Wicked Problem Project

Part A – Need or Opportunity.

Under An Important Educational Need:

There is an educational need to teach students and parents how to discover Financial Aid in order to be familiar and comfortable with it. Financial Aid is the big monster in the room, meaning it can be complicated and misunderstood. Every student going to college will use some form of financial aid whether it is scholarships or some other gift aid or loans.  It is my personal objective to make financial aid as simple and easy to understand.

Educational Issue with Technology:

Challenge Based Learning (CBL) has you come up with a big idea (Discovering Financial Aid in a creative way) asking essential questions, guiding questions, a solution shown in a creative format using devices explained under logistics. I plan on using CBL as my guiding pedagogy when I ask a group of Notre Dame MBA students to run with the big idea. I will guide their learning with essential questions as well as coming up with guiding questions. Together we will come up with a bright solution to this issue. This is of course capable if I have the right amount of time. 

Logistics

When one employs Challenge Based Learning (CBL) part of the requirement is to use various devices. Such as Mac laptops, iPods, iPads, and iTunes. However, you can also use PC tablets, laptops, and Zune players. Also it is encouraged that students research using ‘outside the box’ techniques. In the case of this problem students could seek out Financial Aid experts, students who have already gone through the financial aid experience.

Relevant Research and Resources:

I used Google to search for articles and other relevant sources to share CBL with fellow teachers and higher educational professionals. There are several videos as well as an Apple webinar showing examples and explaining the process of CBL.

• http://images.apple.com/education/docs/Apple-ChallengedBasedLearning.pdf
• http://www.angellearning.com/services/education_training.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenge-Based_Learning
•  http://www.apple.com/education/challenge-based-learning/
• http://www.nmc.org/pdf/Challenge-Based-Learning.pdf

At this time this is such a new program (even though it is based on problem-learning) and there has not been an abundant amount of research. I understand that there would be some skepticism about the claims made since it seems as though Apple simply wants to sell their products. I am not going to deny that part of what Apple is trying to do is sell products, however this pedagogy can be applied to PC products. I believe the main take away is to incorporate technology into your teaching. I am unaware of how this would specifically fit into ones curriculum, however, I am sure following the strict state guidelines this can be affective.

Indicators of a successful project:

I believe a successful indicator will be if I can at least get to the part where we are asking essential questions in the CBL process. Also if I can get a group of Notre Dame MBA students to be my class this will also indicate a successful implementation. I know that I personally wont feel this has been 100% successful until I have seen it completely through.

Part B- TPACK

What is the TP knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how does the technology you have chosen support the teaching strategies and methods you have chosen?) My students chose to use the Flip Camera, a Mac Book Pro, and iMovie. This fits in with Challenge Based Learning because it is expected as the teacher that you encourage your students to us different devices that fit under the umbrella of technologic gadgets.

What is the TC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically does this technology make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible? Be sure to think about representation.)   It is simpler for students to search and ask questions about financial aid using computers, the Internet, or simply videotaping those that have been through the financial aid experience.

What is the PC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically do your pedagogical choices make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible?) Again as with the TC knowledge it becomes more intellectually accessible because students are able to use Financial Aid experts from all around the country by using Skype, websites, and etcetera.

I sent out a blast email on Facebook to my husband's MBA class as well as to family members posing this question, What does Financial Aid mean to you? Besides simply answering the question 'students' need to use technology (YouTube, Twitter, etcetera.) in order to deliver their answer.

Part C Implementation

This became a major source of frustration because I did not receive the type of response I was hoping for. I believe this the case to be because I did not stress the importance of this project to those I reached out to. Also I gave to long of a deadline for submission of answers. Eventually a group of Notre Dame MBA students came through and created a YouTube video explaining, what financial aid meant to them. It even led to a couple other questions.

Part D- Implications and Findings

My project did not get implemented as planned because I did not have a very well thought out plan. I created a lesson where I really wanted to discover what Financial Aid meant to students. I did not create the proper structure and this is why it became even more difficult to implement. I posed the question, ‘What does Financial Aid mean to you?’ and asked my ‘students to answer this question using technology. If I were to do a similar project I would take more time to plan the lesson. I would make sure it was structured and well thought out. I would also make sure I had a reliable group to implement the project with. For Challenge Based Learning you really need to have a group you are working with consistently, you need to make sure your lesson is well planned and structured, and I think as the ‘teacher’ you need to have an idea in the back of your head how you would like things to turn out. I probably wont do this project again. If I had to do it again as stated above I would have a better thought out plan as well as more structure to it. I would also have a core group to be my ‘students’ so that I would be able to better see Challenge Based Learning with a Financial Aid twist happening. I probably would have gotten more out of this and had a more pleasant experience.  This project was certainly interesting and has a purpose. The ultimate purpose I believe this project was for me to unequivocally decide if I had the ability to be a teacher in the traditional sense. So I thank you for this because I no longer have any doubt in my mind that I would not be a good teacher.


