Ben Damaso

R519 Effective Writing for Instructional Media

Script for Design Cycle Presentation

Target audience: 8
th
Grade
Topic: Design Cycle
Subject: Technology

Description: This presentation aims to introduce the recently revised version of the design cycle model utilized
in the International Baccalaureate (IB) middle school curriculum for Technology classes. The script below is
intended to be used for a 45-minute whole class discussion. The presentation itself can also be used as a
stand-alone learning material which students can retrieve as a reference material anytime. In using the
presentation, students are expected to have background knowledge on primary and secondary sources, as well
as making MLA citations.


Slide # Slide Layout Narration
1




(Greet the class.)
Imagine that you are a designer. Your client, the
school principal, requested you to improve the old
campus map on the school website. How will you
tackle the job? Where and how do you start? What
steps will you follow to efficiently meet your clients
needs?
(Wait for students to respond.)
There are different ways to approach a problem. One
very useful method that designers use is called the
design cycle. But, what exactly is it and how do we
use it? Lets find out.
(Proceed to next slide.)
2

























The design cycle is a model that we can follow when
addressing a design task or challenge. The diagram
shows a big picture of the 4 important stages that
facilitate the work of a designer. How do you think
this model helps a designer in his or her job?
(Wait for students to respond.)
The design cycle serves as a guide as you go from
identifying a problem to creating and testing a
product or solution. In which stage do you think we
should start?
(Wait for students to respond).
While the design cycle consists of successive stages, it
is not always a linear process. The arrows in the
diagram indicate that you can move around the
stages while continuously working on a product or
solution. More often, a designer revisits any of the
stages while the work is still in progress. We can
navigate this diagram by clicking on any of the 4
stages. Lets try starting at the inquiring and analysing
stage.
(Click on the Inquiring and Analysing stage in the
diagram.)
3 Inquiring & Analysing is the stage that requires you to
do investigations. It allows the designer to look
closely into a problem or situation. Is there a specific
need to be addressed or resolved? What kind of
product or solution do your clients want? Lets take a
look at the old AISM campus map.
(Click link to open: AISM campus map).
(After viewing the map, return to this slide.)
Why do you think there is a need to improve it?
(Wait for students to respond.)
Once you have found good reasons for creating a
product or a solution, you need to conduct research
to further investigate the problem. You also need to
check out existing products/solutions that have been
tried before. Lets see what you need to include in
your research.
(Click on the link: research)
(Return to this slide.)
After studying the results of your investigation, you
are now ready to propose a solution. But, what how
do you it? Lets find out.
(Click on the link: solution.)
4


To start your research, you need to write good
guiding questions. By choosing your questions, you
want to make sure that you gather only the relevant
information necessary to create the product or
solution. You can use a variety of primary and
secondary sources such as books, magazines,
newspapers, journals, websites, TV and radio
programs, films, interviews and many others. For our
campus map example, what kind of information will
you get if you conduct a survey amongst students
about their opinion on the old campus map? Do you
remember what primary or secondary sources are?
(Wait for students to respond.)
When writing your research, also remember to use
correct MLA citations for the sources used. Do you
remember what MLA citations are?
(Wait for students to respond.)
(Click on the Inquiring & Analysing stage in the
diagram.)
5














