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THE ART OF MULTIM EDIA IN EDUCATION
Supervisor:
Examining board:
by
Ilia Goldfarb
BCS / BEd Kalinin State University, 1980
A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment o f the Requirements for the Degree o f
M aster of Education
in the Graduate Academic Unit
o f Faculty o f Education
Jennifer Pazienza, BA, MEd, PhD
Gerald Clarke, BA, MAT, DA (Chair) Ellen Rose, BA, BEd, MEd, DPhil Jane Fritz, BSc, MScCS, DPhil
This Thesis is accepted
3pan o f Gradual^ Studies
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK U February 2004
© Ilia Goldfarb, 2004
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Abstract
With the recent widespread acceptance o f computer-based training and
e-leaming, and the development o f broadband network services that allow for
transmission o f multimedia-rich materials over the Internet, it is now the right time to
revisit the importance o f multimedia, particularly visual media, in the overall success
of educational multimedia products.
This research focuses on description and analysis o f different approaches in
development o f multimedia products and their impact on the overall quality o f the
final product. In particular, this research study investigates what could be done to
improve the overall visual quality o f educational multimedia products. The research
program involves inquiry into several multimedia development projects and involves
several e-learning and multimedia development companies. Research shows that
within educational multimedia development only carefiil consideration o f a client’s
needs will achieve long lasting success and client satisfaction with the “look and feel”
o f the final product.
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Acknowledgements
Special thanks go to my supervisor Dr. Jennifer Pazienza who provided
constant assistance and encouragement and offered her help and knowledge during
the course o f this research.
M y appreciation goes to Dr. Ellen Rose, M cCain-Aliant Telecom Professor of
Instructional Design and M ultimedia for her assistance and expertise.
I would also like to thank all the individuals and companies that participated
in interviews and questionnaires, for their valuable time and efforts that helped me to
complete the study.
The ongoing support and encouragement from my family has been greatly
appreciated.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract ii
Acknowledgments iii
Table o f Contents iv
List o f Tables vi
List o f Figures vii
I Introduction 11.1. Background and Problem Definition 11.2. Purpose o f the Study 31.3. Significance 41.4. Limitations o f this Study 41.5. Outline o f Thesis 5
II Multimedia in Education 62.1. Introduction 62.2. Importance o f Visuals in Educational Resources 72.3. “Instructional” vs. “Creative “ Approach to Developing 13
Multimedia Resources2.4. Summary 18
III Research Program Design and Methodology 193.1. Program Design and Methodology 193.2. Participant Selection 223.3. Questionnaire Design 233.4. Data Collection and Analysis 27
IV Production o f Educational Multimedia: Personal Experiences 294.1.CBT Developers Training Course 294.2.Edutainment Product Development - CD-ROM Book Adventure 334.3.Development o f the Web site for the University Led E-Leaming Project 374.4.Summary 43
V Production o f M ultimedia: Surveys o f Multimedia DevelopmentCompanies 445.1 .Description o f D ata Collection 44
5.1.1. Participants in the Study 445.1.2. Questionnaire and Interview Data Collection Process 45
5.2.Data Coding 465.3.Data Description 48
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VI Data Analysis and Discussion 496.1. Research Survey Data Analysis 49
6.1.1. Who makes the final decisions on the “look and feel”? 496.1.2. Team Structure and Workflow 546.1.3. Team environment and communication issues 566.1.4. Who has input on the quality o f the final product 59
6.2. Discussion 62
VII “Look and Feel” Assistant Tool 667.1. Background 667.2. Client-centered interface design approach 687.3. “Look and Feel” advisor tool 70
VIII Conclusions and Recommendations 748.1. Conclusions 748.2. Recommendations 76
8.2.1. Visual Communication in Education: Course Outline 768.2.2. Assistant tools and other recommendations 78
REFERENCES 80
Appendix 1 Application for Review o f Research Involving Humans 86Appendix 2 Data Description 101
1. Data on participants in the study 1012. Data on the development teams and companies 1033. Data on the development team environment 1094. Who is making the final decision on the “ look and feel”
and effectiveness o f the multimedia product? 1205. Suggestions on improvements 126
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List of TablesTable 5.1. Coding system for the entertainment multimedia sector
Table 5.2. Coding system for the educational multimedia sector
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List of Figures
Figure 4.1. Structure for the CBT Development Team 32
Figure 4.2. Structure for the Creative Design Team 32
Figure 4.3. Structure o f the Edutainment Book Adventure Development Team 35
Figure 4.4. Structure o f the E-Learning Project Development team 38
Figure 7.1. “Look and feel” advisor tool architecture 71
Figure A 2.1. W orkflow chart for company Ed-A 107
Figure A2.2. Workflow chart for company Ed-B 107
Figure A2.3. W orkflow chart for company Ed-C 107
Figure A2.4. W orkflow chart for company Ed-D 108
Figure A2.5. W orkflow chart for company Ed-F 108
Figure A2.6. W orkflow chart for company G-FI 108
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Chapter I. Introduction
1.1. Background and Problem Definition
Recently, with the rapid development o f computer technology and the capability
for integration o f different media came an explosion o f computer-based multimedia
applications. M ultimedia can be defined as the interactive use o f text, graphics,
animation, pictures, video and sound to impart information. Multimedia is not a modem
creation; it “was bom as soon as our distant ancestors decided they could liven up their
Friday night storytelling sessions with cave paintings, dance and song” (Welsh, 1998).
Numerous educational multimedia products are used in educational institutions
today. They are normally produced by the multimedia development teams. Most
frequently a multimedia development team for educational materials consists o f a Project
Manager, Subject M atter Expert, Instructional Designer(s), Developer(s) and Graphic
Axtist(s). These days the traditional approach to the development o f a multimedia product
places Instructional Designers as major leads in the overall “ look and feel” of the final
product and gives them the last word on what material goes into the final product (Rose,
2000). In my thesis, I refer to this approach as “Instructional.” Personally, based on my
experience i n m ultimedia d evelopment, I feel t hat t his a pproach i s p roblematic, a 11 he
least. Unfortunately, Instructional Designers are, in general, not well prepared for the
important multimedia design and visual decision-making task because, typically, they are
insufficiently trained in the art o f multimedia and, especially, in the art o f visual
presentation.
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To give some examples: in the program curriculum for Graduate Studies in
Instructional Design, Development & Evaluation at Syracuse University’s School of
Education (2001) there is only one course, out o f 34 available, that teaches students some
basic literacy in visual communications, and this course is not a required course but an
elective. The same applies to the curricula o f the University o f Houston (2001), the
University o f South Alabama College o f Education (2001), the University o f Pittsburgh,
the University o f Kentucky, and the University o f Memphis (2001) Instructional
Technology Programs, where visual and media literacy is at the bottom o f the course list,
or not taught at all.
It is interesting to note that the International Board o f Standards for Training,
Performance and Instruction (IBSTPI), in the Instructional Design Competencies
document (IBSTPI standards, 2000), states that the ability to effectively communicate in
visual form is an essential professional foundation competency for Instructional
Designers. In the course o f this study, I thoroughly reviewed several books considered to
be essential reading for Instructional Designers, such as The Systematic Design o f
Instruction by Dick, Carey and Carey (2001) and Designing Instructional Systems by
Romiszowski (1981). In these books, to my great surprise, I did not find any mention of
the importance o f visual communications skills. In addition to the above books, I also
reviewed several respected educational scholarly journals, such as Educational
Technology Research and Development and Educational Technology for the past three
years, and found only one article remotely related to visual communications in
instructional design (Lohr, 2000). Only recently, while completing my thesis, I
discovered a newly published book, by the same author (Lohr, 2003), that teaches visual
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literacy for educators. Lohr admits that her book is a response to the growing need for
visual literacy for Instructional Designers: “ ...m ost people receive years o f training in
verbal communication but receive almost no assistance in the art and science of
communicating visually” (p.5). This book was recommended for Instructional Designers
during the AECT (Association for Educational Communications and Technology) 2003
Convention in Anaheim, CA, USA, as the only book on the subject o f visual literacy for
educators.
1.2. Purpose of the Study
W ith the recent widespread acceptance o f computer-based training and
e-learning, and the development o f broadband network services that allow for
transmission o f multimedia-rich materials over the Internet, it is now the right time to
revisit the importance o f multimedia and, particularly, visual media in the overall success
of educational multimedia products.
My research study focuses on description and analysis o f different approaches in
development o f multimedia products and their impact on the overall quality o f the final
product. In p articular, I i nvestigate w hat c ould be d one t o i mprove t he o verall v isual
quality and learning impact o f educational multimedia products.
The objectives o f this study are:
• To study, describe and analyze approaches, currently used by the industry, in the
development o f educational multimedia products;
• To study, describe and analyze common approaches used in the development o f
gaming multimedia products;
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• Based on results o f the analyses o f different approaches in development o f
m ultim edia products, to offer recommendations that, i f implemented, will improve
the visual quality o f educational multimedia products and their learning impact.
1.3. Significance
The significance o f the proposed study is that it will describe and evaluate the
current, most widely used, practices in multimedia development, and, after thorough
review and analysis, offer recommendations that will summarize responses from industry
practitioners and create a basis for changes that will lead to better educational multimedia
products. In the future, in order to further advance our knowledge o f the impact of
different approaches in designing multimedia, it would be highly beneficial to conduct a
follow-up study. This further study should utilize two teams o f developers -
“Instructional” and “Creative”- for the same project and analyze the results in terms of
learning and visual impact. This future research project could constitute the first phase,
the diagnostic phase (Baskerville, 1999; Hopkins, 1985), o f the action research program
on the use and effectiveness o f different approaches in development o f educational
multimedia.
1.4. Lim itations of This Study
One o f the limitations o f the scope o f this study is that it does not include
evaluation o f the possible limitations to the “Creative” design approach, such as the lack
of skills, lack o f project financing, etc. Another limitation o f this study is that the scope
of participating companies is limited to one geographic location - the province of New
Brunswick.
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1.5. Outline o f the Thesis
Chapter II presents background material and a literature review o f the current
state o f multimedia usage and development in education. Chapter III discusses the
research program design and methodology, data collection, and analysis. My personal
experiences and observations on production o f educational multimedia are described in
Chapter IV. Surveys o f multimedia production companies are covered in Chapter V.
Chapter VI presents analysis and discussion o f research results. Chapter VII describes the
assistive tool that could be utilized by the industry to solve some o f the “ look and feel”
design problems. A summary o f the main conclusions and recommendations is presented
in Chapter VIII o f this Thesis. The possible solutions for improving the visual quality o f
the educational multimedia products are also presented.
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Chapter II. Multimedia in Education
2.1. Introduction
“The world o f just text is irrevocably dead” (ArtsEdNet, 1997). This statement
belongs to Allen D e Bevoise, one o f North America’s leading innovators in
interactive technology. And he is not the only digital media guru who thinks this way.
The director emeritus o f the National Gallery o f Art, J. Carter Brown, advisor and
consultant to Bill Gates and the founder o f OVATION - The Arts Network, the
premier provider o f arts and cultural programming on US television, also believes in
the central place o f images in education: “We are in a new age where the image can
now be central, thanks to technology in a large part. Images are around us. Today,
they have the potential to be as fundamental to education as words and numbers,
adding significantly to the excitement, depth and relevance o f what and how children
learn” (ArtsEdNet, 1997).
A c omprehensive d efinition o f m ultimedia, a s a seamless i ntegration o f the
different media types, is given by Heller and co-authors:
...m ultim edia is defined as seamless integration o f two or more
media. I f two or more media are attached to each other, but not
in a seamless way, we refer to them as multiple media.
Depending on its roots, multimedia takes on different
characteristics. If the root is education, then the focus o f
multimedia discussion is the delivery o f education, and the
media are analyzed in term o f their effectiveness in delivering
information. (Heller et al., 2001, p .l)
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Numerous educational multimedia products are used in educational
institutions today. They vary from online and offline multimedia tutorials for adults,
e-Leaming and corporate training, to edutainment CD-ROMs (products that combine
entertainment and education) for children. In addition to this, with the recent
explosion o f the Internet, educational resources for teachers on the Internet are even
becoming topics o f popular books (Leshin, 199S). Numerous educators now hope that
“like television before them, the Web and multimedia content have the potential of
changing the face o f education” (Baltes, 2001, p. 16).
2.2. Im portance of Visuals in Educational Resources
Until quite recently, the publishers o f instructional materials rarely used
visuals, due to the high cost o f producing pictures, as compared to textual materials.
However, the cost o f reproducing pictures is not a factor now, when the materials are
distributed electronically, such as in computer-based instruction, Web publishing or
CD-ROM-based materials (Morrison et al., 2001) The recent development o f digital
means for producing and manipulating visual information has allowed for widespread
use o f visuals in instructional materials. However, to fully realize the potential
benefits o f using pictorial information for teaching, it is necessary for pictorial
presentation to be done well. “Unfortunately, much o f this swing toward more
pictorial treatments has not been informed by a principled understanding o f how
people learn (or fail to learn) from pictures. Rather, it seems to be driven largely by a
mixture o f naive intuitions about the instructional efficacy o f pictures and the
technical capacity to include them cheaply and easily” (Lowe, 2001, p. 202).
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It is well known that vision, for humans, represents the richest source of
information. Seeing and hearing, and, particularly, seeing belong to the so-called “far
senses” that are crucially important in the human survival mechanism. It is well
documented that, when compared to other senses, vision dominates them (Seculer and
Blake, 1990).
Let’s apply this fact to learning:
Learning is a lifelong process between humans and their
environment, while instruction (by any mediating person or
agency) is a deliberate intervention between learner and subject
matter. Hence, effective instruction is seen as mediating
optimally between learner and subject matter, taking into
account characteristics o f both. (Fleming, 1987, p.234)
Thus, instruction is based on the learner’s perception. The learner’s
perception, in turn, for computer - based instruction, is partially based on the display
design:
A learner presented with a display may select some part o f it,
compare it with some schema (organized information) in
memory and im mediately recognize the displayed object. O r,
lacking a match between display and schema, the learner may
scan further information in the display or seek another schema
for comparison. This interactive, goal oriented process may
continue until an adequate match is found, an existing schema
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is modified, or a new schema is constructed. (Fleming, 1987, p.
237)
Use o f m ultim edia in the learning environment is a practical realization o f the
“distributed cognition” theory (Salomon, 1996). According to Jacobs and Dempsey
(2002):
In essence, distributed cognition recognizes that a person
solves a problem or performs a task with the aid o f other
resources. The knowledge brought to bear on the task is
distributed among the individual and other resources (e.g.,
computers or other people). ...The theory o f distributed
cognition h ypothesizes t hat i nformation i s p rocessed b etween
individuals and the tools and artifacts provided by the
environment or culture. A primary force causing us to move
toward distributed cognition is the limitation o f the individual,
unaided human mind. Professionals in most fields have jobs
that are increasingly more complex; more specialized, and
require access to exponentially increasing domain knowledge.
In general, researchers believe that multimedia helps people to learn and this
belief is supported by the results o f scientific studies (Najjar, 1996). For example,
Geric and Jausovec (1999) describe experimental studies on differences in students’
cognitive processes related to different types o f learning presentations, including text,
audio, pictures and video. The results o f these experiments clearly show a difference
between the multimedia presentations and text presentations. According to this
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research study, video and picture presentations increase the activity o f the occipal and
temporal lobes, thus triggering visualization strategies, while the text presentation
increases the activity o f the frontal lobes that control working memory. Thus, by
presenting m ultim edia materials to students, the teacher, along with the working
memory, can also trigger students’ mental imagery that is crucial to problem solving,
creativity and discovery in learning (Rieber, 1994).
It is known that computerized instruction saves learning time, as compared to
classroom instruction (Kulik, Kulik, and Schwab, 1986). It was also found that a
multisensory learning environment maximizes the ability to retain information. We
can remember 20 percent o f information by seeing it, 40 percent by seeing and
hearing it, and 70 percent by seeing, hearing and doing it (Syed, 2001). There is also
strong evidence that memory for a picture is better than memory for words. This is
referred to as “the picture superiority effect” (Anglin et al, 2002). This effect is well
known and is described, in the scientific literature, by several models such as “the
dual code model, the single code model and the sensory- semantic model.” However,
“ ...in many cases researchers in educational communications and technology have
neglected the work that has been done concerning memory models” (Anglin et al.,
2002, p.762).
There is also a general understanding that illustrated text is more conducive to
learning. According to Levie & Lentz (1982), pictures help readers to better learn the
illustrated textual information, but do not have any effect on the comprehension o f the
information that is not illustrated. As shown by Peeck (1987), visual images are
particularly useful for illustrating the spatial relationships described in the text:
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For example, in a text describing the relationship between the
position o f the moon relative to the earth and sun during a lunar
eclipse, a picture o f these spatial relations would benefit the
reader. Pictorial representations are also beneficial when used
to illustrate abstract material and the main ideas in the text.
(Morrison et al., 2001, p. 155)
However, as shown by some research studies, the most effective use of
illustrations in learning materials is achieved when the learner interacts with the
illustration, for example, by labeling parts o f the picture, tracing the picture or
answering questions about the picture (Dean and Kulhavy, 1981; Winn and Holliday,
1982).
Fleming and Levie (1978) report that print and pictures are available for
processing longer. The implication o f this fact is that print and pictures are more
suitable for presentation o f complex tasks that require prolonged attention (Fleming,
1987). Pictures are also better remembered than words (Gagne & Rohwer, 1969),
which may cause an undesired effect, when a picture provides too much information
that is difficult to process at once.
