Assembling a Multimedia e-Learning Development Team

How is multimedia development is different from other software development projects?

Graphics and other media require special skills Much more emphasis on designing for the user Artistic and software design E-learning also requires instructional design

How is multimedia development similar to other software development projects?

Software life cycle still applies: analysis->design-> ->implementation->testing->delivery->maintenance (&cycle)

Management skills: coordinating people with different talents and agendas

Multimedia development is rarely a one-person show

Real world development requires a team pooling many talents

The whole is greater than sum of its parts

One minute paper

How is interactive multimedia development different from yet similar to other software development?

Project manager or producer

Someone with people & resource management skills Vaughan: “Budgets, schedules, creative sessions, time

sheets, illness, invoices, team dynamics—the project manager is the glue that holds the team together.”

Responsible for overseeing project timeline & priorities

Communication, delegation and documentation Why is important to have a project timeline and set

priorities? Lopuck: “The job can be a three-ring circus because nothing

ever goes as planned.” Why is it important to schedule meetings? Why is it important to keep minutes of meetings? Why is it important to have a project librarian? Where would you keep documents for your project?

Who has this talent or wants to develop it?

Graphic designer, Art director Someone who knows how to organize and

communicate visual information Juxt Interactive: “responsible for creative

design and experience as a whole… impressed on the audience.”

Designs user interface and how material gets presented to audience Connie Coleman, Philadelphia School of Art

Who has this talent or wants to develop it?

Script or content writer

Someone who communicate clearly through written text Vaughan: “content writers...glean

information from context experts, synthesize it, and then communicate it in a clear and concise manner.”

Jennifer Birch Who has talent for writing?

Sound designer

Somene with a good ear for voice-overs and sound effects

Is narration with text a good idea? Library of sound effects as cues Music

Videographer (video producer)

Someone with a good eye for video and making every megabyte count!

Carries over skills from movie or TV production

Video is costly, in terms of production and space/bandwidth requirements

Subject matter expert Someone skilled and knowledgeable in

a given topic area Helps identify background resources for

building the content outline Reviews content design for factual

integrity, completeness and educational effectiveness

Usually not a designer or developer Why is role especially important role for

your projects?

Instructional designer

Someone who can assess educational needs and design and evaluate lessons

Conducts needs assessment Matches design to instructional needs Leads effort to evaluate the program

for educational effectiveness

Multimedia programmers Someone who can implement programs that

integrate media elements Given a clear design and previously created

media elements (graphics, sounds, video, etc.) a programmer creates running software for the title

Vaughan: “A multimedia programmer [is a] software engineer [who] integrates all of the multimedia elements into a seamless whole using an authoring language or programming language.”

How is this different from most programming?

Quality assurance engineer

Tests to make sure a title works according to spec and work for users

In real world, an external, third party

May involve actual user observations and/or focus group sessions

What roles could you play?

Write a one (or two) minute paper justifying the roles you could play or would be motivated to learn how to play on a multimedia e-learning project.