Running head: Comprehensive Unit Plan

Comprehensive Unit Plan

Visual and Media Literacy 7490
Summer Semester 2016
Melissa Worley Brown
University of West Georgia

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Introduction

The purpose of this assignment is to identify an instructional problem within visual and media
literacy and develop a comprehensive packet based on visual and media literacy principles. This
packet will include the identification of my client, the instructional problem, the visual and
media literacy principles we utilized to solve the problem, and the rubric used to assess the final
product.
Literature Review
If you were to walk into any given school today whether it be a public school, charter school,
or private school, you would find technology in some form of fashion being used in the
classroom. From teaching, communicating, and assessing, the possibilities are endless when it
comes to the use of technology in the classroom. Its presence in the classroom among teachers
and students cant be denied. From Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and technology grants, the
technology is there and in use. How has media and technology impacted education? Researchers
have recently begun to study the influence of the use of media and technology in the classroom
and its effect on learning.
In Kozmas article, Will Media Influence Learning? Refraining the Debate (1994), he states,
In general, information can be displayed, received, stored, retrieved, organized, translated,
transformed, and evaluated among other processes (p. 10). Kozma (1994) believes that media
and method should be viewed as a partnership in instruction used to tap into students different
learning styles, prior knowledge, and interests. Media and technology help us to tap into each
childs learning style and make the most out of learning. Researchers Richard E. Mayer and
Roxanna Moreno (2003) state that with the proper creation of media, meaningful learning can
happen when the media is designed to avoid unnecessary cognitive overload. It is important that

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both teachers and students understand the importance of media literacy and the principles that
support it.
Within the 21st century classroom and the use of media, new opportunities have been
developed to assess and showcase student learning. The use of digital portfolios are a great way
to showcase students work and incorporate it with media and visual literacy. Digital portfolios
not only promote the process of learning, but with the advancements of the internet, they also
help with storage, of documents and the ability of allowing peers to assess each other's work.
According to Tezci and Dikici (2006) digital portfolios serve both the teacher and student by
providing students the opportunity to project their successes and teachers the opportunity to
evaluate the development and success of the students. Students will be responsible for their
learning and take ownership in showing their accomplishments towards a standard.

Description of Client and Instructional Problem

My clients name is Danielle Bruce. She is a seventh grade reading teacher at Morgan County
Middle School. Ms. Bruce will be utilizing the concept of digital portfolios in all of her reading
classes this year. She is in need of media and visuals that will help her to introduce to her
students what a digital portfolio is, the purpose of it, and instructions on setting one up in the
classroom. She is also in need of designing a rubric that will allow her to assess student learning
within the portfolios at the end of each grading period.

Goals and Objectives

The overall goals and objectives in this unit are to familiarize students with the concept of
digital portfolios, the purpose of them, and help them create and personalize a portfolio for the

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first nine week term. Within the portfolio, students will identify the standard they are working
on, upload evidence which documents mastery of the standard, and write a reflection about why
they think their piece shows mastery. A rubric will also be developed to assess the learning of the
standard. During this term, the following read standards will be assessed:
1. ELAGSE7RL1: Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of
what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
2. ELAGSE7RL2: Determine a theme and/or central idea of a text and analyze its
development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the
text.
3. ELAGSE7RL3: Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact
(e.g., how settings shape the characters or plot).
4. ELAGSE7RL7: Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its
audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia version, analyzing the effects of techniques
unique to each medium (e.g., lighting, sound, color, or camera focus and angles in
a film).

Overview of Instructional Plan

This plan of instruction will take place during the first few weeks of school. Ms. Bruce will
utilize this plan with all five of her seventh grade academic reading classes. All students,
including special needs students, will take part in this unit. The first step will be to introduce the
students to the concept of what a digital portfolio is and what the purpose of one is. An
infoposter will be designed to help assist Ms. Bruce with this concept. After introducing the
purpose, Ms. Bruce will show and exemplar of a student portfolio in order to help the students

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make a visual connection. A student exemplar will be created for Ms. Bruce to use. Next, Ms.
Bruce will present the rubric that will be used to assess portfolios with the students and discuss
the criteria. Once this has happened, Ms. Bruce will then show another infographic that will
provide steps for the students to develop and design their own portfolio. Students will be
utilizing weebly.com for their portfolios. Students will be given time to personalize and set up
each standard for the first nine weeks. At the end of the nine weeks, the Portfolio Rubric will be
used to assess the students on their progress towards mastery of standards.

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Timeline

Day:

Concept

Resources Needed:

One

What is a
digital
portfolio?
What is
the
purpose?

-Infoposter on Digital Portfolio (minilesson)

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/14882471-what-is-a-portfolio

Two

What does
a digital
portfolio
look like?
How is it
accessed?

-Exemplar of Student Portfolio

http://teachermelissabrown.weebly.com

How do I
create a
portfolio?

