Unit 5 -Design Project

This is the last unit for this semester!! You're using all that you've learned so far this semester to complete a Design Project. I'm excited to see what you create and I'm looking forward to reading your final connect papers, as well.

You've explored many different types of technology this semester. We've been using a textbook that's written for K-12 teachers to support their use of technology to facilitate learning - with an emphasis on the 4 Cs. But where is the "textbook" for higher education? What resource can your peers use to find tools that help them learn?

Now it is your turn to think about how these tools and ideas can support learning in college-level settings. Whether it is organizing your own study process, collaborating on group projects, leading presentations, or helping others understand a topic, educational technology can play a powerful role in supporting what you do as a learner and a peer. This is not just about what you might do in a future job. It is about how you can apply these ideas right now to become a more effective and confident learner.

For these tasks, you are going to design a page about a technology tool (like those in our textbook) to facilitate learning, encourage collaboration and communication, and support creativity and critical thinking. We'll use the design process (see red graphic below) to facilitate this process.

Unit 5 tasks are due Monday, 04/20 at the end of the day.

Task 1: Design Project

Grade value: 13% of total grade

Make sure to complete all 6 parts of this task. Parts 1-3 will be posted on your Design Project webpage. Parts 4-6 will be completed on our shared slide deck (linked in the instructions below). You'll post all of your work for this task on your Design Project webpage. Don't forget to publish it!!

Step 1- Define the Problem

Create a section on your Design Project webpage for the first 3 steps in the Design Process (see chart in red on the left).
Think about things that are difficult for college students right now: studying, tracking assignments, keeping track on in-person, hybrid, and fully online courses, contacting instructors, presenting information, etc. On your Design Project webpage - brainstorm a list of things that make academic life difficult (you can type this directly on the website in a textbox or handwrite it and then insert an image of your brainstorm onto your page). Make sure to label this Step One.

Step 2 - Collect Information

Use Google Forms to create a survey for at least 5 undergraduate students to complete. (Here's a cheat sheet for Google Forms if you need help building your survey.) In this survey - you'll want to ask 3-5 questions of your survey participants to find out what makes academic life difficult for them and if they've found any technology tools that facilitate their learning. You're just trying to find out if there are others that have the same difficulties as you or if there are other difficulties that you had not considered. Your survey should be anonymous.
Post a link to your form AND the results of your Google form survey on your Design Project webpage. Make sure to label it Step Two. You can insert the results as a spreadsheet or as graphs (Google Forms will generate both).

Step 3 - Brainstorm and Analyze Ideas

Use your brainstorming list from Step 1 and the data you collected in Step 2 to select an academic problem that can be solved (or at least alleviated) with a technology tool. On your Design Project webpage, list the academic problem you've selected and why you've chosen it. Make sure to label it Step Three. You don't have to identify the solution (technology tool) yet. You'll do that in the next step.
That's all for this task. Just remember - your end project will be a page written for college students using the layout of our textbook tool pages as a template. By the end of this project, we should have a 42-page book to help facilitate learning for undergraduates (one page from each student in our class).
Don't forget to publish your page!

Step 4: Develop Solutions/Build a Model

What higher education academic problem are you solving: staying on task, keeping track of deadlines, contacting instructors, organizing notes, effective studying, staying engaged in class, etc.? You're going to design a page in our collaborative book with ideas, strategies, and tools to solve the specific problem you identified.

Choose an "open" slide from our shared Google Slide presentation (did you know that your textbook was originally created with slides, too? Before they put it all online, of course. I kind of miss that little slide deck turned into a pdf). I've duplicated the template slide - so make sure to find one that hasn't already been edited. If in doubt - check with me - don't delete a slide that you did not create. There is also a sample submission with sample peer comments (explained in tasks 5 and 6).

Step 5: Present Your Ideas to Others for Feedback

The very nature of posting your slide presents it to others for feedback. If you're the first to post your slide/book page - you may have to wait a day or so and come back to this step. View at least two classmates' slides and add suggestions for improvement using the comments feature of Google Slides. (Just click the icon that looks like a speech bubble with a + sign or go to Insert>Comment)

Your comments will have your name attached (so you can be credited) as long as you are logged in to your Google account while you are commenting.

