WIU IDT: Technology Specialist

MACOMB, IL - - One of the best ways to show off what you can do is through demonstration, and that's exactly what members of Western Illinois University's instructional design and technology (IDT) department did over the summer. Through their work on a marketing video project, IDT Department Chairperson Hoyet Hemphill and IDT graduate student Katie (Xiaokai) Jia not only produced DVDs that will promote two new offerings in Western's IDT department, but their productions also demonstrate the kind of skills current and future WIU IDT students will acquire while studying in the program.

"We have two missions for this project; the first is to announce the new technology specialist emphasis in our Illinois Board of Higher Education-approved instructional design and technology master's of science degree program. It's specifically developed for certified educators and prepares them for applying for State of Illinois certification as a technology specialist," explained Hemphill. "The second mission is to promote our undergraduate program's new web design minor, which is one of three minors offered -- photographic media, digital media and now web design -- in IDT."

Hemphill served as executive producer of the summer-long project, while Jia functioned in the role of producer and director. The marketing project resulted in the production of the two DVDs, which are each accompanied with a flatsheet that provides text-based information about the technology specialist emphasis in the master's program, as well as the three undergraduate minors offered by the department. The materials were recently sent out to high schools and distributed at Discover Western open house events to showcase the department's newest offerings and to demonstrate the media production skills IDT students at Western acquire, Hemphill added.

Generations of Collaboration
Funded through a grant from University Marketing's Campus Area Grant program and support from the IDT department and the College of Education and Human Services, work on the project was completed with the help of faculty, staff, students and even alumni of WIU's IDT department.

"Katie did an outstanding job of directing and producing the videos, coordinating the production schedules and talent and working with the various team members on their contributions to the project," Hemphill noted. "During one particular part of the shooting process, we realized we had four generations of instructional design and technology students -- undergraduates, new graduate students, graduate students like Katie who are finishing up their programs and IDT alumni -- featured in one shot."

Hemphill explained that the productions were created with a focus on high-quality production values, and the content includes three-dimensional animation. Both productions also feature still photography and videography.

"We also found and utilized copyright free music to use for background music, and under Katie's direction, Ashley Gose, an IDT undergraduate student who worked on the project for independent study credit, composed much of the original artwork," Hemphill added.

Hemphill, Jia and their team utilized a variety of software programs -- all available through Western's media production facilities -- for the productions, including Apple's Final Cut Pro Suite (which includes video editing and three-dimensional animation software) and Adobe's widely used Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator programs.

Jia noted that among the biggest challenges for her as producer and director was to find the "talent" during the typically less active summer session on campus and working around the University's software update schedule.

"I also took away a great deal from the project," Jia noted. "I learned how to manage a project, as well as how to apply instructional design principles to the content we developed and created. I think that was the best part, because I was applying all the knowledge and skills I have learned in this program," she said.

According to Hemphill, approximately 12 students were involved with the project, and Leaunda Hemphill, associate professor in the IDT department, served as a consultant for the production/DVD that promoted the technology specialist emphasis in the IDT master's degree program.

For more information about Western's instructional design and technology undergraduate and graduate programs and offerings, contact the department at (309) 298-1952 or [email protected] or visit wiu.edu/idt.