Since our meeting with Madlyn and Heather last week, we've been working retroactively on something we were apparently supposed to have done already - a hierarchy of instructional goals and objectives. I volunteered to head this up, since I'd done a too-detailed hierarchy already for a previous assignment. I broke down our learning goal -- students learning to classify -- into four objectives, based on the comments my team members have made on our many google docs. Then I broke those objectives down again and again, creating a hierarchy. It turned out much more detailed than I expected, which is probably good. I published it for comments from our team, and also gave it to Heather and Madlyn. I received positive feedback from both of them, along with one minor correction, and submitted it to Dr. Zheng yesterday (Oct. 28)
Also yesterday, Dr. Zheng gave us class time to work with our groups. I really appreciate this time, as it is sometimes the only times we talk face-to-face! We discussed the storyboard and the changes that we need to make to it (according to what we discussed with our clients on 10/21). We also each took a part of the storyboard to "flesh out." I am beginning to see now how this is all going to come together, and it is exciting! My part is to work on the curator "activity," and I plan to start writing a preliminary script for that next week. We also heard from Heather that she has the images we need. We just need to find out a way to get over to the museum to pick them up. I'm hoping that my Monday night, one of us will have a chance to get them. I'm anxious to start brainstorming about ways 4th graders might classify these plants!
Friday, October 29, 2010
Storyboard and Second Meeting
Our group met on October 7 to flesh out some details for a storyboard in preparation for our second meeting with Madlyn and Heather. I was unfortunately sick that evening, so my group members filled me in the following Monday night after class. The story board looks good, and I think there are some really good ideas in it. I especially like one idea there that has the children act as an assistant curator and help classify new arrivals to the museum. What a great authentic activity!
We met with our clients on Oct. 21 to discuss our storyboard and further refine our ideas. It was a really productive meeting. They liked the storyboard but wanted to change some of the things around. Specifically, they wanted the curator activity to be earlier in the site, almost as an introduction to the things we will be doing there. I think this will be a better way to organize the site, and I'm beginning to see the vision of how this will all come together! We also decided to focus mainly on having the students classify plants. The museum is in the process of digitizing photographs from the Herbarium, and since these resources are already available, it will save us the time and trouble of photographing more artifacts. Madlyn also stressed the importance of developing one area of the module (plants) really well, and then if we have more time, we can always go back and add another area to the final product. I agree that simpler is better, especially in web design. It is so much easier to design and develop one piece of the module, make sure it works and meets expectations, test it out with the intended audience, and then build from there. One final thing Madlyn stressed is that if last year's observation module is any indication, the thing that is going to take us the longest is developing language (feedback) for the students responses. She wants us to dive into this as soon as possible. Heather is going to get us digital photos of plants within the next few days, so we can begin brainstorming.
We met with our clients on Oct. 21 to discuss our storyboard and further refine our ideas. It was a really productive meeting. They liked the storyboard but wanted to change some of the things around. Specifically, they wanted the curator activity to be earlier in the site, almost as an introduction to the things we will be doing there. I think this will be a better way to organize the site, and I'm beginning to see the vision of how this will all come together! We also decided to focus mainly on having the students classify plants. The museum is in the process of digitizing photographs from the Herbarium, and since these resources are already available, it will save us the time and trouble of photographing more artifacts. Madlyn also stressed the importance of developing one area of the module (plants) really well, and then if we have more time, we can always go back and add another area to the final product. I agree that simpler is better, especially in web design. It is so much easier to design and develop one piece of the module, make sure it works and meets expectations, test it out with the intended audience, and then build from there. One final thing Madlyn stressed is that if last year's observation module is any indication, the thing that is going to take us the longest is developing language (feedback) for the students responses. She wants us to dive into this as soon as possible. Heather is going to get us digital photos of plants within the next few days, so we can begin brainstorming.
