Link: www.quickdrawanimation.ca/learn/portable-animation-workshops/paw-packs I was assigned to lead a Canada Council grant project awarded to Quickdraw Animation Society to create 16 independent learning experiences incorporating the Alberta Curriculum and bringing independent animation into the classroom via online delivery to be used for in-person classes. Topics were LGBTQ2S+, Indigenous, Deaf and Disability, and Environment. I researched the curriculum, hired four topical Subject Matter Experts who assisted with curating animations for the lessons, and scheduled interviews with the SMEs and the animators of the chosen films to include in the learning materials. Then I designed and developed all of the lesson plans and learning materials with heavy emphasis on limited technology use, and implemented the PAW Packs online through the Quickdraw Website and Google Drive. Process: ADDIE Method
analyse
Audience analysis concluded that the Alberta curriculum needed to already be implemented into the lesson plans (instead of suggestions that teachers could use to make their own connections), to lower the price to accommodate teachers’ strict yearly classroom budgets, and to deliver content through Google Drive for the easiest accessibility with a limit on technology use as each school surveyed had drastically different technology resource access.
Consultants/Subject Matter Experts were hired for each topic (topics pre-determined in grant) as well as two curriculum consultants (an elementary/junior high teacher in the Calgary Catholic School board and a junior high/senior high teacher in the Calgary Board of Education). SMEs are from around the country and globe, therefore all content developed for the interviews are videos with subtitles for accessibility. Subtitling services and a video editor were also sourced and budgeted for.
design
SMEs curated four animations per topic to be representative of the theme and showcase independent animation. Animations were found through filmfreeway and through connections with past independent animation festivals through Quickdraw’s Artistic Director. SMEs wrote interview questions with the aid of the ID and performed interviews through Zoom.
Each Pack was designed with a three-four lesson plan model: Lesson one watched the film, Lesson two analyzed the film with comprehension questions, Lesson three connected the comprehension and the film with animation activities and an Alberta curricular outcome (With lesson four being an optional extension depending on student discussion success). The Packs were to be hosted on a Google Drive where permissions would be given to those who purchased the Pack, with transparent discretion that all proceeds go directly to the filmmakers. The filmmakers of agreed-upon films were given a contract and an agreement to pay $25/showing.
Curricular SME were met with to determine that the lessons that connected the film to the theme and Alberta Curriculum were appropriate in scope and in target age. Outcomes were determined and activities were designed with consideration of time and technology access. A visit to a public school was done by the ID to demonstrate to an SME and their principal with positive feedback.
development
Once outcomes were determined and interviews finished, development included creating printable materials for each animation activity, developing guides on how to use the free stop motion animation software on iPads and other tablets, creating the lesson plans and unit outlines, material lists, suggested timelines, editing the interviews, and sending them to a service to close caption each interview. Further development included the administrative side of tracking purchases, who is shared with what, and contracts/webpages to sell the product.
IMPLEMENTATION
after the first Pack was finished and uploaded to the shared Google Drive (with a custom Google account associated with the packs for administrative organization), a trial run of the Indigenous PAW Pack was done at a Catholic School Board school and facilitated by Johnathan Chaulk. Once the trial was done, a second trial was done in the Calgary Board of Education School with the LGBTQ2S+ pack through Trevor Cooper. PAW Packs officially launched a year and a half after grant money was received through the Quickdraw website.
EVALUATION
The grant stipulated the project would have been completed in less than a year, which was highly unrealistic with the time restriction of networking, communicating, and hiring up to 24 people total to finish the job. Notes were re-worked that if more Packs were to be developed, to give ample time before launch and to be clear to the filmmakers of that expectation. Furthermore, films are fixed on a 5-year screening license, so occasional renewals need to be accounted for.
Successes from the trial runs showed that the activities were relevant and desired by teachers (especially Indigenous perspectives since the recent edits to the Alberta curriculum) and edits were done for time restrictions (including variable time lengths for lessons) and more detailed expectations of the creative activities. The Google Drive permissions access was a positive one, however some evaluation is done on the animations that are accessible on the internet without a paywall, therefore marketing can be adjusted to highlighting the lesson plans and exclusive interviews.
