Storyboard on a Professional Development Session for Community College Educators

The panels in my storyboard were all hand-drawn by me, but I admit putting my sheet of paper over my computer screen to trace some cool icons. This was needed because my drawing skills are not always legible.

In any case, I enjoyed creating the storyboard for my Multimedia Montage Project, which I've since added some details about the three programs I created video critiques of this weekend – Camtasia, Audacity, and FreeOnlinePhotoEditor.com.

My storyboard consists of nine panels, which I felt was appropriate because of the different components required for the project in which I strictly focus on the presentation aspect. Here are the details.

• Panel 1: Why Video is Important – Since my audience consists of my peers, I want to start my presentation with an explanation of why video is important in learning. Visuals can trigger ideas and help students retain information.
• Panel 2: Video in Course Development – Using video shouldn't be a stand-alone instructional tool. Ideally, educators should use video to complement other learning methods, such as listening to audio recordings, group projects, writing, online research, and reading books.
• Panel 3: Researching Subject Matter – Before a video can be produced, it's important for instructors to seek out multimedia that wil make up their content. The third panel illustrates a few sources, such as videos clips, radio segments, and infographics.
• Panel 4: Planning the Project – Executing a video project isn't hard, but it does take time. I want to emphasize the importance of setting aside time to work on the production, as well as establish deadlines for a video to be ready for students to watch.
• Panel 5: Creating the Script – Writing out what I have to say, even though I know exactly what I'm doing, makes for a more watchable video so the listener isn't impatient or fidgety. While no video is perfect, I want to encourage instructors to start with an outline to see if they need to do one video or several. Then, they should write out what they want to say before they start recording.
• Panel 6: Producing Content with Images – Instructors should have a folder of images they can use for their presentations and know how to edit them – this is when I would introduce FreeOnlinePhotoEditor.com – as well as place them in an image-dominated PowerPoint to be ready for presentation.
• Panel 7: Recording Basics – Instructors should be familiar with at least two options for recording audio in case one doesn't produce the sound quality they want. This where I would introduce Audacity and other mobile-friendly tools, and discuss the similarities and differences.
• Panel 8: Video Editing Basics – Whether an instructor uses their own video recording tool or Camtasia, they should know important editing mechanics, such as how to trim large chunks of silence and glue together adjacent clips.
• Panel 9: Releasing Project – Finally, instructors should be able to embed their videos into the course shell of their respective classes and refer to the created content in their lessons. The video, in turn, should not only be viewed by students but incorporated into the assigned classwork.

In the context of this storyboard's design, it was just as important to emphasize the introductory aspects of creating quality videos for professional development as it was to focus on the technical skills. In addition, the focus of the storyboard stays on the learner. While I do have a survey and a post-session faculty engagement component to my proposal, I consider those separate phases and may require separate mini-storyboards depending on how this training goes the first time around. As stated in White Space is Not Your Enemy, "a storyboard visualizes the entire project in the form of individual scenes..."

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to your comments.

Shuva

References: 
- Hagen, R. & Golombisky, K. (2017). White Space Is Not Your Enemy: A Beginner's Guide to Communicating Visually Through Graphic, Web & Multimedia Design 3rd Edition. Focal Press: Boca Raton, FL
- Torpin, C. (2010). Chapter 2 - Storyboarding. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/8355551.