The Challenge:
In the context of a 10-week summer program in Appalachia, equipping novice filmmakers for documentary creation demands a robust and systematic instructional design. Such a design ensures that all participants receive a uniform and in-depth introduction to the art regardless of their background. Given Appalachia’s rich cultural landscape, a standardized pedagogical approach imparts essential filmmaking techniques and offers a blueprint that can be refined for future cohorts, optimizing the learning experience.
The Solution:
Central to our approach, we crafted foundational instructional design plans, drawing upon diverse design models, to establish a core platform for equipping content-experts and nascent instructors with the requisite methodologies for instructing documentary filmmaking to emerging media practitioners. Identifying the linchpin for sustained success, we prioritized a ‘teach-the-teachers’ initiative to manage the annual turnover of instructors effectively.
The Result:
The same instruction was created and filtered through Layered Design by Gibbons, Elaboration Theory by Reigeluth, and First Principles of Instruction by Merrill. The design model documents are provided below.