1. UNIT 1
2. Chip Flemmer
3. Visual Solution Description:
I am creating a performance supported visual which is geared toward my sixth grade students. The purpose is for the students to know what they need to bring to class to be prepared. They need to always bring their interactive student notebook, pencil, and colored pencils to class.
4. First draft
5. Usability test notes
I presented my image to my team member, Jessica Moss and asked her what she
thought the image was trying to indicate.
I actually created a draft before this, but it wouldn’t qualify as a
performance supported visual. Jessica
identified that my image says "Welcome! Enter the classroom and go
get your interactive notebook, a pencil and 12 colored
pencils." This is what I was
going for. She felt that the arrows
could be a little confusing. It
was recommended that there be one big arrow that said "Get" on it,
then pointed to all three? I decided to use “Remember to always bring” as
my message in the arrow.
A second recommendation was that the colored pencil graphic might be more effective if it was copied and pasted and the color was change on it a few times.
6. Final image
7. Comments about Chapter 1:
The image I created is a performance support image than because it will be a tangible product that is used to help someone perform a task in a moment of need (p. 5 definition in the textbook). The image could also be called a job –aid, page 7, because it is intended to be a just-in-time support for students who tend to forget to bring their notebooks, pencils, and colored pencils to our social studies class. If I truly designed this image according to chapter one, I could place this placard in front of my classroom and as students are approaching the room I could point to the sign, not say a word, and the students would know exactly what message was intended to be conveyed.
8. Comments about Chapter 2:
Clip art and word art is always really easy to use, but I avoided using any edu-junk (p. 29) to get in the way of the message. The image uses words to help make the message for my sixth grade students very clear and to the point. I can find my projects being techno centric instead of focusing on function and being learner-friendly (p. 31). I agree that a picture is not always worth 1000 words, unless you can think of 1000 synonyms for “huh?” or “what?”
I made some mistakes and I played around with what I was trying to create with my image and message. It was nice to know that it is OK to mess-up, just keep revising.
9. Comments about Chapter 10:
I have always been a big believer that simple of often time’s better (p. 250). I tried to use simple shapes (squares, rectangles, triangles, circles). I am using the arrow to indicate what is needed for class.
With the column is images listing what to bring to class I wanted to show unity (p. 251). Even though I didn’t use any cartoon shapes in my image, I think that would be something that I would like to mess around with in future units. My sixth graders love crazy little things like that.
10. The Resources Chapter:
I used the shape tool to create the images. I also used the text boxes to add my messages. The chart on p. 283 was helpful in trying to answer your questions as to where to find information in the text. I also used the table on page 286 in trying to remember what .jpeg and .gif stood for because I was going to convert my project to a .jpg.
11. Describe what you learned from usability testing:
The usability tester provided me with feedback that was very useful. I am an author and I find that my wife is the best editor of my work. She isn’t afraid to tell it like it is. That is what you need from the usability test; a process that highlights the strengths and identifies the weaknesses of your design. I really enjoyed this first attempt at creating a performance supported visual.