Wicked Project: Final

Good Afternoon, My name is Dale Ehrhart and I’m part of the Education Staff here at Sloan*Longway in Flint, Michigan.  Our organization’s Mission is to “create engaging experiences for everyone that inspire lifelong curiosity in history, science and technology."  To fulfill this mission we develop and teach a wide variety of educational programs that reach students and adults throughout Genesee County and beyond. For the most part we teach at Longway Planetarium, Sloan Museum, or the Buick Gallery but we also frequently perform outreaches at Schools and Libraries.

All of our programs are hands-on, materials rich and pretty intensive so remembering the content and pedagogy of each program is challenging. We also move at a pretty fast pace, so the information needed to teach these classes needs to be immediately assessable.   Binders with lesson plans get lost or ruined, classroom computers are not an option because these spaces are frequently open to the public.  I needed a cross-platform mobile solution that leveraged the capabilities of our educators’ smartphones.

I used weebly as my platform because it automatically convert to a mobile site it’s free to use.  Due to a request from my manager I had to come up with a password protected site.  Another online web authoring platform called webs fulfilled this need, however, I didn’t like its mobile options.  I wound up creating a password site that automatically redirects to the weebly pages.  I’m really happy about the QR Code generator I found because it enables the user to create colorful QR codes with embedded images. The QR codes are posted in the classroom and on the inside lid of our class boxes.  Educators use their cell phone equipped with a QR reader app to access mobile websites containing important content information and pedagogical information.  In addition to the content I uploaded images and videos to demonstate classroom setup and safe usage of equipment like the animal traps we set off in Trappers and Traders.

Creating cross-platform mobile websites linked to QR codes gives busy Sloan*Longway educators immediate access to the important content and pedagogical information using technology that they carry with them.  This falls directly in the center of the TPACK model.

For the most part the program was implemented as planned, however, my managers request for password changed things slightly.  Usually, making and using QR codes is easy. There are a bunch of generators out there.  I made the creation of my QR codes more difficult because I wanted to use color and logos.  I’m currently adding outreach and summer activities along with assessment pieces that educators can use to test themselves over content.  One blog reader had a fantastic suggestion that I crowdsource the information I need for the assessment pieces from my fellow educators. Finally, I'm looking forward to the fall because use of the sites will be limited until the fall after MEAP testing.    

Group Leadership Project

 So here it is, this is our Group Leadership for the Wii Remote Interactive Whiteboad. We used a varity of technology to deliver the tutorial. Our images were produced by taking screen shots of our Prezi. Originally I hoped to include transitions in the final but they wound up being choppy and adding time. In addition to Prezi we used Audacity to record sound, Windows MovieMaker to stitch the Jing screenshots together, and a variety of other software for the wii minitutorials embeded in the final.

 I had to learn a certain degree of trust in this process. Ashley asked to produce the final, which is something I like to do, and she did a good job.

 First off, I’d like to thank my other group members for their efforts, and I really enjoyed the process. Group work online is much different from working with others in a office and I’d like to study some strategies for it. One thing I would have changed is the way we shared files. I think we should have had a common place to dump our files, like Dropbox, and that would have facilitated the process better.

PLP for 812

As far as my goals from 810, I’m still active with Scratch and I just finished developing my Scratch Advanced Game camp for the summer.  I’m using a combination  of the 11 year old laptops I have at my disposal and students can bring their own laptop.  I conducted an all day PD workshop over the Flint Sitdown Strike that contained a QR Code Scavenger hunt a couple of months ago and in my original personal growth plan I mentioned that I wanted to develop a moodle course for our programs, but that has been replaced by my Wicked Project.    

I’m taking away quite a bit from my experience here.  I have never worked with groups online before and that was fantastic experience.  I learned about so many different pieces of software and how to use them as components in a larger project.  Finally, I learned about the value of developing and contributing to PLNs especially on twitter. 

As part of future growth, I planning to stop lurking and become a better contributor to PLNs other networks.  I’m also planning to do a better online job documenting what I create using my Weebly site.  


I love teaching and educational technology, and the MAET courses are fantastic, but I can’t continue with this path.  Sadly, I’ve decided to move away from education and look for opportunities elsewhere.  In addition to the recent policy trends at the state and national levels that make teaching unattractive there seems to be a lack of any viable path forward.   So, hopefully, I’ll be able to leverage what I’ve learned here for my job search and then integrate these skills with a career.  

Wicked Problem Project: Part D - Findings and Implications

In large part, the project has been implemented as planned.  In response to a request from my manager to use passwords, I altered my original plan from creating a group of standalone websites each with its own QR code to having a homepage linked to a QR code with sub-pages. Instead of having a poster of different QR code hanging on the wall I’m taping several copies of the QR codes to the bin that we use to store classroom materials  

Unfortunately, we’re at the end of the school year  and there is limited incentive for Sloan*Longway educators to use the website for training.   So far the response overall has been positive and everyone has downloaded and been trained on the use of QR codes, but the site should expect to see use after the MEAP in October.

 
 The major thing I would have done differently is talk to our IT department first.  I showed the project to our network administrator last week and he indicated he would have gladly provided server space and web templates that met my requirements.  I didn’t ask because the organization’s website doesn’t convert to a mobile format, and I assumed that it wasn’t just wasn’t part of package.  He indicated that this was a decision made by the organization as opposed to limited capability.   

