Griffith - Course Creation
Note:
The methods I have listed in the following project I have used on multiple subjects. In this particular case, I am referring to a new course that was started in 2018. In addition to this course, I have used the following methods on Web courses (Introduction to Web, Time based Vector and Advanced Web.), 3D modelling courses (Games Design and Designing Immersive Environments) and research courses (Industry project, Action Research 1 and 2).
I believe that there is no one way to teach students, hence the creation of additional materials to bolster the removal of potential missing information. With a step by step document supplemented by video and open lines of communication, students have a much higher chance of completing courses as they can work at their own pace without being pressured.
Goal
The goal of this project piece is to show time management and workload under short periods. The course content being created was created off multiple videos released the afternoon before the class was to be taught. As such, there was a time frame of approximately five hours (based off the amount of detail required) to review supplied information and then expand the video content to step by step instructions, for students to review and work from.
Planning
This project is based upon the new course Designing Immersive Environments, a course that builds immersive worlds in Maya (a 3D model application) and then placing these models into Unity (a game engine) to allow for interactivity.
To create this content, the initialisation time was based upon the release of course convener material. In general, this content was 3-6 videos of approximately 5-10 minutes. The videos were normally shown with completed models with a theoritical basis shown for what was to occur during the tutorials.
Steps taken were:
- Review Information - This involed watching the video material and making notes on the core teaching concept for the tutorial.
- Additional Research - If the videos showcased pre-assumed knowledge, then I went and located additional materials or made notes on the requirements the students would already be assumed to have.
- Prototype - This was when I would quickly run through the process of generating the models and techniques that were required for the core teaching components, making notes and adding additional information as required. With most pieces of software there are multiple ways to achieve a singular outcome. For example, when doing animation in Maya, there are 3 primary ways of achieving this; key frame, graph mode and physic animation. As such, if the videos covered one method, I would plan out the additional methods and add to the length of the tutorial to ensure that the students had access to as much information as possible.
- Creation - In the creation of the materials, the tutorial was broken down into a step by step, with screen shots of relevant menus and UI interfaces. At the end of the creation process a word document of approximately 30-60 pages existed.
- Review - After the document was created, it was put to the side for a minimum of an hour. After this time frame, the document was then reviewed for spelling and grammar. Once this was completed, then the tutorials were followed to ensure no steps had been missed out. Once completing the review process. The document was considered completed.
- Deployment - The documents were converted to PDFs and then loaded into learning at Griffith.
Visual Design
The layout and design of the documents were very simple in a straight forward step by step approach. Elements were in bullet point format followed by screen shots to indicate what the student should be seeing on the screen. As the student base was domestic and international, the screen shots allowed for international students to keep pace with the interactions of the tutorial.
The document itself was broken into sections, with the navigation aspect of word being used to allow for ease of use to bounce between various points of the document. Layout was, in general:
- Goals of tutorial
- Maya specific - This could be broken down up to 3 different sections based on the tutorials content
- Unity specific- This could be broken down up to 3 different sections based on the tutorials content
- Additional resources - In one case this was how to use software to video record and optimise the video for exam submission
- Backup and recovery of work.
Development & Testing
In this case, I will show case the video and resulting pdf that was created from one tutorial.
Car Extrude Video
Tutorial in pdf format
Tutorial pdfAs can be seen, the video showed was 5 minutes long. With tutorials being 2 hours, once viewed and tested, the extrusion of the car could be completed in under a minute once a student had become comfortable with the process. As such, the tutorial expanded the ability of the class time with content that was based on the same premise.
Testing Local
After the document was created, it was put to the side for a minimum of an hour. After this time frame, the document was then reviewed for spelling and grammar. Once this was completed, then the tutorials were followed to ensure no steps had been missed out.
Testing Live
The students knew that the tutorial pdfs were being created on the same day that the videos came out, as such the first class was used as additional review to ensure that the material was complete in what it contained to ensure that the students would master the concepts being taught.
Examples
Below is a selection of the tutorials created for the class. Each being based off and enhanced from the tutorial video supplied for that time frame.
Based on my review on how the international students went with the course, for 2019 I have included translated tutorials in simplified Chinese. With the goal of ensuring learning is the priority of the course.
Additional Content
In some cases, as students were doing the course as a follow on from other 3D courses, they asked for specific capabilities that were not covered in the tutorial notes or videos. As such, I created additional videos to share with them all. Some examples are below. I have a youtube channel with additional content.
Maya - Textuturing a wall
Maya - Creating pipes
Transferring Maya Models to Unity
Additional Skills
The below tutorial was written to ensure that students knew how to create video and optimise for the exam and assessment submissions.