Research studies by Fligbee (1979) and Jantz & Klawitter (1985) demonstrate
the effectiveness o f teaching children complex concepts through pictures, and the
usefulness o f generating visual images to support verbal material to be learned. These
results are confirmed by numerous studies done by Appelman (1993), Duchastel
(1978), Braden (1983), Fleming (1987 b) and Dwyer (1988):
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A general conclusion would be that visuals and verbal
materials when used together are in most cases stronger
message carriers than when either is used alone.” (Summarized
by Braden, 2002, p.507)
M any researchers also agree that the multimedia multi-sensory capabilities,
including text, graphics, colors, audio and video, create a stronger, and much longer
lasting impression than mono or dual sensory input, through increased interactivity
(Syed, 2001). Generally, interactivity seems to have a strong positive effect on the
ability o f students to learn (Stafford, 1990). There are some research studies that
show that redundant multimedia seems to improve learning compared to a
“monomedia” (Mayer and Anderson, 1991,1992). However, sometimes interactivity,
when designed poorly, can be an annoying obstacle to accessing the required
information quickly:
Ironically, the more interactive it is, the less I can use it when I
need it because I have to answer all those questions or go
through all those exercises that are great when you are in a
training program - but simply annoying barriers when I am
doing regular work. (Gery, 2002, p. 25)
In addition to the improved redundancy o f information, it is known that
multimedia can add authenticity to the learning environment:
One o f the major criticisms o f education and schooling in the
past is that it has been abstract and removed from reality.
M ultimedia and online learning provide ways to reduce the
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abstractness o f education by providing learners with access to
real-life settings, realistic environments and authentic
information and cases. (Oliver et al., 2001, p. 107)
2.3. “Instructional” vs. “Creative” Approach to Developing M ultimedia Resources
Educational multimedia products are sometimes developed by “Lone
Rangers.” They are the educators who are experts on the subject, with the combined
skills o f computer programming, and graphic and computer interface design (Bates,
2000). However, most frequently, educational multimedia is currently developed by a
development team that consists o f a Project Manager, Subject M atter Expert,
Instructional Designer(s), Developer(s), and Graphic Artist(s) (Welsh, 1998; Lohr,
2000). As mentioned earlier, in Chapter I, most often, Instructional Designers take a
lead in the overall “look and feel” o f the final educational product.
In spite o f the above-mentioned studies, showing the positive effect of
multimedia on learning, the efficiency o f using multimedia in education was debated
for a long time. According to research studies on using pictures in textbooks done
during 1960s and 70s (Willows, 1978; Braun, 1969; Samuels, 1967), as quoted by
Braden (2002, pp. 505-506), the use o f pictures with textual material is “shown to be
distracting...:
1. The bulk o f research findings on the effect o f pictures on
acquisition o f a sight vocabulary were that pictures
interfere with learning to read.
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2. There was almost unanimous agreement that pictures, when
used as adjuncts to the printed text, do not facilitate
com prehension...
In addition to this, early research on use o f computer animation in education
was “heavily prone to confounding” (Reiber, 1994, p. 169). The above mentioned
research studies, over the years, influenced the prevalent attitude o f instructional
design scholars, towards the use o f multimedia in educational purposes. This attitude
is well described by Rosenberg (2001): “ ...by simply adding multimedia elements to
a bad learning program w on’t improve it.” (p.56).
Supporters o f this view stress the paramount importance o f instructional
design in the educational products. They even state that multimedia could, potentially,
make the bad learning design worse. They emphasize that, in developing educational
multimedia materials, the most attention should be paid to the learning design, and
not to how the product looks, whether it is boring, etc. (Rosenberg, 2001). For
example, Merrill (2002) writes: “Existing instructional authoring tools tend to
emphasize delivery, games, flashy graphics, and animation rather than instruction or
learning.” (p. 15).
The foreseen problem with this approach is that, when the multimedia product
is developed using this “Instructional” approach, there is not a single person on the
team who is considering the final result, as a personal multimedia creation, and the
visual quality, the “ look and feel” o f the final multimedia product suffers.
Let’s take a look at another, and quite successful, example within the
multimedia development industry - the gaming industry that drives digital
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entertainment. It was estimated that the PC and console (such as Sony’s PlayStation,
Nintendo, etc.) software sales in the US and Europe amounted to 10.9 billion in 2000.
The projections for future growth are also extremely high: it is projected that the
amount o f players for online PC games will increase to 28 million by 2004 - three
times the 1999 level (Nack, 2001). What are the factors, in the software development
process, that further the success o f the gaming multimedia industry?
One o f these factors is that, contrary to the “Instructional” development
process, used in educational multimedia, the gaming industry is using a “Creative”
approach to develop computer games. Within the game development team, typically,
there is one person - a Creative Director, a Game Designer, an Animator or a Graphic
Artist who has the overall responsibility fo r the “look and feel” o f the multimedia
piece. T o i llustrate th is point, C lifford Lau, animator for Sega, writes: “The better
games will be done by a few creative minds that do things because it engages them. If
they are creative enough, than it will engage everybody else.” (Vivid Studios, 1995,
p.58).
The Creative Director establishes the style guide for the entire project and
supports the creativity o f other members o f the team, including graphic designers,
instructional designers, animators, and programmers (Welsh, 1998). Creative
directors, typically, have a formal education in design or visual art and have a
command o f all media forms and their uses in multimedia applications (Vivid
Studios, 1995).
The “Creative” approach in making multimedia products seems to be
successful in the entertainment and the edutainment industry, but in the development
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of educational m ultim edia i t is o ften rejected and disapproved; “ ...the pedagogical
equivalent o f religions which promote renunciation o f earthly pleasures and strict
obedience to the rules o f pious existence” (Rose, 2000, p .106).
This widespread rejection and disapproval o f creativity impacts the overall
quality o f most educational multimedia products. As written by an Instructional
Designer:
Even m embers o f t he p roduction t earn a re f ar m ore 1 ikely t o
show enthusiasm for an animated train that they have created
than they are for a dry but effective tutorial. (Rose, 2000,
p .106)
Similarly, based on the combined 38 years o f experience in designing learning
materials, Morrison and co-authors write that:
While it may be trite, it is often true that ‘a picture is worth a
thousand words’. Graphic art and interface design is, however,
often an afterthought. Some companies focus solely on hiring
instructional designers and writers, hoping to simply slip some
clip art into their courseware. Yet when asked to recall the
instruction, students nearly always mention a visual, rather than
a passage o f text. (Morrison et al., 2001, p .161)
Even people who prioritize the use o f instructional design skills in multimedia
development agree that:
...w hen used carefully and properly, it is possible to
incorporate the richness o f multimedia in the learning
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experience without degradation in access, quality or speed.
(Rosenberg, 2001, p. 57)
However, it is interesting to note, that evidence o f the positive effect of
multimedia on learning materials is coming from the entertainment industry: for
example, the “Specials” page on CNN’s Web site, where learning and interactivity
are built-in without affecting the quality o f visual presentation (CNN, 2001).
Needless to say, CNN, like other media companies, employs professional graphic
designers, and artists do the overall design of their Web site.
During a speech to the education policy-makers entitled "Images at the Core
of Education" Stanford University Professor o f Education and Art Dr. Elliot Eisner
gave the following context and meaning to the power o f images in education:
Experience itself is rooted initially in a world o f images.
Ordinary experiences are, in a sense, multimedia events that
focus on images, and education shapes the w ay in which those
images are experienced. The world that we occupy is a world
o f sight, sound, taste, smell, and it is an interactive world. It is
an image-filled world, and without access to that world or
without the ability to experience the qualities that constitute the
world in which we live, I think no education could go forward.
Images are at the core o f education because they constitute the
concepts that represent the distilled residue o f experience.
(ArtsEdNet, 1997)
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2.4. Summary
To summarize, literature sources, quoted in this study, support the notion that
visual information improves learning. It is also clear that there is a lack o f visual
communications research in the instructional design community and a lack o f visual
literacy t raining for Instructional D esigners. T he 1 iterature r eview also s hows t hat
there are tw o different approaches in the development o f m ultim edia products: the
“Instructional” approach that puts an Instructional Designer in decision-making
position, and the “Creative” approach that gives decisive power for the overall “look
and feel” o f the product to one person on the team - the Creative Director - who is
trained in the art o f visual presentation. The importance o f well-designed, computer-
based learning materials that are engaging for learners is stressed by Schar & Krueger
(Schar & Krueger, 2000):
Learning should not be dull and serious. On the other hand,
using a CAL [computer assisted learning] system can be
exiting and fun without promoting learning. Hence, a good
book is better than a bad CAL system, but a CAL system that
meets the methodological and technical requirement o f the
instructor and the needs o f the students can bring new
inspiration into teaching and learning as well as a new way o f
knowing, (p .50)
IS
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Chapter III. Research Program Design and Methodology
3.1. Program Design and Methodology
This research study focuses on the description and analysis o f different
approaches in development o f multimedia products and their impact on the overall
quality o f t he final p roduct. In p articular, I investigate t he m ultimedia production
process for two different types of multimedia products: educational multimedia and
games, using a qualitative research methodology.
The qualitative research approach is based on the assumption o f multiple
realities. Qualitative research, usually, has a purpose o f understanding the social
situation from perspectives o f different participants, by means o f flexible research
methods and strategies where “design emerges as data are collected” (McMillan and
Schumacher, 2001, p. 15). In a qualitative research program the researcher, most
often, becomes immersed in a social situation. Thus, it is important for a qualitative
researcher, as a data collector, to be a well-prepared person. For qualitative
researchers it is also vitally important to record the framework o f the context,
because, at the end o f the research study, they have to develop context-bound
generalizations.
This research study is carried out as a qualitative research program. My
literature review indicates that there is very little research done on the phenomenon I
am studying. Therefore, I feel that, in this case, it is appropriate for me to conduct a
qualitative research study that is concerned with an understanding o f the phenomena
from participants’ perspectives. Due to my role as a participant-observer in some
research c ases fo r t his st udy, I a m i mmersed i n t he s ituation a nd t he p henomenon
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being studied (M cM illan and Schumacher 2001, p. 16). This study is context-
dependant and all generalizations made in my research and data analysis are context-
bound.
All known qualitative research methodologies can be divided based on
interactive enquiry methods and non-interactive methods. In interactive enquiry
methods the researcher, in order to collect data, conducts an in-depth study using
face-to-face techniques. Non-interactive enquiry methods, usually, involve
investigation o f historical concepts and events conducted through an analysis of
documents and/or artifacts.
Interactive enquiry methodologies for qualitative research include
ethnography, phenomenology, case study, grounded theory and critical studies
(McMillan and Schumacher 2001, p.35). Ethnography involves research on the
description and interpretation o f a cultural or social group or system, and, quite
frequently, requires prolonged field work employing the researcher’s observations
and interviews with participants o f a shared group activity.
A phenomenological study investigates and describes the meaning o f a lived
experience. A typical technique involved in this type o f study is a lengthy and
detailed interview with the participants that extracts the understanding o f the
participants’ perspective on some phenomenon (Moustakas, 1994; Seidman, 1998).
The grounded theory technique normally goes beyond the description of a
particular phenomenon, and towards the development o f a substantive theory. The
data, collected by the researcher, include interview data. This type o f study, usually,
involves multiple visits to the field that help the researcher to analyze the information
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obtained during the interviews. This process is a form o f a modified analytical
induction, when the initial theory is developed as a working hypothesis, and, in time,
tested on different cases to develop the properties o f conditional propositions
(Bodgan and Biklen, 1998).
Critical studies methodology is based on the view that society is structured by
class and status, and, in turn, divided by race, gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation
(Lather, 1991). Critical studies often have emancipatory goals that are, frequently,
expressed through the critique o f the status quo or a direct action by the researcher or
by the participants (McMillan and Schumacher 2001, p.38).
According to Stake (1995), case study usually deals with the case as an object
of study, and Yin (1994) considers it as a methodology. Case studies can be used to
test hypotheses. Themes and hypothesis may be important, but they remain
subordinate to the understanding o f the case (Stake, 1995). A case study, usually,
examines a “bounded system” (Smith, 1974), and can be an event, a program, an
activity, or a group o f individuals. The researcher always defines the case and its
boundaries. In addition, a case study can involve one entity or multiple entities
(multiple sites).
Based on my careful analysis o f the above interactive qualitative research
methods, I have chosen the case study, as a research method, for conducting this
study. The ethnographic research method was not chosen, because it is normally
applied to a study o f cultural behavior, rituals and beliefs (Creswell, 1998) and this is
not a focus o f my enquiry. Phenomenological research enquiry, involving lived
experiences by members o f the multimedia development teams, was first considered,
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but was later ruled out, because o f the wider scope o f my investigation and data
collected. Grounded theory and critical studies methods were also ruled out, as not
applicable.
The case study methodology chosen for my research study normally requires
multiple site studies that lead to less depth o f analysis for any single site involved in
the study, but gives a broad view o f the topic studied. This is why there are some
limitations on how much data I was able to collect on the studied processes.
My case study uses a multi-modal approach to data collection and employs
several methods o f data collection. M y sources include documentation,
questionnaires, interviews, participants’ observations, and, in addition, my direct
observations. The study investigates the activity o f multimedia product development
by the members o f development teams for e-leaming and gaming companies.
This case study o f the multimedia development process helps to answer the
following question: who, in the multimedia development team, makes the final
decision on the “ look and feel” of the final multimedia product? Answering this
question is crucial for finding the answer to the major question: what could be done to
improve the visual quality o f educational multimedia products?
3.2. Participant Selection
This research program is carried out as case study o f several multimedia
development projects and involves several e-leaming and multimedia development
companies in the province o f New Brunswick and the U niversity’s educational
multimedia development team. Some of these studies are based on my own
experiences, as a member o f several multimedia development teams. I have chosen
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New Brunswick, as a selected site for my study, because the province o f New
Brunswick is well recognized for its leadership in the on-line learning business.
According to the information, recently posted on the Province o f New Brunswick
Web site:
.. .several New Brunswick companies have attracted worldwide
interest in their e-leaming services, including web-based
learning p rograms and sp ecialized c ourseware. An i ncreasing
number o f post-secondary level courses are being offered by
New Brunswick institutions in an online learning environment,
including those dealing with information technology
management, e-commerce and e-business. (eNB, 2003)
For m y case study I am using a group o f fourteen participants. All participants
are members o f the multimedia development teams for several multimedia
development companies. These companies represent a diverse cross section o f the
multimedia development community in New Brunswick and include the University,
e-leaming and gaming industries.
3.3. Questionnaire Design
The research program was designed to be carried out as studies o f several
multimedia development projects and involved several e-leaming and multimedia
development companies and the University. The study investigated who, in the
multimedia development team, has the most impact on the “ look and feel” o f the final
multimedia product. Thus, it was logical to have, as main participants (research
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subjects) in the study, members o f multimedia development teams o f the companies
and organizations involved. Depending on the multimedia products type the
development team could, in general, include a Project Manager, a Creative Director,
an Instructional Designer(s), a Visual Artist(s), a Subject M atter Expert and a
Programmer(s) (Developer). Research subjects participated in interviews, conducted
by the researcher, and answered written questionnaires, distributed by the researcher.
The following questionnaire was designed to prepare the participants of the
study for face-to-face interviews with the researcher.
Multimedia production questionnaire distributed to research study participants:
1. Are you currently working or did you previously work for a company that
produces/d multimedia products?
2. What kind o f multimedia products are/were produced by the company?
(educational, edutainment, games)
3. W hat was the title o f your position?
4. For how long do/did you work for this company?
5. W hat is/was the structure o f the project team? (Project Manager,
Instructional Designer, Graphic Artist, Video Specialist, Audio Specialist,
Subject Matter Specialist, etc.).
6. What is/was your Project M anager’s background (Instructional Design,
Visual Artist, Business Administration, etc.)
7. How many people o f each specialty do/did you have in your team?
8. How many people o f each specialty, as far as you know, are /were
employed by your company?
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9. What is/was the work flow? (Who was giving instructions to whom?)
10. How much input do/did you have on making decisions that affect the
quality o f the final product?
11. What do/did you like about your project team environment?
12. What do/did you dislike about your project team environment?
13. How do you think team environment affects/affected the quality o f the
final product?
14. In your project team, who is/was making final decisions on the "look and
feel" and effectiveness o f the multimedia product?
15. Do you have any suggestions on how to improve team structure or the
production environment that, in turn, will improve the quality o f a
multimedia product?
The first four questions in this questionnaire were designed to gather
information about participants. Questions 5, 6, and 7 helped to collect some specific
details on the project development team, including details on the team structure.
Questions 8 and 9 were designed to provide some information about the multimedia
company, including a breakdown by team members’ specialty and the company’s
workflow. The information about team environment is collected from answers to
questions 10, 11 and 12. Finally, questions 13, 14 and 15 ask for the participants’
input o n how , they think, team structure and e nvironment a ffect the quality o f the
final multimedia product.
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Since this study gathers data from human beings, the research proposal had to
meet ethical considerations with respect to confidentiality, anonymity, freedom to
withdraw, informed consent, and freedom from enquiry. M y research proposal for
this study was submitted to a review by the University o f New Brunswick Research
Ethics Board and received the Board’s approval. The copy o f the submitted
Application for Review o f Research Involving Humans for this study is included in
Appendix 1.
I took all measures to ensure confidentiality and anonymity o f individual
participants and the companies involved in my study. Before conducting interviews, I
obtained consent o f interviewed professionals, established confidentiality rules, and
provided assurance o f anonymity for individual participants in the study, as well as
for the companies, and projects. Consequently, companies and participants in this
study are not being identified in any report or publication o f the results o f the study. If
there is a reference to specific participants’ quotations or ideas, coded names are being
used throughout this thesis. The researcher is the only person having access to the
data. All research data collected are kept in a secure, locked room.
Participants were assured that their participation, in the above described
research project, is entirely voluntary. They were informed that they are free to
withdraw from the research, and to withdraw any data, pertaining to them, at any
time. They could, at any time, refuse to answer any questions, or to discuss any issue.
They also could view the data gathered and/or inquire as to the status o f the research,
throughout the process o f the study, by contacting the researcher. A copy o f the study
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will be available from the researcher on participant’s request, and a summary of the
findings will be sent to the participating companies.
3.4. Data Collection and Analysis
Data collected in this research project includes questionnaires, interview
notes, taken by the researcher, as well as the researcher’s own observations and
documentation. Interviews involve the researcher’s questions and discussions with the
participants. The interviews with the participants lasted about half an hour. To
conclude the interview, I read for the participant a brief summary o f our discussion to
ensure that the participant’s input was accurately noted. Cross-checking data from
multiple sources, such as answers to questionnaires and interview notes for a
particular participant, was done in several cases to provide a multi-dimensional
profile o f the multimedia development process in a particular setting.