The biggest lesson I learned is to make sure to check within your organization for resources first and don’t assume they’re not available. I spent quite a bit of time looking for and implementing alternatives after my manager requested passwords, and I didn’t need to do that.   I try to outsource portions of my projects whenever possible and the results reinforced that practice.  I used Common Craft’s video to explain QR codes to the staff, and they were far more willing to put QR readers on their devices after viewing the video then when I demonstrated the codes myself.  I’m glad I had a a list of free QR readers ready for the staff.  The most enjoyable thing I learned was how to customize QR codes.  Unless you’re geek the plain codes look pretty unappealing, so it was nice to find an easy, free way to alter them. 

In closing, we have a whole list of activities that are for outreaches and summer classes, and I’d like to include those on the website.  I’m developing self grading assessments using Google Form for the sites and I won’t do that again.  Developing one is fun, but developing  ten is tedious.  I'd like to apply this format to a list I'm developing for BYOD environments.  The flow would look like this:  QR Code and URL pointing to a homepage (ex. Mindmap) > subpages (webapps, ios apps, etc) > links to the resource and directions for use.

Data Visualization

I enjoy using image tools and I've been using Animoto, Gimp, Bubbl.us, Glogster, Google Earth, Wix,  Voice Thread, and other tools for several years. The first tool I tried for this assignment  is Text 2 Mind Map which is a really easy to use mind mapping application. You simply type in your outline and a mindmap is automatically generated as you type. I also looked at Gliffy which is a pretty cool diagram maker. I wound up using a tool that wasn't on the list called Piktochart.  Like many other services it has a free and paid Pro account.  The Pro account provides many more themes.

Unfortunately, I'm not really enjoying life right for a few different reasons and my mood became the topic for this visualization.  I really wanted to visualize something else but the spikes and colors grabbed my attention . The theme started like this:

and wound up like this

I've been tense and on edge all day and prior to this visualization I couldn't think of anything to create. The cool thing about visualizations is that they help you express complicated concepts including those not related to data..  After making the Piktochart I felt better and I realized I've been looking at evaluations from teachers for the past few days..  About 95% of our responses come back as Satisfied and Very Satisfied with the bulk being Very Satisfied.  The other responses on the evaluation are Neutral, Dissatisfied, and Very Dissatisfied.   Here is a Wordle respresenting the responses.

Wicked Problem-Implementation

Scan the QR Code below to go to the Mobile Site

or click on

http://sloanlongwayeducation.webs.com/

Password: Sloanlongway

Transcript

Hi, This is Dale. Today we’re going to talk a little bit about the implementation of the Wicked Problem. Specifically some Surprises, Some Unexpected Bumps in the Road and some things that went well.  First off, I had some surprises last week.

For those who don’t remember, I’m creating a multi-platform mobile training system for Sloan*Longway educators accessed though QR codes. So far the project has gone fairly smoothly and I’m meeting my goal of it being entirely free.  Unfortunately,  we unable to locate  the Word Documents  for a few of the lesson plans and I’m going to have to transcribe existing copies by hand. My  manager mentioned last week that she wanted a password on the QR codes so  anybody just can’t come up and scan our lesson plans. So this led to some unexpected bumps in the Road.

I’m using Weebly as my platform because it automatically converts to a mobile site and most of the features are free, however, password protection is part of its paid service.  Unfortunately, adding a password yourself with HTML, Javascript, or PHP violates Weebly TOS so I had to find an alternative. I found a site similar to Weebly called  WEBS  that has some basic  password protection but I don’t like its mobile formatting. So I created a custom password site on WEBs that automatically directs to the Weebly site.  So, I’m looking for option that does what I want with passwords and mobile formatting, Since I have to have a password I’m only creating one QR code that accesses the entire site.  Although it changes my original concept to some degree I really enjoy coming up with these types of solutions so the bumps in the road are kind of fun. The  thing I’m really happy about is the QR code generator I found and that’s coming up next.

I found this QR generator called ODOA, and I’ll include the link at the end of the podcast’s transcript. This generator lets you include images and change colors in the code.  So I created a QR code that includes the Sloan*Longway logo and uses the colors found on the logo.  Pretty Slick.  The QR code will be included in the posting along with the URL.

That’s all for now, Thanks for listening.

QR Generator

http://qr.odoa.eu/Web-QR-Code-Logo.aspx

Just in case you've never used a QR code here's a quick tutorial

Full and Mobile Home Page

Group Leadership Project: Part B - Storyboard and Script

Sometime you have to sit back and think about how amazing the hardware and software you use truly is.  During this group meeting,  Ashley, Rachael, and I worked collaboratively in Skype, Google Docs, and Prezi and sent links to information and video simultaneously .  The meeting was productive and we developed our storyboard here in GoogleDocs and our rough sketch in Prezi below.

Group 5 Interactive Wiiboard Tutorial on Prezi

Rachael has been working on the software, trouble shooting, and resources section for our group project while Ashley has focused on the content for our lesson plan demostration.  I am  focusing on hardware and process sections.  All of us have contributed in both the prezi and the Google Doc.

As we move toward the completion of the project Rachael will create a video of an app ipad that can be used with the Wiimote IWB and Ashly will record the audio for the presentation.  I will work on an instructional video for the setup of the wiimote IWB and a video presenting Ashley's lesson plan.  The three of us will continue to tweak the script in the storyboard and the Prezi as we continue.