The collaborative process is always interesting. Thinking back and comparing this experience to other collaborative projects I realize that this one was more difficult because it was online. To begin with, as classmates we don't know each other. We have not met face to face to establish any kind of a relationship or learn about each other. I think this makes a difference. It was clear that we all led very busy lives and each of us set some constraints on our time and availability. I think the two weeks felt in the beginning like it would give plenty of time, but the reality of our busy lives, and the CUE conference in the middle made it more difficult. In the end, I think it was just about the right amount of time. A few more days might have made it easier as we would have more weekend time (or not 'work') time to use to attend to this project. The looming Sunday night deadline was a bit difficult. My teammates were both open and willing, I reached out early in the  process to try to set up an online meeting which they were open to, and in our second online meeting part way through the project one of the team members had a great suggestion about when work should be done so we could meet the deadline. Interestingly though, she did not meet this deadline, which then caused some obvious stress on the other person. The other interesting component of the process was that I actually teach design thinking. I lead all stages of this (in fact I have a class right now, finishing prototyping and getting ready to share with their parents when we return from spring break). As a result I have a deeper understanding of this process. It was hard for me at times to step back and let the other two members find their path. In one case, it appeared one member didn't understand the stage or how that stage would translate into the information on the slide deck. I waited days to see if she would change or update the information she had entered. In the end, I copied some of the information about the definition of the stage and inserted it into the slide to try to make it easier for her to  understand. I worried about this though. Was this being pushy or being a 'know it all'? How much should I help and how much should I just wait and try to fix in the end? In a face to face class, and given more time or a longer project we would have had more conversations, we would know each other better and I might know the answer to these questions. In the end, I took a risk, we shall see how it turns out.

Reviewing the Web 2.0 tools that were used in this project:

I believe the benefit of the tools we have used within this project is that they all have an easy access point, except for Tinkercad. all the tools are free or low cost and have a small learning curve which will lend itself to students being able to successfully engage in the project without having to take a long time to learn the programs. This applies to all but Tinkercad. Tinkercad luckily has some built-in tutorials that will help students learn the basics. And the idea of being able to 3D print anything in and of itself is motivation to learn the tool. I also like the use of Popplet or Padlet to help students visually connect their ideas and embed content. One issue that was not brought up in this project that I do, is use a Google Hyperdoc to link all the resources. For example, I teach a DT with my fifth grade class and the science teacher around the issue of water. We have a "Water Master Hyperdoc" and the students know that for each stage of the project they go to this doc to find the tools, links, and resources. I just realized I didn't create the Hyperdoc with the DT steps but with the template from the Hyperdoc and so they are a bit different. 

In reviewing tools I looked back and I realized that the 'Define' section is a bit harder to find tools for as in my experience, I have provided that large 'problem' statement and students were given the "how might we". So I never had to teach this. I did more reading and saw how doing research and using laddering questions would be important. For this process, a simple doc to take notes might work or going back to a Popplet or Padlet would be helpful. 

I really like Padlet (or similar corkboard style) 2.0 tools because students can see and comment on each other's work in a semi-public space. This puts everyone in a class front and center and makes it easy to manage. The visual style makes it easy to navigate. What is difficult is that now students really need to have their own accounts or there needs to be a clear procedure for authoring posts. Anytime, someone can write anonymously there is an opportunity for poor behavior. So the downside is the cost for this tool to make sure students have their own accounts. 

Blended Learning Teacher Competencies 

Competency 1: New vision for teaching and learning Standard 

A: Shift from teacher-led instruction to student-centered learning for the purposes of meeting individual needs and fostering engagement and motivation. 

Standard B: Value collaboration with various stakeholders to enhance student learning. 

Standard C: Create learning environments that are flexible and personalized, dependent on real-time data, direct observation, and interaction with and feedback from students. 

Competency 2: Transparency Standard 

A: Openly and frequently share successes, failures, and challenges. 

Standard B: Look objectively at all results (both positive and negative), and help others to do the same. 

Competency 3: Collaboration 

Standard A: Balance individual initiative with teamwork to accomplish organizational objectives. 

Standard B: Proactively seek to learn from and with other experts in the field.

Standard D: Model a growth-orientation towards learning for self and others. 

Standard E: Have an entrepreneurial spirit, and possess creativity, imagination, and drive.

These standards really spoke to me for this group project. DT is a very entrepreneurial type of project and the project required collaboration. I found I needed to let go and let my teammates learn for themselves.  I tried to lead some of the thought and conversation in our group work via the commenting features in the Google comments by asking questions, sometimes I felt I knew the answer, sometimes, I wanted to push the thinking on the topic.  I was sure to include my own questions so that I was vulnerable to my group and demonstrated that I too have questions.. I am not sure how well this worked, I guess we shall see. As for learning from experts, I have no problem with that, as noted above, I found I didn't think about how to lead students to define a problem so did research. I am pretty good at finding resources to help me learn. Though admittedly, sometimes there are things we learn best from a one to one type of help. I have a large PLN and when I need help I reach out and ask for suggestions, guidance or simply a 'how do I . . .'

Overall, this project helped me realize that I am comfortable with the Design Thinking process. I enjoy teaching it, yet still have areas I can grow and learn from. I really like the empathy map and plan to use this next year. I also enjoyed finding the DT resources and am planning ways to use those as well. As I wrote this reflection I really think we should have made a DT hyperdoc. I hesitate to push my group to add this to our project as I feel I am doing too much pushing. Maybe, if we had more time and the chance to talk more or interact over a longer period of time we might all get to the same point sooner. In the meantime, I may make my own DT Hyperdoc!

Final Reflection

I love Design Thinking, I think it is a powerful tool for bringing change to any problem it is applied to. I think learning it online and never having the chance to experience it in a face-to-face environment is difficult as one needs to experience it to see it's power. I think this difference in experience made it difficult for our group.  I have had the great fortune of being involved in several Design Thinking sessions and hearing David Kelly speak. Any time I can be involved in this process myself I will jump at the chance. This process has a power to change the world. My students just presented their DT projects to parents and we asked them for a quote about their learning. I love the ones pictured below especially.