This week my S5/6 students were looking at the personnel involved in creating multimedia applications. To give the group more responsibility in creation of their Little Big Planet level I decided to form a development team to reinforce the skills and keywords associated with the Applied Multimedia topic.
Each student was asked to study the job descriptions of project manager, multimedia designer, media specialist, multimedia programmer, webmaster and subject specialist from their notes and then decide which of the jobs they wanted to apply for. I interviewed each student individually, asking them questions relevant to the job they were applying for. The students took it seriously and most gave well thought out responses to the dilemmas posed.
The potential problem in this task was that all the students would choose the same role! Luckily this did not happen and although I had multiple applicants for the role of project manager (why not?) their interview responses helped decide which student would be most suitable for the initial tasks.
I’ve included the powerpoint from the lesson below which includes the first task the new team had to complete before designing the level for Market Place Primary.
Next step is to meet with the new project manager and help her decide how to begin the project. Each member of her team will have an initial task and a clearly defined role, reinforcing theory concepts.
The advantages of approaching the final Little Big Planet level as a team rather than an individual are:
- less duplication of effort.
- each student has a chance to explore an area of multimedia which inspires them (and this may not include Little Big Planet).
- development of social skills, interview technique and real-world communication skills.
- chance to work to a deadline as part of a team (where the implications of failure to meet these deadlines affect the whole team, as it would in a work situation).