The data was collected from projects with various multimedia presentation
formats, thus giving me the opportunity to study the development o f multimedia for
different types o f learning, such as online or offline (CD-ROM), as well as for
edutainment products and games.
Using the data from the interviews, and participant observations, I conducted
inductive data analysis o f multimedia projects that use different approaches to
development team structure and the design process. As a result, after thorough data
analysis, I came up with conclusions and suggestions on what could be done to
improve the overall quality and visual impact o f educational multimedia products.
Qualitative data analysis, according to McMillan and Schumacher (2001), is
an inductive process o f data categorization and pattern identification among some
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categories, where a category is an abstract name that represents the meaning of
similar topics. For my research study, I employed an interpretive style o f data
analysis, rather than a technical style. I conducted inductive analysis o f data collected
in order to identify natural categories and patterns that emerge from the data,
minimizing personal bias, where patterns have plausible explanations that are
supported by data collected.
Usually, case study research contains description, analysis, and naturalistic
generalizations. The analysis is, normally, written in a report format with vignettes to
illustrate the researcher’s accretions to the reader (Stake, 1995). A vignette is a verbal
illustration o f one facet o f an issue. However, quite often, case studies are more
directed towards description versus analysis and interpretation. They often contain an
extensive description o f the case, based o n a variety o f sources and research data.
Normally, key issues are presented to the reader to illustrate the complexity o f the
case (Yin, 1994). Several o f these key issues are normally analyzed further using
supporting and opposing evidence and a naturalistic generalization. By doing this, the
researcher develops patterns. These patterns are, sometimes, called “lessons learned”
(Lincoln & Guba, 1985). Researchers often use tables, diagrams, flowcharts, and
figures, to better present the issues involved.
Data analysis for this research project includes several phases: discovery
analysis in the field, identification o f topics that became categories, and, finally,
synthesis o f patterns among identified categories.
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Chapter IV. Production of Educational Multimedia:
Personal Experiences
In this Chapter, I will describe some o f my personal experiences as a member
of several multimedia development teams. These experiences, along with ten years o f
multimedia teaching, within the University and Community College environment
gave rise to my interest in the role o f the Graphic Artist in educational multimedia
development. How does this role affect the visual quality o f the multimedia product?
The following sections detail my experiences starting with teaching a Computer-
Based Training course for multimedia developers, creating graphics and animations
as a Graphic Artist/Animator for an edutainment project, and being a Creative
Director for an e-learning project. These personal experiences helped me shape this
research study and define the problem and research questions.
4.1. CBT Developers Training Course
In 1995 I was a member o f a team of facilitators that taught an eleven-month
Computer Based Training (CBT) Developers course. Computer Based Training is a
term that describes the wide range o f software and services that offer educational
opportunities and training using the computer. CBT training products could be used
for Internet-based, CD-ROM, or streaming video training on a computer.
The ultimate goal o f our CBT training program was to prepare the students for
future employment as CBT Developers. In addition to gaining generic skills in CBT
development, the participants received specialized training in an area o f
specialization, such as technical writing (instructional design), computer graphics
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design or programming. The students were thoroughly assessed before the start o f the
training program. Based on the results o f this assessment and their preferred choice of
specialization, students were placed into one o f the three streams: instructional
design, graphic design or computer programming.
The course facilitators for all three streams had hands-on knowledge and
experience in instructional design, graphic design and programming, as they apply to
the development o f CBT products. The instructional design component of. the training
course had two clearly defined parts. The first part involved the development of
strong technical writing skills through in-depth mastery and understanding o f the
English language. The second part was concerned with the direct application o f these
skills to instructional design techniques and to the multimedia product delivery.
The graphic design stream was divided into four components, including
principles o f drawing and design, sketching techniques, 2-D and 3-D animation, as
well as mastery o f several computer graphics and digital image manipulation software
packages. The programming stream had two components: understanding o f basic
computer programming techniques and training in specific CBT authoring
applications.
The CBT training course was divided into two distinct phases: the general
training phase and the specialization-training phase. The general phase, common to
all participants, constituted the first five months o f the course, and included an
overview o f software applications, the CBT development process, and
communication technologies. The communication technologies part o f the course, in
turn, included basics o f graphic design, user interface design, learning about the
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various distribution streams o f multimedia technology, and creation and integration of
various multimedia components such as graphics, voice, sound, and video.
The s pecialization c omponent, t hat a Iso t ook five m onths, w as d ivided i nto
three streams. The Instructional Design stream incorporated the attainment o f good
writing techniques and principles, and the applications o f instructional design for
CBT development. The Graphic Artist stream defined the parameters for good
graphic design, and covered computer graphics and animation in both 2-D and 3-D
environments, followed by the creation o f a specialized portfolio, and a final group
CBT project. The Programming stream incorporated the attainment o f basic
programming skills, and included hands-on training in several o f the CBT authoring
software packages.
The specialization phase o f the CBT developers’ course w as followed by a
four-week practicum to help students acquire hands-on experience in the multimedia
development process. The practicum component involved a completion o f a real-life
CBT development team project. The teams consisted o f three people from all three
streams o f the training: an Instructional Designer, a Graphic Artist and a Computer
Programmer.
It is important to note that in the previous year’s CBT development course,
delivered by another training company, the main focus o f the training was on the
instructional design side o f CBT development, following the common structure o f a
CBT development team, as outlined in Figure 4.1:
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CBT Development Team
V ideo S p ec ia lis tP ro g ra m m e r G ra p h ic A rtist
P ro je c t M a n ag e r
In s tru c tio n a l D es ig n e r
Figure 4.1. Structure for the CBT Development Team
Thus, the main thrust of this previous CBT developer’s training program was
on the development o f instructional design skills.
Prior to the start o f the CBT development training course, our team of
facilitators had a discussion on what we felt the main focus o f this course should be.
During th e m eeting, w e spent a s ignificant am ount o f tim e discussing whether the
structure o f a CBT development team should always be the same, as shown in Figure
4.1, or if there should be some variations. Based on my previous experience working
on the edutainment multimedia development project, I argued that our training
approach should be more flexible, to accommodate team structures that are different
than the one described in Figure 4.1. For example, I argued that the team structure of
the edutainment project I participated in was closer to the Creative Design Team
structure, such as the one shown in Figure 4.2:
Edutainment Product Development Team
WriterProgrammer Graphic Artist
Project Manager
Creative Director
Figure 4.2. Structure for the Creative Design Team
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During our lengthy discussions about the course curriculum we decided that,
no matter what the structure o f the team was, all our students, independently o f their
area o f specialization, should be given a basis in CBT programming, instructional
design and graphics design. It is important to underline that, using this approach, even
instructional designers from the Figure 4.1 team structure would have a considerable
understanding o f the issues in graphic design and programming, which would, in turn,
facilitate better understanding and decision making on their part.
4.2. Edutainment Product Development - CD-ROM Book Adventure
Prole3iur Q.C. Widget
) Wingnut
Inspector RD. /jS t t f lV
L o o k in g for fun on a rainy old day???Junior and Sis can show you the way.Come join the journey o f mystery and fun And learn how more heads can be better than one.
Pay close attention while the verses are told, For clues are revealed as the story unfolds. iMeet Klank the robot and Inspector R.D. And Q.C. Widget, Ph.D.
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They're missing their Wingnut and feeling quite bad.They need YOU to find him — And take him to the lab.Share the excitement with all o f the crew.
Fantasy Factory is waiting for YOU
(Fantasy Factory, CD-ROM book adventure, 1995).
This is how the Fantasy Factory, a CD-ROM book adventure for children of
ages three and up, begins. The story for this book adventure is written by Marie
Resmer. The Fantasy Factory is a great way for children to explore the process o f car
manufacturing. Children follow along with the story, phrased in a n interesting and
lyrical verse, as they search for hidden animations, music and sounds. They even help
the cute book characters, Junior and S is, to solve the mysteries i nside the Fantasy
Factory. Children a Iso m eet Wingnut who, when Junior and Sis find the wheel on
which he fits, makes the trusty car XBI alight into flight. Following the book
adventure, children can make and animate over 250 cars in the Fantasy Factory,
where they can choose parts from different part categories to create a fun and funky
car.
The Fantasy Factory CD-Rom is a good example o f an edutainment product.
The word “edutainment” was bom in the early 90s, and was, at that time, defined by
edutainment pioneers as an “entertainment with an educational twist” (McCallum-
Foumier, 1999). The Marion Webster and Garfield Dictionaries define edutainment
as a form o f entertainm ent that is designed to b e educational. T he R andom H ouse
Webster's College Dictionary defines edutainment as: television programs, books, and
software that are both educational and entertaining, especially those intended for
primary school age children. I prefer the M cCallum-Foumier’s definition o f
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edutainment as a perfect fit o f two powerful forces, education and entertainment
(McCallum-Foumier, 1999).
The Fantasy Factory CD-ROM was created fo r children, but the interesting
part is that during the development o f the product, it was also tested and evaluated by
children, and their suggestions were incorporated into the design o f the final version
of our product. This demonstrates the true creative atmosphere that existed within our
Development Team.
The Development Team for the Fantasy Factory consisted o f six people - the
Project Manager, the Storywriter, the Programmer, three Graphic Artists as well as
one external Artist, and several external Voice Actors (see Figure 4.3). There was no
Instructional Designer in the Team. An Artist developed the main characters o f the
story and three Graphic Artists worked on the animation o f the characters.
E d u ta in m en t Book A dventure D evelopm ent Team
P ro d u c ers
W rite r V oice A ctors3 G raphic A rtistsP ro g ra m m e r
Pro ject M anager/C reative Director
Figure 4.3. Structure of the Edutainment Book Adventure Development Team
All decisions on the development project were made during the regular
scheduled team meetings. Each member o f the team had an opportunity to
significantly influence any given aspect o f the final product, including the educational
part, visuals, animations, sounds, and multimedia interactions.
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Producers o f this edutainment development project were located in the United
States. To avoid race issues, they proposed that the main characters o f the story
should have blue skin colour - neither white, nor black. When we developed several
scenes, we noticed that the blue colour of the skin created a strange atmosphere
around the whole story - our characters looked like ghosts. During one o f the team
meetings we expressed our concerns to the Project M anager and he, in tum, discussed
the matter with the Producers in the USA. Eventually, everybody agreed that we
needed to change the skin colour o f at least one o f the main characters, and the
change was implemented. This short anecdote, I believe, illustrates well how, in our
development team, the decisions about the “look and feel” o f the product were made
collegially.
When the CD-ROM development process was finished, the Producers
performed an independent evaluation of the product. As a result o f this evaluation, we
received an evaluation report that indicated that the product was engaging children
into the discovery process, was not boring and was, overall, successful. I completely
agree with this evaluation, and believe that our creation is interesting, and engaging.
However, I have some reservations about the educational value o f this product. The
fact that our team was missing an Instructional Designer, in my opinion, somewhat
weakened the educational value o f our final edutainment product.
4.3. Development of the Web site for the University-Led e-Learning
Project
For the past several years, I was also a participant in a University-led
e-leaming project that dealt with civic education issues. The inspiration for this
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project was bora several years ago when two Canadian researchers heard a
compelling appeal from their South American colleagues at a civic education
conference. The South American educators were working on fostering an emerging
democratic culture in their country and requested: “D on’t teach us about the
structures of democracy - we know all about the structures o f democracy; teach us the
spirit o f democracy.” This appeal captured the essence o f the common concerns that
Canadian educators, later on, explored with their Russian colleagues.
On-going collaboration between Canadian and Russian educators resulted in
an e-leaming project being initiated by a Canadian university in partnership with a
Russian non-profit association. The project was aimed to strengthen commitment to
democratic ideals and institutions in Russia. The objective o f the project was to
enhance the capacity o f civic educators to develop and sustain a dynamic and vibrant
program o f citizenship education. This goal was met through supporting teachers in
Canada and Russia by providing resources and training that assist them in engaging
their students in a thoughtful consideration o f the ideas that shape democratic
societies.
To accomplish these goals, the principal focus o f the project was on the
creation o f on-line citizenship education resources intended for use by teachers in
Russia and Canada. The pedagogical approaches adapted by the project included
blended learning, situated learning, and creative use o f multimedia to effectively
teach democracy on the Web.
Our e-learning project team consisted o f several team members, as shown in
Figure 4.4. The M anagement team consisted o f eight people, including Canadian and
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Russian Project Directors. The Canadian Research and Development team consisted
of a Web Developer, a Project Officer and a team o f researchers. Similarly, the
Russian Research and Development team also consisted o f a Web Developer, a
Project Officer and a team of researchers.
E*Leaming Project Devetopm entTeam
M anagem ent Team Steering Com m ittee
C anadian Project Director • R ussian Project Director
C anad ian Project Team R ussian Project Team
C ontent Developers R esearchers C ontent Developers
R esearchers
W eb Developer/Graphic ArtistProject Officer
Project OfficerW eb Developer
Figure 4.4. Structure o f the E-leaming Project Development team
In this e-leam ing project, the content developm ent fo r th e project W eb site
was done by the individual researchers. All final decisions on the content were made
during the regular project Team meetings and later approved by the project
Management Team. Both Canadian and Russian project Directors played the role of
Instructional Designers for the content placed on the Canadian and Russian project
Web sites.
The project utilized the Internet to deliver online resources: content,
instructions, along with a discussion environment for teachers and students. These
resources could be used as a complete set of materials, or as individual lesson topics,
for different subjects, such as Social Studies, History, Citizenship Education, etc. The
Canadian and Russian project Teams developed project materials for similar topics
based on local context. As a result, the information presented on the Canadian site
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was relevant to the lives o f young Canadians, and the content on the Russian site
could differ and was relevant to the lives o f Russian students.
The project’s learning approach was based on the ideas o f Lev Semenovich
Vygotsky, who is widely know n as “The M ozart o f Psychology.” Vygotsky, along
with Piaget and Bruner, developed the foundation for the concepts o f Situated
Learning and Anchored Instruction. The Situated Learning approach is based on
Situated Cognition Theory that suggests that learning is tied closely to authentic
activity, context and culture (Brown et al. 1989):
An authentic context for citizenship learning must be a
situation in which ‘real’ citizens might be required to think and
to act. It can be current, historical, or both; it can be near or far
in both time and place. (Hughes et al., 2000)
tlung (2001) applies Vygotsky’s theory to design principles o f Web-based
learning. He also establishes connections between the principles, drawn from
Vygotskian thought, and certain design considerations for W eb-based learning. For
example, Hung relates Principle A “Learning is demand driven - dependent on
engagement in practice” to a requirement f o r a W e b learningenvironm ent to have
personalized content for the learner. Principle B “Learning is a social act/construction
mediated between social beings through language, signs, genres, and tools” is related
to such design considerations as social, communicative and collaborative dimensions
of Web-based learning. Principle E states that “Learning is embedded in a rich
cultural and social context - acquiring both implicit and explicit knowledge.” In this
case, Hung suggests that a Web-based learning environment should allow learners to
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access learning materials in their local context. Principle G “Learning is to transfer
knowledge from one situation to another, discovering relational and associated
meanings in concepts” is related by Hung to a Web-based learning environment that
facilitates learning through observation o f visual artefacts.
The above m entioned design considerations fo r W eb-based 1 earning c losely
coincide with the design methodology implemented by the project. The project’s Web
site provided personalized resources for Canadian and Russian teachers and students
(Principle A). Collaborative dimensions were addressed by providing a Discussion
board for students and teachers (Principle B). The project Web site consisted o f two
separate sites (Russian and Canadian) that provided resources based on the local
context (Principle E). In addition to the above, visuals played a prominent role within
the collection o f the project’s online learning resources (Principle G).
The project provided teachers and students with a wide range o f “ real life”
situations. The project’s research teams used a “blended learning” approach in which
teachers used online materials, in combination with conventional classroom training.
W ithin the project, developers on both sides created learning opportunities
using situations and springboards (anchors). The situations presented democratic
issues and concepts, for example, the value o f loyalty, or the meaning o f privacy. The
uniqueness o f the approach taken by the project was that researchers used authentic
materials to involve students in learning and discovery. A very important role in the
project was assigned to visual materials. The learning situation was usually presented
to students by showing a sequence o f 8-10 pictures. The pictures would be descriptive
enough to tell the story and appealing enough to draw the students into a discussion
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about a particular topic. To achieve these results, the project’s Graphic Artist worked
closely with Content Developers/Researchers to portray the situations they wanted to
use.
The topic o f “Privacy” is a good example o f such jo in t work between a
Content Developer and a Graphic Artist. One o f the springboard scenarios, dealing
with the topic o f “Legal Aspects o f Privacy”, involved a discussion on the real-life
case o f unreasonable search and seizure. In the learning activity related to this topic,
students would learn all the details o f the real case and make a legal judgment. The
factual materials o f the case were presented as a series o f illustrations that led
students through the sequence o f events of the actual case. One o f the important
conditions o f this activity was to create an illusion o f the court environment, and help
students experience the process o f rendering a fair judgm ent. The use o f visuals here
was much more appropriate than the use of newspaper or magazine articles. Such
articles usually contain judgmental opinions that may influence students’ decisions,
one way or another. The Content Developer needed to spend a considerable amount
of time working with the Graphic Artist on the details o f each scene, making sure that
it properly presented all the facts of the case, without any additional visual
information that might influence students’ opinions.
Along with the visual story, presented through illustrations, the hypertext links
allowed students to learn the facts o f the case, and get additional supportive
information. Additional information sources included excerpts from the Canadian
Charter o f Rights and Freedoms, the Controlled drugs and Substances Act, excerpts
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from precedents that deal with search and seizure cases and from the Privacy Act o f
New Brunswick, and a discussion o f reasonable grounds.
The above example demonstrates a very successful model o f Team interaction
between a Visual Artist and a Content Expert. Springboards, developed by the
project, have already been successfully tried by Canadian and Russian teachers in a
classroom environment, and received excellent responses from the users. The
project’s e-learning resources were also presented at several e-leaming conferences
and received positive responses. Today, many participating Canadian and Russian
schools are, on a daily basis, using the project’s Web-based resources to conduct
classes and to educate youngsters on democratic values.
