Presentation Teaching Document Design in a Digital Communication Course: An Experiential Approach more

As communication increasingly involves both textual and visual literacy, language classrooms still tend to prioritize text, leaving visual communication skills underdeveloped. This presentation reports on an attempt to teach document design in a 15-week Digital Communication course. Grounded in aesthetic instructional design, theory-based document design, and agile iteration, the course progressed from learning design fundamentals to hands-on projects, with several layers of scaffolding provided along the way. Students created a document set consisting of a flyer and a promotional video for an authentic campus activity using Canva, a novice-friendly digital design tool. After outlining the course design, the presentation reflects on the benefits and challenges that emerged during its implementation. One key finding is that working on a real-life campus activity can meaningfully engage students. At the same time, while implementing an agile approach in an EFL context is feasible, it requires efficiency in teaching foundational concepts as well as flexibility in responding to rapidly evolving tools such as Canva. The presentation concludes by arguing that, even in the age of generative AI, such coursework continues to offer valuable learning experiences whose outcomes may be more lasting and meaningful than relying on machines to produce technically impeccable design artifacts.