We are moving right along. We met with Alissa on Friday March 7 and had a very productive meeting. Alissa has been working hard to get us the remaining content we need to develop the modules. We got a lot of questions answered at the meeting. We've narrowed our audience down to just 7th grade, and clarified some content issues that we had.
Last week was Spring Break, but we decided to take advantage of the time and meet on Thursday anyways. We scripted the entire module for Goal 1 and worked some on the other goals as well. We met again on Sunday night and got lots accomplished. We've worked through all the video that Dr. Schell gave us, and Sunny (one of our 6200 consultants) and Amy worked on moving all the usable clips to a hard drive. Cheryl and Lindsay worked on scripting Goal 2 and Audra and I worked on programming some of the Flash interactions. The division of labor worked nicely, and I felt like it was an extremely productive use of our time.
We've got a test site up here: http://www.identitywebandphoto.com/6210/ We'll be using this space to host the project for testing, etc, until we can get it moved to the COE website. It's still a work in progress but it gives us a framework and an idea of space.
Now, we just need to continue to work on making our great ideas a working module!
Things to do:
-6200 consultants - continue to give assignments
-Storyboards / flowcharts
-Test interactions on test site
-Continue with scripting and programming
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Thursday, March 6, 2008
15/5 Week Nine
(Yikes, this is late! I'm sorry, Greg - it slipped my mind last night.)
This week was a pretty stressful one for our team. We worked very hard on planning out some interactions for our online modules, and then some communication from our client made us rethink the work we had done. One of our goals for this project is to create instruction that is based in situated cognition, and we realized this week just how difficult that can be in an online environment.
We had a productive meeting with Greg on Thursday and developed a plan of attack for our client meeting on Friday. Then, we worked on a new idea for the module. Our scenario is that the learners are whale tour guides in training, and we're going to take them on a "whale watching trip" using video. During the trip, they will experience Flash interactions that freeze the video and ask them questions, or give them information about the content. After each lesson, there will be a check-in/stopping point where the students will be given an activity that takes them away from the computer to either work in a group or blog about their experience. (We hope to give them an open-ended question to reflect on that incorporates some of the content they've been learning.)
We presented this idea to Dr. Schell on Friday and he really loved it. He gave us 32 mini-dv tapes of footage, and we've divided up the tapes so we can start going through it and finding appropriate clips for our project. We're meeting with Alissa tomorrow and we'll talk with her about this new idea, the content, and other things we'll need her help with (like developing some rubrics and open-ended questions).
So, it started out as a stressful week, but I think it resulted in a very dynamic and exciting framework for our project. We have a lot of development in our future, but I know we can do it.
To Do:
This week was a pretty stressful one for our team. We worked very hard on planning out some interactions for our online modules, and then some communication from our client made us rethink the work we had done. One of our goals for this project is to create instruction that is based in situated cognition, and we realized this week just how difficult that can be in an online environment.
We had a productive meeting with Greg on Thursday and developed a plan of attack for our client meeting on Friday. Then, we worked on a new idea for the module. Our scenario is that the learners are whale tour guides in training, and we're going to take them on a "whale watching trip" using video. During the trip, they will experience Flash interactions that freeze the video and ask them questions, or give them information about the content. After each lesson, there will be a check-in/stopping point where the students will be given an activity that takes them away from the computer to either work in a group or blog about their experience. (We hope to give them an open-ended question to reflect on that incorporates some of the content they've been learning.)
We presented this idea to Dr. Schell on Friday and he really loved it. He gave us 32 mini-dv tapes of footage, and we've divided up the tapes so we can start going through it and finding appropriate clips for our project. We're meeting with Alissa tomorrow and we'll talk with her about this new idea, the content, and other things we'll need her help with (like developing some rubrics and open-ended questions).
So, it started out as a stressful week, but I think it resulted in a very dynamic and exciting framework for our project. We have a lot of development in our future, but I know we can do it.
To Do:
- Meet with Alissa Friday 3/7
- Review tapes and make notes of content/pull clips out
- 6200 consultant assignments
- Flash research (cue points, controlling video with Flash)
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
15/5 Week Eight
This week, we had one of our busiest weeks yet. We had an extremely productive design discussion last Thursday. We've solidified the basic interactions we want to use for Goals 1 and 2, and we're still working on 3, 4 and 5. We all have also been working on our documentation that is due tomorrow.
At our online meeting on Sunday, we discussed design questions, documentation questions, and questions about our next steps. We clarified that our next step will be to storyboard each module. To do that well, we've decided to schedule another meeting with our client to discuss our currently completed work and obtain more content resources (including videos). It's proven to be a challenge to get all seven of us together, especially since Spring Break is around the corner, but we're going to make it work.
At our Sunday meeting, we set specific deadlines for handing in drafts and posting feedback on the draft docs. The team has been really great about meeting these deadlines and posting detailed, helpful feedback. I think our documents will be in good shape by Thursday. We also submitted our Task Analysis, Timeline and Objectives to the client for sign-off. We got some excellent feedback from Alissa about our Task Analysis, and Lindsay is working on implementing those changes.
