Instructional Project

Our last group project!

I think we were a little overwhelmed at the amount of work we had to finish in our last week of classes and because of this we wanted to make sure we had a topic in place before we left class the week before.  We threw out a few ideas but one group member had a well-developed idea in place that sounded useful for both a public or even possibly a school library.  We were going to teach parents about a game their child is most likely playing already.  This would be a good introduction to or continuation of digital citizenship or parents as well.

This lesson plan was difficult, for me at least, because of the short amount of time as well as the distance between us.  Literal distance, we had to plan everything online and work around each other's schedules.    This was frustrating at times as some group members were working days while others were working nights and some even were out of town (it is summer) We were able to get things done but it was very different from what I am used to seeing.  Usually, I would see teachers working during their plan periods or lunches daily as they co-taught.  It was just odd to send emails and then have to wait hours for a response or even the other way around.  The ability to plan together while not in the same room is amazing but also frustrating because you are not all online at the same time.  I think I would have to have a little bit of a schedule (lesson objectives need to be done by this date) if I were to try plan something like this again.

Once we started the lesson plan things were easier and it was nice to bounce ideas off each other.  The use of google docs made collaboration a breeze as group members could edit and comment on the same document.

We were a little worried about having the class (parents) play the games.  I really shouldn't have worried, they seemed to have a lot of fun.  It was fun to see that problem-solving skills being used even with the adults.  Everyone wants to know how to do something or what will happen if they do something.

I wish we would have timed out our lesson more.  I wanted to look more into the safety aspects and the design aspects for parents.  I wish I would have had made little video tutorials or screenshots to show games with and without the different parental controls.  I think it would have helped for parents to see how chatting with "friends" can help with problem-solving and social skills in general but how chatting openly without any privacy setting in place can get a little intense.  I feel like this was the most general introduction. I wish we would have timed ourselves and made sure we really covered the important things.