What kind of feedback should you give? Think about what connections you have to the academic problem discussed in your classmate's slide. Do you have any suggestions or anecdotes to add? What tool did they choose to talk about as a solution to the academic problem? Would you like to know more about a tool? Did they link to a tutorial? Should they? What's something you included on your slide/book page that you think would be a good fit for theirs? Is there another tool that does the same thing that could be added at the end of their slide/book page as an alternative? Yes, it's helpful to let people know about typos and grammatical errors - but it's better to give helpful suggestions about content.

**If someone already has at least 2 comments and there are other slides/book pages available - please spread the wealth :)

Step 6: Improve Your Design

Go back and review any comments about your slide/book page and make any changes based on that feedback. Normally, once you've made a suggested change you would click the "resolve" button on the comment. But please don't do that - because then it's harder to give your classmate credit if I can't easily view the comments. Once you've made any suggested changes - or if you've thought about one of the suggestions but decided you'd rather not make the change because it doesn't really fit your goal for your slide/book page, just click on the comment and a reply box will open up. Just type a quick reply letting the original commenter (and me) know what changes were made (or not made and why).

That's it! Steps 1-3 are already on your Design Project page and Steps 4-6 are available in our collaborative slideshow/book.

Task 2: Final Making Connections Entry

Grade value: 5% of total grade

Please make a new Google Doc for this task and make absolutely sure that you share the document BEFORE you insert it onto your website. If you don't share it I cannot see it - which means I cannot grade it. Insert it onto your Design Project page)

Overarching theme/question: What is your current understanding of the role educational technology can play in helping students to organize their learning, support students’ creativity, and provide opportunities for inquiry and critical thinking? (References to specific tools and readings here are a good idea.)

How to write your answer: Spend some time writing about your thoughts on the following questions. Your finished document should be around 2 pages.

Think about the articles you read in Unit 1 ( Meaningful Learning with Technology, Universal Design for Learning, the ISTE Standards for Students) – where do you see themes/ideas from that article connecting with what you’ve learned this semester? There’s no shame in looking back at your article to help with this. Quotes are a fantastic way to add a few sentences!!!
Based on what you’ve learned, what should teachers/students consider when selecting an educational technology tool/solution?
What is one realistic way you could use a tool or strategy from this course to support learning, either in a classroom or another setting you care about?
Think about the ISTE Standards we’ve talked about. How can one or more of the tools/strategies you’ve learned about this semester support one or more of these standards?
What is still confusing for you about what you’ve learned this semester? What’s an idea from our class that you can see using past this semester?

**You can write this paper in a couple of different ways:

Option One: A standard paper that contains a paragraph or two for each of the questions listed in the “how to write your answer” section
Option Two: An introductory letter to future students taking EDIT 2000e so they can have an overview of the course and what to expect.
Option Three: A letter to a P12 teacher (choose a more specific grade range) to give an overview of how educational technology might support student learning.
Option Four: If you have a different idea for how to present this information – check with me for project approval by the end of this week.

Make sure you share your Google Doc and add it to your Design Project page.

TASK 4: Check Your Grades!!

Grade value: 100% of total grade (sort of) Time Estimate - 5 minutes

Now that you've submitted all of your assignments, it's a good idea to check in eLC that all of your grades have been recorded properly. I do my very best to make sure eLC matches the records I keep in my old-lady paper grade book, but sometimes I make mistakes. I know that you do your very best to make sure all of your tasks are submitted correctly - with shared Google Docs/Slides and published webpages - but sometimes mistakes are made. It's so much better to get it all cleared up before the end of the semester.

My goal is for everyone to be successful in this class and for the grades posted in eLC to properly display the work you've submitted - so you are helping me, not bothering me, if you let me know of an error.

Task 5: End-of-Course Evaluations

Grade value: 0% (but really appreciated) Time Estimate - 10 minutes

The anonymous end-of-course evaluation will be available after 04/15. I'll post a link here and send an eLC announcement out when it's available.

Although you sign in with your UGA MyID and student number - I do not see the evaluations until well after final grades are posted in Athena and your evaluations remain anonymous to me. I always welcome feedback as it provides an opportunity for me to learn from you and to make improvements on our course for future classes. Thank you for taking the time to complete it.

That's it!! You have finished all requirements for EDIT 2000e! This semester has flown by - it's unbelievable! Please make sure to call or email me if you have questions or concerns at any point in these tasks. Please remember that all tasks are due no later than Monday, April 20th at the end of the day. No need to email me once you're finished. Final grades will be posted in eLC soon after the due date.

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