-Infographic With Steps to Create a Weebly Portfolio (minilesson)

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/14832968-portfolio-set-up

Thre
e

-Rubric for Assessment of Portfolio (minilesson)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B4LN849MAS1iwdHf77B6E9vwCNXqWpS1pmUz
usp=sharing

- Weebly links to help with manipulating the Weebly platform.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyfoK1D95uI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ud__d7G_k4
Four

What will
my
portfolio
look like?

-None Needed. Students will have time to create and personalize portfolio.

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Below are two screenshots from the student exemplar I created. I used my data as an example
and showcased some of the work I collected last year as examples. Have a visual of what the

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teacher is looking for when it comes to a portfolio will help the students better understand what
to do.

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Digital Portfolio Assessment Rubric

Exemplary -20

Satisfactory 15

The content
was precise
and directly
related to your
standard.
Product shows
mastery of
standard.
Standard was
stated and
explanation
given in own
words.
Strengths and
weaknesses
were noted.

The content
was precise
and directly
related to
your
standard.
Product
shows some
mastery of
standard.

Reflection

Reflection was
an expertly
written/
created piece
that provided
an excellent
connection to
the
standard and
showed a
deeper
understanding
of the
standard.

Reflection
was written
and provided
some
connection to
the standard
and showed
some
understandin
g of the
standard.

Reflection was
No reflection
written but did not
was written.
provide a connection
to the standard.

Citations

All images,
media or text
used within
students
portfolio were
cited

Most images,
media or text
used within
students
portfolio
were cited

Some of the images,

media or text used
within students
portfolio were cited
accurately in MLA
format.

Example of
mastery of
Standard

Fair -10
The content was
precise and directly
related to your
standard. Product
did not show
mastery of standard.
Standard was stated
but explanation was
not given. Strengths
and weaknesses
were not noted.

No competency Total
shown - 0
The content
was not related
to standard.
No standard
was stated.

Standard was
stated and
student
attempted to
explain in
own words.
Strengths and
weaknesses
were noted

No citation
were given for
the use of
others work
within
students work.

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accurately in
MLA format.

accurately in
MLA format.

Text
Elements,
Layout, and
Color

Color of
background,
fonts, and links
allow the
portfolio to be
easily read.
Design
captures the
readers
interest.

Color of
background,
fonts, and
links allow
the portfolio
to be easily
read.

Color of
background, fonts,
and links are
somewhat
distracting and make
the portfolio hard to
read.

Color of
background,
fonts, and links
are very
distracting and
make the
portfolio hard
to read.

Writing
Convention
s

All written
material was
written in
complete
sentences or
phrases that
were easy to
follow; no
misspelled
words or
blatant/careless
mistakes.

There were a
few mistakes
with regard to
spelling and
grammar, but
nothing that
detracted
from the
purpose of
the piece
(less than 8).

There were several

(more than 8)
grammatical/spelling
errors that often
distracted from the
professionalism of
the piece.

Grammar and
spelling
mistakes were
obvious and
made the piece
hard to follow.

How Artifacts Support Solution to Problem

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When it comes to digital portfolios, students will use multimedia to showcase their progress
towards mastering standards. Mrs. Bruce has chosen to use the website Weebly.com to create the
portfolios since this site links easily with the students Google based school emails. Most
students have not been introduced to the concept of digital portfolios or how to use the Weebly
program, so that is where my instructional artifacts will help.
The first artifact I created was an infoposter on what a digital portfolio is and the purpose of
one. The black background I chose and the use of the salmon colored pink and neon blue text
makes it very easy for the viewer to read the poster. In the book White Space is Not Your Enemy
(Focal Press, 2013) authors Hagen and Golombisky state the color is one of the most powerful
communication tools in a designers toolbox. There are no extraneous pictures and the pictures I
did use coincided with the text on the poster. In his book Multimedia Learning (Cambridge
Press, 2001) Mayer states people learn better from a multimedia lesson when extraneous material
is not present. This infoposter will help students understand the purpose of a digital portfolio.
The second artifact I created was an infographic on the specific steps a student must follow to
create a Weebly website. The infographic is organized in a way that students will be able to
follow. I used bolded numbers throughout the piece in order to create movement across the page
for the viewer. I chose a layout that was broken into sections, but is still part of a whole.
The third artifact I chose was a student exemplar of a digital portfolio. Using myself as an
example student, I set up the portfolio the way the directions instruct the students to do. I
completed two standards and completed the portfolio requirements for each one. I wanted
students to be able to have a visual of what they were going to be asked to do. The impact that
technology has on learning depends on a childs background information, experience using
technology, age, and gender (Hsin, Li, & Tsai, 2014). Students who have more prior knowledge