However, the overall “look and feel” o f the project’s Web site has some
shortcomings. For example, it was not possible to maintain consistency in the design
of both projects’ Web sites - Canadian and Russian. The problem was that the
Graphic Artist on the Canadian project Team was, in fact, playing a role o f the
Creative Director for the project but in reality had no control over Web design
solutions adapted by the Russian project Team. The Canadian Graphic Artist, in fact,
had only played an advisory role for the Russian Development Team. This
shortcoming in the reporting structure o f the project Team led to inconsistency in
design that was not helpful for the users o f the project’s Web site.
It is recommended by Web usability experts that a Web site should have
consistency, and not only in the layout o f the individual Web pages, but also in how
images are presented, in the style o f the site’s navigation bar, the fonts used, and in
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the overall functionality o f the site. As Nielson (1999) observes, “Consistency is the
key to usable interaction design."
Inconsistency gives the appearance o f non-reliable information. Appearance
is everything when presenting information; whether that information is fun, serious,
or just plain babble. Consistency makes Web site visitors more comfortable. This
especially relates to educational Web sites, where visitors are not only browsing or
buying products, but must learn and achieve certain learning outcomes.
4,4. Summary
The above examples represent my personal observations regarding the roles
multimedia team members play in the decision-making process on the “look and feel”
of the final product. These observations came from different multimedia development
environments including educational and edutainment/gaming.
Figure 4.1 represents the typical structure o f the CBT development team in
1994, where the Instructional Designer makes the final decisions on the “ look and
feel” o f the product. Figures 4.2 and 4.3 show the team structure for the edutainment
and gaming product development, where the Creative Director is the decision-maker.
Figure 4.4 shows an international e-leaming project’s team structure, where final
decisions about the “look and feel” were split between Canadian and Russian
counterparts.
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Chapter V. Production of Multimedia: Surveys of
Multimedia Development Companies
5.1. Description of data collection
5.1.1. Participants in the study
This research study was carried out with the participation o f a number of
private multimedia development companies and the University multimedia
development projects in the province o f New Brunswick. The choice o f investigating
the New Brunswick multimedia industry was made based on New Brunswick’s
leading position in Canada in the area o f e-leaming and multimedia development, as
well as on the prominent role o f this sector in New Brunswick’s economy (Schaefer
et al., 2002). The province o f New Brunswick has a wide variety o f multimedia
development companies and organizations working on the development of
multimedia products for education and entertainment fields. M ultimedia products for
educational purposes can be subdivided into computer-based training (CBT) and e-
leaming products; while entertainment multimedia includes gaming products and
edutainment software. Thus, the participants in the study were chosen to represent the
above mentioned multimedia development sectors.
A total o f six companies and organizations were invited to participate in the
study. Two were private IT companies involved in the development o f CBT products
for Canadian and international markets. Another two private companies specialized in
developing e-leaming products for Canadian and international markets. The fifth
private company participating in the study specialized in game development for
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Canadian and international markets. The last participant was the University-based
team o f developers. This team worked on development o f the educational resources
for the Web. In total, fourteen industry professionals from the participating
companies and organizations completed research questionnaires and thirteen o f them
participated in interviews with the researcher. Due to the limited number o f gaming
companies in New Brunswick, only one gaming company was invited to participate
in the study, but in-depth interviews were conducted with five professionals from this
company.
5.1.2. Questionnaire and interview data collection process
The research questionnaire design process is described in detail in Chapter 3,
part 3. This questionnaire was designed to prepare participants for a face-to-face
interview with the researcher. The main participants in the study were members o f the
multimedia development team including the Senior Manager, Project Manager, Team
Leader, Instructional Designer, Visual Artist, Game Designer, Graphic Artist,
Multimedia Developer, Programmer, etc.
In compliance with the University Policy on Research Involving Humans
(UNB, 2000), the procedure used by the researcher in requesting participation in the
questionnaire surveys and interviews is described in Appendix A. According to this
procedure, the recruitment o f participants was conducted as follows. A letter was sent
to the company/organization’s President or Manager, explaining the purpose and
procedures o f this research study, and requesting their consent to allow the researcher
to contact selected members o f the development team with a request to participate in
the research questionnaires and interviews (Appendix A2). P ersonal meetings with
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the President or M anager o f the company were conducted on several occasions to
further explain the research study, and to communicate the desirable choice of
participants. After obtaining a signed consent form from the company’s President or
Manager, the researcher sent a letter to several development team members
explaining the purpose o f the research study, and asking them for participation in the
questionnaire and in the follow-up interview with the researcher (Appendix A3). The
intent was to provide participants with the main topics o f the interview through the
questionnaire. This gave the participants a clearer understanding o f the interview
content. Only the participants who signed a consent form were contacted with
questionnaires and with follow up interviews. Participants had a choice to fill in the
questionnaire, but refuse to participate in the interview, if they were not comfortable
doing so. Questionnaires and interview questions did not reveal any personal
information about the participants and did not collect any identifiable personal
information.
All questionnaire responses and researcher’s notes, taken during the interviews,
are currently kept in a secure locked office, with only the researcher having access to
these documents.
5.2. Data coding
To assure anonymity o f the companies, organizations and participants, the
following data coding scheme was adapted. All companies and organizations,
participating in the study were divided into two categories: entertainment multimedia
developers (G) and educational multimedia developers (E). Individual participants
from the entertainment sector were coded as G1-G5 with a position descriptor.
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Position descriptors were chosen to code the participants’ position in the development
team, or in the com pany’s structure. Correspondingly, the individual participants
from the educational sector were coded as E1-E9 with a position descriptor. Tables
5.1 and 5.2 show the details o f the adapted coding system for different multimedia
industry sectors and for the individual participants in the study.
Table 5.1. Coding system for the entertainment multimedia sector
Entertainment Multimedia (gaming company)
Position Title Participant coding
Team Leader G1 -Manager
Game designer G2-Designer G3-Designer
Graphic Artist/Animator G4-Artist G5-Artist
Table 5.2. Coding system for the educational multimedia sector
Educational Multimedia (CBT, e-leaming)
Position Title Participant coding
Senior Manager E l - Manager
Project Manager E2- Manager E3- Manager
Instructional Designer E4-Designer E5-Designer
Developer E6-Developer
Media Artist E7-Artist E8-Artist E9-Artist
All questionnaire and interview records were labeled, according to the
participant’s coding, and all personal identifying information was removed from the
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working copies o f the documents. Each answer on the questionnaire is identified in
this thesis by the question number (Q1-Q15) and by the participant’s encoding. For
example, a designation Q1/E2, in the text, means that this was an answer to Question
1 by the participant coded as E2-Manager. Similarly, a designation o f Q3/G5 means
that this was an answer to Question 3 in the questionnaire given by participant G5-
Artist. Correspondingly, all interview quotations are identified by the interview
question number (11-115) and by the individual participant’s encoding, for example
I6/E4 quotation denotes the record o f participant E4-Designer elaborating on
Question 6 during the interview with the researcher.
The educational multimedia development c ompanies that participated in the
study are designated as Ed-A, Ed-B, Ed-C, Ed-D and Ed-F. The gaming company that
participated in the study is designated as G-H.
5.3. Data Description
Data collected in the field are described in Appendix 2. This data includes the
following:
Data on participants in the study
Data on the development teams and companies
Data on the development team environment
Data on the final decision-making on the “ look and feel”
Suggestions on improvements
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Chapter VI. Data Analysis and Discussion
6.1. Research Survey Data Analysis
The field data discovery process that involved questionnaires, interviews and
the data, described in Chapter V, led me to identity the following topics. These topics
later became categories in my research.
6.1.1. W ho makes the final decisions on the “look and feel”?
Based on the reviewed literature discussed in Chapter 11, part 3 and on my
personal experiences in developing educational and entertainment multimedia
products (Chapter 4), this question became one o f the key topics o f the research
study. M y initial assumption was that within the educational multimedia development
process, it is the Instructional Designer or the Project M anager (with an Instructional
Design or Business background) who has the final say on the “ look and feel” o f the
multimedia product. Contrary to this, in the entertainment industry, a different
approach is applied which puts the Creative Director or the Game Designer (people
who often have a formal education in design or visual art) in the decision making
position on the “ look and feel” o f the final product. In Chapter II part 3, these
approaches are discussed correspondingly as the “Instructional” and “Creative”
approaches.
The field data collection process was designed to investigate who, in the
multimedia development company, has the most impact on the “ look and feel” o f the
final multimedia product and thereby test the researcher’s assumptions. During field
data collection and the data description process (Chapter V), the following patterns
emerged.
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Pattern 1 Within the gaming industry, a Game Designer or a Graphic Artist makes
the fina l decisions about the "look and fe e l" o f the multimedia product. This
generalization is supported by the data collected in the questionnaires and interviews,
for example:
“Game Designer, the Visual person, you can say with
confidence, has the final say [on the ‘look and feel’]...O ur
Game Designers usually have graphic experience” (I14/G1).
Similar statements are also expressed in other answers, for example:
“Generally, I, as a Game Designer, make final decision on the
‘look and feel’ o f the multimedia product” ... (Q14/G2),
or
“it mostly comes down to the Game Designers and Artist in
the end. The Game Designers must accurately convey the look
they want to the Artist and they must arrive at the final Took’
together...” (Q14/G3).
Pattern 2 - Within the educational multimedia development companies m ost o f the
time, the client makes the fina l decision on the “look and fe e l" . This pattern strongly
emerged from the responses provided by employees o f educational multimedia
development companies, despite the original researcher’s assumption. All the
participants from the educational multimedia teams, in their statements one way or
another, confirmed this pattern. These are some examples o f the data:
“The final decision on the Took and feel’ o f the multimedia
product lies with the client. The development team usually
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shares their ideas to make for the best ‘look and feel’ possible”
(Q14/E2).
and
“The client makes the ultimate decisions. We have been on this
project for over two years and, as such, have well-developed
standards for scope o f each deliverable. The client, though,
review each deliverable and advise us o f any preferred
changes” (Q14/E3).
or
“Typically, the client [decides] with some input from all other
team members” (Q14/E4).
as well as,
“We had many instances where we produced the graphics...
but they [clients] did not like the graphics, because it was too
mesmerizing for the class... It is always up to the client, they
get the final say on the product, every look, every feel, and
right down to how bright is the background or co lo rs...”
(I14/E8).
Regarding my original assumption, that the Instructional Designers or Project
Managers make decisions on the “look and feel” o f the educational multimedia
products, I confirmed during the interview process that this is indeed the case for the
purpose o f the internal decision-making process in most o f the companies I studied.
Responses from participants o f four out o f five educational companies support this
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statement. At the fifth company, the team structure was recently reorganized, placing
a Lead Graphic Artist (Technical Team Leader) in a consulting position on the final
“look and feel” o f the product. In this particular company, one o f the participants
mentioned that:
“Generally, today, in the company, the Took and feel’ is up to
the Senior Graphic Artist person to take a look at it and sign
off... In the past, it has been anything from Instructional
Designer saying no, we don’t like the interface, change it, or
maybe development saying, no, this functionality is not going
to work, graphically, and programmatically...” (I14/E6).
In other companies participants responded that:
“It will be the Project Manager who will decide in case o f the
disagreement between the Team Leads about some elements o f
the final product” (I10/E5).
or
“The client determined which courses had priority, and then the
project manager assigned them to Instructional Designers. The
Instructional Designers requested graphics o f the M edia Artists
(Graphic Designers). Sometimes the Subject Matter Experts
would request changes to the final product. In these cases, the
Instructional Designers would have to submit new graphic
requests to the Media Artists. Whenever we asked for changes
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or clarifications o f the graphics standards, our questions were
ignored” (Q10/E7).
and
“ ...There has been a switch lately when most o f the power
went to Project Managers, so that they make all decisions about
everything. This, sometimes, could be very good, but it also
can b e frustrating, b ecause you d o n ’t feel you have as m uch
control as you would like over your project.. .’’(I12/E5).
as well as,
“Three individuals [are making decisions on the final look and
feel]: Lead ID [Lead Instructional Designer], client, and Project
Manager” (Q 14/El)
It is important to mention that when the researcher inquired about the
background o f the clients that make final decisions on the “look and feel” o f the
product there was general understanding that they do not necessarily have a design or
visual arts background. For example, one participant responded:
“They are a mix o f Instructional Designers and Research and
Development people...” (I14/E8),
and other participants stated:
“ ...T he ultimate decision is the clients’, even though they
might not be the experts in that field” (I14/E6);
and
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“I would say that our clients have no background in design and
visual art” (I14/E2).
Thus, as follows from this study, within the educational
multimedia development process, the final “ look and feel” o f the product
is decided by clients, that do not necessarily have a design or visual arts
background.
6.1.2. Team Structure and Workflow
In the analysis o f participants’ responses, to the questions related to team
structure and workflow, the following patterns were observed.
Pattern 3 In educational multimedia development workflow, most often, it is the
Instructional D esigners w ho request graphics f rom th e G raphic Designers. This is
evident from the workflow diagrams constructed by the researcher, based on
participants’ responses, for several educational multimedia companies, such as Ed-A,
Ed-C, Ed-D, and Ed-F (As presented in Chapter V, Figures 5.1, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5).
According to one o f the study participants, the workflow was:
“The client determined which courses had priority, and then the
Project M anager assigned them to Instructional Designers. The
Instructional Designers requested graphics o f the M edia Artists
(Graphic D esigners)...” (Q10/E7)
Another participant made an interesting observation, revealing how things
usually work within the development team:
“Within a team, it is nice for Instructional Designers to go to
Developers and to Graphic Artists and say: ‘Here is what I am
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thinking about o f doing. Is this going to work in reality?’
Because, for a long time, a lot of things would just get asked
for, and no one, really, would speak against them .. .you spend a
lot o f time trying to create something that, really, could have
been written differently, before it would be sent to a client, and
signed o ff ...” (II1-12/E6).
Pattern 4 Project Managers in the educational multimedia development companies,
predominantly, have Instructional Design, Business Administration, and
Programming/Coding backgrounds (no visual background).
The following examples present what participants wrote about themselves, or
about their Project M anager’s background:
“Project Manager: certificate in Instructional Design” (Q6/E1).
or
“As a Project Manager, my background is in Teaching and
Instructional Design” (Q6/E2).
and
“The Project Manager has a background in Instructional Design” (Q6/E4).
as well as,
“Business Administration” (Q6/E5).
and
“Coding, Business Admin [Administration]” (Q6/E8).
One study participant, in response to a question in the questionnaire, provided
an interesting suggestion relating to the Project M anager’s background:
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“Give P Ms [ Project M anagers] m ore e xperience f rom t he ED
[Instructional Designj/Graphics/Development worlds”
(Q15/E5).
He/she expended on this idea in the follow up interview:
“Project Management, probably, is where the most conflict
com es... They often can’t relate, or they try to relate, but they
really don’t . . .They don’t want to talk to the client and tell them
that we will be a week la te ... ” (I15/E5).
6.1.3. T eam environm ent and com m unication issues
This topic emerged from several responses to questions in the questionnaire
related to team environment and its impact on the quality o f the final product. In the
data analyses stage, there were two patterns that were identified for this category
based on the research data collected in the field.
Pattern 5 The issue o f communication in the development team environment strongly
emerged from the data. The importance of good communication within the team
environment w as m entioned s everal t imes. T here w ere also s ome p articipants w ho
believed that there is a lack o f communication in the team, and it is having an impact
on the quality o f the product. For example, one participant wrote:
“The one thing, if I can change anything, I would increase the
lines o f communication. I f we can find the way to make
communication flow easier between each level o f development,
back and forth, it can’t be just one-directional. For
communication to work it has to be two way street. And if you
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could affect one tiling on the production line that’s where I
would s ta r t... Often times working w ith th e C o d e ra n d Gam e
Designer and Team Leader during the meeting you spend 10
minutes talking about the same thing and you don’t realize you
are talking about the same thing. It can be frustrating...”
(I12/G5).
Another participant, from a gaming company, mentioned:
“On occasions, there is disorganization, due to the lack o f
communications between the team players” (Q12/G4).
Other participants, from the educational multimedia development
companies, stated:
“Being aware o f other people’s jobs might help. Even if they
are not capable o f doing everybody’s jobs, if they can, at least,
be aware, it might help to improve the quality...A void the
separation between departm ents...If the teams can
communicate between each other, it is a good thing, it affects a
quality ...” (II5/E4).
and
“I think communication could have helped to create better
graphics, I f our concerns had been addressed, or our questions
answered, we could have produced a better product” (Q15/E7).
or
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“Respect and understanding that other people, other-functions,
like Graphics, Development, Instructional Design, QA, those
people, probably, know a lot more than you know about their
field, then everything will run much smoother” (I15/E6).
as well as,
“ ...B etter communication between and across game
development teams to help prevent inconsistencies in the
standards and reinventing the wheel” (Q15/G2).
Pattern 6 Several multimedia development companies participating in the study
utilized the “open space concept” in the workspace arrangement. During interviews
with the study participants from these companies, it became clear that there was
noticeable dissatisfaction with this particular setup.
The following are quotes from the research data:
“Open concept. Noisy. Many interruptions“(Q12/E5).
and
“ I don’t think the team members’ workspaces are adequate...
Some have very poor lighting, limited space, and the Lead
should have an office, but those are impossible to get. There
are no ‘break-away’ rooms in which team members can go to
discuss issues in private, such as performance, personal matters
the Leads should know, and even just to vent!” (Q12/E3).
or
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“As the general work atmosphere, you got to make people want
to come to work, they can’t be dreading it here. Sometimes we
do it right, sometimes we do it wrong... I think our large open
area i s t oo i mpersonal and t here i s v ery I ittle p rivacy.. .Feels
like a big w arehouse...I think things like this definitely impact
on quality o f the fmal product” (I13/G3).
Thus, it is clear that people, in the large multimedia companies, dislike the
“open space" arrangement o f the workspace, and think that it has an impact on the
quality o f what they are doing (Pattern 6).
6.1.4. W ho has input on the quality of the final product
Questionnaire and interview answers from study participants revealed
important information about what team members feel regarding their input in the
decision making process affecting the quality o f the final product.
