Multimedia Design Project Assessment (MDPA) Report Template

Product URL: https://audiencewebquest.weebly.com/

Analysis
School Context
I teach 10th grade language arts at a public high school, Berkmar High School, in
Gwinnett County. My district is huge, with thirteen high schools total. My school,
like many Title I schools in my district, is an academy model school, where
students have the option to choose a pathway (like a major) to study. As part of
the academy model, we are on a modified 8-block schedule: Mondays every class
meets for 50 minutes, and for the rest of the week students attend four 90-minute
classes per day on a rotating basis (PSC 2.5). This means that I see my students 3
times per week. We are technology-rich school, not one-to-one, but I don’t have a
problem with access to mobile laptop carts, Chromebooks or computers labs when
needed.
Class & Learner Context
Typically, my class size averages around 30 students. I teach Advance Placement
with an open door policy, which means that AP classes are open to any student
who wishes to take an AP class. About 10-20% of my students are in the gifted
program, and some are twice exception, with special education support as well. I
frequently have students who are in high need of reading and writing support
(PSC 2.5). The majority of my students are non-native English speakers, and
many of them have exited the ELL program and are currently monitored. The vast
majority of the student population is low-income, with 86% of the student
population on free-or-reduced lunch. My students are well versed in project-based
learning since it has been a big initiative at my school for the past two years (PSC
2.6).
Tasks Context
The learning objective of this WebQuest is to give students a deeper
understanding of how an audience’s background, beliefs, and values inform the
message of a text. Audience is an important concept in rhetorical analysis, one of
the three big tasks on the AP English Language exam. I’m imagining this
assignment as an approachable scaffold before students move on to the much
more difficult task of analyzing audience in a cold read of a challenging text, as
they will do on the AP exam.
Task Technology
For this assignment, I will reserve laptop carts/Chromebooks so that each student
has a device. It should also be noted that most of my students have phones, and
some even prefer to do classwork on their personal devices. However, I think this
project could move forward with a computer for every other child (15 computers)
for the first 2 days, since these are the group project days. The 3rd day will require
30 computers (PSC 2.5). I will need to prepare students for this assignment by
introducing them to Google Docs and Drive at an earlier date, and they will need
to know to log on to eClass before they can view the embedded Google Docs. I
feel equipped to teach students technology, but for day 2 of the project, while
students are teaching themselves a multimedia presentation tool, it might be nice
to have a technology coach or media specialist present so that we can both
manage and troubleshoot as groups work.
ELA Standards
This assignment will cover standards from Unit 2 of the AP English Language
and Composition Course and Exam Description (Effective 2019):

 RHS-1.F --Writers’ perceptions of an audience’s values, beliefs, needs,

and background guide the choices they make.
 RHS-1.G --To achieve a purpose, writers make choices in an attempt to
relate to an intended audience’s emotions and values.
 RHS-1.H --Arguments seek to persuade or motivate action through
appeals—the modes of persuasion.
Student Technology Standards (ISTE-S)
Additionally, this assignment includes the following student technology standard:
1. Empowered Learner
 1d Students understand the fundamental concepts of technology
operations, demonstrate the ability to choose, use and troubleshoot current
technologies and are able to transfer their knowledge to explore emerging
technologies.
3. Knowledge Constructor
 3b Students evaluate the accuracy, perspective, credibility and relevance
of information, media, data or other resources.
 3c Students curate information from digital resources using a variety of
tools and methods to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate
meaningful connections or conclusions.
4. Innovative Designer
 4b Students select and use digital tools to plan and manage a design
process that considers design constraints and calculated risks.
 4d Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance and the
capacity to work with open-ended problems.
6. Creative Communicator
  6a Students choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the
desired objectives of their creation or communication.
 6b Students create original works or responsibly repurpose or remix digital
resources into new creations.
 6d Students publish or present content that customizes the message and
medium for their intended audiences.

Task Analysis
The enduring understanding of this assignment is that authors compose within a
particular situation and make strategic choices based on the specific context of that
situation (RHS-1). Student skills include:

 Reading analysis--Explain how an argument demonstrates understanding

of an audience’s beliefs, values, or needs (1.B).
 Writing – Demonstrate an understanding of an audience’s beliefs, values,
or needs (2.B).
Students will need work at their own pace and manage their time appropriately, as some
90-minute blocks have more than one activity. Students will need to collaborate on the
research and the multimedia presentation. (PSC 2.1)

Design
Overview
This project is loosely based on a lesson I already do without any technology. My
hook for the project is one I’ve done before, and one that works well for a teenage
audience (PSC 2.6). This time I added the padlet as a way for students to display
their answers to the class and to get them to think more about the differences in
audience without being told (PSC 2.2, 2.3). What’s new to this lesson is the “Grit”
TedTalk and the student synthesis of multiple sources explaining the concept of
audience in the process page (PSC 2.4). I knew I wanted to include multimedia
content, especially since it’s helpful for English Language Learners, in the
teaching phase of lesson—with the TedTalk—and the multimedia student product
in order to make this a project that includes Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
through multiple representations in means and expression (PSC 2.1, 2.5, 2.6). I
also know that some of my students are ready for a serious challenge while others
need more scaffolding and support for complex tasks. By asking students to do
research and present their learning as if they are the instructor, the task has room
for learners of different ability levels to adjust the task to their needs (PSC 2.5,
2.6). I included closed captioning on the YouTube video and a link to the
transcript from Ted.com to support students with disabilities and English
language learners (PSC 3.4)
Here’s a list of digital resources included in this project (PSC 4.2):
 Duckworth, A. L. Grit: The power of passion and perseverance. Retrieved from
www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_an
d_perseverance
How to Speak and Write With an Audience in Mind. ThoughtCo. Retrieved from
www.thoughtco.com/audience-rhetoric-and-composition-1689147
Multimedia Presentation Rubric. Retrieved from
www.uen.org/rubric/previewRubric.html?id=16
Partner Read Directions - YouTube. Retrieved from www.youtube.com/watch?
v=IOiKGjaneVk&feature=youtu.be
Rhetoric’s Audience. Retrieved July 19, 2019, from
https://blogs.elon.edu/cupid/2016/03/18/rhetorics-audience/
The Rhetorical Triangle: Making Your Communications Credible and Engaging.
Retrieved from www.mindtools.com/pages/article/RhetoricalTriangle.htm
Understanding the Rhetorical Triangle for AP English Language. Retrieved July
19, 2019, from www.albert.io/blog/understanding-the-rhetorical-triangle-
for-ap-english-language/
Other materials:

 All graphic organizers were made by me on Google docs.

 Both rubrics were adapted from the “Multimedia Project Rubric” cited
above.
 The two John Smith texts were adapted from an APSI conference
delivered by consultant Ann Rudkin in Athens, Ga. Texts are from the
public domain.
 ELA standards are from ap-english-language-and-composition-course-
and-exam-description.pdf. Retrieved July 19, 2019, from
https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/pdf/ap-english-language-and-
composition-course-and-exam-description.pdf
 ISTE-S standards were retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-
students

Development
I developed this project over the course of two weeks. During this time I created a
website through Weebly for educators. I decided to use weebly because I had
recent experience with it creating the ITEC digital portfolio, and I knew it would
be user-friendly and versatile enough to deliver my content (PSC 3.6). I also
included other digital resources through embedded links, including my YouTube
channel, Ted.com and padlet (PSC 3.3). I also hyperlinked to content on online
learning sites, professional blogs, and google docs (PSC 3.3). The biggest
 learning curve for the project was struggling with Weebly timing out and
crashing. I found that after I enabled Flash and SSL the website ran much more
smoothly (PSC 3.5). For the partner directions video, I learned how to include
automatic closed captioning and edit closed captioning on a YouTube video (PSC
6.1). I worked with the editing site pulled up on the tab next to the live site, so I
could publish frequently and see how the changes I made looked as I went (PSC
3.5). My most frequent error was forgetting to hyperlink the buttons at the bottom
of each page to an internal page. This was easily resolved once I discovered the
error (PSC 3.5).

