Media Literacy (blog 3)

The readings for this week presented some interesting principles for making media presentations. The concepts were very basic, but it was sort of a light bulb moment for me, in that, I know when a presentation that a teacher gives in class is hard to follow or distracting, but I can't always pinpoint why. The four key aspects that the readings focused on were contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity (which spells CRAP, not the classiest of acronyms, but not easily forgotten). Whether you are designing a web page or a power point, these are very important things to take into account, for example,

this discrepancy in color (contrast),

Spaci n g (PROXIMITY)

SIZE

(alignment)
and font ( repetition) are
somewhat
distracting

and
would makeit
very

difficult
to focus on what you're reading.

These principles clearly have a huge importance for teachers, who often utilize media tools in presenting information to students. Classrooms provide learning environments for all different types of learners, and while some children benefit from direct auditory instruction, others rely more heavily on visual aids, and others learn through interaction. It's important for teachers to take this into account, but if a presentation is difficult to follow or distracting, then it defeats the entire purpose of using it. For special needs classes especially, with children who may struggle with concepts and possess a shorter attention span, media presentations can be very engaging and helpful, but only if well designed.

Here's an example of a presentation gone wrong, the speech is beautiful and motivating if you listen to it, but adding the visuals, because of their design in this case, really takes away from the speech's impact: