Message Design

1. Message Design Principles for Public School Teachers

2. Message Design Key Terms • Message • Instruction and Learning • Media • Message Design

3. Message • Patterns of signs or symbols used for communication from sender to receiver. • A sign or symbol can be anything that comes to mean something else that stimulates one of the five senses.

4. Instruction and Learning • Instruction is focused more on the physical form of a message and occurs outside the learner. • Learning is the result cognitive processes that happen inside of the learner. • Good instruction does not guarantee learning. • Learning can happen separate of instruction.

5. Media • Media is the carrier of the message. • There is some disagreement over the importance of media. • Some view it as simply a conveyance, like a delivery truck. • Others feel that message design principles are not generic to all media, giving greater importance to the media.

6. Message Design • Message design is one step in the instructional development process that encompasses all three of the afore mentioned terms. • Message design involves manipulating the message conveyed to achieve better instruction and ultimately more learning.

7. Message Design for Instruction and Learning • Message Design can be broken into two parts. • Each of the following parts focuses on one key aspect of message design but both can be applied on the same project. • Message Design for Instruction • Message Design for Learning

8. Message Design for Instruction • Instruction involves the physical form of the message one conveys. • Message Design for Instruction involves: • Text Design • Consistency and appearance of a document. Spacing, graphics, subheadings, etc. • Computer Display Design • Similar to text design but focusing on effective use of whitespace, attention grabbing wipes and erases, limited scrolling and keystrokes, etc.

9. Message Design for Learning • Learning is an internal cognitive process. • Message Design for Learning involves structuring a message to encourage learning. • This may include: • Organization of material to promote a learning meaningfully drawing on past knowledge. • Strategies that promote active participation as a means to promote the participant learning. • Initial material followed by interactive dialogue and multifaceted problems to solve.

10. So What? • Why should I be concerned with message design in my classroom?

11. Better Achievement • Better Instruction • Better Learning • Better Achievement

12. Instruction • Content of a message is important. • Delivering that content in a pleasing and attention grabbing manner can impact student interest and retention. • Design text with attention in mind. • Design or choose computer based experiences with ease of use and visual appeal in mind. • This can pay dividends in student engagement and understanding.

13. Learning • Structure assignments in such a manner that students are continually challenged. • Provide base knowledge and then provide meaningful experiences with which to use that knowledge to solve more complex problems. • Choose or construct experiences where interactive dialogue can take place. • Engaged students want to learn and studies show engagement leads to more retention.

14. Achievement • When students are engaged by well designed materials as well as materials organized in a manner that promotes engagement they will take a more active role in learning. • Students taking active ownership of the learning process will make greater strides toward achieving the goals we set before them.

15. References: • Anglin, G.J.(1992). Instructional Technology: Past, Present, and Future (2nd Edition). Colorado: Libraries Unlimited