Effective Communication 3.1-3.4

Role of images in communication

Images can play a large part in communication and in many different ways, as explained below:

Keeps users interested
Including more images in anything you produce will always keep the user more interested. In documents with large amounts of text or information, including an image will break-up and separate the large amounts of text, and it's also nice and refreshing when reading larger amounts of text. If you were required to read through a large document, would you find it better and be kept more interested if it was all text and no images, or all text and no images or visual references? For me personally, I'd find it easier and more interesting if it were to include some images which were linked to what the document is based upon.

Breaks up the text
Particularly in documents with large amounts of text or with documents which offer examples to things it's explaining, including images will help break-up the walls of text and not make it look so daunting, especially to those who tend not to read.

Visual aid/ reference
Including visual references, especially in scenarios where you're trying to explain something, like how to use something or the advantages of using it. There are many different ways in which people learn, something I'll explain in more detail later, and including images will help those who learn better by using a visual reference such as images or videos, like myself.

Benefits other learning styles
As mentioned above, there are many different learning styles, with everyone having their own preferred method of learning, so you have to try and satisfy everyone's style. For some, this maybe just writing up what to do, but for others, they may learn by watching someone else doing it first, in like a video, some may prefer to look at images. This is why including images is important, because you want to make your content beneficial to everyone and not target one specific learning style.

Equality of access to your content

The packages I create have to be accessible to all those who'll be using them and there are many ways in which I've adapted my content to make sure it's more accessible as I've explained below:

• Not using bright colours - I've chosen to stay away from including bright and colourful colours as part of my design to help others with limited sight be able to read and make it clear, rather than have them struggle to read the information.
• Using large and readable font - Again, using a more readable and larger font will allow those with limited eye sight, who struggle to read small print be able to read it without a struggle. 
• Including images for visual learners - As mentioned above, there are many different learning styles which people prefer so in my learning packages, I've tried to include visual references for those who do prefer to see an example, rather than just read about them. I've also included some animated ones for more variety.
• Limiting the amount of text - I've tried to stay away from adding overwhelming amounts to any of my slides, as I feel having too much text will be put of reading any of the information if they find there's too much. Having a limited amount of text I feel will also keep people interested for longer, and while I've kept the amount of text to a minimum, I've included the key points so people will still learn from the information that is there.
• Choice of words - If I'm trying to explain something, you want to keep the explanation/ description as simple as possible in order for them to fully understand what it is you're trying to explain. This also helps anyone with learning disabilities also understand.

How I produced my layouts

Design
My design came as part of some other creations I'd seen combined with my own twist. I also wanted to use something that looked very neat and professional, which I feel I have done. I also limited my choice of colour to colours that not only looked well but also to stop the package from being overwhelmed by bright colours - Something I mentioned could be a distraction to others.

Below are some examples of storyboards myself and Nathan created before we began creating our eLearning Package.

This is the storyboard of our first slide. For this we wanted to keep to simple and welcome people to our eLearning package. The image acted as a background while the header introduced the package to the viewer. There's also a start button which people click in order to progress to the next slide.

This is the second slide, following the one above. On this slide there are the two headers, the top blue header is where the title of the eLearning package went, in this case 'Endocrine System' and below in the grey box is where the sub heading went, again in this case 'Lesson Aims'. The lesson aims appeared each time the user clicked the 'More info' button towards the bottom/ center of the page. Once all the lesson objectives were present on the page, the option to move onto the next page appeared to the user. The objectives and buttons were all animated.

This is one of the more interactive slides on our eLearning package. On this page the user is able to rollover each of the boxes which had names of the different glands in them. When they did rollover a box, it showed where on the dog that particular gland was. They could also click on the boxes where they'd be taken to another page giving them more information on that particular gland.

When the user had gone through all ten glands and felt comfortable, they could move onto one of our two quizzes. In this quiz, the user had to drag the names of each gland to the correct location of the gland. The user had three attempts to get all ten correct, afterwards they'd then progress to the second quiz.

Header
Given the package I was creating had two different topics, I wanted to include the subject title in the header as to prevent people from getting confused which part they're learning about. I also used a sub-heading below the title which differs depending on the subject.

Footer
I feel the footer should be used to hold any important information. So given that there is no information I felt was too important and to also keep the design looking neat, consistent and professional, I chose to not include anything in the footer.

You may ask yourself, then why did I include one if I wasn't going to put it to use? I feel that the package wouldn't have looked as organised or professional, and while it doesn't offer anything towards adding content to the package, it does help the design and maintain a good standard.

