Print with Me: Linocut Basics
Instructional Video
Creating a worked-example video to teach printmaking basics can help bridge the gap between in-person demonstrations and online instruction. With intentional design choices, my Print with Me video walks learners through a basic linocut project.
Target audience: Learners with no knowledge of the linocut process; Art students at the secondary or post-secondary education level.
Tools used: iMovie, Keynote, Sony DLSR, iPhone, Yeti Microphone
Year: 2021
Overview
In art education, demonstrations of techniques and processes are often used to help the learner build connections between procedural knowledge and hands-on skills. This often manifests with a demonstration by the instructor while students watch over their shoulder. Clark and Mayer (2016) describe this type of process as a worked example. Worked-examples are step-by-step demonstrations of how to complete a task (Clark and Mayer, 2016). These examples can take the form of text, video, graphics, animations, and in-person demonstrations. In my course artifact for Instructional Media Design, I want to share a successful worked-example video that I created. This video uses a combination of design principles to showcase the steps of a simple relief printmaking project.
EMDT Program Learning Goal(s):
Students will evaluate and create instructional media and technology to support teaching and learning.
Students will participate in and contribute to communities of practice and professional networks.
Students will analyze and evaluate effective teaching strategies in the design and development of curricula.
Instructional Goal of the Artifact:
Design and film a worked example video to add an alternative resource for a linocut lesson plan.
Process
The design of the video began by creating an outline and list of media assets. I needed to film an intro, outro, find images, create transitions, film the whole linocut process, and write a script. Although this sounds like a large to-do list, most of the information I needed lives in my head. I don’t claim to be an expert, but I do have more experience than the average person with printmaking techniques.
This also something I needed to be cognizant of while creating the video. The video’s purpose was to show an example of the linocut process while being accessible and easy to understand by beginners. I incorporated pretraining content with an overview of vocabulary, images of the supplies, and narration to explain the purpose of the materials. For viewers who lack prior knowledge and context, the pretraining principle reduces the unfamiliar content learners may experience in a worked example (Clark and Mayer, 2016).
Feedback
I also received feedback from a classmate who has experience with art education and in-person worked examples. She suggested to chunk the demonstration content in 10-15 minutes intervals then give students time to apply the techniques. This helps reduce cognitive overload and is confirmed in Johnson and Rubin’s (2011) research. They state that learning objectives are more easily met when chunking design strategies are used to complement the instructional content. This will be helpful when creating future worked example videos and any face-to-face worked examples built into a lesson plan.
Final Worked-Example Video
I also adapted the video into a shorter form to be shared on the growing Instagram Reels feature and TikTok. The challenge was to reduce the six-minute video to a 30 second snapshot with all the major steps included. Instagram Reels has a 30 second maximum time while TikTok allows 3-minute uploads. I was able to accomplish the cuts, but I lost most of the instructional audio content in favor of the process shots. This shorter form content can be hard to share detailed instruction, but I have seen plenty of content creators overcome the limitations of the platform and produce amazing videos.
Final Short Form Video
Results and Takeaways
Although knowledge of linocut and other art techniques can be shared with live demonstrations, when designing for an online student population, alternatives must be found. This video is a great example of sharing a fine art technique, adapting it for the kitchen table, and producing a step-by-step video for learners to follow along. Although similar videos can be found with a simple search online, an educator should have the skills necessary to cater their content to their learner population and produce instructional media that directly addresses their needs. With this video, I have grown in production, editing, and instructional skills that I will continue to refine with each project.
With the Instagram and TikTok upload, I am satisfying the EMDT program’s goal of contributing to communities of practice and professional networks. Whitaker et al. (2015) mention that connected educators share their professional practice on their personal blogs or social media accounts to highlight the strategies that work and share the mistakes they have made. By sharing the short form video, I am inviting conversation and sharing knowledge to my larger audience.
References
Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2016). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. John Wiley & Sons.
Johnson, D. A., & Rubin, S. (2011). Effectiveness of Interactive Computer-Based Instruction: A Review of Studies Published Between 1995 and 2007. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 31(1), 55–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/01608061.2010.541821
Whitaker, T., Zoul, J., & Casas, J. (2015). What connected educators do differently. New York, NY: Routledge