Report was completed to Canada Council with success, all money spent with the final amount of the budget going towards captioning all of the animated films where necessary.
Alberta University of the Arts - Continuing Education Animation Micro-credential course
Link: www.auarts.ca/digital-lab-for-animators-microcredential (Paywall) AUArts approached me as an artist to teach the course “Digital Lab for Animators” course online through Microsoft Teams in the middle of the pandemic. After which, they moved to a micro-credential format and requested me to be the SME on their project and write the content for the course based on my experience teaching. Process: Experience-based Design
Working with the Instructional Designer, I learned Mosaic and converted my teaching notes into an asynchronous format, designing the modules based on his recommendations into four units with knowledge checks, projects, and exercises. I developed the entire content including video recordings of my work process, diagrams and screenshots, and writing the knowledge checks and project rubrics. In the end, the Instructional Designer took my content and published it onto Mosaic with little to no editing. I facilitated the course throughout its implementation and made edits as necessary until it was evaluated as finished and I ended my time with the project.
Capstone Project: PAWnline! Intro to Animation Online (Mount Royal University)
Based off my PAW Packs experience, I wanted to develop a course that is based off an in-person stop motion workshop but is online for teachers and parents. This was suggested after a similar workshop was done during the COVID pandemic at the 2022 Calgary Teacher’s Convention in collaboration with the Calgary Animated Objects Society (CAOS). At the end of the workshop where I demonstrated an animation activity with my smartphone on Zoom, I received requests to develop this into a regular online workshop or a package for teachers and school boards to acquire to integrate technology and animation into the classroom on a budget.
Process: ADDIE Method
analyse
Analysis identified the age ranges of my target audience as Gen X and Millennial, with mostly women as current educators in Alberta. Using Adult Learning Principles, it's heavily suggested to use video tutorials with supplemental text transcriptions for the teachers who will need a printed out version of instructions or those who prefer to self-study. The analysis also concluded that asynchronous online course would be the best approach, with a completion time of 3 hours to fit within Production Development hours for Albertan teachers.
design
I designed the course to take place in two weeks online, asynchronously, with two major assignments with an online synchronous meeting half-way through the course to check in and ensure that all students were on track. Other design choices included discussion topics, and determining demonstrations of animations with videos and external animation references.
development
The development was mostly a word document over 53 pages of content including storyboards for the media objects. The Media Objects were then developed using a mixture of screen recording while animating, and Premiere Pro to create the final filmed tutorials, Microsoft Word and Adobe Illustrator for diagrams and graphics, and iSpring Free in conjunction with Microsoft Powerpoint to develop an interactive lesson on Timing and Spacing (downloadable Powerpoint project here) to create a SCORM object to import into d2L Brightspace.
IMPLEMENTATION
The Implementation was completed through a d2L Brightspace Sandbox LMS provided through the university. I purposed the Discussions area for introductions, works-in-progress, troubleshooting questions, and animation discussion prompts. The Content was transcribed from Microsoft Word into the d2L content internally, with one SCORM object with the iSpring integration with Powerpoint. Knowledge Checks and the two graded assignments were handled exclusively through the d2L Brightspace LMS workspace. The course was implemented amongst Mount Royal peers, a total of three students with a pre- and post-course survey.
EVALUATION
Before and after the course was carried out, I conducted a survey for my peers at the Mount Royal University Curriculum Development and Instructional Design Certificate program to evaluate the course's success. Evaluation showed that the course was successful in its learning outcomes, but did extend their Learning Effort Hours. It was designed to be 3 hours, and most students reported back that it took 3 ½ hours. I decided to remove an element of assessment that was deemed unnecessary for the final outcomes and received full marks and my certificate of Instructional Design and Curriculum Development from Mount Royal University.