Pattern 7 In the gaming company Project Managers, Game Designers and Graphic
Artists all fe e l that they have significant input in the decision making process. In the
educational multimedia companies, only Project Managers fe e l that they have a
significant input on the quality o f the fin a l product. The following participants’
responses confirm this pattern.
Team members o f the gaming company:
“Group Leader and Game Designer have significant inpu t...” (Q10/G1).
or
“As a Game Designer, I say, I have 90 percent control o f the
final product” (Q10/G2).
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and
“Currently - a great d eal, i t i s t he G ame D esigner w ho m ust
both, define and drive the vision o f the project...” (Q10/G3).
as well as,
“Every visual queue development, animation, piece o f
information, comes, directly from my hand. The final product,
that is. The inception o f the ideas, on the other hand, may come
from other sources, but the final product that on the screen is
all m e” (I10/G5).
Project M anagers from the educational multimedia development teams responded
with:
“ ...considerable input. Responsible for most o f the overall
design, scope and instructional model” (Q 10/El).
and
“I have final input on quality o f products before they go to the
client” (Q10/E2).
or
“I h ave h igh 1 evel i nput i n r egards t o m atters o f s cope, c ost,
and time” (Q10/E3).
In the educational multimedia development companies, there was a variety of
responses to the question from team members other than Project Managers. These are
their thoughts about input on the quality o f the final product:
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“I have full right to make suggestions - no right to make final
decision” (Q10/E4).
as well as
“Some input - lots o f constrains due to time and money” (Q10/E5).
and, a response from an Axtist
“0 [zero]” (Q10/E8).
One o f the answers also revealed dissatisfaction with the way how things are done:
“ ...There has been a switch, lately, when most o f the power
went to Project Managers, so that they make all decisions about
everything. This, sometimes, could be very good, but it also
can b e frustrating, because you d o n ’t feel you have as m uch
control, as you would like, over your project...” (I12/E5).
Pattern S Issues related to creativity in multimedia production were brought up, in
large part, by participants belonging to the Artist Group. For example:
“If we would be allowed to be creative, we would be able to
cut costs and have a better product than they want; better
working and better looking...But as far as what they are
expecting from us, w e’re delivering...” (I13/E8).
or
“ ...everything is standardized, there is no room for creativity”
(I12/E8).
and
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It was clear that the people, who came up with the
standards, were not taking into account the nature o f the
content for the graphics, we actually had to produce. There was
also very little room for any creativity” (Q11-12/E7).
as well as,
..W ith my art I know what the Game Designer and the team
is looking for. Sometimes, I feel that some o f the creative
freedoms o f that final art that, I feel, projects the feel and the
look o f the game, is, sometimes, taken away by those who are
not in the creative department that I am, so, I feel, sometimes,
that I could have more say ...” (I10/G4).
on the other hand, one Graphic Artist was quite satisfied:
“The team is small, communication is easy, and there is a room
for creativity” (Q11/E9).
From the above examples, it is clear that Artists in the development teams, in
both industries, are troubled with restraints on their creativity (Pattern 8).
6.2. Discussion
As mentioned in Chapter 11 part 3, the gam ing industry is an example o f a
successful multimedia development industry with high future growth projections. One
of the factors that contributes to the success o f the entertainment multimedia products
is that, by their nature, they have to be visually appealing to engage users. The
importance o f visual presentation in multimedia was stressed in Chapter II, part 2. It
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was also stressed in Chapter II part 3, that in the entertainment industry, within the
development team, it is usually a creative person who makes decisions about the final
“look and feel” o f the entertainment multimedia product, creating a feeling of
ownership:
“ ...T he most important factor in assuring a quality o f the end
product is a talented and motivated team. Talent gets hired, but
motivation comes from a sense o f ‘ownership’ in the project”
(Q13/G2).
and
“If you put two identical products side by side, it’s human
nature that we gonna pick the one that looks better and that
appeals more” (I12/G5).
In Chapter 4, I described my personal experiences in the development o f an
edutainment product as a member o f a small multimedia development company. In
this company I was a member of one development team and, in addition, closely
observed the development o f a computer game by another development team in the
same company (we had an open space workplace arrangement). My experience in this
company confirms the validity o f Pattern 1. Additionally, through conversations
with my colleagues and students, during my teaching years at the NB College o f Craft
and Design and the M ultimedia Studies Program at UNB, I discovered that this is a
common trend in the small and medium size entertainment multimedia development
companies. The results o f my field study {Pattern 1) confirm that the same is true for
larger size entertainment multimedia development companies. Pattern 7, in turn,
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shows the sense o f ownership and contribution to the quality o f the final product that
all members o f the gaming development team have.
In the educational multimedia development industry, as Pattern 2 shows, the
final decisions on “ look and feel” o f the educational multimedia product are made by
the clients that do not necessarily are proficient in the art o f visual presentation.
Pattern 3 reveals that in the educational multimedia development teams, it is
the Instructional Designers who request graphics from the Graphic Designers, and
Pattern 4 shows that Project Managers in the educational multimedia companies,
predominantly, have no visual art background. My study shows that Instructional
Designers constitute a significant proportion o f the Project Managers within
educational multimedia development. However, according to my observations from
Chapter I, part 1, Instructional Designers are in general not well prepared for the
important multimedia design and visual decision-making task, because, typically,
they are insufficiently trained in the art o f multimedia, and especially in the art of
visual presentation. Thus, it seems that the decision-making process on the final “look
and feel” in the educational multimedia industry is conducted by people (clients,
Project Managers, Instructional Designers) who, in most cases, have no visual art
background.
The importance o f visuals in educational resources is well supported by the
literature review presented in Chapter II, part 2. If we assume that there is a
correlation between the “ look and feel” and the success o f the final product, it would
be logical to look for ways to empower the people who are making final decisions on
these aspects o f the product.
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One solution involves the establishment o f certain training requirements for
positions that involve final decision-making. For example, visual art training should
be required for people who are involved in the final decision-making on the “look and
feel” . Instructional Designers constitute a large proportion o f decision makers in this
area, thus, supplementing Instructional Design courses with the required visual art
and multimedia content development courses would be beneficial.
Another recommendation is to help people in decision-making positions who
currently lack this type o f training. One way to prepare and empower them would be
to provide them with computer-based tools. These tools would help them to establish
visual communication channels between the client and the development team. This, in
turn, could help resolve the communication issues within the development team
environment that surfaced in Pattern 5. I also believe that the dissatisfaction with the
lack of creativity (Pattern 8) would be eased by providing better communication
within the team.
An example o f the “Assistant” tool that helps to design high quality “look and
feel” interfaces for the educational multimedia products is presented in the following
chapter.
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Chapter VII. “Look and Feel” Assistant Tool
In the previous chapter, I identified some patterns that emerged from the
research data related to the educational and entertainment multimedia development
processes. Several prominent patterns revealed that the decision-making process on
the final “look and feel” in the educational multimedia development industry is
conducted by people (clients, Project Managers, Instructional Designers) that, most of
the time, have no visual art background. One o f the suggested solutions was to
empower decision-makers and the development team members with an assistive tool.
This tool can assist in creating the “look and feel” o f the user interface (UI) for the
educational multimedia products.
7.1. Background
Several design approaches are frequently used by the software development
community to develop user interfaces (UI) for software products. For example,
Palanque and Bastide (2003) describe five of these approaches:
• Abstraction first: architectures at the forefront
• Semantic first: metaphors at the forefront
• Implementation first: toolkits at the forefront
• Process first: user centered design
• Model first: model-based approaches
The “abstraction first” approach is based on the description o f a typical
structure o f an interactive system in terms o f abstract functionalities to be covered.
This approach is based on the Seeheim and Arch design models (Bass et ah, 1991).
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The “semantic first: metaphors at the forefront” approach usually involves the use of
metaphors to provide the unifying view o f software e lements. Toolkits are used to
make the life o f software designers easier. However, most o f UI toolkits are hard to
master and are usually poorly documented. UI design based on the “process first”
approach is an iterative, incremental, user-centered design process. Initially it
involves low fidelity software prototypes, and then moves towards high fidelity
prototypes influenced by user feedback. The last UI design approach is model-based.
It supports many models, such as the domain model; task model and scenarios; the
user model; the platform model that links to the toolkits and to the environment; and
the presentation model that is based on the appearance o f the application, etc.
(Palanque and Bastide, 2003).
In this section, I would like to focus on model-based UI design. It is reviewed
and thoroughly described by Szekely (1996). Pie describes a generic model-based
interface development architecture consisting o f four main components: modeling
tools, a model, automated design and implementation tools. Modeling tools may
include a “design critics and advisors” component. This component provides a set of
tools to evaluate UI design. Design advisors frequently use a knowledge base of
design knowledge, typically represented as rules, where the condition part o f the rule
presents a design element and the action part presents a way o f refining the matched
design element.
There are some well-known difficulties with the automated UI design
approach. The main concern is the quality o f the interface produced using the
automated tools, hi addition, it is frequently not feasible to produce high quality
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interfaces from just data and task models (Haming, 1996; Wilson, 1996).
Consequently, some o f the model-based interface design environments (MB-IDEs)
are moving away from automation and towards the use o f computerized advisors.
In this section, I will focus on the model-based and user-centered design
approaches. User-centered design, or rather the customer-centered design approach,
for Web applications, is described in detail by Van Duyne et al. (2002). In their book
they use the term “customer-centered” design rather than “user-centered” design and
argue that the term customer “evokes the fact that successful Web sites account for
issues that go beyond ease o f use and satisfaction...’’(van Duyne et al., 2002). In
educational multimedia development, I believe, the appropriate term should be
“client-centered” UI design, as the client, normally, has the final say on the UI design
and, especially, on “ look and feel” issues, as shown in Chapter VI. For example, one
o f the participants in my research study expressed a great deal o f frustration with the
amount o f time and money wasted by educational courseware development
companies on preliminary interface design that is often rejected by the client during
the first meeting.
7.2. Client-Centered Interface Design Approach
User-centered design is defined in the ISO 13407 standard. It typically
“entails involving users in the design and evaluation o f the system so that feedback
can be obtained” (Nunes, 2003). However, in educational multimedia development,
as I mentioned previously, the “client-centered” design approach should be
considered instead. This design approach is very close to the “customer-centered”
design approach that is proposed for Web site design (van Duyne et al., 2002). There
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are some obvious differences between Web site design and educational multimedia
design, but considering that many educational products are designed for the Web, and
also accounting for some striking similarities with issues related to “technology-
centered” design and “designer-centered” design approaches for both domains, it
would be useful to discuss the arguments o f the “customer-centered” design
proponents. We need to look at the value of their approach by comparing it to other
design styles.
First o f all, the customer-centered design builds on the user-centered design
by fusing marketing issues with usability issues. Marketing issues, indeed, are quite
important in the e-learning industry, where the client is usually not buying a “shrink-
wrapped” software product, and is from the beginning, actively participating in the
development process.
Utilizing the customer-centered design approach should help the development
team to escape the pitfalls o f the company-centered design process, where the needs
and interests o f the company dominate the structure and the content o f the final
software product. The fatal flaw in this approach is that often what the company
thinks should be in the product is not necessarily what customers, or, in the case of
educational multimedia development, clients, need or want.
Products developed using the technology-centered design approach are often
built with little upfront research about customer needs and business needs, resulting
in products overloaded with animations, audio and graphics and often looking
amateurish. This, unfortunately, is often the case with educational multimedia
products where flashy graphics and animations substitute for educational values.
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The designer-centered design approach is the one that is the most difficult to
escape. Often the thinking is: “What the client sometimes doesn’t understand is the
less they talk to us, the better it is. We know what’s best” (van Duyne et al., 2002,
p. 11). In the designer-centered approach the needs o f clients are placed beneath the
creative and expressive needs o f the designer. This approach normally will not work
well in the courseware development environment, where, as mentioned before,
clients’ preferences have the most impact on the design outcomes.
As follows from the previous chapters, in educational multimedia
development only careful consideration of the client needs will help to achieve long-
lasting success. Considering the nature of educational multimedia development, it is
highly appropriate for Instructional Designers to lead product development teams.
However, knowing the Instructional Designers’ lack o f training in the art o f visual
presentation I propose that the development team leaders be aided by with the stand
alone “look and feel” software advisor tools. These tools will help in creating
presentation models that could be used for initial meetings with clients. During the
meeting the clients would be presented with a range o f professionally designed user
interfaces that they c an g ive feedback on and clearly express their preferences. B y
properly recoding the clients’ preferences and reaction to the proposed interfaces, the
discussions during the meeting could be quickly translated into a successful,
client-centered “ look and feel” design.
7. 3, “Look and Feel” Advisor Tool
The advisor tool leads the developer through a set o f steps in defining the
“look and feel” o f the user interface. The steps in this process are the general design
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steps, starting with choosing the style, then selecting colors, choosing the layout and
graphics, typography, etc. For example, a designer would begin by choosing from a
selection o f styles like Art Deco, Graffiti, Modernism, Neoclassic, Renaissance, Rave
Color, etc. (Figure 7.1).
M eta inform ationC olorcom binations
S ty le
R epository o f UI design presetsG raphicsLayout T ypography
V isual design ob jec ts repository
Layoutobjects TypefacesG raphic
objects
Figure 7.1. “Look and feel” advisor tool architecture
The advisor will then offer a choice o f color combinations compatible with the
style chosen, giving the designer the opportunity to select one color combination. The
choices o f color combinations could be based on the existing color combination
Image Scales similar to the one developed by Kobayashi Ltd. in Japan (Kobayashi,
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1991). In the Image Scale developed by Kobayashi, the color combinations have
some particular key words assigned to them with a defined feeling attached to a key
word: for example a “cheerful” or a “fresh” feeling. K ey words that convey similar
feelings are grouped i nto b roader categories and the nam es o f these categories are
taken from terms used in fashion, such as “elegant” or “romantic” .
As the next step, the designer will choose the layout, graphics and typography.
The advisor tool offers a choice o f layout designs based on the style chosen. Graphics
choices are based on the style and the color combinations selected previously, and the
choice o f typography is based on the style, color and graphics chosen. The
typography choice, in particular, could be based on typestyles classifications similar
to the one developed by Will-Harris (1990). In his classification all typefaces are
divided into two large groups, Formal Typefaces and Casual Typefaces. Each of these
groups is further divided into body and display type groups and these groups, in turn,
are further divided into six subgroups expressing different feelings such as “friendly”,
“serious”, “cool”, “warm”, etc.
The “ look and feel” advisor should be designed to work with the company’s
visual design objects repository that contains graphic objects, layout objects and
typefaces. The purpose o f this repository is to provide extra choices and support for
the design team in refining the UI design after or during the meeting with the client.
Objects in the visual design object repository should contain meta information that
reflects s tyle a nd appropriate c olor combination. T his w ill h elp i n c ustomizing t he
“look and feel” o f the user interface according to client preferences. This approach
also helps in escaping the pitfalls o f the fully automated UI design that is shown to be
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undesirable in the following context: the computer might not be as creative as a good
Graphic Artist, or there may be some problem in the design that is out o f the scope of
the automatic code generator (Belenguer et al, 2003).
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Chapter VIII. Conclusions and Recommendations
8.1. Conclusions
This research study focused on the description and analysis o f different
approaches in development o f educational multimedia courseware, and their impact
on the overall quality o f the final product. In particular, this research study
investigated what could be done to improve the overall visual quality o f educational
multimedia products. The research program was carried out as a case study o f several
multimedia development projects and involved a number o f private multimedia
development companies and the university multimedia development projects in the
Province o f New Brunswick. One part o f this study was based on my own
experiences as a member o f several multimedia development teams and on ten years
of multimedia teaching within the University and Community College systems. The
other part o f the study was carried out as a survey, with a total o f six participating
companies and organizations. The survey included research questionnaires and
follow- up interviews. In total, fourteen industry professionals, from the participating
companies and organizations, completed research questionnaires and thirteen of them
participated in interviews.
This study brought forth the following conclusions:
• W ithin the gaming industry, the Game Designer, the Creative Director, or the
Graphic Artist (usually people with a visual art background) make the final
decisions about the “ look and feel” of the multimedia product. This generates
a feeling o f “ownership” within the development team that impacts on the
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quality o f the final product. In a gaming company Project Managers, Game
Designers and Graphic Artists all feel that they have significant input in the
decision making process.
On the other hand,
• W ithin educational multimedia companies, only Project Managers believe that
they have significant input on the quality o f the final product. Project
Managers in educational multimedia development companies, predominantly,
have Instructional Design, Business Administration, and
Programming/Coding backgrounds (no visual background). The final “ look
and feel” o f the product is decided by clients who do not necessarily have a
design or visual arts background. Thus, within educational multimedia
development companies, the final decision on the “look and feel” of the
product is left to people without required expertise in the field o f visual
design. The problem is aggravated when it is combined with poor
communication within the development team and a feeling o f restrained
creativity.
• Another issue that surfaced as a result o f the study is that people within large
multimedia companies dislike the “open space” arrangement o f the
workspace, and think that it affects the quality o f what they are doing.
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8.2. Recom m endations
Among the possible solutions for improving the visual quality o f the
educational multimedia products, my first recommendation would be to make certain
training requirements for positions that involve final decision-making. For example,
visual art training should become a requirement for people who are involved in the
final decision-making on the “look and feel” o f the product. Instructional Designers
constitute a large proportion o f decision-makers in this area, thus supplementing the
Instructional Design Curriculum with the required visual art and multimedia content
development courses could have a significant positive impact on the industry.
I also believe that increasing the level of visual literacy for high school
students should become a priority for high school curriculum developers.
Unfortunately, within the modern North American educational system “ ...most
people receive years o f training in verbal communication but receive almost no
assistance in the art and science o f communicating visually” (Lohr, 2003, p.5).
8.2.1. Visual Communication in Education: Course Outline
As an example, I propose an outline for a course in visual communications as
a part o f the Instructional Design Curriculum.
COURSE O UTLINE
Visual Com m unication in Education
Course description
This course is designed to introduce Instructional Designers and Educators to
the basics o f visual communication. Participants will leam about the role o f visuals in
education and master basic principles o f visual design. Throughout the course the
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balance between theory and practice will be maintained. This course is also designed
to encourage creative exploration through the synthesis o f technology and design
skills. The participants will be provided with information on typography, color
theory, raster and vector-based graphics, digital video and sound.
