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xList of tables

6.2Applying Table 5.3 to the print-led video package, in which printed material guides the study of Actuality Video (e.g. video

observation of classroom activity)

137

6.3How the pedagogic video design principles (Table 5.3) apply to the video and print components of the three types of video

	package	139
6.4	Loose vs. tight outgoing or incoming commentary	160
6.5	Words preceding pictures	171
A2.1	Alternative classification of the principles of Table 5.3, in terms
	of the three narrative archetypes of Figure 6.5.	221

A c k n o w l e d g e m e n t s

Chapter 4 is an updated version of the paper by Koumi (1994a).

The sixty-nine illustrative drawings in Chapters 1 to 3, numbered Figure 1.1 to 3.2c, represent video clips. Thirty-nine of these clips were produced by the University of Sheffield’s Learning Development and Media Unit, which has kindly granted permission to refer to them (acknowledged as ‘LDMU’ below). Kind permission to feature three other video clips has been granted by the Educational Broadcasting Services Trust. The corresponding figures are acknowledged as ‘EBS’ below.

The illustrations were drawn by Heather Koumi.

S e r i e s e d i t o r ’ s f o r e w o r d

The moving image, coupled with sound, is a powerful medium. It has the ability to grab the attention of a casual viewer and to engage learners. It has developed rapidly from the era of black and white silent moves, via video cassette to the highquality productions that are available today. Its popularity amongst the general public is evident in the size of TV and cinema audiences and sales of DVDs.

Within a training environment instructional film has been in widespread use for over fifty years – particularly in the armed forces, industry and commerce. However, whilst many colleges and universities explored the use of CCTV in the 1960s the significant milestone in the use of the moving image and sound in higher education can be linked to a political rally in 1969 when the former UK Prime Minister Harold Wilson presented his vision of a ‘University of the Air’, a vision to be subsequently realised by Doris Lee in the form of the UK Open University. It was to be a university that would embrace the use of broadcast media and make higher education available to tens of thousands of students each year. In reality the broadcast component of an Open University degree was relatively modest but its impact was huge. It is noteworthy that the mega universities of the world, as well as other institutions, all include TV and video in the learning resources they offer their students – be it broadcast or made available by DVD or streaming video.

Whilst television is a powerful medium it is not cheap, as Greville Rumble has demonstrated, nor is learning from the medium automatic – as confirmed by Tony Bates. The successful production of educational television or video and its integration into a course of study requires an experienced academic and producer, skilled scriptwriter and technician, experienced cameraman and sounder recordist. Such teams are expensive and there are few individuals who possess this combination of experience and skill; Jack Koumi is one of these people. Prior to conducting the Educational TV course at the UK Open University for academics/ producers from around the world he was a senior OU Producer responsible for numerous educational productions. His subsequent consultancy work around the world has given Jack a unique insight into the problems faced by institutions wishing to include TV and video materials into their teaching.

However, perhaps the major contribution Jack is making to the field is in his categorization of various media types that allows academics and producers to be

Series editor’s foreword xiii

fully aware of the potential of the medium and how the medium can be used to create different effects. For those of us involved in the production of teaching material, including the moving image, this book will be invaluable. The insights it provides will allow us to make maximum use of the potential of the medium and for our learners to gain maximum benefit.

Fred Lockwood

Yelvertoft, 2006

S t u d y g u i d e – h o w y o u m i g h t u s e t h i s b o o k

The four parts of the book, summarized in the following table can be studied independently.

The four parts of the book

	Video	Other media and multimedia
Appropriate teaching functions	1	2
Pedagogic design principles	3	4

Each part, described in more detail below, will suit readers with varying interests and responsibilities, as follows.

Part I (Chapters 1, 2 and 3) is on techniques and teaching functions that exploit video’s strengths. It considers video techniques and teaching functions that could not be achieved as well by other media. Each pedagogic category, individually, might be familiar to readers experienced in video production. However, the full categorization pulls it all together, providing a comprehensive basis for deciding when to use video.

Target audience for Part I: all course developers who have the option of incorporating video into their teaching resources. The categorization would help to identify the parts of the course for which video would add most value and to choose or commission video packages judiciously.

Part II (Chapter 4) is on matching media attributes to learning tasks. This goes beyond video. It considers the different capabilities and limitations of a range of different media.

Target audience for Part 2: it is appropriate for course developers who are concerned with optimizing media deployment.

Part III (Chapters 5 and 6) is on screenwriting principles. It returns to video for a most crucial topic: the principles of effective screenwriting for educational

Study guide xv

video. This topic has not been covered in any depth elsewhere in the literature. The screenwriting principles are micro-level (practicable) design principles for educational video.

Target audience for Part III: readers who design educational video should find these two chapters of more immediate practical value.

Following Chapter 5 (the first chapter of Part III), which gives an overview, those readers who are practising designers are invited to postpone Chapter 6 until after they have carried out some real screenwriting work. Chapter 6 discusses all 46 design principles in detail.

Readers who are not practising video designers may not wish to study the details in Chapter 6. Chapter 5 gives a sufficient overview to help course developers choose or commission video that is effectively designed pedagogically.

Part IV consists of the final two chapters (Chapters 7 and 8) on picture–word synergy for audiovision and multimedia. These chapters go beyond video, dealing with screenwriting for audiovision (lower tech audio-print composite packages) and for (higher tech) multimedia packages with audio commentary. The screenwriting principles are micro-level (practicable) design principles for audiovision and multimedia. The lower-tech audiovision has great potential in situations where higher tech multimedia is not feasible for whatever reason (e.g. inadequate budget or infrastructure).

Target audience for Part IV: These chapters are suitable mainly for readers who design audiovision and multimedia. They can also help course developers choose or commission audiovision and multimedia that are effectively designed pedagogically.

Pa r t I

Te c h n i q u e s a n d t e a c h i n g f u n c t i o n s t h a t e x p l o i t

v i d e o ’ s s t r e n g t h s ,

a d d i n g p e d a g o g i c v a l u e

Introduction: the added - value categories

The 27 categories of video described in Table 0.1 can add substantial value to educational multimedia (termed instructional multimedia in North America). The term multimedia is used here to apply both to a computer package that includes video segments and to a multiple media course with video as an ingredient.

The categories are video techniques and teaching functions that exploit video’s distinctive strengths and that print cannot achieve as effectively. In fact for most categories, neither can audio alone, inside the multimedia package, nor even a face-to-face teacher outside the package. The categories are divided into three domains.

1 Assisting LEARNING and SKILLS development

2 Providing (vicarious) EXPERIENCES (the role most often assigned to TV in many institutions)

3 NURTURING (motivations, feelings)

The claim that the categories in Table 0.1 add distinctive value to learning has not been researched empirically. Rather, it derives from experts’ opinions. About half the categories correspond to the ‘distinctive value video list’ drawn up in the 1980s by the UK Open University’s Broadcast Allocations Committee, with the purpose of ensuring cost-effective use of video. This list comprised the techniques and teaching functions that video could deliver distinctively well compared to other available media (as adjudged by consensus through the years). OU course teams had to make a strong case. They had to convince the committee that the learning outcomes they intended for video really did need one or more of the techniques and teaching functions in the ‘distinctive value video list’. That is, they had to demonstrate that other, cheaper media would be much less effective. Through the years, this procedure led to the compilation of 18 functions that were adjudged to exploit the strengths of video and that needed video in order to be achieved distinctively well (Bates 1984: appendix). These 18 have been expanded into the above 27 categories as a result of further deliberation.

The basis of the value-added claim for these categories is the rich symbol system of video, that is, video’s moving pictures, real-time or slow motion, real-life or