Changing Careers: Matt McNerney
Kelly and Matt McNerney. Clicking with eLearning
Matt McNerney was a professional theatre artist and a program manager for several game companies, including Microsoft Games Studio. But education was his secret passion, and he had his eye on innovative and creative uses of the Internet. Matt lived in Seattle, and in 2002 he took his first on line course with SDSU's Department of Educational Technology. In the spring of 2003 he signed up for EDTEC 541, Web-based multimedia development, online.
The final project for the course involves designing and building a Web site on a topic of the student's choice. Matt and his wife Kelly are both involved in theatre, and Matt wanted to create something he could use to share his love of Shakespeare with others.
Examples of Student Learning Outcomes for EDTEC 541
- Prepare and submit a proposal for a Web-based multimedia project.
- Design attractive and effective screens.
- Design navigation schemes for moving within your multimedia program.
- Incorporate appropriate interactivity in your program.
- Present your designs to others and negotiate improvements and accomodations based on their feedback.
- Digitize video, still images and audio and use them appropriately within a multimedia program.
- Post the program that you create on Web.
- Use e-mail to communicate with local and distant colleagues.
- Navigate the World Wide Web.
- Upload and download files from distant sites.
- Participate in online discussions.
What Educational Web Designers Need to Know
Designing and developing educational Web sites requires much more than knowing which button to push in a software program. You must analyze the needs and prior knowledge of the audience, be they 5th graders, corporate executives, or soldiers. You need to know how people learn, and how to present text and multimedia material to aid the learning process.
Matt and the other students in the class analyzed existing educational Web sites, and studied the work and words of experienced Web site designers. Gradually, each began planning their own educational Web site for the course final project.
Process
The final project in EDTEC 541 is as much about process as it is about a finished product. After getting the instructor's approval for his final project topic, an introduction to Shakespeare for high school teachers and students, Matt interviewed some prospective users of his Web site and drafted a detailed proposal.
The next task was to map out the site and sketch story boards for screens that could help his audience find and understand the information they would seek on the site.
Matt discovered that building the prototype was an iterative, engineering process -- developing small portions to test and revise in the early stages, before a lot of time and energy goes into a lot of content. To ensure that he's on the right track, Matt conducts usability tests before finalizing his prototype.
Evaluating EDTEC 541 student achievement
- Needs assessment: "To determine user need, I spoke with two high school teachers: an English teacher and a drama teacher."
- Story board: "Sorry about the smudginess. I ended up doing quite a bit of erasing..."
- User testing: "Just when I thought I could see the light at the end of the tunnel I let 23 Internet-savvy high school freshmen give me feedback on the site."
Evaluating the EDTEC 541 course
- Web accessibility: Dr. Hoffman reports that, "Each semester we revise course content and learning activities to keep pace with emerging trends, such as accessibility guidelines based on the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act."
- On-the-job utility: From time to time the Department of Educational Technology surveys employers who hire our students to find out how they view our students, what skills and knowledge they might be missing, and what they find most useful.
Making EDTEC 541 better
- Bob Hoffman: "We're always updating the portfolio project to model evolving good practice. For example, we're re-designing the Homer sessions to better reflect Web accessibility guidelines."
Click here for more information about the SDSU Department of Educational Technology.