Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
Turn and face the strange
tl;dr: In which the author realizes that the path has been strayed from yet again, but in so doing, a rabbit hole is narrowly avoided, and a more open trail found.
Guiding Question
Now that I have chosen the “Right Problem to Solve”, how do I show that I can solve it?
Purpose
… define what I already know and have done, layer in new learnings, and re-commit to the project.
Week 02
I started this week feeling anxious, concerned that I would lose focus as I did last week. If my goal is to frame classroom planning and teaching as a Design Challenge, then what I need now is a concrete, yet broad strokes plan or I risk getting too wrapped up in the Process and losing sight of the Purpose.
My first step was to ask, “WHAT do I really need to accomplish by WHEN?”
Some “whens” were easy:
- Sunday, 2016–09–04, the last weekend of Summer
- Friday, 2016–12–02, the end of Term I,
- Friday, 2017–03–10, Spring Break, the unofficial end of Term II,
- Thursday, 2017–06–22, the end of Term III
Following from this, certain “whats” (assignment schedule, rubrics, online class spaces, “Getting Started” documents) and by extension, some “whos” (the student groupings, based on curriculum) became clear.
From there, I was able to layout a Project Schedule for the weeks of the summer; treating each week as a Sprint that culminates with, among other things, a Medium post of the process.
_Date_|Week|Weeks| Details
17–23 | # 3- |left -7 | Comp Sci Principles
24–30 | # 4- |left -6 | STEM 8
31–06 | # 5- |left -5 | Graphics
07–13 | # 6- |left -4 | Game Design
14–20 | # 7- |left -3 | Clubs
21–27 | # 8- |left -2 |
28–04 | # 9- |left -1 | MINT8
The next step, was to review the 6-step Design Process that I used and taught last year:
1. Define (understand the problem)
2. Explore (cover the concepts)
3. Plan (plan the work, …)
4. Build (… work the plan)
5. Test (measure performance)
6. Analyze (understand and share)
I am going to adapt it for use this summer and next year. It now has 3 Phases, and added steps:
1. Prepare
— Define
— Explore
— Plan
2. Iterate (repeat until complete)
— Build
— Test
— Analyze
3. Share
— Publish: (e)Portfolio, ePub, Poster
— Present: Class, Colleagues, Visitors, VMMF, TEMPTalks
Currently, I am in Phase I.
Next Steps
Iterating Phase I (incorporating new learnings).
Lean and Agile.
Computer Science Principles course planning as a Design Challenge.
Backlog
(for things that are important enough to come back to.)
- Explore: Human Centered Design, Flipped Classroom, Constructivism, Project Based Learning
- Explore: Lean / Agile concepts: Sprint, Backlog, …
- Why Medium
Retrospective
Keep
— Backlog
Drop
—Categories (Group-members, Relationships, Process, and Tools)
Add/Change
— Pictures
— Worklog
— Section Order
Commit
— Clearing the Backlog
— Using a Worklog
Explore — Design thinking
tl;dr: IDEO — Human-centered approach to innovation that seeks to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success. Read more at ideo.com/about
tl;dr: d.school — Design Thinking Process combines methods from engineering and design, ideas from the arts, tools from the social sciences, and insights from the business world around a common goal: make the lives of the people they’re designing for better. Read more in the d.school Fact Sheet