Implementation
To implement this project, I will need 15 laptops/Chromebooks on Days 1 & 2
and 30 laptops/Chromebooks (a full class set) on day 3. I would like to have a
technology or media specialist present on day 2 of the project to help me assist
students as they learn a new technology (PSC 3.1, 3.2, 3.5). At the beginning of
class, students will need to sign in to the student portal, so they will be able to
access the Google docs linked in the assignment. Additionally, I will need to
teach basic Google Drive and Google Docs skills (naming and organizing files,
sharing, etc.) in advance of this project. With that said, I did try to be very explicit
with Google Docs instructions within the WebQuest to remind students how to
use the technology (PSC 4.1). Students will have a week (3 class periods) to
compete the project. All work will be due before midnight on the final day;
students may do work at home/during study hall if they so choose. However,
students will have enough time in class to complete all parts of the task (PSC 4.1).

Evaluation
I will know if this WebQuest actually helps students learn and if it is a well-
designed project from the student perspective through observation, rubrics
measuring student learning outcomes, and a feedback survey.
Student Learning –
For this project, students are expected to produce two products to show their
learning: 1.) a group multimedia presentation that teaches the class about
audience, and 2.) a speech, written individually, adapted to a new audience
context. Both student products will be scored according to the rubrics in the
evaluation section of the WebQuest. I will know if students have learned the skills
in the project if they score well (excellent or satisfactory) on both products
according to the rubric. Also, since I have taught this concept before without
technology, I can compare student products from this lesson to student outcomes
from previous years to assess whether learning has increased due to technology. I
will be taking notes or formatively assessing students continuously throughout the
 project in addition to evaluating student work at the end completion of the project
(summative) (PSC 2.7).
Product Design –
To test whether this Webquest is well-designed from a student perspective, I will
take notes during implementation, or even ask a few students from previous years
to view a proto-type of the project (PSC 2.6) Also, since I have a classroom
camera, I could videotape students as they go through the lesson. Additionally, I
plan on making a feedback form on Google Forms to evaluate quality of the
product from a student perspective. Some questions I will include on the survey
are: Is the task and the learning objective clear? Is the reading level appropriate?
Do the multimedia elements enhance the WebQuest? The Target audience for this
lesson are my 10th grade AP Lang sections, and I plan to fully implement this
project in with my students in the fall.

Reflection
If I were to do it all again, I would start earlier and create multimedia pieces in the
skills assessment that are applicable to the final project. The video assessment, for
example, could have very easily been part of this project had I planned ahead. I
really like the learner-centered research and multimedia group presentation parts
of my project. They are new elements that I think do something I don’t think I
could do in the classroom without technology. I guess in that sense, the second
half of Day 1 and Day 2 are the transformative parts of the project. Day 3 is very
similar something I might do in classroom without technology, with some
modifications. If I were to start this project from scratch again, I might try to
incorporate a higher level of authenticity. I struggle with this sometimes in an
advanced class. I need my students to be writers and readers foremost, since this
is the professional role I’m preparing them for. However, I do feel like I could
have had them assume a role they may have been more excited about (maybe
something in advertising or marketing?).
In terms of the WebQuest’s structure, I knew I wanted to have students adapt a
piece for a new audience since this is the standard I want them to learn. In order to
make this doable in three days, I decided to have students refer back to a text they
are already familiar with (the TedTalk) for the adaptation, rather than introducing
something completely new. I added the multimedia presentation in the middle of
the project as a learning cycle between the concept’s introduction and its most
challenging activity. It might even be nice to expand the timeframe of this lesson
so as to provide student feedback on their multimedia presentation before they
write the audience adaptation. This would be ideal.
Through creating this project, I learned to have patience with technology and to
troubleshoot or change directions when I encounter problems. I liked that I had to
push myself to let my students be the knowledge constructors. In the past, I’ve
taught audience in lecture format as a mini-lesson, but I can see the value of
having students teach me the concept. Additionally, if I were to revise this project
I might make it less narrow; I might make it “rhetorical situation” or a larger,
more complex topic rather than a very specific topic, like audience.
To teach this same concept to learners at different abilities or ages, I recommend
changing the web resources for student research in Day 2 (PSC 2.5). Since this is
an AP class, I tried to include more academic, age and level-appropriate sources.
Additionally, I also recommend modifying the multimedia options. I chose ones
that are advanced, independent learners, but I can see this activity being adapted
for younger students by changing the options (PSC 2.5).