Navigation
I wanted to keep the navigation simple while also looking smart and making it fit in with the type of design and storyboards I'd made. As part of my plan, I wanted the information to be broken down into it's individual sections, and I felt the best and most efficient way to navigate around this would be as shown in the diagram I've created below:


Copyright Guidelines

In my organisation
Copyright is a law which affects all business and people by preventing them from using anything, such as images, videos, designs etc. which aren't their own. So for example, the majority of images on Google are copyright protected which prevents people from using them without permission of the content owner. The best way to get around this is to use content which isn't copyright protected. There are numerous websites around which content is free to use and not protected by the copyright law, meaning you're able to use them without requiring a license or permission. The only other option to this, is to create the content yourself, but you still need to be careful you still don't copy an idea outright, you still need to add your own creative twist to it.

How it affects my design
Taking the copyright law into consideration, it means I cannot go out onto the internet and use any image I so choose, I first have to ensure it's copyright free. This then reduces the amount of options I have to pick from, so in some cases I may not always find an image I first wanted. If I cannot find the perfect image I wanted, I either have to get another one which is still suitable or then make my own. So with this in mind, my designs can differ from how I first originally wanted them to look.

To avoid breaking any copyright laws, I used websites I knew offered royalty free images and vector graphics, for example Flaticon, Pixabay or ELearning Brothers. These websites showcase images which are free to use by everyone without requiring permission or a license, meaning I'm able to include them in any content I create.

Effective Communication - 1.1-1.5

Principles of Effective Communication
When communicating with others, there's seven different points you should always try to complete in order to communicate effectively, listed and explained below are all seven:

• Clear - Always ensure you're clear and that your listeners are able to understand what you're trying to get across to them. If you're not clear when communicating, those listening/ reading won't know what you're on about and may leave unsure or having to fill in any gaps for themselves, leading to confusion.
• Concise - Whatever point you're trying to make, make sure you stick to it and don't venture away from the topic, doing so will make your audience become disinterested and it will begin to bore them, it also makes it look like you're unsure what you're talking about. 
• Concrete - When communicating, ensure your audience has a clear understanding and image of what you're trying to say/ explain. Give your audience the enough detail to fully understand, but not overwhelm them.
• Correct - Ensure what you're saying or writing is correct, don't give your audience or readers incorrect information as it looks bad on yourself, and may lead them to question your knowledge on the matter. Also ensure to check what you've written, spellchecker is great, but isn't 100% foolproof!
• Coherent - When communicating, establish a logical order which makes sense and is easy to understand. Make sure you get your point across and stay on the topic in hand, don't go venturing off track! 
• Complete - Make sure you tell your audience everything they need to know! Don't leave out any details which are of some importance. If you're sending an email about a meeting you want to take place, remember to include a time, date, location and what it's about.
• Courteous - Regardless of whether it's positive or negative, always be courteous in everything to you say and write. Being upbeat and polite when discussing a negative topic can be difficult, but always try, as further issues can arise if not. 

Potential Barriers To Effective Communication

Physical Barriers
A physical barrier can include things such as a hearing or speech problem, which would prevent someone from hearing you talk, or prevent them from speaking/ you understanding. In other forms of communication there are other barriers. For example, when speaking to someone over e-mail, the person you're speaking to cannot detect your body language or tone of voice, which may lead them to misunderstand or your choice of words may mislead them into thinking something else. Any one of these examples are able to make a conversation ineffective, and in most cases there aren't a whole lot of ways around these types of barriers. Take hearing loss as an example, besides using sign-language or writing down what you're saying, there are no other ways around this. And these too are not complete alternatives, as some people may not know sign-language or the person you're trying to talk to may also be unable to read effectively.

Language Barrier
A language barrier, a barrier in which you speak a different language to the person you're trying to speak with and can prove to be a difficult barrier to overcome, particularly in person. For example, if you're speaking in English to someone who doesn't understand English then they aren't going to understand what you're saying, and when they speak back, you aren't going to understand them either. The only way around this barrier is a translator, such as Google Translate or an actual human who speaks the two languages, and even this isn't a complete solution because Google Translate for instance may misinterpret or miss translate what you're saying and again cause more confusion.

Disinterest
The person you're talking to may have no interest in what you're saying and so may misunderstand or misreply, should they even reply. Either way, without their interest, the conversation isn't going to be at it's best. The best way around this, is to comeback at a better time, when they're more likely to be interested.

Different Opinion
The person you're talking to may have a different opinion to yours and so they may not be interested in what you have to say, particularly if they don't like or agree with your opinion. The only way to get around this is to persuade them into listening to your opinion whether they agree or not. Another alternative would be go speak to them another time when their opinion or mood has changed.

