Running Head: Comprehensive Plan 1

Comprehensive Instructional Design Plan

Janet G. Donald
MEDT 7490
University of West Georgia
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Client Information:
Elizabeth Hauenstein-(333114)
Elizabeth.Hauenstein@Cobbk12.org

Instructional Problem

Mrs. Hauenstein is a 3rd grade classroom teacher who co-teaches a special education class in the

Cobb County School District. The class is currently learning about European explorers in social

studies. The teacher on her team, who is responsible for lesson plans in this content area, has

given Mrs. Hauenstein a packet with a required project for a report on an explorer of the students

choosing from a list. The packet has no visuals and the directions are all in text only. This does

not follow Dual Coding or Mayer’s 12 Principals for Multimedia Learning.

Instructional Model

The instructional model I chose was backward design. First, I considered the learning goals of

the unit, which was for the students to learn about the European explorers lives, where and how

they traveled, what they discovered and/or saw during their travels, and to be able to verbally

present what they learned. Then, I thought about the performance task to determine evidence of

the understanding and learning of the standard, which was their project. Finally, I considered the

packet the third grade team was expecting students to follow to complete their project. The

packet provided were text only documents without pictures. These steps of backward design

assisted me in the decision to create materials and resources to assist the students in

accomplishing the goal.

Description of the Re-Designed Lesson

After speaking with Mrs. Hauenstein and learning about her student’s needs, the first artifact I

created was an infographic on Piktograph to follow the signaling and multimedia principals. The

infographic organizes the required elements of the project with text and a picture below each
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element. The second artifact is a Voki of Christopher Columbus explaining the required elements

of the project. This follows the modality principle and will be presented in the beginning of the

mini-lesson and introduction of the project. These re-designed pieces of the packet will clarify

the directions and assist the students who struggle with reading to have a visual of each required

element.

Method to Assess/Evaluate the Lesson

To evaluate the students’ knowledge and understanding of European explorers’ project, Mrs.

Hauenstein will use the weighted rubric I re-designed and included in this packet and will be

scoring students based on 100 points with 30 points given for the main essay on their explorer.

The original rubric did not have a section for feedback or glows and grows, which I believe are

important to help the students have a clear understanding if they met the expectations or need to

improvement in an area. Lastly, I added a note on copyright and giving credit if they use any

photographs from the internet or other reference materials.

Artifacts Instructional Solution

During this course, we have referenced Mayer’s Multimedia Principles of Design and read

Teaching Visual Literacy by Nancy Frey and Douglas Fisher. We know that humans process

visuals 60,000 times faster than text (Frey and Fisher, 2008). After reviewing the lesson for Mrs.

Hauenstein’s class, it was evident the materials had to be redesigned to include visuals. This was

particularly important due to her class being a special education model. The designing and re-

designing of materials were to solidify their understanding of the requirements of the explorer

project.

I implemented Mayer’s spatial contiguity and multimedia principles on the infographic pairing

corresponding words and pictures because we know people learn better from words and text and
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not text alone. Following the coherence principal, I took out extraneous words in the infographic

and kept it basic to follow the directions. In the Voki to introduce the project, I used the modality

and personalization principles because students learn better from graphics and narration and from

words in conversational style rather than formal. The directions from the packet given to the

classroom teachers were too formal and higher level reading.

ACRL Visual & Literacy Competency Standards

The comprehensive instructional design plan addresses the following ACRL Visual and Literacy

Competency Standards:

Standard One: The visually literate student determines the nature and extent of the visual

materials needed.

1. The visually literate student defines and articulates the need for an image.

a. Defines the purpose of the image within the project.

c. Articulates criteria that need to be met by the image

d. Identifies key concepts and terms that describe the image

Standard Five: The visually literate student uses images and visual media effectively.

4. The visually literate student communicates effectively with and about images.

a. Writes clearly about images for different purposes

Standard Six

The visually literate student designs and creates meaningful images and visual media.

1. The visually literate student produces visual materials for a range of projects

a. Creates images and visual media to represent and communicate concepts, and

narratives

b. Constructs accurate and appropriate graphic representations of data and information

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Reflection

The comprehensive instructional design assignment gave me the opportunity to work with an

incredibly talented and innovative teacher. Mrs. Hauenstein has her students’ best interest at

heart and goes over and beyond to make sure they are successful. She was open to all of my

ideas and appreciated the redesign of instructional materials. The challenge to this assignment

was finding a large block of time in our schedules to collaborate. We are both full time teachers

at different schools but she was very accommodating. In addition, each person on her 3rd grade

team has a subject area that is their responsibility to create lesson plans for the whole team. I did

not want to offend the person who gave her the lesson for the explorer unit, but Mrs. Hauenstein

and I came up with a plan to address why some of the materials were redesigned. Every teacher

should have the opportunity to learn the benefits and impact of visual literacy when planning

lessons. I am hopeful to teach others in my field how to incorporate Mayer’s Principles and

visual literacy in their classrooms.

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References

ACRL Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (2011). Retrieved from
http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/visualliteracy on November 20, 2015.

Frey, N., & Fisher, D. (2010). Teaching Visual Literacy. Victoria: Hawker Brownlow.

Walsh, K. (2018, July 04). Kelly Walsh. Retrieved from

https://www.emergingedtech.com/2017/06/mayers-12-principles-of-multimedia-learning-
are-a-powerful-design-resource/

https://create.piktochart.com/output/37714644-untitled-infographic

https://www.voki.com/site/pickup?scid=15412321&chsm=f186472a119b25ef6c3ccf4b8df84ef7
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EUROPEAN EXPLORERS PROJECT

Points
Element Earned Points Comments
Possible

Portrait (Cover - Page 1) Any images copied from 10

the internet or a book must be cited due to
copyright
 The portrait or glued picture accurately
portrays the student’s explorer.
 The portrait is neat and detailed.
Biographical Overview & Flag (Page 2) 10
 All questions answered accurately.
 Student has all necessary information.
 The country’s flag is drawn accurately and
neatly.
Main Events Essay (Page 3) 30
 The essay accurately describes the purpose
and main events of the explorer’s journey.
 The essay mentions the starting point,
lands discovered or explored, and the end
of the journey.
 Essay is written in complete sentences
with correct grammar, spelling, and
punctuation.
Transportation and Crew (Page 4) 15
 Description of the crew that accompanied
the explorer.
 The type of ships or transportation is
described in detail.
 The picture is carefully and accurately
drawn.
Map (Page 5) 15
 The map of the explorer’s journey is
accurate.
 Oceans and important places are labeled.
Bibliography (Page 6) 10
 Several sources of information are listed.
Titles, authors, and website addresses are
included.
Presentation 10
 Handwriting is clear and easy to read.
Words spelled correctly.
 There are no wrinkled or ripped pages in
the packet.
Total Points Earned 100
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