Which artifact are you most proud of? Why?
>> I am proudest of the game rules and objectives doc. This doc is the synthesis of triple-digit hours of thought, tons of paper notes, and dozens of conversations with both friends and collaborators. It takes the principles that George Couros speaks to in the Innovator's Mindset and applies them to a family of topics that I am deeply passionate about. The game also offers many hooks into traditional curriculum in other subject areas, setting up the course to be truly interdisciplinary down the road. The doc lays down the tangible rules that make a goofy class like this possible in the first place. Before it was put into a single piece of writing, it was just scattered and often conflicting ideas that could not be realistically implemented. Now, a real course can emerge and start iterating. I am getting energized just typing about it right now.
What artifact could you have improved the most? How?
>> I think my summary presentation is the artifact that I would most want to improve. Though my motivation and mindset seminar artifacts are subpar, I don't believe that spending more time on these would move me forward as a learner. The presentation, however, is where I orally synthesize what I am doing and sell its purpose. As someone who wants to share this course and have others adapt their own versions, I think that developing an excellent presentation and recording it for the web will be critical. The first one goes through a lot of the essential content, but it is long-winded and comes across as poorly rehearsed. There is also no clear audience -- it was built for students to hear, but then I threw in a handful of teacher components at the last minute to add context.
What was your biggest challenge in this course? Why?
>> The biggest challenge was staying regular with all course assignments and my own checkpoints because I was out of my house over half of the days this summer. The travel time offered chances to do some kinds of work, but other work required a more focused, quiet, desktop working environment.
Were you able to overcome that challenge? How?
>> In the end, I was able to meet the essential course objectives by planning ahead. While on the road / in the air, I did a lot of the reading and deep thinking tasks, carrying a clipboard with blank white paper everywhere in my backpack. This gave me a chance to think in a free-form manner and be energized and inspired by the various environments and people that surrounded me. At the times I was home and had a quiet space to work at night, I would lay out all of my papers and start to synthesize, crossing things out as they got incorporated into a forum post or game document. This process of open-ended thinking followed by synthesis, and then repeated, allowed me to think deeply, create tangible artifacts, seek feedback, and go through this cycle multiple times.
What skills did you learn that will benefit you the most as an educator, as a leader?
>> I have a very wide comfort zone when it comes to new or risky things, but this project went beyond that. By going all-in with the simulation/game, I gave up countless hours that could have been spent developing a safer, more likely to succeed version of the course. I had moments of physical shaking when the stress of trying to integrate so many parts together got too high. But, in the end, I was able to take a deep breath and work on one step at a time. The course assignment structure had one incredibly powerful effect on me that I normally avoid -- finishing something and publishing it mid-stream. I blogged about the initial course idea, and that post generated lots of useful feedback. I blogged about my progress, and though there were fewer interactions with that one, the feedback I got became very influential in the game's development. I also blogged for the final course wrap-up, despite the fact that the class is still a long way from ready to launch. If I continue doing this beyond this graduate class, I think I will continue to hit meaningful milestones, attract help from tons of awesome people, and maintain my sanity. In short, I need to keep blogging about the progress of this course and capture (ideally in video) the student experience throughout the year.
Below is my free-form reflection of the course, an artifact that I am proud of because of the way that it tells the story of a summer of learning in a way that my friends and supporters in this course journey can easily follow and stay current with progress. It includes links to previous updates and my final video summary. Based on the feedback of these summer updates, I will continue blogging about the course and its changes during the year.