Another task we accomplished this week is creating a powerpoint for Thursday's studio presentation. We originally had planned to highlight each goal and its interaction, but we've realized after Greg's email that it might be too much info, so we're scaling back a bit. The work we put into each goal is great, though, because it leads us into our storyboarding work.
I think we've really hit a good groove this week. I'm proud of my team's quality of work and attention to detail, and I hope we continue to keep up this standard as we move forward.
To Do:
At our online meeting on Sunday, we discussed design questions, documentation questions, and questions about our next steps. We clarified that our next step will be to storyboard each module. To do that well, we've decided to schedule another meeting with our client to discuss our currently completed work and obtain more content resources (including videos). It's proven to be a challenge to get all seven of us together, especially since Spring Break is around the corner, but we're going to make it work.
At our Sunday meeting, we set specific deadlines for handing in drafts and posting feedback on the draft docs. The team has been really great about meeting these deadlines and posting detailed, helpful feedback. I think our documents will be in good shape by Thursday. We also submitted our Task Analysis, Timeline and Objectives to the client for sign-off. We got some excellent feedback from Alissa about our Task Analysis, and Lindsay is working on implementing those changes.
Another task we accomplished this week is creating a powerpoint for Thursday's studio presentation. We originally had planned to highlight each goal and its interaction, but we've realized after Greg's email that it might be too much info, so we're scaling back a bit. The work we put into each goal is great, though, because it leads us into our storyboarding work.
I think we've really hit a good groove this week. I'm proud of my team's quality of work and attention to detail, and I hope we continue to keep up this standard as we move forward.
To Do:
- Continue to complete documentation
- Present at studio
- Finalize meeting times with Alissa and Dr. Schell
- 6200 Consultants: deliver CD of images; obtain videos from Dr. S for editing
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
15/5 Week Seven
Is it really already Week Seven? This semester is flying by!
We had an extremely productive meeting on Thursday. We had a lot of things to cover, so I created an agenda and tried very hard to stick to it. It helped us to cover all necessary information (and also gave us a sense of accomplishment when we could check things off!).
Greg gave us feedback on our Task Analysis and Objectives document. He had some questions about the subject matter and wanted to get more information about the resources we would be using, particularly for Goal 5. I've emailed Alissa and Dr. Schell for examples of the articles we will be using for that goal, so hopefully we'll have that info soon. After our discussion with Greg, we made some changes to both documents. The team realized that we didn't have any prerequisite knowledge on our Task Analysis, so we added that information. We also added several subtasks (for example, defining a feature analysis grid or dichotomous key) to make sure that our learners have all the knowledge they need to complete their objectives.
We also started talking about the design aspect of the module. We discussed what kinds of interactive activities are appropriate for our lessons, and we brainstormed for creative idea. We continued this discussion on Sunday (our first Horizon Wimba meeting) and decided to dedicate this Thursday's meeting to solidifying a template for each lesson. Cheryl and I met last night to discuss the design in more depth, and I think we've got something really nice started. Our client really wants to include his logo for the Whale Class and colors that are reminiscent of marine life (blues and greens), so we have a few constraints to work with, which I think is a good thing when it comes to design!
Everyone will bring a draft version of their assigned document to this Thursday's meeting so we can review and discuss. We are trying really hard to stay on schedule since we got so behind with our docs in the beginning. We also came up with some assignments for our 6200 consultants, so we should be getting with them sometime this week or next week.
It was difficult to meet in Horizon Wimba - I think those meetings will be more about touching base and asking specific questions. There was bad weather Sunday night, so perhaps the technology will be better next time we try.
Here's where we stand with our documentation:
We had an extremely productive meeting on Thursday. We had a lot of things to cover, so I created an agenda and tried very hard to stick to it. It helped us to cover all necessary information (and also gave us a sense of accomplishment when we could check things off!).
Greg gave us feedback on our Task Analysis and Objectives document. He had some questions about the subject matter and wanted to get more information about the resources we would be using, particularly for Goal 5. I've emailed Alissa and Dr. Schell for examples of the articles we will be using for that goal, so hopefully we'll have that info soon. After our discussion with Greg, we made some changes to both documents. The team realized that we didn't have any prerequisite knowledge on our Task Analysis, so we added that information. We also added several subtasks (for example, defining a feature analysis grid or dichotomous key) to make sure that our learners have all the knowledge they need to complete their objectives.
We also started talking about the design aspect of the module. We discussed what kinds of interactive activities are appropriate for our lessons, and we brainstormed for creative idea. We continued this discussion on Sunday (our first Horizon Wimba meeting) and decided to dedicate this Thursday's meeting to solidifying a template for each lesson. Cheryl and I met last night to discuss the design in more depth, and I think we've got something really nice started. Our client really wants to include his logo for the Whale Class and colors that are reminiscent of marine life (blues and greens), so we have a few constraints to work with, which I think is a good thing when it comes to design!