Monday, October 18, 2010
First Meeting
We had our first meeting with our clients on September 16. Our contacts at the Museum are Heather Paulsen and Madlyn Runberg, and they were very welcoming. We had a really good conversation with them where they clarified their vision for the project. I am still excited to work on this, and I see lots of possibilities for this site.
The project focuses, as we expected, on classification. Our client would like us to focus on an upper-elementary school audience; however, they mentioned that they would like any child to be able to come to the site and gain from it. The problem they are seeking to solve with this site is fact that they feel that students are not adequately learning the skill of classification. Heather goes to classes in Utah through their Outreach program, and she sees that children think they are classifying when they are actually just putting things into pre-determined groups The example she gave is that they will put all of the "lizards" together, but don't actually look at characteristics of lizards, so inevitably the (salamander? I don't remember what animal it was!) will end up in the lizards because the students think it is a lizard. Rather than placing artifacts according to where they think they should be, Heather and Madlyn would like to see students form a rule and then classify items according to that rule, and then do it again to form a two-tiered classification. They would then like the students to be able to defend their rule and test other items against it.
Our clients would like this site to be either a pre-activity for students who will be coming to them museum for a field trip, or else a stand-alone activity for students who cannot come to the museum. This would be a way for students to interact with the artifacts from the museum in a way that they would be unable to in real life. They would like students to understand and build on the idea that they already know how to classify. They like "Scientist Sam" from the observation module, and mentioned that they would like to see a female scientist again on our site, and possibly a scientist that is closer in age to the students. I was unsure whether they meant that they wanted an older child, or if they just wanted a younger adult. I think we'll have to clarify that with our client. They also mentioned diversity (meaning a non-white scientist, I think).
As for prerequisite knowledge, Heather and Madlyn do not want us to assume that the audience will have any. They want any child, even non-english-speaking or disabled, to be able to have a good experience with this site. This can be incorporated in some small ways on our site, but we will be unable to provide full multi-lingual capabilities. We also discussed scaffolding, which will be good design and will also help with some of the accessibility and prerequisite knowledge issues. Our client also mentioned to keep in mind the broader vision: that this site will eventually be integrated within the museum's web site, and there will eventually be more modules. We don't need to go very deep, but focus on high quality and the ability to integrate classification with other skills.
The one thing that I was a bit unsure of at our meeting was what specific product Madlyn and Heather are expecting from us. Our team is prepared to fully develop this project into a website, but our clients seemed unsure if we would have the expertise needed to do so. This seemed to have something to do with a conversation they had with Dr. Zheng where they told him the scope of what they wanted, and he told them that they would need to hire a full-time team for a year to get that done. They are also aware that last years' team had specific skills in web design, and were worried about the access we would have to their design and templates. We told them that we are all trained in web design, and that we believe we can develop this into a fully-functioning site. We have since spoken with Dr. Zheng about this, and he has reassured us that we will have access to not only last year's site and templates, but that we will also be able to speak with one of the team members in order to help us design a similar site. I feel confident that we can produce a product that both our team and our clients will be happy with.
The project focuses, as we expected, on classification. Our client would like us to focus on an upper-elementary school audience; however, they mentioned that they would like any child to be able to come to the site and gain from it. The problem they are seeking to solve with this site is fact that they feel that students are not adequately learning the skill of classification. Heather goes to classes in Utah through their Outreach program, and she sees that children think they are classifying when they are actually just putting things into pre-determined groups The example she gave is that they will put all of the "lizards" together, but don't actually look at characteristics of lizards, so inevitably the (salamander? I don't remember what animal it was!) will end up in the lizards because the students think it is a lizard. Rather than placing artifacts according to where they think they should be, Heather and Madlyn would like to see students form a rule and then classify items according to that rule, and then do it again to form a two-tiered classification. They would then like the students to be able to defend their rule and test other items against it.