Course objectives
Upon successful completion o f this course, the participant will be able to:
M aster visual grammar and basic principles o f visual design
Develop an understanding o f how visual information is organized
Develop the ability to evaluate the quality o f visual information
Develop competency in the presentation of a wide variety o f visual
material with clarity and effectiveness
Obtain the knowledge and skills required to design visuals for
instructional purposes
Overview of topics covered in the course
1. Learning to see (introduction)
2. Visuals and learning
3. Images in visual communication
4. The language o f design
5. Basic principles o f design for instruction
6. From type to typography
7. Communicating with colour
8. Cognitively-based principles o f design (figure/ground, hierarchy, and gestalt)
9. Screen layout design for instruction
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10. Putting it all together
Course resources:
Linda L Lohr, Creating graphics for learning and performance: Lessons in visual
literacy. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Merill Prentice Hall, 2003, ISBN: 0-13-
090712-X.
Russel N. Baird, Duncan McDonald, Ronald H. Pittman, Arthur T. Turnbull, The
graphics o f communication: Methods, media and technology. 6th edition, Fort Worth,
TX: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1993, ISBN: 0-03-074977-8.
8.2.2. A ssistant tools and o ther recom m endations
This research shows that within educational multimedia development only
careful consideration o f client’s needs will achieve long lasting success and client
satisfaction with the “ look and feel” o f the final product. In view o f this, I believe that
the client-centered approach would be the most suitable for designing user interfaces
for educational multimedia products.
I propose to use this approach and utilize the “ look and feel” advisor tool
described in the previous chapter that can help development teams to quickly produce
the first draft o f the “ look and feel” design. During the meeting with a client, this tool
could be used to effectively identify the client’s preferences for the product’s “look
and feel” design. T his could lead to savings in tim e and money. T im e and money
currently spent by educational multimedia development companies on preliminary
interface design that is often rejected by the client during the first meeting. The “look
and feel” advisor tool could also help to improve communication not only with the
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client, but between the team members, leading to improved satisfaction with the team
environment.
Another important step towards improving satisfaction with the team
environment, as revealed by this research study, is to change the “open space”
arrangement within the large multimedia development companies. Introducing the
workspace arrangements that allow more privacy and comfort for the team members
could positively impact the quality o f the final product.
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This research will focus on description and analysis of d ifferen t approaches in development of m ultim edia p roducts and th e ir im pact on the overall quality of the final product. In particu lar, this research study will investigate w hat could be done to im prove the overall visual quality and learn ing im pact of educational m ultim edia products.
The research p ro g ram will be carried out as case studies of several m ultim edia development projects and will involve several e-learning and m ultim edia developm ent companies, and organizations. T he main participants (research subjects) in the study will be members of m ultim edia developm ent teams of these com panies and organizations. The role of the research subjects is to participate in the interview s conducted by the researcher and answer w ritten questionnaires d istributed by the researcher.
D ata collected in this research pro ject will include questionnaires and interview notes taken by the researcher. In terview s will involve researcher’s questions and discussions with the participants. In terview s will last no longer than half an hour. To conclude the interview, the investigator will read a b rie f sum m ary of the discussion to ensure th a t the p a rtic ip an t’s input was accurately noted. T he data will be collected for projects w ith various m ultim edia presentation form ats, thus giving the researcher the opportun ity to study the development of multimedia for d ifferen t types of learning, such as online o r offline (CD-ROM ), as well as edutainm ent p roducts and games.
Participation is entirely voluntarily and all partic ipan ts can w ithdraw at any time w ithout repercussion. P artic ipan ts are free to decline to answ er any question o r discuss any topic.
Using the data from interview s, and partic ipan t observations, the investigator will conduct inductive data analysis of m ultim edia projects that use d ifferen t approaches to team design and will come up w ith conclusions and suggestions on w hat could be done to im prove the overall quality and visual im pact of educational m ultim edia products.
2. Risk: In your opinion, does this research pose more than minimal risk (Tri-Council Policy, Section 1 .C l) to participating subjects? Yes No .. .X .. .
If yes, provide here a statement which describes in detail the aspects o f the research procedure which pose a risk to subjects, and provide your assessment o f the risk o f harm (probability and severity). Note that not only physical injury but also anxiety or embarrassment are included in the concept o f harm. Describe means adopted to minimize risk, and means (such as provision o f counseling) to deal with harms which subjects may experience. Describe as well the potential benefit which will result from this research, which justifies the above risk o f harm.
3. Deception: Does this research involve deception or partial disclosure? Yes.... N o ...X ....
If yes, refer to the Tri-Council Policy, Section 2, specifically Article 2.1(c) and subsequent commentary, and provide here an explanation of how you plan to comply with the requirements of that Section for debriefing. Describe as well the potential benefit which will result from this research, which justifies waiving the nomial requirements for full disclosure.
4. Funding: Has funding been received for this research? Yes ......... No ...X ...
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If yes, fro m what agency and for what period?
If no, has funding been requested for this research? Yes ......... N o ...X...
If yes, fro m what agency and for what period?
5. Research Subjects:
5.1 N um ber of Subjects: How many subjects will participate in this research? . A pproxim ately ...1 5 ... T he main participants will include approxim ately 6 -1 0 people, however, the researche r may also speak to other professionals th a t are involved in this industry.
5.2 R ecru itm ent: How will they be recruited, and from what population?
The attached inform ation letters describing the pro ject as well as consent forms will be sent or presented to the following:
President of each selected com pany M embers of the developm ent teams O ther professionals involved in the m ultim edia industry
6. Inform ed C onsent:
6.1 Inform ing Subjects: How will the nature o f the research be explained to potential subjects, i n c ompliance w ith S ection 2 D o f t he Tri-Council P olicy? A ttach a copy of any document(s), such as an explanatory letter, to be used for this purpose.
The researcher will explain the purpose and procedures of the research pro ject verbally to all partic ipan ts in addition to providing each partic ipan t with a w ritten “ Research Project D escription” statem ent.Please see attached docum ents.
6.2 Consent: If written evidence of informed consent will be obtained, attach a copy of the consent form. (See Requirements for Informed Consent Forms.) I f w ritten evidence of inform ed consent will not be used, explain here, in detail, how you in tend to comply with the requ irem ents of Section 2A of the T ri-C ouncil Policy: see particularly Article 2.1(b) and subsequent commentary.
Please see attached docum ents.
6.3 C hildren as Research Subjects: If the proposed research involves children as subjects, provide here a statement indicating how compliance with Section 2E, and specifically with Articles 2.5, 2.6 and 2.7 o f the Tri-Council Policy, will be achieved.
This research does not include children as research subjects.88
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6.4 Incompetent Adults as Research Subjects: If the research involves adults of diminished competence as subjects, provide a statement indicating how compliance with Section 2E, and specifically with Articles 2.5, 2.6 and 2.7 o f the Tri-Council Policy, will be achieved.
This research does not include incompetent adults as research subjects.
7. I nducements: Will any inducements ( money, grade p oints, e tc.) b e o ffered to encourage participation? Yes ... N o . . .X .. .
If yes, indicate here how compliance with Section 2B o f the Tri-Council Policy (concerning voluntariness) will be achieved. If academic rewards are to be used, give details o f alternative means of achieving equivalent rewards.
8. Private Information: Does the proposed research involve accessing identifiable personal information about subjects by means o f surveys, questionnaires, etc.? Yes No ...X...
If yes, indicate here, in detail, how you propose to meet the requirements o f the Tri-Council Policy, Section 3, specifically Article 3.2. A copy o f any questionnaire, survey document or interview schedule to be used should be attached as well.
9. Feedback: Describe the measures which you propose for providing feedback to research subjects concerning the outcome o f the research.
A summary of the report will be sent to participating companies. A copy of the report will be available by contacting the researcher in approximately four months after completion of the research.
10. Data Security: Describe the measures which you propose for ensuring the security o f any identifiable personal data which will be retained after completion o f the research.
All data will be kept in a secure locked office in Marchall D ”Avry Hall. Only Mr. Goldfarb and his supervisor, Dr. Jennifer Pazienza, will have access to the data. All data will be coded in such aw ay as to prevent identification o f the research participants. Participants that work for a particular company will be coded as 1.1, 1.2, etc., and for another company as 2.1, 2.2, etc. The researcher will create pseudonyms for all participants, for use o f the data, in his thesis.
11. Continuing Review: All research requires brief annual reports and a brief report upon completion o f the research. Suitable report forms are included at the end o f this file. Research involving more than minimal risk may require additional measures for continuing review. If your research involves more than minimal risk, describe here the measures you propose for facilitating continuing review o f this research, in compliance with Article 1.13 o f the Tri-Council Policy.
12. Additional Information: Please feel free to append any additional information which you feel may be help fill to the REB in evaluating this application.
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Checklist for A ttachments to Application for Review of Research Involving Humans
For items th a t are attached , indicate X; for items th a t are not applicable, indicate N/A.
P rovide the following attachm ents w here applicable:
X or N/A
X W here the academ ic un it responsible for the research has a process of formal ethics review, a copy o f the approval notice from that process, together with any substantive comments provided by the reviewers.
NA If ex ternal fund ing has been sought or obtained for this research, one copy only o f thecomplete application form as well as two copies o f any reviewers’ comments which have been received.
X For s tuden t research , one copy o f the full research proposal if one has been submitted to the relevant academic unit.
X A copy of any proposed inform ation le tter and /o r inform ed consent form. (Do notduplicate if already included in above material.)
X A copy of any questionnaire(s), survey docum ents or interview schedules to be used in the research. (Do not duplicate if already included in above material.)
NA A copy o f any debriefing m aterial to be provided to subjects.
NA F or research u n d er the jurisdiction of m ore than one institution, an indication o f which other REBs will review the research, and the results o f such review if available (see Tri- Council Policy Section 1G).
NA For all research (including studen t research) th a t exceeds minimal risk, which has not been approved by a sanctioned peer review process, the applicant must recommend two reviewers competent to undertake a “scholarly review” o f the proposed research. “Scholarly review” in this context refers to the process o f determining whether the design of the research project is capable o f addressing the questions being asked in the research.
X In all cases, a full description o f the proposed research, if this is not already contained in the material listed above.
X In all cases, an electronic text version of the Summary (Item 1 on the application form), via e-mail to sdew@ unb.ca on the UNBF campus or to [email protected] on the UNBSJ campus.
Please append this checklist to the application form.
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Appendix 1 -A: Letters and Consent Forms
1-A1 Research Project Description1-A2 Letter and Consent Form: President or Vice-president of the company1-A3 Letter and Consent Form: Participants1-A4 Individual Interview Consent Form: Participants1-B Sample Questions for Participants’ Questionnaire and Interviews
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Appendix 1-A1
Research Project Description
The art of Multimedia in Education
By Ilia Goldfarb, M aster’s of Education Student, Faculty of Education, UNB
This research will focus on description and analysis of different approaches in development o f multimedia products and their impact on the overall quality o f the final product. In particular, this research study will investigate what could be done to improve the overall visual quality and learning impact of educational multimedia products.
The research program will be carried out as case studies of several multimedia development projects and will involve several e-learning and multimedia development companies, and organizations. The main participants (research subjects) in the study will be members of multimedia development teams of these companies and organizations. The role o f the research subjects is to participate in the interviews conducted by the researcher and answer written questionnaires distributed by the researcher.
Data collected in this research project will include questionnaires and interview notes taken by the researcher. Interviews will involve researcher's questions and discussions with the participants. Interviews will last no longer than half an hour. To conclude the interview, the investigator will read a brief summary of the discussion to ensure that the participant's input was accurately noted. The data will be collected for projects with various multimedia presentation formats, thus giving the researcher the opportunity to study the development o f multimedia for different types of learning, such as online or offline (CD-ROM), as well as edutainment products and games.
Using the data from interviews, and participant observations, the investigator will conduct inductive data analysis of multimedia projects that use different approaches to team design and will come up with conclusions and suggestions on what could be done to improve the overall quality and visual impact of educational multimedia products.
IMPORTANT: I w ill undertake to ensure confidentiality and anonym ity.Companies and partic ipants will not be identified in any report or publication of the results of this study. If there is a reference to specific participants' quotes or ideas, coded nam es w ill be used. I will be the only person having access to the data. All data will be kept in a secure, locked room.
Your participation in the above described research project is entirely voluntary. You are free to w ithdraw from the research, and to w ithdraw any data pertaining to yourself at any tim e. You may refuse to answer any questions or discuss any issue at any tim e. You may view the data gathered and/or inquire as to the status
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Consent Form: Please forward to Mr. Goldfarb using the envelope provided.
I,____________________________________________ President/ Vice-President of(Please Print)
Company/Organization __________________________________________
having read and fully understood the Project Description of "The Art of Multimedia in
Education ", hereby grant permission to Ilia Goldfarb (the Researcher)
to conduct research at______________________________________________(Please Print)
Company/Organization. I do so with the understanding that said research will be
conducted as outlined in the Project Description (attached).
(Signature) (Date)
If you would like a summarized copy of the research results, please provide your address below:
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Consent Form (Questionnaire): Mr. Goldfarb will return to collect this form no later than [xx/xx/2002]. Please use the envelope provided.
I ,____________________________________________ , ____________________________at(Please Print) (Position)
Company/Organization __________________________________________
having read and fully understood the Project Description of "The Art of Multimedia in
Education ", hereby agree to complete (fill out) a questionnaire distributed by Ilia Goldfarb (the Researcher).
I do so with the understanding that the said research will be conducted as outlined in the Project
Description (attached).
(Signature) (Date) (Telephone)
If you would like a summarized copy of the research results, please provide your address below:
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Appendix 1-A4
Individual Interview Consent Form: Mr. Goldfarb will return to collect this form no later than [xx/xx/2002]. Please use the envelope provided.
I ,____________________________________________ , ____________________________ at(Please Print) (Position)
Company/Organization ___________________________________________
having read and fully understood the Project Description of "The Art of Multimedia in
Education ", hereby agree to participate in an interview with Ilia Goldfarb (the Researcher).
I do so with the understanding that the said research will be conducted as outlined in the Project
Description (attached).
(Signature) (Date) (Telephone)
If you would like a summarized copy of the research results, please provide your address below:
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Sample Questions for Participants’ Questionnaire and Interviews
Appendix 1-B
Multimedia production questionnaire
1. Are you currently working or did you previously work for a company that produces/d multimedia products?
2. What kind of multimedia products are/were produced by the company? (educational, edutainment, games,...)
3. What was the title of your position?
4. For how long do/did you work for this company?
5. What is/was the structure of the project team? (Project manager, instructional designer, graphic artist, video specialist, audio specialist, subject matter specialist, etc.).
6. What is/was your Project Manager’s background (Instructional Design, Visual Artist, Business Administration, etc.)
7. How many people of each specialty do/did you have in your team?.
8. How many people of each specialty, as far as you know, are /were employed by your company?
9. What is/was the work flow? (Who was giving instructions to whom?)
10. How much input do/did you have on making decisions that affect the quality of the final product?
11. What do/did you like about your project team environment?
12. What do/did you dislike about your project team environment?
13. How do you think team environment affects/affected the quality of the final product?
14. In your project team, who is/was making final decisions on the "look and feel" and effectiveness of the multimedia product?
15. Do you have any suggestions on how to improve team structure or the production environment that, in turn, will improve the quality of a multimedia product?
Examples of questions asked to participants during the individual interview
1. What is the title of your position?
2. What kinds of multimedia products does your project team produce? (educational, edutainment, games,...)
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3. For how long have you worked for this company?
4. What is the structure of the project team? (Project manager, instructional designer, graphic artist, video specialist, audio specialist, subject matter specialist, etc.).
5. How many people of each specialty do you have in your team?
6. How many people of each specialty, as far as you know, are employed by your company?
7. What is the workflow? (Who is giving instructions to whom?)
8. How much input do you have on making decisions that affect the quality of the final product?
9. What do you like about your project team environment?
10. What do you dislike about your project team environment?
11. How do you think team environment affects the quality of the final product?
12. In your project team, who is making final decisions on the "look and feel" and effectiveness of the multimedia product?
13. Do you have any suggestions on how to improve team structure or the production environmentthat, in turn, will improve the quality of a multimedia product?
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Appendix 2
Data description
1. Data on participants in the study
All participants answered “Yes” to Question 1 in the questionnaire (Are you
currently working or did you previously work fo r a company that produces/d
multimedia products?). This means that all participants in the study are currently
working for multimedia development companies or organizations.
The answers to O uestion 2 in t he questionnaire (What kind o f multimedia
products are/were produced by the company?) helped to identify if the
company/organization belongs to the category “E” - educational multimedia, or “G” -
entertainment multimedia production. Five participants identified their company as
gaming (entertainment), and nine participants answered that their
companies/organizations develop educational multimedia products. Among these nine
participants, four o f them, in their answers Q2/E9, Q2/E7, Q2/E5 and Q2/E4,
identified their company as producing educational products. Another participant, in
Q2/ES, identified the company as developing simulation and educational products,
while the Q2/E6 response was that the company was producing e-learning multimedia
products. The Q2/E3 response identified the company as producing educational and
employee training programs. The Q2/E2 answer was that the company’s products
include self-paced Web-based tutorials, computer-based training and CD-ROM
products, and the Q2/E1 response was that the company’s product was Web-based,
CD-ROM based, or blended product that includes components o f both.
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Answers to Question 3 (What was the title o f your position?) helped to
identify the title o f the participant’s position in the company or in the development
teams’ organizational structure. As mentioned previously, fourteen industry
professionals participated in the questionnaire. There was one instance when a
participant, due to the prior work experience, identified with two different position
categories.
Five o f the study participants fit into the category o f the Visual Artist or
“Artist” . A range o f position titles was mentioned in the questionnaire’s answers for
this category, such as Flash Developer, Graphic Artist, M edia Artist, and an
Animator.
Three o f the participants stated that their position title was Instaictional Designer
(Designer designation). Two o f the Instructional Designers were Senior Instructional
Designers. The Game Designer category is a subcategory o f the Designer designation.
