Project Development
Design Model
"So, You Want to Start a Project...Now What?
Many people are intimidated at the thought of beginning a technology-based project. You may have a brilliant idea, a problem to be solved, or a goal to be accomplished and you believe technology will be useful in implementing your vision. Some projects can be as simple as a webpage, while others are as complex as a fully online, multimedia-enhanced course. But, where do you start? At CITT we encourage all of our clients, old and new, to view this brief Flash presentation. In it, you will find a step-by-step description of the lifecycle of a project at CITT. You will learn about our project management methods and you will find useful documents for download that can help you get one step closer to your goal!
Applications can be printed, completed, and turned in to 2215 Turlington Hall between 8:30am and 5pm. Printed applications are also available for completion in the office.
The Three Contracts
Instructional Design
The design contract is intended to address the needs of faculty that have a desire to implement technology-based education projects with the use of high-end techniques and applications. These contracts typically require 1-3 months for completion, by times will vary depending on the scope of the project. The deliverables for this contract include an estimate for development costs, an audience analysis, needs analysis, resource analysis, and pedagogical framework.
Development
When clients have developed sufficient content, and completed an analysis process, they may proceed with a development contract. In this stage, the ideas are brought to fruition. Timelines for project development are directly related to project scope, which makes the completion times variable.
Assessment
Assessment contracts can take place before an instructional design contract, during or after a development contract, or independent of other contracts. A typical assessment contract will include an evaluation of accessibility, usability and an evaluation of cross-platform performance.
Instructional Design Documents
One of the goals of the Center for Instructional Technology and Training is to work with faculty to assist in the development of modules and course materials for online teaching and/or training. In order to do this a team works with you, the faculty member, taking content material you provide and assisting with its preparation for appropriate and effective delivery through new media.
Depending on how familiar and prepared you are with your materials and your course content this process can take from 6 months to 18 months. Your thought and preparation for this venture greatly affect the time it takes to move through the process. Once your contract has been negotiated, your key contact through out the process will be one of the CITT instructional designers.
What is Instructional Design?
Instructional design is the process of taking the content you have brought to us (or helping you identify the kind of content you need to bring to us) and planning how that content will best be delivered effectively through new media.
The design process is a rational, logical, sequential process used to solve a problem. The problem? How to put a course or a module online given all the parameters of the course such as the length of the course or training, the time available for development, the technology and equipment available to be used by the students and instructor, the budget for the project, and the users' technological proficiency. For example, will users have high speed Internet connections or will they be using modems? The answer to this question affects how graphically intensive the Web materials might be. Do students know how to install plugins or will that training need to be integrated into the course? This in turn affects the time students have to devote to the course proper.
Keep in mind that an instructional designer in new media is in some ways different from the traditional instructional designer who prepared courses for face to face delivery. Being a "new media" instructional designer involves learning an array of technical delivery systems from interactive testing to using streaming video and working to stay updated on new software and upgrades.
At the Center for Instructional Technology and Training (CITT) the instructional designers provide clients with guidance based on knowledge of cutting edge technologies, instructional possibilities, and limitations. They will provide advice on the best possible methods for delivery of your course and make suggestions as to how to accomplish the developing of a module or course based on your specific situation.
All of our instructional designers have backgrounds in teaching and training.
What do CITT Instructional Designers provide?
At each step of development the designer will need to know from you (the subject matter expert) information that will assist in the assessment of the parameters of the course/project. For instance, the designer will want to know who, ultimately, will be maintaining the web site or web course. The designer would expect to build the course in a manner that will make it efficient and reasonably easy to maintain for that person.
Being able to work with the designer to provide the needed information is crucial to the progress of the project. You, as the expert on the content of a course, will be asked by the designer to provide content. Note that content may come in different forms: text, photographs, illustrations, clipart, icons, video clips, audio clips or images that have explanations as to how they might become animations. The designer may then work with you to suggest how that content may be packaged to tap into the strengths of the Internet. However, the designer cannot create content for your course and cannot effectively make suggestions for Web use unless you provide the course material.
You and your instructional designers form part of a team. What are the parts of the team and what knowledge do these parts bring to your project?
Subject Matter Experts are crucial to the development of the project -- you are integral. As stated earlier, the instructional designer does not decide the content of the project but will make suggestions as to how the content may best be formatted for the target audience.
Instructional Designer as Project Manager: Your instructional designer is multi-skilled and will also act as project manager coordinating the work flow amongst various members of the team.
Instructional Designer: The instructional designers will review your course content and ask you questions. Some questions, for example, might be: Who is your intended audience(s)? What is their level of technical expertise? At what level of thinking do you want to engage them? How much interactivity and what kinds of interactivity do you want? What is the purpose of this module or course?
Based on your answers and the kind of content you provide, the instructional designer will make suggestions as to how the technologies will best be used to achieve your goals. Instructional designers balance their knowledge and awareness of all the parts needed to make a project successful with the big picture and make the project doable within time and cost constraints. Seeking efficiency, the instructional designer will make suggestions based on familiarity with both teaching techniques and today's technology.
Instructional Designer as Technical Expert: Typically the instructional designer stays current on the latest developments in technology and can make recommendations for your project based on your goals, timeline, budget and scope. The usability and viability of your online module or course will be discussed with you at the planning stage. At this stage the instructional designer outlines the sequence of the course and will create storyboards for the project.
CITT instructional designers have a wide range of knowledge and ability to work in a variety of technologies:
- computer applications: i.e. Sound Forge, Premiere, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, Director, WebCT, Photoshop, Real Presenter, Real Media,
- graphic formats: gif, jpg, swf, png, svg
- audio compression and formats: wav, aiff, swa, mov, mp3
- video compression and formats: mpg4, mov, avi, dcr, dxr
- cross platform compatibility issues (Mac and Win)
- cross browser compatibility issues (AOL, Netscape, IE, Safari)
- language identification and appropriate application in UNIX, html, dhtml, css, javascript, smil, xml, lingo
- networking basics: T1, intranet, LAN, and modem transfer times
Web Implementers: Instructional designers may develop materials for your project themselves or they may supervise student Web implementers in the creation of the materials.
Graphic designers may be part of your team and will work with the instructional designer in the development of interface design. While the functionality of the interface is designed by the instructional designer, the look and feel are often developed by professional graphic designers.