Instructional Multimedia Development

Instructional Multimedia Development

Technical Support Faculty

The Office of Teaching and Learning can assist faculty with the planning, design, development and production of creative multimedia and interactive content.

Our aim is to work with you to create innovative solutions that support your instructional goals and enhance your students’ learning experience in your online, hybrid or face-to-face courses. If you have ideas for custom content that you would love to develop, but need assistance with the design and technical work of actually producing it, we can help!

What kinds of content can OTL work with me to develop?

Click on the headers below to expand each section, read more information about the content types, and view examples from various web sources as well as items created here at DU. More examples will be added to each section on a regular basis.
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[vc_accordion_tab title=”Interactive Case Studies, Scenarios & Study Guides”][vc_column_text]
Case studies or scenarios allow an instructor to create immersive learning environments in which students are assigned a specific role and a set of complex, real-world challenges where decisions are difficult and sometimes there is no clear right or wrong answer. The goal of scenario-based or situated learning is to simulate a realistic process, problem, or narrative and show the consequences of different decisions. Instead of simply telling students the best way to complete a task or how to respond to a situation, students can independently explore the story of the scenario and make choices throughout, allowing them to practice and apply skills in a risk-free environment.
Case study/scenario examples:

  • Connect with Haji Kamal
    An interactive branching scenario created by Cathy Moore and Kinection. “You are a US Army sergeant in Afghanistan. Can you help a young lieutenant overcome cultural differences and make a good impression on a Pashtun leader?”
  • The Refugee Challenge
    An example of a high production-quality “interactive film” scenario, created by The Guardian newspaper’s interactive team. “As EU governments have made it harder to seek refuge in Europe, the flow of refugees fleeing the world’s most desperate conflicts is increasing. We invite you to make the choices real refugees have to make and find out what it’s really like to look for safety in Fortress Europe.”
  • Outbreak in Bangladesh
    Created by the University of Wisconsin, Madison using the Case Scenario/Critical Reader Builder tool. This scenario features a variety of media, as well as downloadable documents providing students background information to review.
  • Lifesaver
    An “interactive film” created for the UK Resuscitation Council – “Lifesaver is a crisis simulator that fuses interactivity and live-action film to teach CPR in a new way on a computer, smartphone or tablet.”
  • Broken Co-worker
    A scenario about workplace harassment, created by Anna Sabramowicz and Ryan Martin. This features live-action video scenes as the story unfolds.

Interactive study guides can augment material covered in lectures or course readings by adding video, audio, links to additional information, or embedded quizzes to existing course content. Students can explore deeper explanations of content at their own pace.
Study guide examples:

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Video & animation can be an engaging way to present short lectures, supplementary explanations, or demonstrations a process or technique.
Examples:

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[vc_accordion_tab title=”Interactive Graphics, Documents & Data Visualizations”][vc_column_text]
Interactive graphics, documents & data visualizations allow students to change parameters within the information that you’re presenting and immediately see the effects of those changes. These types of learning objects (also sometimes referred to as “Explorable Explanations” or Reactive Documents) can help students visually understand content more deeply and allow for further exploration of information through direct interaction.
Examples:

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[vc_accordion_tab title=”Simulations & Games”][vc_column_text]
A simulation is an online representation of some type of reality (system or environment) which includes instructional elements that help a learner explore, navigate or obtain more information about that system or environment.
Simulation examples:

  • PhET Interactive Simulations
    A collection of interactive online science and mathematics simulations, created by the University of Colorado, Boulder
  • “Who Should Get Parole?”
    An interactive simulation that lets you explore parole probabilities for offenders by sorting them into risk categories based on the results of an assessment. From “The New Science of Sentencing” online feature created by the Marshall Project

Instructional games, sometimes referred to as “serious games,” are activities that present an explicit goal or challenge, rules that guide achievement towards the goal, interactivity with other players or the game environment (or both), and feedback mechanisms that give clear cues as to how well or poorly you are performing (e.g. points or scoring). This results in a quantifiable outcome – you win/you lose, you hit the target, etc. (Definition provided by Sharon Boller.)
There can be a lot of crossover in the elements of games and simulations. To read more about the distinction, explore this article comparing the two provided by the Association for Talent Development.
Instructional game examples:

  • Hiragana Challenge
    Match the Japanese hiragana character with its correct meaning in this “flash card” game.
  • SPENT
    A game about surviving poverty and homelessness. Created by the ad agency McKinney for the Urban Ministries of Durham.
  • Games For Change
    Games for Change facilitates the creation and distribution of social impact games that serve as critical tools in humanitarian and educational efforts. Their aim is to leverage entertainment and engagement for social good. Example of a variety of games can be viewed via the above link.

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For instructional content that doesn’t require video or accompanying visual images, well-produced podcasts or short audio segments can be an effective method for delivering lectures, supplementary course material, or interviews with experts in an area of study.
Examples:

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Who to contact?

For more information about multimedia development assistance, please contact Rich Path.