Poor Understanding
The person you're trying to communicate with may not understand what you're saying, or not know what you're on about. For example, if you try and talk to someone about football when they don't know anything about the sport, they aren't going to understand what you're on about. A good way to get around this would be to try and explain more about what the subject you're going to talk about, in this case, explain to them the basics about football, then when you're talking to them, they'll more likely to understand what you're talking about.

Effective Interpersonal Communication
Interpersonal skills are the skills you use when speaking to someone face-to-face, so for example, how you react and your body language. Below are a couple of methods in which to maintain effective interpersonal communication skills.

• Respect - Treat people how you'd like them to treat you. So have respect for their opinion, give them a chance to explain themselves and don't interrupt them.
• Don't interrupt - Give them a chance to speak, and they'll give you a chance to speak once they're done talking. Even if you have a question you need answering, wait until they're done, or they may even answer it before you have a chance to ask. Interrupting someone may lead them to thinking you aren't interested in listening to what they have to say.
• Respect their opinions - It's okay to not agree with someone, but it's best to be done in a sense why you explain why you have a different opinion, provide any facts or reasons to this.
• Maintain eye contact - Always maintain eye contact with the person talking, this is a good way to show you're listening and interested in what they have to say.
• Maintain good body language - Similar to keeping eye contact, when talking to someone face-to-face you should ensure you maintain good body language. For example, you shouldn't be slouched in your chair like you would be on the sofa, instead sit up straight with your back against the backrest.
• Keep listening - Ensure you listen to what they're saying, doing so will also allow you to best reply or ask questions on what they say; you also don't want to make a fool of yourself if they ask what they just said and you can't give an answer.
• Ask questions - Ask questions on what they say but keep them relevant. For example, ask them for their reasons behind their opinion, and doing so will not only show you're interested and listening, but it also allows you to further understand them.
• Relate - To help someone understand your point, you may wish to include examples which you've come across yourself. This not only explains the point, but also puts it into context/ a real life scenario.
• Concise - Stay on topic and don't venture off it! Doing so may disinterest the listener and lead them question your knowledge on the matter.
• Visuals - There are many types of learners, so aim to suit them all! Provide visuals to help reference and assist in explaining. A good place to use visuals is when providing instructions or facts.
• Knowledge - Know your audience, if they don't have the same knowledge as you on the subject, then stay away from using terms that only you understand, this way you cannot confuse your listeners/ readers.

Ways To Adapt Communication Methods
In some circumstances you may have to adapt your method of communicating to help the person or people you're speaking to. Below are some ways you can help adapt to the situation in hand.

• Slow your speech - If you're talking too quick, some people may not be able to take in all what you're saying, may miss out on something you said or just misunderstand you. Speaking fast also shows you're want to get your speech over quickly, something which doesn't give off a good impression.
• Use images - If you're presenting a presentation for example, rather than having a wall of text on each slide for your audience to read through while you speak, add some images to show what it is you're talking about.
• Maintain good body language - Show your audience you're a positive speaker with confidence. Address them as a group and maintain a good level of eye contact with each of them. If someone asks you a question, ensure to look at them while they speak and give a good reply which answers their question.
• Translator - In cases where you're speaking to someone who doesn't understand the language you speak, you're going to need a translator, for example Goolge Translate so that they can understand what you're saying and are able to reply back to you. Without a translator, you wouldn't be able to communicate at all, let alone effectively.
• Use sign language - If someone you're talking to is deaf then it's best to use sign language, whether that be you do it yourself should you know how to, or have someone else present who can use sign language whilst you speak. Failing being able or having anyone else available, you may have to write down what you're saying.

First Design Task

What the task was
I was given the task of designing a poster about Prezi to go on display in the office. On this poster I was to include information about Prezi and what the advantages of using it are. 

What I did
To begin with, I looked into what Prezi was and the various advantages to using it were. Having used it before I did have a good idea as to what it was and the key features of it, specifically the zooming and panning features. Having done the research into the software on their website, I found the key points that I wanted to include on my poster, so I began adding this information to the poster as well as adding in a title and area for a description of the software. Once I'd added all the information, I knew how much space the text was going to take up which allowed me to begin building the layout and placing in all of the different information boxes. When I'd got all the boxes for the information where I'd like them and then information also added in, I began adding colours and some different effects.

In terms of colour, I wanted to keep it simple and not add too many variations of colours. While looking on the Prezi website for information, I noticed that they'd used some darker blues in places where the website links and footer, so I decided that that was the colour I was going to use. I initially was going to use some darker blue variants but in the end chose to use lighter colours with a combination of white, two colour sets I thought worked well together and made the poster stand out and grab your attention. For the background, I initially had a plain blue background, but I then changed it to light blue with a fade to white, with the fade more towards the top left of the page. And finally I added some drop shadow effects to the title of the poster to bring it forward, add depth and separate it from the blue oval in the background. I also added this same effect to the 'What is Prezi' title since I felt that was an important part of the poster, informing people what it is.

