Skip to main content
Printable page generated Thursday, 28 March 2024, 9:22 PM
Use 'Print preview' to check the number of pages and printer settings.
Print functionality varies between browsers.
Unless otherwise stated, copyright © 2024 The Open University, all rights reserved.
Printable page generated Thursday, 28 March 2024, 9:22 PM

V06s: Working with multimedia

Course information

You will need access to:

  • a computer with a web browser
  • a group of Diploma in IT higher level learners.

Duration of the course: 8 hours over six weeks

  • Online total: 3 hours
  • Offline total: 5 hours
    • face-to-face: 2 hours
    • workplace: 3 hours (working with learners on the client brief for the multimedia unit).

Learning outcomes

Professional and reflective practitioner skills

At the completion of this course, you should be able to:

  • understand how to use the e-skills Staffroom to allocate activities to learners and assess uploaded content from learners
  • understand how testing and change management activities should be incorporated into the project and their contribution to the completed product
  • work with learners to evaluate the finished product and identify action plans for improvement of it
  • identify areas where personal, learning and thinking skills can be developed and assessed within the multimedia unit.

Practical skills

At the completion of this course, you should be able to:

  • work with learners to create a project plan based on a client brief and to undertake audience and competitor research
  • work with learners to build a website with images, text, audio and video
  • apply the assessment criteria for the appropriate awarding body to learners’ outcomes generated by activities in the e-skills UK resources
  • recognise and assess the functional skills demonstrated by learners as they complete tasks and activities in the multimedia unit.

Knowledge and understanding

At the completion of this course, you should be able to demonstrate:

  • an understanding of how to use the e-skills Staffroom teaching and learning resources
  • an understanding of how students can upload outcomes from each activity and task to the Staffroom for assessment purposes
  • an understanding of the mapping of the Diploma in IT specification to the two projects available as learning journeys for the multimedia unit
  • an understanding of how to assess the process of creating a multimedia product through the completion of a learning journey.

Cognitive skills

At the completion of this course, you should be able to:

  • identify the particular challenges of the initiation and closure phases of the multimedia learning journey and reflect upon strategies to support students through the tasks related to these phases
  • identify opportunities to work with local employers to create a suitably explicit and well specified client brief that can be addressed by students and associated with a project plan.

Course schedule

WeekActivities TypeDuration
1Activity 1 Registering for the StaffroomOnline 10 minutes
Activity 2 Exploring the Staffroom Online30 minutes
Activity 3 The specification for the multimedia unitOnline20 minutes
2Face-face-to-face sessionCollaborative2 hours
3Activity 4 Posting in the forumOnline30 minutes
3 - 5Activity 5 Working with learners on the client brief for a multimedia productCollaborative3 hours+
6Activity 6 Reporting back to the forumOnline1 hour
Activity 7 Course evaluationOnline30 minutes
Total 8 hours

Introduction

This course demonstrates how to use the e-skills teaching and learning resources to deliver the Diploma in IT multimedia unit to higher level students in 60 guided learning hours. Examples of how to use this resource with local employer engagement will be suggested.

The course materials are arranged in three sections:

  • preparation for the face-to-face session
  • information about the face-to-face session
  • following the face-to-face session.

The reflective cycle

Vital courses are based on a cycle of professional reflective practice as shown in the diagram below.

This cycle draws on, and develops, personal and professional knowledge bases. The latter may be seen in the literature, resources, policies and other materials that are used to inform practice.

Throughout the course small icons will indicate the stage of the cycle being addressed.

NB Prof/Pers KB = Professional/Personal knowledge base.

Preparation for the face-to-face session

This preparation, comprising activities 1-3 will take around one hour. We expect you to complete these as the course facilitator will be addressing the activities at the beginning of the face-to-face session. It is particularly important that you register for the e-skills Staffroom before the session in order to access the resources.

Activity 1 Registering for the Staffroom

Timing: 10 minutes in the days preceding the face-to-face session

The objective of this course activity is to be able to access areas of the Staffroom that will be used during the face-to-face session.

Before the facilitated session, go to the e-skills Staffroom (http://staffroom.e-skills.com/).

From here you can register by clicking on the grey register button on the right side of the page. You will need to register your school for access to the Staffroom. There is a database of schools already available on the Staffroom. If your school is not listed, contact cc4ghelpdesk@e-skills.com as soon as possible and at least four days before the facilitated session. Insert ‘Vital course registration’ as the subject of your email and your registration will be organised within 24 hours of receipt.

Activity 2 Exploring the Staffroom

Timing: 30 minutes in the days preceding the face-to-face session

The objective of this course activity is to become more familiar with the layout and structure of the Staffroom and the content held within the 14-19 and CC4G sections.