After analysing the results of your investigation, you
are now ready to make a project proposal. What kind
of product or solution do you have in mind? To
describe your proposed product or solution, you
need to write a design brief. A design brief gives an
overview of the product, your target audience or
intended users, and the main purpose of the product.
Using our example, what could be a good design brief
for an online interactive campus map project?
(Wait for students to respond.)
Now lets move to the next stage.
(Click on the Developing Ideas stage in the diagram.)
6 The Developing Ideas stage allows you to explore
ideas for your intended product. Based on the results
of your investigation, you should make a list of the
characteristics that you want to see in your final
product. This list is called the design specification.
Lets find out how to make a good design
specification.
(Click on the link: characteristics)
(Return to this slide.)
Based on your design specs, you need to brainstorm
on possible ideas for your intended product. You do
this by making sketches of possible ideas that
represent a range of different designs for the final
product. What possible designs can you think of for
our interactive campus map example?
(Wait for students to respond).
Here is a design idea for our campus map example.
(Click on the link: design idea.)
(Return to this slide.)
From your different design options, you then choose
and present the best design based on the
specifications you made. You then create detailed
planning drawings or diagrams that will help you
build the final product step-by-step from your chosen
design. Lets now move on to the Creating the
Solution stage.
(Click on the Creating the Solution stage in the
diagram.)
7

The characteristics we want to see in the intended
product may be essential or desirable. How do you
think these characteristics differ?
(Wait for students to respond.)
Using our example, what specific characteristics
should you include in an interactive campus map?
(Wait for students to respond.)
When the final product is completed, you go back to
this same design specification to see if your final
product actually met your requirements.
(Click on the Developing Ideas stage in the diagram.)

8
















Here is an example of a design idea for an interactive
campus map.
(Click on the image to enlarge.)
(When done viewing the image, click on the
Developing Ideas stage in the diagram.)
9 Before you can plunge into action in this stage, first,
you need to come up with a good plan. What do you
think should be included in a work plan?
(Wait for students to respond.)
Lets take a look at a work plan for our campus map
example.
(Click on the link: steps.)
(Return to this slide.)
This stage is also where you get to build your
product. You should aim to follow your plan and
make good use of your time, resources and technical
skills. What should you do when you change your
strategies just because you cannot follow your plan?
(Wait for students to respond.)
Do you want to see an actual interactive campus map
created by a student? Here it is.
(Click on the link: final product.)
(After viewing the sample final product, return to this
slide.)
Now lets move to the next stage.
(Click on the Evaluating stage in the diagram.)
10











Here is a sample work plan.
(Click image to enlarge.)
What do you think are the important steps to follow
when creating an interactive campus map?
(Wait for students to respond.)
(When done viewing the image, click on the Creating
the Solution stage in the diagram.)
11











Here is an example of an interactive campus map
project designed and created by an 8th Grade
student.
(Click on the image to open the link to the interactive
map.)
(When done viewing the map, click on the Creating
the Solution stage in the diagram.)
12 When you have completed the final product, then
you need to evaluate your work. How will you know if
your product is successful?
(Wait for students to respond.)
There are different ways to do product testing. One
way is to ask your clients or intended users to try the
product and make them check if it met the
requirements of your design specification. Lets take
a look at an example of an evaluation survey
designed for our campus map project.
(Click on the link: evaluation survey.)
(After viewing the survey, return to this slide.)
Based on the results of your product evaluation, you
can identify ways on how to improve your work. How
do you think you can improve the sample interactive
map project we saw earlier?
(Wait for students to respond.)
In your opinion, what are the impact and limitations
of the interactive map project?
(Wait for students to respond.)
(Proceed to the next slide.)
13











Heres an example of a product evaluation used for
our sample campus map project.
(Click on the image to enlarge.)
(After viewing the survey, return to this slide.)
How can you tell if the evaluation survey used is a
good tool to test the product?
(Wait for students to respond.)
Now that we have discussed the 4 stages, lets take a
look at the design cycle as a whole.
(Proceed to the next slide.)
14










Finally, here is a diagram of the design cycle with
more detailed aspects.
What do you think are the advantages and
disadvantages of using this model?
(Wait for students to respond.)
Will you adapt your own method to this model, or
will you modify this model according to how you
work? Explain.
(Wait for students to respond.)
(Proceed to the next slide.)
15











Thank you for actively participating in this discussion
on the use of the design cycle for project
construction. Use it as a flexible guide in designing
and constructing creative and purposeful products or
solutions.
(Close the presentation.)