Everyone will bring a draft version of their assigned document to this Thursday's meeting so we can review and discuss. We are trying really hard to stay on schedule since we got so behind with our docs in the beginning. We also came up with some assignments for our 6200 consultants, so we should be getting with them sometime this week or next week.
It was difficult to meet in Horizon Wimba - I think those meetings will be more about touching base and asking specific questions. There was bad weather Sunday night, so perhaps the technology will be better next time we try.
Here's where we stand with our documentation:
- Needs Analysis / Scope Document
- Client approved (Feb 4)
- Turned in Version 1 (Feb 4)
- Feedback from Greg (Feb 7)
- Turned in revised version (Feb 17)
- Task Analysis / Objectives
- Still need client approval
- Turned in Version 1 (Feb 11)
- Feedback from Greg (Feb 14)
- Turned in revised version (Feb 20)
- Timeline
- Still need client approval
- Turned in Version 1 (Feb 17)
- Prepare for brief presentation to Studio class?
- Continue to complete documentation
- Communicate with Alissa and Dr. Schell about lesson details
- Solidify module template and screen design
- 6200 consulting: Alissa's Whale images; video footage
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Document Update
I'm posting this document update so I can keep track of where we stand with our documentation.
- Needs Analysis / Scope Document
- Client approved (Feb 4)
- Turned in Version 1 (Feb 4)
- Feedback from Greg (Feb 7)
- Turned in revised version (Feb 17)
- Task Analysis / Objectives
- Still need client approval
- Turned in Version 1 (Feb 11)
- Feedback from Greg (Feb 14)
- Turned in revised version (Feb 17)
- Timeline
- Still need client approval
- Turned in Version 1 (Feb 17)
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
15/5 Week Six
Our team meeting this week was extremely productive. We met with Greg and got some good feedback on our Needs Assessment and Scope documents. Amy is taking the lead on making those changes and we hope to have the documents turned into Greg sometime this week. We agreed to wait for Greg's feedback before getting feedback from our clients. This will reduce the number of drafts we have to show the clients before presenting a "final" document.
We then turned to our Task Analysis and Objectives documents. These documents are very important to the next phases of the project, and we spent a lot of time going over their details. Our client has provided us with LOTS of information about our lessons, which is great, but it's also already very structured. We had to remind ourselves this week that we are the instructional designers for the lesson module, and that we must use our own judgment when making decisions about how the lessons should flow and where information should be placed.
This week, we finished up the Task Analysis and Objectives docs, and started finalizing the Timeline. We should be able to finish the Timeline at Thursday's meeting and turn towards another big deadline: February 28. We divided up the drafts of the documents based on our roles (evaluator, designer, etc.) and hopefully everyone has started to work on their drafts.
We still haven't had any assignments for our 6200 consultants. We will definitely need to discuss assignments this week.
To Do:
We then turned to our Task Analysis and Objectives documents. These documents are very important to the next phases of the project, and we spent a lot of time going over their details. Our client has provided us with LOTS of information about our lessons, which is great, but it's also already very structured. We had to remind ourselves this week that we are the instructional designers for the lesson module, and that we must use our own judgment when making decisions about how the lessons should flow and where information should be placed.
This week, we finished up the Task Analysis and Objectives docs, and started finalizing the Timeline. We should be able to finish the Timeline at Thursday's meeting and turn towards another big deadline: February 28. We divided up the drafts of the documents based on our roles (evaluator, designer, etc.) and hopefully everyone has started to work on their drafts.
We still haven't had any assignments for our 6200 consultants. We will definitely need to discuss assignments this week.
To Do:
- Finalize Timeline
- Get feedback from Greg on Objectives / Task Analysis
- Get client approval on Objectives / Task Analysis
- Discuss and give 6200 assignments
- Work on draft versions of User Analysis, Screen Design, Treatment Rationale, Hardware/Software and Eval Plan
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
15/5 Week Five
We had a hard start to this week. Our meeting on Thursday was frustrating - we still had doubts about our Needs Assessment, and spent a long time discussing the points that we thought needed revision. Our project and its focus is unique and we really had to think hard about what the project goals are.
Dr. Schell and Alissa continue to be great to work with - they are quick to respond to our requests and always providing us with additional information.
Lindsay and Cheryl have been working on the draft versions of the Objectives and Task Analysis, and Amy is working on the draft of the Timeline. We will be finalizing each of these documents on Thursday during our meeting. Once the objectives and task analysis are complete, we will start discussing the structure/design of our modules and hopefully have some work for our 6200 consultants. We learned at last week's meeting that it's very important for us all to be on the same page about what kind of documents we are trying to produce, and I think we are moving in a great direction now.
To Do:
- Finalize Objectives, Task Analysis and Timeline
- Drafts of: User Profile, Hardware/Software, Screen Design, Evaluation Plan
- Discuss assignments for consultants
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