Enter the Staffroom and visit the 14-19 learning content area by using the drop down menu option on the right hand side of the page. Browse the Learning Journeys available and familiarise yourself with the structure of a learning journey and its component nuggets of learning. You may also be interested in the content for younger learners, which can be found by accessing the CC4G area from the drop down menu.

Activity 3 The specification for the multimedia unit

Timing: 20 minutes in the days preceding the face-to-face session

The objective of this course activity is to familiarise yourself with the assessment requirements for the multimedia unit.

The three awarding bodies that accredit the Diploma in IT are AQA/City and Guilds, Edexcel and OCR. You may have already made a decision about which of these boards you are using for the diploma. Go to their website and look at the assessment criteria for the higher level multimedia unit. You may already be familiar with this. If not, look at the four learning objectives that are assessed during this unit (N.B. Edexcel has only three learning objectives). These are summarised in Table 2.

Table 2
Learning objectiveAQA/City and GuildsEdexcelOCR
LO.1Researching multimedia and understanding business audiencesUnderstand how multimedia is used to meet business-relevant objectivesUnderstand which types of digital media can be used to meet different business-related objectives
LO.2Enhancement of web pages through the use of multimedia contentBe able to design, develop and test multimedia products that are fit for audience and purposeKnow how to enhance web pages for a given purpose by adding multimedia components
LO.3Designing, developing and testing a multimedia product for a specific purposeBe able to elicit and use feedback from test users to identify opportunities for improvementDesign, develop and test a multimedia product which meets the needs of a specific audience and purpose
LO.4Evaluation and improvementAssess the effectiveness of the multimedia product

Read through the details of your chosen awarding body specification in preparation for the section in the face-to-face session that reflects on how the multimedia learning journey can be assessed using any of these criteria.

Principal learning objectives for higher level can be found in the following documents:

AQA/City and Guilds (page 71):

IT: Level 2 Principal Learning

Edexcel (page 183):

Edexcel Level 1 and Level 2: Principal Learning in Information Technology

OCR (page 61):

OCR Level 2 Principal Learning in IT H825

Information about the face-to-face session

You will have received information about the venue and time of the face-to-face component of this course. You will have two hours with a facilitator and other delegates during which the structure of the two multimedia learning journeys will be explained with advice for engaging with a local employer. The course will also consider how the learning journeys can be assessed by all three awarding bodies for principal learning and functional skills objectives. Opportunities to assess personal learning and thinking skills (PLTS) will also be covered. The course forum will open when this session is completed. The pre-course preparation is important for this course. Prior to attending the face-to-face session you should have registered in the e-skills Staffroom and familiarised yourself with the multimedia unit assessment criteria for your chosen awarding body.

Following the face-to-face session

Contacting participants

Activity 4 Posting a message in the forum

Timing: 30 minutes in the days following the face-to-face session

The objective of this course activity is to make contact with participants of the face-to-face session and have opportunity to share ideas emerging from the course so far.

The course forum is available to all participants in the course after the end of the two hour facilitated session.

Go to the forum and post a message to the other participants. You may wish to reflect on the course so far, or post some ideas about how you feel the multimedia learning journey can be used in your delivery plans for the Diploma.

Working with learners

Activity 5 Working with learners on the client brief for the multimedia product

Timing: 3 hours minimum

The objective of this course activity is to have the opportunity to work with learners on the interpretation of a client brief and align this with project planning and the website specification.

The first nugget of learning on both multimedia projects looks at the client brief and how a project is initiated. Using either the client brief from this nugget, or with one that has come from a local employer, work with a group of learners to generate a set of requirements that will inform the development of a project plan. Work with the learners to identify missing information from the brief so as to reinforce the message of how important it is to be able to communicate with a client to ensure the product they are intending to create is the same as the one the client wants.

Work through the other activities in the nugget with your group of learners. These will include research activities and making notes.

Shared learning

The reflective practitioner cycle is based on developing the professional knowledge base. We have now come to the end of the personal reflection phase and are to develop a common understanding of what we have learnt. We will share the key learning points as a group so that these may be collated and added to the community knowledge.

Activity 6 Reporting back to the forum

Timing: 1 hour online, during the final week of the course.

The objectives of this course activity are to discuss and agree what we have learnt as a group.

Go to the course forum and, in the Discussion called ‘Shared Learning’, post the key learning points that have emerged for you during the course. With your facilitator, agree on the common shared learning from the group.

Evaluation and certification

This final section allows for evaluation and certification.

Activity 7 Course evaluation

Timing: 30 minutes online during the final week of the course

The objectives of this course activity are to complete an evaluation form and, if you wish, print a course completion certificate and rate and review the course.

Your task is to complete the evaluation questionnaire, which can be found on the course page. There are also links there to print a certificate and rate the course. The certificate will be ‘released’ by your facilitator.

References

Acknowledgements

'Edexcel Level 1 and Level 2 Principal Learning in Information Technology', Courtesy of Edexcel Limited, © Edexcel Limited 2010