Two o f the participants stated that the title of their position was Game Designer.
Four o f the participants were designated as Managers, including a Team
Leader, two Project Managers, and a Senior Manager (VP o f the company).
There was one Computer Programmer among the participants. This participant
was assigned a Developer designation. His/her answer on this question was the
position title o f Senior Developer (Q3/E6).
Question 4 (For how long clo/did you work fo r this company?) was introduced
in order to evaluate the length o f professional experience o f the study participants.
Based on responses to the questionnaire, the calculated average length o f professional
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experience for the study participants was 4.8 years o f professional practice, ranging
from 21 years experience in the field to 6 month on the job.
2. Data on the developm ent teams and companies
Questions # 5, 6 and 7 in the questionnaire were designed to collect details
about the project development teams, including the structure o f the teams. Questions
8 and 9, in turn, collected information about the companies, including the number of
different specialists in the company and the reporting structure within the
development team environment.
The educational multimedia development companies participating in the
study, as mentioned previously, were designated as Ed-A, Ed-B, Ed-C, Ed-D and Ed-
F. The gaming company that participated in the study was designated as G-H.
From participants’ answers to the Question 5 (What is/was the structure o f the
project team?), it is clear that project teams for the educational multimedia
development companies have the following structure.
In company Ed-A each project development team has a Project Manager
(PM), a Lead Instructional Designer (LID), one or more Instructional Designers (ID),
a Graphic Artist (GA), a Web programmer (Developer - D), a Subject Matter Expert
(SME), a Research and Development Consultant (RD), Video and Audio Specialists
(VAS), and Quality Assurance Specialists (QA).
In company Ed-B the project team consists o f the Project Manager,
Instructional Design Lead (LID), Technical Team Leads (LTT), Instructional
Designers, Graphic Artists, Developers, Technical Analysts (TA) and Quality
Assurance professionals.
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Company Ed-C has the following team structure: Senior Project Manager
(SPM), Project Manager, Instructional Designer, Graphic Artist, Developer (D),
Subject M atter Expert, and Quality Assurance Specialists.
For company Ed-D the project development team consists o f Project
Managers, Instructional Designers, Graphic Artists, and Subject Matter Experts.
Company Ed-F has a Project Manager, Instructional Designers, and Graphic
Designers (GA), as members o f the project team.
Finally, gaming company G-FI’s development team structure is as follows:
Team Leader (TL), Game Designer (GD), Mathematician (M), Graphic Artist,
Programmer (D), Sound Designer (VAS), and Quality Assurance Tester (QAS). Non
development staff includes Sales Executives, Client Service Team Manager, Product
Manager, and an Engineer.
Question 6 (What is/was your Project M anager's background?) was designed
to gather information on the background o f Project Managers for a particular
development team that participants belong to.
For company Ed-A a Project Manager has an Instructional Design
background. Participants from company Ed-B identified the following background for
Project Managers: Instructional Design, Business Administration, and
Programming/W eb Development.
A Project M anager from company Ed-C has experience in both teaching and
Instructional Design. The Project Managers from company Ed-D have Instructional
Design and Business backgrounds, and company Ed-F Project M anager’s background
is u nknown. P articipants from c ompany G -H s tated t he following b ackgrounds for
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Project Managers: Game Design, Software Development, and Business
Administration.
During the interview, E3-Manager described his/her background as follows: “I
started with the company as an Instructional Designer, became the ID Team Lead,
and then became a Project Manager on the same project I started on” (I6/E3). E4-
Designer, during the interview, identified the background o f the Project Manager for
the development team as: “an Instructional Design background” (I6/E4).
Responses to Question 7 (How many people o f each specialty do/dicl you have
in your team?) revealed information on the number o f different professionals in the
team. According to the participants’ responses, depending on the size o f the project,
company Ed-A usually has one or two professionals in each category, as previously
mentioned. W ithin company Ed-B there is usually one or two Project Managers, one
Instructional Design Lead, one or two Technical Team Leads, up to three
Instructional Designers, from two to thirteen Developers, from one to eight Graphic
Artists, one or two Quality Assurance Specialists, and one or two Technical Analysts
on the team.
A project team within company Ed-C has a Senior Project Manager, a Project
Manager, up to two Instructional Designers, two Graphic Artists, two Developers,
from two to three Quality Assurance Specialists, and a Subject M atter Expert. In the
case o f company Ed-D, a development team consists o f one or two Project Managers,
about forty Instructional Designers, two Graphic Artists, and one Subject Matter
Expert, Company Ed-F has one Project Manager, three Instructional Designers and
two Graphic Designers on the development team. Company G-H has one Team
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Leader, one Game Designer, two or three Programmers, one Mathematician, one
Graphic Artist, one Quality Assurance Tester and one Sound Designer.
Question 8 (How many people o f each specialty, as fa r as you biow, are
/were employed by your company?) was designed to estimate the total number of
different professionals in the company. According to the participants’ resp.onses,
company Ed-A employs, depending on the size o f the project, as few as ten, and as
many as forty professionals o f different specialties (the breakdown was not specified
in the answer). Company Ed-B has seven Project Managers, fifteen Instructional
Designers, ten Graphic Artists, ten Developers, and four Quality Assurance
Specialists. Company Ed-C has three Project Managers, five or six Instructional
Designers, two Graphic Artists, three Developers, and five Quality Assurance
Specialists. Ed-D company according to a participant’s rough estimate (his/her
guess), has about five or seven Project Managers, from five to seven Graphic Artists,
from ten to fifteen Instructional Designers, about fifty developers, and several Subject
Matter Experts and Quality Assurance Professionals. Company Ed-F, depending on
the number o f projects, has from two to three Project Managers, between four and
five Instructional Designers, from two to three Graphic Artists, from five to six
Developers and two Quality Assurance Specialists. The gaming company G-H
employs seven Team Leaders, seven Game Designers, four Mathematicians, seven
Graphic Artists, fifty Programmers, and twenty five Quality Assurance Testers.
Responses to Question 9 (What is/was the work flow ?) revealed details about the
workflow and reporting structure within the development teams o f the participating
companies. Figures A2.1 - A2.5 show the workflow diagrams for the educational
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multimedia development companies. Figure A2.6 shows the workflow diagram for
the gaming company G-FI.
VP
PM
LID.
ID GA D QA VAS SME
Figure A2.1. Workflow chart for company Ed-A.
PM
LIDI
.ID
LTT QA
GA D
Figure A2.2. Workflow chart for company Ed-B
' • PM I
A . i G A 1’ D
Figure A2.3. Workflow chart for company Ed-C
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PM
GA
ID
D
Figure A2.4. Workflow chart for company Ed-D
PM
Figure A2.5. Workflow chart for company Ed-F
TL
GA VAS
Figure A2.6. Workflow chart for company G-H
In the interview with the researcher, G5-Artist also elaborated on two different
ways to start a project in the company:
“There are two different tracks or ways that games are
approached, as far as I know, here. Team Leader has the need
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and relays this need to the Game Designer who then designs
the game to fit that need; or the Game Designer has a great idea
for a game and develops it without a market and they find the
market and the fit” (I9/G5).1
3. Data on the development team environment
Questions 10, 11, 12 and 13 in the research questionnaire were designed to
collect participants’ responses on the environment in the development teams.
Responses to Question 10 (How much input do/did you have on making decisions
that affect the quality o f the fin a l product?) revealed details about how much input the
participants felt they had on the quality o f the final product. There was quite a range
of answers on this question.
For example, El-M anager responded that he/she has “considerable input.
Responsible for most o f the overall design, scope and instructional model” (Q10/E1).
E2-Manager stated that “I have final input on quality o f products before they go to the
client” (Q10/E2). E3-Manager wrote that “I have high level input in regards to
matters o f scope, cost, and time” (Q10/E3). In the follow up interview, he/she
elaborated more:
“ With this project we have very clear metrics around scope and
the team is quite aware o f that; but anything that is outside o f
that, whether it be on a particular lesson that client wants
something more than we have costed or than we agreed to do,
they have to bring this to my attention and, on a day-to-day
basis, I make the decisions whether we would do it and absorb
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the cost, o r w hether I approach the c lient and negotiate w ith
them. An a high level, I have quite a bit o f input in terms o f
whether or not the different pieces get done, or i f they can look
and feel different, than what the contract says...A t a finite
level, in terms o f how the screen looks, or the functionality o f
the screen, that’s left up to the team, but whether or not you
can have an extra screen I do that, I decide.. .” (I10/E3).
G1-Manager’s response was: “Group Leader and Game Designer have
significant inpu t...” (Q10/G1).
To answ er Q uestion 1 0, participant E4-Designer w rote “ I have full right to
make suggestions - no right to make final decision” (Q10/E4). During the interview,
he/she clarified this point:
“I feel full right to mention everything that I w an t...I feel that I
can...but I am not always certain that this is going to go
anywhere. Because it all comes to the client, to me, and they
always have their own ideas on what they want and even when
they hear it they might not want to go with that” (110/E4).
E5-Designer answered that he/she has “some input - lots o f constrains due to
time and money” (Q10/E5). He/she added during the interview: “It will be the Project
Manager who will decide, in case o f the disagreement between the Team Leads,
about some elements o f the final product” (I10/E5).
G2-Designer feels that “As a Game Designer, I say, I have 90 percent control
of the final product” (Q10/G2), In turn, G3- Designer wrote:
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“Currently - a great d eal, i t i s the G ame D esigner w ho m ust
both, define and drive the vision o f the project. I f the Gam e
D esigner does not have a good concept, and, in turn, math
behind a game, than all o f the other parts will
su ffer.. .Previously - a great deal also, but much o f the
important decisions were made by more than one person, quite
often involving tire whole team. The process has many
drawbacks, as it does advantages, as, sometimes, it is best to
have one person making decisions” (Q10/G3).
On the contrary, participant E8 - Artist responded that he had zero input on
the quality o f the final product, and elaborated during the interview: “There are
clients; they know exactly what they want and we have to deliver to the tee, and if not
we are in troub le...” (I10/E8).
Another Artist participant, E7, stated that:
“The client determined which courses had priority, and then the
Project M anager assigned them to Instructional Designers. The
Instructional Designers requested graphics o f the Media Artists
(Graphic Designers). Sometimes the Subject Matter Experts
would request changes to the final product. In these cases, the
Instructional Designers would have to submit new graphic
requests to the M edia Artists. Whenever we asked for changes
or clarifications o f the graphics standards, our questions were
ignored” (Q10/E7).
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A third Artist participant, G5-Artist, stated that that the amount o f input he/she
had on the quality o f the final product was “extraordinary” (Q10/G5).
“Every visual queue development, animation, piece of
information, comes directly from my hand. The final product,
that is. The inception o f the ideas, on the other hand, may come
from other sources, but the final product that is on the screen is
all m e” (I10/G5).
At the same time, G4-Artist mentioned that “some Game Designers let you
have more creative freedom than others” (Q10/G4). During the interview, he/she
elaborated more on this question:
“Not as much [input] as I would like for the final... With my art
I know what the Game Designer and the team is looking for.
Sometimes, I feel that some o f the creative freedoms o f that
final art that, I feel, projects the feel and the look o f the game
is, sometimes, taken away by those who are not in the creative
department that I am; so, I feel, sometimes, that I could have
more say ...” (I10/G4).
On the follow-up question from the researcher “What if the Team Leader has
a visual background?” he/she responded “Personally, I could respect that more”
(I10/G4).
E6-Developer responded to Question 10, that “At the senior level, quite a lot.
We also define lots o f standards at the start of the project” (Q10/E6).
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Question 11 (What do/clid you like about your project team environment?)
and Question 1 2 ( What do/did you dislike about your project team environment?)
drew out information on what participants like and what they dislike in their project
team environment. Participant El-M anager answered that the likable things were
“effective communication, close team contact, and professional atmosphere”
(Q 11/El). The things that this particular participant dislikes were: “Deadlines,
deliverables, milestones that moved, because o f client’s pressure” (Q12/E1). E2-
iVlanager responded: “I like the fact that all members o f the team have input on the
design and quality o f the product” (Q11/E2). At the same time, “There are some
disagreements between team members on how the product should look. We usually
allow the client to make the final decision” (Q12/E2). E3-M anager wrote that he/she
likes about the team environment that: “ ...in essence, each person is partially
responsible for ‘running the show’. It’s a shared responsibility. The team members
are great and will go the extra mile if the project requires it” (Q l 1/E3). The response
about the things that are not likable was as follows: “I don’t think the team members’
workspaces are adequate... Some have very poor lighting, limited space, and the
Lead should have an office, but those are impossible to get. There are no ‘break
away’ rooms in which team members can go to discuss issues in private, such as
performance, personal matters the Leads should know, and even just to vent!”
(Q12/E3).
G l-M anager responded to questions 11 and 12 that the things he/she liked
were: “Individual teams tend to develop a ‘family feel’...The team as a whole takes
pride in the end product” (Q ll/G l) . The things he/she disliked were that “Currently
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we do not have an official training procedure for any position. Very much a ‘sink or
swim’ approach” (Q12/G1).
In the Designers group, G2-Designer wrote about the team environment that
“in the best situations, it allows everyone an opportunity to showcase the talents that
they possess through a great-looking end product” (Q11/G2). However, “the lack of
formalized training for each position makes it easy for gaps in knowledge to exist and
persist for longer than necessary” (Q12/G2). G3-Designer, in turn, stressed:
“Previously, since it was a small company there were no
corporate policies to deal w ith...The focus was on making
games and we were not bothered with the distraction o f having
to work on much else” (Q11/G3).
The same G3-Designer identified things that he/she felt were unlikable:
“Bad Team Leaders: Some Team Leaders are terrible
managers, they do not maintain a clear project schedule,
maintain communications with all members o f the team, or
really know what is going on with their own project... Bad
management, who try to do too much and do nothing
w ell...U nrealistic schedules: Projects that can only be finished
with a great deal o f stress and overtime... Forgetting that what
we make are gam es...Too much shared responsibility, all o f
the team members were equal partners and this quite often got
in the way o f decision making and progress” (Q12/G3).
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E4-Designer wrote in response to Questions 11 and 12 that “People on m y
team are willing to help one another.. .[However,] the deadlines are tight and the team
does no t have the ability to help one another, despite the ir desire to do so ” (Q 1 1-
12/E4).
E5-Designer responded that “Good communications. Good people” (Q11/E5)
are good things about the team environment, but he/she does not like: “Open concept.
Noisy. Many interruptions” (Q12/E5). During the interview, he/she elaborated on
other things as well, such as: “There has been a switch, lately, when most o f the
power went to Project Managers, so that they make all decisions about everything.
This, sometimes, could be very good, but it also can be frustrating, because you don’t
feel you have as much control, as you would like, over your project. There is upside
and downside to this whole th ing...” (I12/E5).
G5-Artist liked: “Social interactions. Accomplished some things [that] could not
do on my own” (Q11/G5). But, he/she dislikes “getting lost in a shuffle” (Q12/G5).
“Getting lost in a shuffle” for him/her meant: “For someone, like m yself,...! work to
put bread on the table, but, also, I work, because I take pride o f the things 1 do. It’s
good to be recognized for hard work, and when that recognition does not come,
som etim es...” (I12/G5).
During the interview he/she added to the above:
“The one thing, if I can change anything, I would increase the
lines o f communication. I f we can find the way to make
communication flow easier between each level o f development,
back and forth, it can’t be just one-directional. For
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communication to work it has to be two-way street. And if you
could affect one thing on the production line that’s where I
would s ta rt.. .Often t imes working w ith t he C oder and G ame
Designer and Team Leader during the meeting y ou spend 10
minutes talking about the same thing and you don’t realize you
are talking about the same thing. It can be frustrating...”
(I12/G5).
He/she also stated: “If you put two identical products side by side, it’s human
nature that we gonna pick the one that looks better and that appeals more” (I12/G5).
G4-Artist responded that he/she likes, within the team environment, that “On
certain projects I am approached by the Game Designers for creative input”
(Q11/G4), However, “On occasions, there is disorganization, due to the lack of
communications between the team players” (Q12/G4). E7-Artist responded that “I
felt that the graphic standards we had to follow weren’t well thought out for the type
of graphics we had to produce. It was clear that the people who came up with the
standards were not taking into account the nature o f the content for the graphics we
actually h ad t o p roduce. T here was a Iso v ery 1 ittle r oom f or a ny creativity” ( Q 11 -
12/E7).
E8-Artist responded to questions 11 and 12 that the positive aspects about the
team were “Highly skilled people to work with” (Q11/E8), but he/she also disliked
“no creativity” (Q12/E8). He/she elaborated that in this project “everything is
standardized, there is no room for creativity” (I12/E8). On the contrary, E9-Artist
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liked that “The team is small, communication is easy, and there is a room for
creativity” (Q11/E9).
E6-Developer responded that some o f the major dislikes are egos in the team
environment (Q12/E6). During the interview, he/she elaborated more: “Within a
team, it is nice for Instructional Designers to go to Developers and to Graphic Artists
and say: ‘Here is what I am thinking about o f doing. Is this going to work in reality?’
Because, for a long time, a lot o f things would just get asked for and no one really
would speak against them ...you spend a lot o f time trying to create something that,
really, c ould h ave b een written d ifferently, b efore i t w ould b e s ent t o a client a nd
signed o ff...It is really important that communication would be g o o d ...” (II1-12/E6).
Responses to Question 13 (How do you think team environment affects/affected
the quality o f the fin a l product?) revealed participants’ thoughts on how the team
environment affects the quality o f the final product. E l-M anager wrote that
“Effective team e nvironment = excellent products. Ineffective team environment =
poor products” (Q 13/El). E2-Manager’s response was that “I f the team members
work well together and respect each others’ areas o f experience, then the project is
usually completed on time and on budget, and the quality o f the product is good.
Sometimes, team members feel they don’t have enough time allotted to complete the
project to the best o f their ability, and the quality will suffer, as a result” (Q13/E2).
E3-M anager wrote that “The product does not suffer, but rather the team
members. The team is very committed to deliver a quality product” (Q13/E3). G l-
Manager responded: “Team environment is crucial; it promotes communication
which is the most important part o f any software development project” (Q13/GI). E4
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and E5 Designers believe that the team environment has some impact on the quality
of the final product.