Our clients would like this site to be either a pre-activity for students who will be coming to them museum for a field trip, or else a stand-alone activity for students who cannot come to the museum. This would be a way for students to interact with the artifacts from the museum in a way that they would be unable to in real life. They would like students to understand and build on the idea that they already know how to classify. They like "Scientist Sam" from the observation module, and mentioned that they would like to see a female scientist again on our site, and possibly a scientist that is closer in age to the students. I was unsure whether they meant that they wanted an older child, or if they just wanted a younger adult. I think we'll have to clarify that with our client. They also mentioned diversity (meaning a non-white scientist, I think).
As for prerequisite knowledge, Heather and Madlyn do not want us to assume that the audience will have any. They want any child, even non-english-speaking or disabled, to be able to have a good experience with this site. This can be incorporated in some small ways on our site, but we will be unable to provide full multi-lingual capabilities. We also discussed scaffolding, which will be good design and will also help with some of the accessibility and prerequisite knowledge issues. Our client also mentioned to keep in mind the broader vision: that this site will eventually be integrated within the museum's web site, and there will eventually be more modules. We don't need to go very deep, but focus on high quality and the ability to integrate classification with other skills.
The one thing that I was a bit unsure of at our meeting was what specific product Madlyn and Heather are expecting from us. Our team is prepared to fully develop this project into a website, but our clients seemed unsure if we would have the expertise needed to do so. This seemed to have something to do with a conversation they had with Dr. Zheng where they told him the scope of what they wanted, and he told them that they would need to hire a full-time team for a year to get that done. They are also aware that last years' team had specific skills in web design, and were worried about the access we would have to their design and templates. We told them that we are all trained in web design, and that we believe we can develop this into a fully-functioning site. We have since spoken with Dr. Zheng about this, and he has reassured us that we will have access to not only last year's site and templates, but that we will also be able to speak with one of the team members in order to help us design a similar site. I feel confident that we can produce a product that both our team and our clients will be happy with.
Monday, October 4, 2010
It's the Beginning of the End. . .
I have been thinking (or worrying!) about my capstone project for over a year now -- ever since I started grad school -- and I am now so excited to report that I have a group and an awesome project to be a part of! Dr. Zheng has brought in a client, the Museum of Natural History, with some instructional design needs, and I am going to be part of a group working on one of those projects!
The project is going to be a web page, geared towards upper elementary school students, that teaches the process of classification. It is to be similar to a project that a group did last year for the museum about observation. I know the people from that group because I took the summer classes a year early, and I have enjoyed following their progress on the site, so I am familiar with the scope of this project. I am also excited to be working on a project that will be meaningful to students, and that will hopefully be used! My husband is a fourth grade teacher, so I look forward to working on materials that could benefit his class, and I also anticipate that I could use his expertise to give some feedback as well. And finally, although the subject I generally teach is math, science is a close relation. This project is one that I can really put myself into.
We met with our contacts at the museum, Madlyn Runburg and Heather Paulsen, about two weeks ago, to interview them and get further details about what they would like us to do. I'll write about that in the next entry. But for now . . . I can honestly say that I'm really excited about this project! I hope it turns out as great as it sounds!
The project is going to be a web page, geared towards upper elementary school students, that teaches the process of classification. It is to be similar to a project that a group did last year for the museum about observation. I know the people from that group because I took the summer classes a year early, and I have enjoyed following their progress on the site, so I am familiar with the scope of this project. I am also excited to be working on a project that will be meaningful to students, and that will hopefully be used! My husband is a fourth grade teacher, so I look forward to working on materials that could benefit his class, and I also anticipate that I could use his expertise to give some feedback as well. And finally, although the subject I generally teach is math, science is a close relation. This project is one that I can really put myself into.
We met with our contacts at the museum, Madlyn Runburg and Heather Paulsen, about two weeks ago, to interview them and get further details about what they would like us to do. I'll write about that in the next entry. But for now . . . I can honestly say that I'm really excited about this project! I hope it turns out as great as it sounds!
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