Do you sometimes wonder where to start when developing educational multimedia? Or have you experienced challenges when working with teaching staff to develop media-supported courseware?
Multimedia can be a powerful tool for enhancing student engagement, yet creating truly impactful content often presents significant challenges, demanding considerable time and effort. In response to these obstacles, the TransACTION! Co-Creation Framework offers a solution. It provides a structured five-stage roadmap, fostering collaboration among educators, teaching staff, multimedia specialists, and learners to seamlessly develop high-quality multimedia resources. By emphasising collaboration, the framework enables all stakeholders to co-create content at various levels, tailored to the specific needs of each project.
The TransACTION! Framework consists of five core stages that streamline the multimedia production process:
STEP 1: Contextualising
This phase lays the foundation for successful multimedia development. Here, the educational context is established by examining the curriculum, learning objectives, and assessment criteria. The target audience and their needs are identified, ensuring alignment with the course structure and learning activities.
STEP 2: Collect & Compare
In this step, existing multimedia resources are evaluated for their suitability. This includes assessing if materials can be directly used, adapted, or serve as inspiration, all while ensuring copyright compliance. If suitable materials aren’t readily available, the focus shifts to creating new content aligned with the learning objectives.
STEP 3: Resources & Quality
This step establishes quality standards and evaluates existing resources. Time, budget, external support, and stakeholders are all considered. Evaluation criteria are defined alongside technical and didactic requirements. Finally, multimedia formats are chosen based on project goals and context.
STEP 4: Design (Pre-Production)
The pre-production phase dives deep into designing the multimedia content. This involves developing a clear premise, crafting a compelling narrative structure, and brainstorming a wide range of ideas. These ideas are then refined to ensure they perfectly align with the project’s overall goals.
STEP 5: Development
The final stage involves creating the multimedia content based on the chosen format, such as videos, animations, podcasts, etc… Following production, the content undergoes post-production to ensure it meets quality standards and aligns with the established script. Upon completion, the final multimedia resource is distributed within the educational setting, aiming to enhance the learning experience for students.
Beyond the framework: your essential companions
The TransACTION! Co-Creation Framework is complemented by two key resources to empower you throughout the multimedia development journey:
- The Handbook: This comprehensive guide dives into each stage, offering practical scenarios and insights. From brainstorming ideas to final execution, the handbook equips educators and multimedia producers with the knowledge to make informed decisions and foster creativity within diverse learning environments. It provides real-world examples to illustrate concepts and offers suggestions for overcoming common challenges.
- The Workbook: This structured tool complements the handbook by allowing users to document project progress throughout the framework’s phases. It outlines key considerations for each step, promoting a systematic approach to project management. Additionally, the workbook acts as a repository for reflections and insights, fostering continuous improvement by encouraging teams to revisit and refine their strategies.
Embrace co-creation: a spectrum of collaboration
A core principle of the TransACTION! Framework is co-creation, which involves incorporating diverse perspectives and expertise for enriched multimedia experiences. The framework recognises that co-creation can exist on a spectrum:
- ‘Strict’ Co-creation: Stakeholders share equal decision-making power and ownership throughout the process. This requires a high level of collaboration and communication.
- ‘Milder’ Co-creation: Stakeholders can provide consultation or feedback at specific stages, offering varying degrees of participation and ownership.
The TransACTION! Co-Creation Framework allows you to choose the level of co-creation that best suits your project needs and resources. You can work through each step with a dedicated group, consult stakeholders as a steering committee after each stage, or selectively involve stakeholders at specific stages.
Getting started with the TransACTION! Framework
The TransACTION! Co-Creation Framework offers a flexible and adaptable approach, empowering you to create impactful educational multimedia experiences. Here’s how to get started:
- Organise five dedicated meetings aligned with each stage of the framework.
- Extend invitations to relevant stakeholders based on their expertise.
- Utilise a centralised folder for easy access to documents and resources.
- Draw inspiration from the handbook’s scenarios for each meeting.
- Diligently complete the workbook to capture decisions and progress after each session.
The TransACTION! Framework offers a holistic approach to media and learning design in higher education, combining structure, guidance, collaboration, and adaptability to support the creation of impactful educational multimedia. Whether working on a small-scale project or a large-scale initiative, individuals and institutions stand to benefit from the framework’s systematic approach.
*The intended audience for this resource includes Higher Education institutions, individuals from the third space (such as learning designers and media producers), academic faculty members, and students—particularly those engaged in teaching or studying subjects related to digital education.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme under grant agreement: KA220-HED-891C1312
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst e.V. – Nationale Agentur für Erasmus + Hochschulzusammenarbeit. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