The Additional Videos from the Presentation

Group Leadership Project

Our group chose Prezi because after much discussion we felt this would be the best way to present the three different parts. We felt as though this made the most sense and would be the most cohesive way to showcase our Professional Development project. I learned how to use Windows Live Movie Maker, which was a brand new technology for me. I thought that it would be much more difficult to use than the iMovie. I had already used Prezi before, however I had never used it as a collaborative tool. This was really neat and now I know I can do this with others once I have a job. I understand that my portion was on the longer side. My original intent was to have this be a piece where professionals read each slide. That is why there are long pauses. Also I did not want to assume that each individual knew every different type of way to save on the web and that is why I showed each separate way. I did not feel this was a repetitious movie. I agree it could have probably been shortened. This was submitted for review to my group members and was approved. I also believe we would have possibly been better served if we had each created a movie using Windows Live Movie Maker because it would all be the same. It would not have looked as four separate parts in one setting. It would have been more cohesive.  

Mobile Learning

I tried utilizing my husband's Blackberry in order to use Google scholar to look up scholarly articles in regards to a project he was working on. This was pretty cool. I also used the iPod touch to view a couple educational YouTube videos.Creating the text poll was really cool because it is thinking outside of the box when trying to obtain information. I am at this moment still waiting to be accepted to Classroom 2.0 in order to join or create a discussion. I think it would be really cool if there was a Financial Aid app for each individual school that could give general FA information and show you some of your own information as well as link you to fafsa.ed.gov in order for you to apply for aid. Also it would be neat if there was a virtual advisor app students could meet with at any time to discuss academic related issues. Challenges probably would arise with FERPA regulations, creating a secure app for each individual college/university. However, it is inspiring to think of all the new and upcoming technologies that can be put to good use and make life easier for undergraduate and graduate students.

Personal Learning Plan

Part D- Findings and Implications

My project did not get implemented as planned because I did not have a very well thought out plan. I created a lesson where I really wanted to discover what Financial Aid meant to students. I did not create the proper structure and this is why it became even more difficult to implement. I posed the question, ‘What is/does Financial Aid (mean) to you?’ and asked my ‘students to answer this question using technology. I have to this date received some answers and it has been interesting to hear/see what Financial Aid means to them. If I were to do a similar project I would take more time to plan the lesson. I would make sure it was structured and well thought out. I would also make sure I had a reliable group to implement the project with. For Challenge Based Learning you really need to have a group you are working with consistently, you need to make sure your lesson is well planned and structured, and I think as the ‘teacher’ you need to have an idea in the back of your head how you would like things to turn out. I probably wont do this project again. If I had to do it again as stated above I would have a better thought out plan as well as more structure to it. I would also have a core group to be my ‘students’ so that I would be able to better see Challenge Based Learning with a Financial Aid twist happening. I probably would have gotten more out of this and had a more pleasant experience.  

Part C- Implementation

After much difficulties publishing this podast with out further ado please view my podcast.

Part B- Storyboard and Script

Our group chose to do our Professional Development on how to use Windows Live Movie Maker. Each group member was assigned a content area to show case on Prezi for our final project. To view our storyboard please go to https://docs.google.com/document/d/109RpQVKPpoFz5Nc2tYmICMgeWEW51WXZgaW-xG75QgQ/edit?hl=en#.  I was in charge of the fourth and final content area, which is 'How to save your movie using Windows Live Movie Maker. I created PowerPoint slides that were converted into jpegs in order to load them into Windows Live Movie Maker. I then created a movie explaining how one would save their movie using this tool. Bob Hughes has graciously provided his voice and music capabilities to enhance this movie. When all of the editing is done it will be placed in our groups Prezi for everyone's viewing pleasure. Do to major technical difficulties I have shared my personal storyboard and script with Professor Ayers through email as the same unimproved storyboard kept on showing up when linked to my MSU space.