During the interview with the researcher E4-Designer stated: “As far as team
members, I think, just people taking responsibility for what their role is. I think that it
affects quality in the end in the positive way, as long as they do take responsibility.
. ..I f someone was to take an attitude ‘well, when I am done, I am done, that’s it, I
don’t want to see it anym ore’ then, perhaps, that might negatively affect the quality at
the end because they don’t see it as a final product, as a complete product, just see
their little portion” (I13/E4). E5-Designer stated: “ It depends o n th e people o n the
team, and there are no problems [in the team ]...” (I13/E5).
G2-Designer answered that “The team makes the final product, so it is
intimately tied to the quality o f it. The most important factor in assuring a quality o f
the end product is a talented and motivated team. Talent gets hired, but motivation
comes from a sense o f ‘ownership’ in the project” (Q13/G2).
G3-Designer responded to Question 13:
“A great deal, here are some o f the most important team
environment issues based on my experience: scheduling - a
good or bad schedule can vastly affect the quality o f the final
product. General work atmosphere. Team spirit and respect for
others - every member is valuable and everyone’s opinion has
value” (Q13/G3).
During the follow up interview he/she elaborated more:
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“As the general work atmosphere, you got to make people want
to come to work. They can’t be dreading it here. Sometimes we
do it right, sometimes we do it w rong... I think our large open
area i s t oo i mpersonal and t here i s v ery 1 ittle p rivacy .. .Feels
like a big w arehouse...I think things like this definitely impact
on quality o f the final product” (I13/G3).
E7-Artist wrote:
“I think that graphics could have been much more effective, if
done another way. Often, too much information was forced
into s mall s pace, m aking t he graphics d ifficult t o r ead. A Iso,
because o f the graphic standards, graphics did not always
present ideas in the simplest way” (Q13/E7).
E8-Artist believed that: “Quality is greatly dependant on the confidence you
have in others to get the job done correctly” (Q13/E8). During the interview he/she
added:
“If we would be allowed to be creative, we would be able to
cut costs and have a better product than they want; better
working and better looking.. .But as far o f what they are
expecting from us, we are delivering...” (I13/E8).
E9-Artist thought that a small team was better than a large one, where
communication could be difficult. At the same time, G4-Artist saw the advantages in
working in a team environment in using everybody’s talent as a group to produce a
combined effort, while G5-Artist mentioned that there are both positive and negative
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influences o f the team environment on the final product. He/she elaborated during the
interview:
“we do have people at the top that are making decisions based
on what they know, and if they know something like math,
well, then the math is w hat’s going to g e t pushed, or if they
know something like art, well, then art gets pushed. Whereas, I
think, that if you are fortunate enough to have good
communications in both directions that the upper management
can understand what the people below them are saying and
people below can understand what they are saying, then it
works towards a higher quality product at the end o f your
production” (I13/G5).
E6-Developer answered: “I think it is crucial. Especially when good
communication skills are used. It takes advantage o f everyone’s best trends”
(Q13/E6).
4. Who is making the final decision on the “look and feel” and effectiveness of
the multimedia product?
Question 14 in the questionnaire (In your project team, who is/was making
fina l decisions on the "look and fee l" and effectiveness o f the multimedia product?)
was one o f the key questions in the study. It generated quite a range o f responses. For
example, E 1-Manager wrote: “Three individuals: Lead ID, client, and Project
Manager” (Q 14/El). E2-Manager responded to Question 14 that:
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“The final decision on the Took and feel’ o f the multimedia
product lies with the client. The development team usually
shares their ideas to make for the best Took and feel’ possible”
(Q14/E2).
E3-M anager answered:
“The client makes the ultimate decisions. We have been on this
project for over two years, and, as such, have well-developed
standards for scope o f each deliverable. The client, though,
review each deliverable and advise us o f any preferred
changes” (Q14/E3).
Responding to the researcher’s follow up question: “W hat if the client does
not like the background color on the screen?” E3-Manager answered:
“ If we suggest a color, based on the recommendation from the
Graphic Artist, and the client does not like it, I need to
understand why the Graphic Artist have chosen this color,
because if they [clients] don’t like it, they are going to call me,
so I can explain that. If they still don’t like it, than I will go
back to the Graphic Artist and I say: ‘For whatever reason, they
don’t like it, can you come up with the plan B ...B ecause it is a
c lien t...” (I14/E3).
G1-Manager responded:
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“Game Designer proposes a final ‘look and feel’. Team Leader
with Group Leader have a final say on implementation of
specific features that affect the ‘look and feel’” (Q14/G1).
During the follow-up interview with the researcher, G1-Manager stated that
“Game Designer, the Visual person, you can say with confidence has the final say [on
the ‘look and feel’]...O u r Game Designers usually have graphic experience”
(I14/G1). He/she also added:
“Usually, it’s your Game Designer and your Graphic Artist
comes up with the final look...W e would have to have
significant concerns before we would force them to change it.
[Significant concerns in this case may be that] a particular
game element would be insulting to a specific segment o f our
p layers...o r this particular element is infringing on somebody’s
copyright” (Q14/G1).
E4-Designer responded: “Typically, the client [decides] with some input from
all other team members” (Q14/E4). During the interview, he/she stated that, in case of
a disagreement about some element o f the “look and feel” : “We would, probably, just
agree to go with one decision, document another suggestion, and send it to the client,
and let them decide...It is always the client who makes the final decision...”
(I14/E4).
E5-Designer wrote: “Senior and Leads from each department [decide]”
(Q14/E5).
G2-Designer responded:
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“Generally, I as a Game Designer, make final decision on the
‘look and feel’ o f the multimedia product. Occasionally, a
Team Leader, or Marketing Director may force me to change
something” (Q14/G2).
G3-Designer wrote:
“It mostly comes down to the Game Designers and the Artist in
the end. The Game Designers must accurately convey the look
they want to the Artist and they must arrive at the final ‘look’
together.
The feel o f the game comes down to the Game Designer in the
end. It is the responsibility o f the game Designer to make sure
the game feels right in the end and this, usually, involves many
long hours o f play testing.
Sometimes, the final calls on the ‘look and feel’ can come
down to either the Team Leader or the client. Our clients act
very similar to what publishers do in traditional game software
development, so, if they dislike something about the ‘look and
feel’ o f the game, we have little choice, but to comply”
(Q14/G3).
During the interview, when the researcher asked what happens if
there is a conflict between the Artist and the Game Designer, and the
Game Designer thinks that there are some issues with graphic elements,
he/she responded:
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“That’s a tough situation. I had it happen before... It does quite
a bit fall in to ... if I had to push it on the project, I could push it,
and say: ‘Now you are going to do it this way, or don’t do it
this w ay’, but it does not work well for getting the things done.
Usually, when I have problems with graphics, it is a matter o f
speaking the same language as the Artist, and figure out how
you can change it without stepping on their ego, or how they
feel about their work. Usually, we can find the middle
ground...I am able to say: ‘You tried that one before, what
about this, try a little bit more o f that’. . .” (I14/G3).
E7-Artist responded:
“The client used several companies to work on various aspects
o f the project. Another company actually came up with a
design document we had to work from. Unfortunately, the
people at this other company were producing graphics with
content quite different from ours, so the graphic standards they
established weren’t always appropriate” (Q14/E7).
E8-Artist simply answered: “The client” (Q14/E8). During the interview, the
clarification on the question was:
“We had many instances where we produced graphics... but
they [clients] did not like the graphics, because it was too
mesmerizing for the class... It is always up to the client. They
get the final say on the product, every look, every feel, and
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right down to how bright is the background or co lo rs...”
(I14/E8).
In response to the researcher’s question about the b ackground o f the p eople
working for the client (that are, in fact, making all decisions) the response was: “They
are a mix o f Instructional Designers and Research and Development people...”
(I14/E8).
E9-Artist wrote: “The final decision is made by the entire team as a group, but
mostly the Graphic Designer determines a lot o f the ‘look and feel’ (Q14/E9). G4-
Artist responded: “Usually the Game Designer gets final say” (Q14/G4) and if there
is some disagreement about the look and feel, and there is time limitation, sometimes
Graphic Artists have to let it go (I14/G4).
G5-Artist answered: “Game Designer and Artist. And, as well, a Sound
person” (Q14/G5). He/she elaborated further during the interview:
“ ...A s far as the look goes, the look comes back to,
predominantly, the Artist and the Game Designer. The Game
Designer always has the right to say that I don’t like that; I ’d
like to get that changed. It’s becoming a little bit more a give
and take relationship, at least in my case, where, i f I don’t
agree with Game Designer’s decision, I will tell him, and I will
not refuse to make changes, but, well, make a very strong case
for decisions I made, if I feel I am on the right ...a t some point
maybe it’s time to bring somebody else to look at the
decision ...” (114/G5).
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E6-Developer responded: “Basically, it is down to the Senior GAs [Graphic
Artists] and the PM s [Project Managers]” (Q14/E6). During the interview, the
clarification was:
“Generally, today in the company, the ‘look and feel’ is up to
the Senior Graphic Artist person to take a look at it and sign
off... In the past, it has been anything from Instructional
Designer saying ‘no we don’t like the interface change it’, or
maybe Development saying ‘no this functionality is not going
to work, graphically, and programmatically’; and Project
Managers definitely do have a say, especially Project Managers
with Graphic background...If you really want to say who has
the final decision it is the customer. Because the customer will
come back and say - ‘I like this, I like that, I don’t like this, I
don’t like that’; we have definitely sent o ff a prototype and had
to change the entire ‘look and feel’ because it was not ‘urban’
enough, not what they had expected .. .The ultimate decision is
the clients’, even though they might not be the experts in that
field” (I14/E6).
5. Suggestions on im provem ents
The last question, Question 15 in the questionnaire (Do you have any
suggestions on how to improve team structure or the production environment that, in
turn, will improve the quality o f a multimedia product?), asked the participants to
provide suggestions on how to improve team structure or the production environment
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that, in turn would improve the quality o f a multimedia product. El-M anager
responded:
“M any different team structures work well. Production
experience, education, and well established development
procedures and policies have a great impact. [It helps to have
on the team] someone that is familiar with the research
literature with respect to interface design, learning theory,
course design, team production, and advanced technologies,
such as learning objects, LMS [Learning Objects M anagement
Systems], and LCMS [Learning Content Management
Systems] and so on” (Q 15/El).
G l-M anager suggested: “Set training objectives, time and track the results.
[Have] m ore requirem ent management i n the earlier stages o f the project. Perform
focus group testing earlier (Q15/G1). During the interview, he/she added to this:
“Because o f the nature o f our business, our clients often decide
that they want to change a particular specification, or a
regulation half-way through the project. Because o f this, we
need more requirements management, and that is the people
who are willing to say: ‘Listen, we can’t incorporate that into
the project, unless you are willing to extend the end date by x
number o f weeks, to accomplish that without affecting the
quality o f the product’. W hat I find, currently, that the client
will request the change half-way through the project, and we
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will be expected to incorporate that change, and still meet the
original end date, which, in my opinion, should be addressed”
(I15/G1).
E3-M anager recommended during the interview that:
“Videoconferencing capability would be an asset [when
working with remote clients]... When you are talking about
producing courseware, you need to show them. It will allow us
to reach quicker decisions than by using phone calls and
emails. It just does not do justice to the v isuals...It will
probably enable us to deliver something that hits the mark
better the first time, because they’ve seen it before” (I15/E3).
E4-Designer, during the interview, mentioned that:
“Being aware o f other people’s jobs might help. Even if they
are not capable o f doing everybody’s jobs, if they can at least
be aware, it might help to improve the quality...Avoid the
separation between departm ents...If the teams can
communicate between each other, it is a good thing, and it
affects quality ...” (I15/E4).
E5-Designer thought it would be wise to: ’’Give PMs [Project Managers] more
experience from the ID [Instructional Design]/Graphics/Development worlds”
(Q15/E5). “Project Management, probably, is where the most conflict com es...
They often can’t relate, or they try to relate, but they really don’t...They don’t
want to talk to the client and tell them that we will be a week la te ... ” (I15/E5).
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G2-Designer proposed:
“Formalize training checklist for each position, so it can be
documented that each new employee is up to date on each
procedure related to his/her position.
Critical stage analysis o f each phase o f development to more
quickly address problems and acknowledge success in each
project. I f all members o f the team are involved in this
evaluation, then this should result in an increased sense of
‘ownership’ and a higher quality end-product.
Better communication between and across game development
teams to help prevent inconsistencies in the standards and
reinventing the wheel” (Q15/G2).
E7-Artist w rote: “ 11 hink c ommunication c ould have h elped t o c reate b etter
graphics. I f our concerns had been addressed, or our questions answered, we could
have produced a better product” (Q15/E7). E6-Developer echoed that good
communication skills are crucial (Q15/E6), as well as: “Respect and understanding
that other people, other functions, like Graphics, Development, Instructional Design,
QA, those people, probably, know a lot more than you know about their field, then
everything will run much smoother” (I15/E6).
G4-Artist believed that the overall quality o f the final product would improve
if it were possible to “get EVERYONE involved on the ‘ground floor’. Have
‘brainstorming’ sessions and more flexibility on deadlines. More sketching, etc. for
the artists” (Q15/G4). In turn, G5-Artist proposed several steps towards improvement:
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“A clear and effective communication. A very detailed pre-
production stage. Iron out all details before a project begins.
Should be at least one third o f the entire production schedule.
Have people in lead roles, who are competent leaders! Have
critical stage analysis, instead o f post mortems” (Q15/G5).
During the interview he/she elaborated on this:
“ There seems to be a trend recently in game development that
is called post mortem; where, at the end o f the project you look
at all things that went right and all things that went wrong, and
write this big document. Supposedly, people would read it
before t he s tart o f t he n ext p roject. 0 ften t ime i t d id n ot g et
read. Often time it would not get filled properly. So, I would
use the stage critical analysis, where these types o f issues are
met at each stage o f critical development, rather than at the end
o f the project when everybody is tired and burned out. The
issues are addressed at the crucial times and the problems
solved th en ...” (I15/G5).
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VITA
C an d id ate’s full nam e: Ilia Goldfarb
U niversities a ttended:
Kalinin State University, Kalinin, Russia (1975-1980) - BCS / BEd
University o f New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada (2000-2004) - MEd
Publications:
Goldfarb, I. & Kondratova, I. 2003, Using Visual Materials to Engage Learners, Proceedings o f ED-Media 2003, ACEE World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications, 1273-1280.
Goldfarb I. 2003. Using the Web to Teach Democracy, paper republished with permission o f AACE in CSS Journal (Computers in the Social Studies - A Journal fo r Teachers) Vol. 11 No 1 Jan/Apr 2003, ISSN 1090-8595.
Kondratova, I. & Goldfarb, I. 2003, Design Concepts for Virtual Research and Collaborative Environments, Knowledge Management in Architectural, Engineering and Construction, 10th ISPE International Conference On Concurrent Engineering: The Vision fo r Future Generation in Research and Applications, J. Cha et al. (eds), Swets & Zeitlinger, Lisse, Portugal, 797-803.
Kondratova, I.L., Goldfarb, I. 2003. How Information Technology Can Help Sustainability and Aid in Combating Global Warming, Proceedings o f the Symposium honoring the extraordinary contributions o f professor Theodore Bremner, 6 th CANM ET/ACIInternational Conference, J.P. Riece & T.A. Holm (eds), Thessaloniki, Greece, 151-166.
Goldfarb I. 2002. Using the Web to Teach Democracy, Proceedings o f ACEE E- Learn 2002, World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare & Higher Education, October 15-19, 2002, Montreal, Canada, Eds. Margaret Driscoll and Thomas Reeves, 343-348.
Goldfarb, I. and Kondratova, I. L. 2002. Cross-Cultural Internet Based Resource for Teaching Democracy, Proceedings o f the International Conference on Computers in Education - IC C E 2002, Eds. Kinshuk, R. Lewis, K. Akahori, R. Kemp, T. Okamoto, L. Henderson, and C. H. Lee, IEEE Computer Society, 1174-1178.
Goldfarb, I., Kondratova, I. L. and Boyd Kinnie, H. 2002. International Collaboration in Developing Online Resources for Teaching Democracy, Proceedings o f the NAWEB 2002, Eighth International North American Web Based Learning
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Conference, University o f New Brunswick, Fredericton, Oct. 19-22 2002, University o f New Brunswick publication, Eds. Mary Astorino, Allan Ellis, Rik Hall, 43-52.
Kondratova, LL., Goldfarb, I. and Bremner, T.W. 2002. Sustainable Development of Cement and Concrete - IT Provides a Path from Research to Practice. Proceedings o f the 2002 International Congress Challenges o f Concrete Construction, Conference 2 - Sustainable Concrete Construction, under the Theme o f Environmental Strategies - Applications o f Information Technology to Environmental Studies, University o f Dundee, Dundee, Scotland, UK, Sept. 5-11, Thomas Telford Publishers, 88-94.
Kondratova, I.L., Goldfarb, I. 2002. Using the Internet to Transfer Knowledge on Concrete Durability: Improving and Fostering Knowledge Exchange. eWork and eBusiness in Architecture, Engineering and Construction, Proceedings o f the Fourth European Conference on Product and Process Modeling in the Building and Related Industries, Portoroz, Slovenia, 9-11 September, 2002, A.A. Balkema Publishers, 679- 684.
Kondratova, I., Bremner, T. W. and Goldfarb, I. 2002. IT Providing a Path From Research to Practice - Promoting Use o f Environmentally Friendly Cement and Concrete in Construction, Conference Proceedings o f the First International Conference on Construction in the 21st Centwy (CITC2002), "Challenges and Opportunities in Management and Technology", 25-26 April, 2002, Miami, Florida, USA, 601-608.
Kondratova, I. L., Goldfarb I. A., Bremner, T.W., Malhotra V. M. 1998. Computer Database For Concrete Specimens at a Marine Exposure Site, Proceedings o f the First International Conference on New Information Technologies fo r Decision Making in Civil Engineering, Montreal, Quebec, 803- 811.
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