Trent Jensen
INST 6325
June 17, 2009
Big Six Lesson Plan: Piaget
Grade Level
11th – 12th
Learner Characteristics:
· Students are first year multimedia students. This is their second term in the class.
· Students have prior experience with the Big 6 strategy. However, students are familiar with the ADDIE Design Method, a similar process. They have used this method to develop multimedia content.
· Students are generally from lower-income families.
· There is generally a high level of interest in technology, but with a low level of technological literacy.
· In general, student logic and problem solving skills are very low.
Learning context
Computer Lab Classroom
Objective
The lesson will attempt to create a cognitive conflict in the Piaget mold by forcing the students to make a rational judgment about an abstract problem: ethics in graphic design. Students will then use the Big 6 Strategy to create their own Code of Ethics, which will be posted on their blog.
Materials
Whiteboard, multimedia computer, Microsoft Word, free blog access (tumblr.com), access to internet
Lesson Plan
What are “ethics”? (Moral questions, what is right and wrong, following your own code). What are some ethical problems you face every day? (Plagiarism, cheating, peer pressure, lying).
Many people believe that ethical behavior is “behavior…commonly used within the field, workplace, or other organizational setting in which it occurs” (Herrington, 2003). This allows “communicators to "foster false inferences and produce false implicature," which lead people to assume conclusions as true when they are not. This practice allows communicators to mislead but not to lie even though the effect can be the same. Those who consider this form of communication acceptable hold readers, viewers, or users responsible for arriving at false assumptions. They avoid placing any responsibility for misunderstanding on the communicators” (Herrington, 2003). Do you agree with that statement?
Do you think there are ethical problems in graphic design? What ethical problems do you think designers face? Remember, everything you create has an audience, and that audience will be affected by what you create. That means that we, as designers, have a responsibility to our audience. But we also have a responsibility to the people hiring us, our clients. Sometimes advertising is misleading. Axe body spray isn’t really going to make you super popular with the opposite sex, but does that mean that those ads aren’t ethical?
I have four real-life ethics problems that we are going to talk about. After I read each one, I want you to Think, Pair, Share with the person sitting next to you. You will have 3 minutes to share with your partner, and then we will discuss it with the class. Here is the first one:
1. You are just starting out as a graphic artist, and you don’t have enough income to be too picky about the work you do. However, a client has asked you to design advertising for a product that you don’t agree with. The money is very good, and you really could use it. Would you accept the job?
Here is something to consider from a branding expert: “Regarding cigarettes, I don’t think the design of a cigarette pack encourages people to smoke. It only encourages people who already smoke to buy different cigarette brands. Over 50% of the front of cigarette packaging says this product will kill you. If someone doesn’t get that message, quite frankly, they are beyond help.” Do you agree with that?
2. The product you are advertising is illegal for minors. However, your client’s previous advertising used a cartoon character to great success. Many people believe that they are targeting children with this campaign. Your client argues that they aren’t targeting minors with their advertising, and the courts agree that it is okay for them to continue using the character. They want you to design a new campaign with the character.
3. While researching web designs on the internet for a client, you come across an old web portfolio full of excellent work. You download some of the designs to your computer for reference, but when you go back next week, the website is gone. A Google search of the designer’s name turns up nothing. Some of the designs are exactly what the client is looking for, with slight changes. You spend hours in Photoshop modifying the image. Is it okay to call it your own work? What about the fear of getting caught by the original designer? Is that a good reason to be ethical?
4. A company has given you a list of things to mention in a commercial for a fast-food chicken restaurant. However, you know that some of those things are misleading or outright false. They want you to state that their breaded chicken is very healthy, even healthier than a salad, but they want you to say it implicitly to avoid getting in trouble with the FCC.
Your assignment today is to create your own personal Code of Ethics. I’m not going to tell you what you should consider ethical; that is entirely up to you. There are no right or wrong answers in your code. At the very least, your code of ethics should include:
1. Obligations to your client. How will you treat your clients? Will you keep what they tell you confidential? How will you protect their interests?
2. Obligations to the public. Is it okay to misrepresent the facts?
3. Obligations to other designers. How will you respect copyright laws?
You will use the Big 6 to research other codes of ethics to assist you in writing yours. Use the internet to find other design firms’ or individuals’ codes of ethics. A good starting point may be the AIGA website. AIGA is the American professional organization for design, and much of their purpose is laying out standards of conduct for designers.
1. Define the Problem (Task Identification)
· What are your personal ethics? What ethical problems will you face as a graphic designer?
2. Sources of Information
· What resources do you have to solve the problem? Brainstorm possible resources.
3. Location and Access
· Teams will now use the internet and other resources to discover information.
4. Use the Information
· Your personal Code of Ethics can be based on an existing one, but don’t just copy one you’ve found on the internet. That would be plagiarism.
5. Synthesis
· Write out your Code of Ethics in a Word Document and save it on your H:/ drive. Copy and paste your code into your tumblr.com blog.
6. Evaluation
· Write a short ½ page-full page reflection on this experience. Has your idea of ethics changed after doing this assignment? Do you know what you would do in the situations discussed earlier? Are your ethics different than the other students in the class? Does that make either you or them ‘wrong’?