Case Study : Message Not Delivered continued ...
‘ Keeping up ’ Because the production is performed , rather than pre-recorded , actions , behaviours , music , sounds and discussion can be revised to ensure their continued relevance . In the case of Message Not Delivered ( observed during 2018 ), the actors performed the ‘ dab ’ ( a very contemporary trend likely to resonate with the target audience ) and listened to current music . Clever and reflexive choices like these have the potential to engage a young audience and emphasise that the issues are relevant to that group in particular ¹. It is crucial , therefore , that these choices ‘ keep up ’ with changes in trends to maintain the audience interest . Outdated trends would allow young people to disconnect from the production , potentially reducing the impact of the approach . The Dab was soon replaced by The Floss . By now , either of these actions would appear outdated .
‘ Real life ’ examples The involvement of emergency service personnel in the production brings credibility and personal experience 2 . When these individuals are local , familiar , and talk about places and people that the audience will be familiar with , they are likely to be particularly easy for the audience to relate to and trusted as conveying ‘ real life ’ information rather than ‘ stories ’. Talking about local roads , areas or even adding in the school name makes it more ‘ real ’ and is feasible because the input is live . The production also uses real-life voice-overs from those that have been directly affected by road death . This is hard-hitting , but can be effective when followed by discussion of not just the consequences of distracted driving , but strategies to avoid suffering the same fate ( see p98 ).
Effective Workshops Research has found that increasing group size has a detrimental impact upon the extent to which a learner interacts with and accommodates the information presented 3 ( see page 83 ). This is particularly important for something such as a workshop within this context where we want students to engage with and understand the information presented / discussed . Where possible , working with smaller groups of people rather than whole or half year groups would be an ‘ ideal ’, to ensure students take as much as possible from that workshop .
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¹ Mayhew , D . R . and Simpson , H . M ., ( 2002 ). The safety value of driver education and training . Injury prevention , 8 ( suppl 2 ), pp . ii3-ii8 .
2
Stapel , D . A . and Velthuijsen , A . S ., ( 1996 ). “ Just as if it happened to me ”: The impact of vivid and self-relevant information on risk judgments . Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology , 15 ( 1 ), p . 102-119 .
3
Caspi , A ., Gorsky , P . and Chajut , E ., ( 2003 ). The influence of group size on nonmandatory asynchronous instructional discussion groups . The Internet and Higher Education , 6 ( 3 ), pp . 227-240 .