This is my action plan for my learning object.
Design Problem
The design problem for my learning object is the lack of understanding, awareness and appreciation of the barbershop style of singing.
Goals for solving the design problem?
My goal is to create a learning video that will provide sufficient information to the learner about barbershop singing, how four part harmony is created, what the voicing parts mean and where they can find more information should they chose to do so. I would like to share my knowledge of this artform with others who have not yet been exposed to it.
What am I hoping to do?
I am intending to create a PowToon video from scratch, outlining all of the information listed above. The video is cartoon-ish and meant to keep the learners attention. I'm hoping to keep it under two and a half minutes. I feel that is a short enough time frame for people to commit to watching something. I'm not sure about adding audio to it, that may become more complex than I'm willing to take on at this point in time.
Barriers/Constraints
One initial barrier will be my lack of knowledge of how to use PowToon. It's a pretty new technology for me and I'm hoping the learning curve is fairly short. Another barrier is trying to keep the video short while providing a sufficient amount of information that the learner can take away with them. It needs to be simple to remember but detailed enough to have an impact.
Mediums to be used
I will be using my laptop to access the PowToon.com website. It contains everything I need to create my learning object. All of the information contained in it will come from my own personal knowledge as a subject matter expert in this field. My background as a musical director for over 12 years and a member of a barbershop singing organization for over 24 years provides me with a solid understanding and basis for this information and its accuracy.
Timeline
I am on a very short timeline, although I have already created a draft outline of what the video will contain. I will go into more detail about this in the next section. My current timeline is as follows:
Action Plan: Nov 30
Draft Outline: Nov 26
Curation: Dec 1
Begin PowToon: Dec 1
Finalize PowToon: Dec 2
Upload to YouTube: Dec 3
Curating Stage:
Here is the draft summary of what I plan to include in my video presentation. I have sorted it out by slide and included any audio or additional graphic components I feel I may need in the presentation.
Slide 1:
Main introduction page, title 4 Part Harmony Barbershop Style. Include some thought bubbles or arrows asking a few questions such as What are the four parts? What is Barbershop? What instruments do they use?
Slide 2:
What is Barbershop? A quick summary that it doesn't have accompaniment or use instruments.
Slide 3:
The only instrument that is used is your voice. Perhaps an open mouth for the graphic. Add in three additional of whatever graphic is used to create a quartet format. I may look for an example I have in my own audio files of a barbershop chord being sung one part at a time to demonstrate chording.
Slide 4:
Introduce each of the four voice parts.
Slide 5:
Each part has it's own balance and range. Talk in more detail about what balance (how loud or soft you sing) is and what range means (how high or low you sing). I have no suggestion for a graphic on this page, I'm hoping something will pop out at me as I'm designing the text portion.
Slide 6:
I would like to add a picture of the barbershop cone, perhaps find a graphic of an upside down ice cream cone that will rotate upside down. Add each voice part and some text around the role of each part in creating the four part harmony.
Slide 7:
Discuss that even thought its called four part harmony, the lead actually sings the melody. The melody is the part of the song that every recognizes and sings at karaoke (I may not add this as an example).
Slide 8:
Put a picture of a man and a woman up on the screen to demonstrate that both men and women sing barbershop.
Slide 9:
Talk about how both men and women can sing in a larger group or chorus, or how they can sing with three other people and form a quartet. Each person in the quartet sings a different part.
Slide 10:
Talk about each of the barbershop singing organizations in North America (perhaps add that some of them are actually international?). Sweet Adelines International, Harmony Incorporated, and the men's Barbershop Harmony Society (formerly S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A). The society for the preservation and encouragement of barbershop quartet singing in america.
Slide 11:
Add a graphic of a computer or tablet and add text or links to each of the above mentioned websites for further information.
Design Problem
The design problem for my learning object is the lack of understanding, awareness and appreciation of the barbershop style of singing.
Goals for solving the design problem?
My goal is to create a learning video that will provide sufficient information to the learner about barbershop singing, how four part harmony is created, what the voicing parts mean and where they can find more information should they chose to do so. I would like to share my knowledge of this artform with others who have not yet been exposed to it.
What am I hoping to do?
I am intending to create a PowToon video from scratch, outlining all of the information listed above. The video is cartoon-ish and meant to keep the learners attention. I'm hoping to keep it under two and a half minutes. I feel that is a short enough time frame for people to commit to watching something. I'm not sure about adding audio to it, that may become more complex than I'm willing to take on at this point in time.
Barriers/Constraints
One initial barrier will be my lack of knowledge of how to use PowToon. It's a pretty new technology for me and I'm hoping the learning curve is fairly short. Another barrier is trying to keep the video short while providing a sufficient amount of information that the learner can take away with them. It needs to be simple to remember but detailed enough to have an impact.
Mediums to be used
I will be using my laptop to access the PowToon.com website. It contains everything I need to create my learning object. All of the information contained in it will come from my own personal knowledge as a subject matter expert in this field. My background as a musical director for over 12 years and a member of a barbershop singing organization for over 24 years provides me with a solid understanding and basis for this information and its accuracy.
Timeline
I am on a very short timeline, although I have already created a draft outline of what the video will contain. I will go into more detail about this in the next section. My current timeline is as follows:
Action Plan: Nov 30
Draft Outline: Nov 26
Curation: Dec 1
Begin PowToon: Dec 1
Finalize PowToon: Dec 2
Upload to YouTube: Dec 3
Curating Stage:
Here is the draft summary of what I plan to include in my video presentation. I have sorted it out by slide and included any audio or additional graphic components I feel I may need in the presentation.
Slide 1:
Main introduction page, title 4 Part Harmony Barbershop Style. Include some thought bubbles or arrows asking a few questions such as What are the four parts? What is Barbershop? What instruments do they use?
Slide 2:
What is Barbershop? A quick summary that it doesn't have accompaniment or use instruments.
Slide 3:
The only instrument that is used is your voice. Perhaps an open mouth for the graphic. Add in three additional of whatever graphic is used to create a quartet format. I may look for an example I have in my own audio files of a barbershop chord being sung one part at a time to demonstrate chording.
Slide 4:
Introduce each of the four voice parts.
Slide 5:
Each part has it's own balance and range. Talk in more detail about what balance (how loud or soft you sing) is and what range means (how high or low you sing). I have no suggestion for a graphic on this page, I'm hoping something will pop out at me as I'm designing the text portion.
Slide 6:
I would like to add a picture of the barbershop cone, perhaps find a graphic of an upside down ice cream cone that will rotate upside down. Add each voice part and some text around the role of each part in creating the four part harmony.
Slide 7:
Discuss that even thought its called four part harmony, the lead actually sings the melody. The melody is the part of the song that every recognizes and sings at karaoke (I may not add this as an example).
Slide 8:
Put a picture of a man and a woman up on the screen to demonstrate that both men and women sing barbershop.
Slide 9:
Talk about how both men and women can sing in a larger group or chorus, or how they can sing with three other people and form a quartet. Each person in the quartet sings a different part.
Slide 10:
Talk about each of the barbershop singing organizations in North America (perhaps add that some of them are actually international?). Sweet Adelines International, Harmony Incorporated, and the men's Barbershop Harmony Society (formerly S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A). The society for the preservation and encouragement of barbershop quartet singing in america.
Slide 11:
Add a graphic of a computer or tablet and add text or links to each of the above mentioned websites for further information.