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and experience excel more on performance tasks after using technology. The students have
plenty of experience using iPads and Chromebooks, the use of the exemplar will build
background knowledge on the Weebly website for students and the function and design of the
portfolio.
The last artifact I created was a rubric to assess the portfolio. The areas assessed are mastery
of standards, reflections, citations, grammar, and textual elements. According to Chang and Wu
(2012) a portfolio assessment is considered reliable if it contains rubric that accurately reflect
learning achievements that need to be developed. I think the rubric I developed will assist
students in the creation of their portfolios and reflect their learning and progress of the standards
they are working with.
ACRL Visual and Literacy Competency Standards Addressed
Students will using a various array of visual and literacy skills to complete the assignments
prior to updating their portfolios. Through the teaching of the standards, teachers will utilize
various modes of media to assist students in preparing various products to showcase their
mastery of standards. It will be up to the students to decide what piece they will utilize in their
personal digital portfolios.
Focusing on the portfolio creating, the students will be required to make sure that all work
used within their projects that is not their own has to be cited in the correct MLA format. Each
page within their portfolio will have a citation requirement. The following Visual and Media
Literacy Standards will be used:

Standard Seven

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The visually literate student understands many of the ethical, legal, social, and economic
issues surrounding the creation and use of images and visual media, and accesses and uses
visual materials ethically.
Performance Indicators:
1. The visually literate student understands many of the ethical, legal, social, and
economic issues surrounding images and visual media.
Learning Outcomes:
a. Develops familiarity with concepts and issues of intellectual property, copyright, and fair
use as they apply to image content
b. Develops familiarity with typical license restrictions prescribing appropriate image use
c. Recognizes ones own intellectual property rights as an image creator
d. Identifies issues of privacy, ethics, and safety involved with creating, using, and sharing
images
e. Explores issues surrounding image censorship

2. The visually literate student follows ethical and legal best practices when accessing,
using, and creating images.
Learning Outcomes:
a. Identifies institutional (e.g., museums, educational institutions) policies on access to
image resources, and follows legal and ethical best practices
b. Tracks copyright and use restrictions when images are reproduced, altered, converted to
different formats, or disseminated to new contexts
c. States rights and attribution information when disseminating personally created images

3. The visually literate student cites images and visual media in papers, presentations, and
projects.
Learning Outcomes:
a. Gives attribution to image creators in citations and credit statements to acknowledge
authorship and author rights
b. Includes source information in citations and credit statements so visual materials can be
reliably found and accessed by other scholars and researchers

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c. Cites visual materials using an appropriate documentation style

Reflection on Assignment
The creation of this unit was not hard for me to do. It was just time consuming. The research
on digital portfolios which I have completed within this class gave me the information I needed
to complete the unit. The only challenge was when creating the instructional materials, I had to
think like a student. What previous knowledge do they have? What questions will they ask?
What areas will frustrate them? Through the creation of the artifacts I tried to make sure all
those questions were answered.
The creation of the artifacts were not a challenge since I had already used the programs in my
course work. I feel that Ms. Bruce is now well prepared for the first weeks of school and ready
to implement digital portfolios into her classroom.

References

ACRL Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. (2011, October 27).
Retrieved July 9, 2016, from http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/visualliteracy
Chi-Cheng, C., & Bing-Hong, W. (2012). Is teacher assessment reliable or valid for high
school students under a web-based portfolio environment?. Journal of Educational
Technology & Society, (4). 265.
EPortfolio Rubric (Digital Portfolio Rubric). (n.d.). Retrieved July 8, 2016, from
https://www2.uwstout.edu/content/profdev/rubrics/eportfoliorubric.html
Goodwin, T. (2015, December 05). Weebly Tutorial 2016 - layouts, templates, and page
structure. Retrieved July 8, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyfoK1D95uI
Hagen, R., & Golombisky, K. (2013). White space is not your enemy: A beginner's guide to
communicating visually through graphic, web & multimedia design. 2nd edition. Oxford:
Focal.

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Hicks, S. (2013, December 09). How To Use Weebly. Retrieved July 8, 2016, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ud__d7G_k4
Hsin, C.-T., Li, M.-C., & Tsai, C.-C. (2014). The influence of young children's use of technology
on their learning: A Review. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 17(4), 85-99
Kozma, R. B. (1994). Will media influence learning? Reframing the debate. Educational
Technology, Research and Development, 42(2), 7 - 19.
Mayer, R. E. (2001). Multimedia learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mayer, R. E., & Moreno, R. (2003). Nine ways to reduce cognitive load in multimedia learning.
Educational Psychologist, 38, 4352.
Portfolios (Authentic Assessment Toolbox). (n.d.). Retrieved July 8, 2016, from
http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/portfolios.htm#whyuse
Tezci, E., & Dikici, A. (2006). The effects of digital portfolio assessment process on students'
writing and drawing performances.Online Submission,