-happened” responses can be encouraged by showing students examples or non-examples, and asking them to describe the conditions that led to the particular photograph.

Some of the class time is devoted to critiques, which enables peer-sharing and peer-discussion. Learners may describe the conditions that led to their photographs, and other students can learn vicariously through listening to these experiences.

Did this course avoid irrelevant multimedia? Yes, the media simply showed students photographic stills. There was little use of audio (sound effects, music, etc.) or text in the media. This obviously was the media form that most clearly represented the properties of the portrayal, as the instructor was asking students to tell a story without words, through visuals.

Students portfolios from previous years are posted on the class website, to show learners how previous learners solved the given problem.

Did this course use multimedia to effectively implement instructional events? Somewhat—with each assignment, there was a session of image viewing. There also was ample lab time scheduled. During lab sessions, live demos of the software preceded application of the skills.

What was missing, was student control—students couldn’t review the demonstrations or the presentations on their own time.

Also, graphic devices could be used to give student guidance during the demonstrations or during the lab sessions.

Did this course use multimedia to indicate the format of the materials; to provide efficient navigation; and to provide for learner interaction with the content and instructional events? It doesn’t seem like the multimedia—the course website or course management system—provided efficient navigation. The website was organized by the type of class document: readings, lecture notes, syllabus, previous student projects, readings.

It might be more efficient if the site was organized by problem or task: the sequence of problems or tasks were listed mainly in the syllabus.

It is unlikely that the course you selected used a structural framework but if it did was it used effectively? The syllabus suggests a structural framework, however, it really wasn’t very clear to me and it seemed that there was not a progression in the difficulty of problems. There seemed to be a guiding question that was posted at the beginning of the course, and every assignment addressed this big question. However, this big question could be broken down into a series of problems or small courses that all connect back to the guiding question.

If it did not can you suggest a structural framework that could be added to this course to enhance learning? I might consider using the structural framework that I outlined in my revision of Module 3 in my course website. This means that the instructional events (first day; classroom story; sports action; group portraits) would each have a menu tab. A navigation bar going down the vertical left might display the component skills.

= Revision of Module 4 = From the comments, I think the main revision would be to add some multimedia elements, instead of changing elements. I would consider adding a website that contained learning objects--short videos that demonstrated some of the technical components--and examples and nonexamples of photographs, so that students could revisit the course on their own time and schedule.

It might be possible to build in some interactivity, using a program such as Camtasia, and to include some online quizzes.

I also think it would be advantageous to build in some peer interaction: for example, asking peers to critique each other's photographs using a checklist. This would help each of them learn to analyze their own work. It might even be possible for students to trade photo files, and to have someone else crop or edit, to see what someone else might do with their work.

Module 5: Susan's Example Program: ** Documentary Photography and Photojournalism: Still Images of a World in Motion ** URL: [] Author: Susan St John Date: 11 February 2012


 * || Tell || Show || G || M || < || S || Do id || Do ex || C || F || < || P || Score ||
 * Problem: To see the world as a documentary photographer and produce a documentary project. ||
 * Steps (S) ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Conditions (C) ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   || Assignments 1-12 ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Consequence (Q) ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Component Skill 1 = Learning to Observe ||
 * Condition || + || - || - || - || - ||  ||   ||   ||   || + || - ||   || 2/9 ||
 * Step ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Component Skill 2 = Mirror, or Being the Subject ||
 * Condition || + || + || - || + || - ||  ||   ||   ||   || + || + ||   || 5/9 ||
 * Step ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Component Skill 3 = Framing ||
 * Condition || + || + || - || - || - ||  ||   ||   || + || + || - ||   || 4/9 ||
 * Step ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Component Skill 4 = Perspective Exploration (the “decisive moment”) ||
 * Condition || + || - || - || - || - ||  ||   ||   || - || - || - ||   || 1/9 ||
 * Step ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Component Skill 5 = Expanding the Imagination ||
 * Condition || + || - || - || - || + ||  ||   ||   || - || + || + ||   || 4/9 ||
 * Step ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||

The course relied on supplemental readings to do the "telling", and it is difficult to tell how directly related the reading is to the given component skill. I would recommend that more direct guidance be given to students on their assignments.

In essence, the students are asked to work backwards from the examples. There seems to be ample examples (finished student projects, the textbook) of photographs. There are also examples of the thought process of documentary photographers (the readings). From these examples, the student is asked to fabricate their own project goals and philosophy. There seems to be large gap, however, between the telling and showing, and then asking the students to do their assignments, and for this reason, I recommend coaching or guidance from the instructor.

The instructor does post previous student portfolios as examples; also the textbook provides many examples of photographing places. I found it curious, however, that the instructor choose a book of photographing places, when many of the assignments (Mirror, Framing) involved photographing people, and looking for the human story of the photograph. The author of the textbook has also written a text about photographing people, and I might recommend that the instructor substitute that text for the current one.

I might also recommend that the course build in opportunities for peer critique. This may be something that is done in-class, although it is not apparent on the syllabus.

There are a number of very interesting assignments, and I think would be effective, if done in the proper spirit. I liked the notebook assignment, for example, as this demands that students slow down and think why they find a photograph interesting. As taking snapshots are easy and quick, it would be easy to snap a half dozen shots and submit them, and having this notebook assignment first sets the tone of the instructor's expectations.