And finally, I added in some different images/ icons to represent some of the different advantages I was talking about in the poster. To find the images I was going to include, I went to Pixabay. When looking for the images I wanted to use, I wanted something with some bright colours and a bit creative. Once I found the images I wanted to use in each of the advantages boxes, I began placing them where I wanted them and then began moving the text to fit around where I'd placed the images.

This is my first design before any feedback was taken into consideration.

This is my poster after I'd made changes based on people's feedback. 

Feedback & Improvement
Once I was happy with the final design, I posted it onto Yammer, where I got some feedback which I could use to make improvements to my design.

Some of the feedback I received was to improve on some of the images I'd used and try and make them more relevant to the information in that particular text box. With regard to this feedback, I did notice that when I swapped two sets of information around, I had moved the titles and text, but forgotten to move the images, which explained why they weren't relevant. However, I did feel that one of the images could have still been made more relevant to the matter. Included in the feedback were some suggested website to visit in order to find the best images and icons. I checked these sites out and on Flaticon I found an icon I thought was more relevant and so I chose to include that into my poster.

Also in the feedback I received was to try and reduce the amount of text on the page as they felt there was too much and people wouldn't be interested in reading it. When looking back on it I do tend to agree, which is why I've removed the text that wasn't important, so that all that remained was a brief description about that particular advantage. I feel this changed has made my poster look less cluttered and will now make people more likely to read it as it isn't flooded with unnecessary text.

Some final pieces of feedback I received was with regard to the choice of colours in the top left circle and to include Prezi's logo. When creating the poster, I too wasn't sure whether I like the colour effect in the circle as it made some of the 'About Prezi' text hard to read even though it had a drop shadow. In the final design I have chosen to revert back to one single solid blue colour. In terms of adding a logo, this is also something I felt was needed, but given that the Prezi logo is also blue and my poster is mainly blue, I didn't know where the best place in include it. Initially I wanted in the 'About Prezi' circle, but that has a blue background fill, so the logo wasn't clearly visible. I had played about with the idea of including the logo within the 'About Prezi' text, and was something I have chosen to go with, however I'm still not sure whether I like it. I had also thought about adding in another white circle behind the logo and placing them both underneath the text, but again I wasn't sure whether I liked it or not. Changing the colour of the logo to all white is also something I'd thought about doing, but I didn't feel this would have been the best option given that wouldn't have been their normal colour and people may been less likely to recognise it.

Final Design

In the end, I chose to move to Prezi logo into the 'What is Prezi' since I feel that is a more suitable location and offers a place to introduce their logo and also what their product is. To prevent the logo colour from clashing with the colour of the box behind, I added a white circle in the background. 

Starting Out

My First Week

When I first walked into the college on Monday morning, I wasn't completely sure what to expect or who I'd expect to see and so this make me rather nervous. I was then collected from reception and taken to one of the two offices, which was full of people - Which I soon realised were the other higher level apprentices I'd been told about in the interview, but I also saw there were other apprentices just starting out like myself. And after realising I wasn't the only apprentice starting out that day, the nervousness began to fade.

We were then taken into the presentation room, where we were introduced to the course and the other apprentices. Being given the chance to learn everyone's name, while I still don't know everyone's was a sigh of relief as it didn't mean I'd have to find out for myself. Afterwards, we were taken on a 'tour' of the college, which saw us go to the HR area, canteen and also a walk to the Sports and Construction area. I knew of some of these places, but not them all so it was nice to find out about them and where they are. Once we got back, we were then introduced to our work areas and then given some applications to complete and told a bit more about our working day such as hours, lunch etc. Finally, we were also introduced to Adobe Captive. While it wasn't a program I'd worked with before, I didn't find it too challenging as it was like most other Adobe packages with a hint of PowerPoint. Once completing our projects we looked at each others final designs and given feedback from others'. The feedback I received wasn't as bad as I'd expected and from it I learned what things to include or improve on next time and was also given the chance to see what some other people had come up with; given the presentation was about ourselves it was also a chance to learn more about everyone else.


Looking Forward

Looking into the future, I cannot wait to get more involved and taking on more challenges and feeling more involved and apart of the team. So far it's been a pleasure being here and everyone who was already here has been so welcoming and polite which was nice. I can't wait to get more involved. I'm also looking forward to learning new things and developing/ building on what I already know. I also think it'll only really sink in when everything is complete, like my contract and badges etc - I feel this is when I'll really realise the opportunity ahead.