Soliciting ideas, or projects for my instr. design multimedia term project (Grad student)

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Permalink Reply by Studica Skills on February 4, 2008 at 1:17pm

Hi Fred,

Not sure if you've heard of us, but Studica Skills offers a multitude of free software-based competitions for students around the world, and this might be a great opportunity for your students. There are different themes for each competition, with many categories, so hopefully there will be something to interest and motivate your classes. Some of the themes are software-specific, whereas others allow the student to use the tools of their choice.

The competitions are free to enter, very easy to incorporate into the curriculum, and there is no commitment for anybody to purchase or subscribe to any products or services. We have nearly 25,000 students currently registered worldwide, and season three ends April 30, so there is still plenty of time! The prizes include software, hardware, cash and scholarships, not to mention recognition...

I have free teachers' kits available (with literature about the company, posters and other freebies) if you'd like one sent out. In the meantime, have a look at our website and see if there's anything that grabs your attention:
Studica Skills

There are links to the products sold by our parent company, Torcomp Studica (an educational software reseller), but I represent the non-profit division that features free competitions in an effort to give back to the education community. I'm the international representative, and will be happy to answer any questions or send you any goodies. If you're looking for more information, or want to know more about my role or our reputation, have a look at my profile.

---Karmyn Lucescu
KarmynL@studica.com

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on February 4, 2008 at 6:09pm

There is a group for vendors to comment on their products.

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Permalink Reply by Studica Skills on February 5, 2008 at 7:04am

Hi Nancy,

Yes, thank you. I've had a look at that group, but since I'm not actually selling anything or offering tutorials, it doesn't seem to apply to what I'm doing. Our competitions are free to students worldwide. I inform people about the competitions, and the opportunities for their students to win software, hardware, cash and scholarships. If the tools are readily available in the classroom, why not use the resources and gain back from them?

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Permalink Reply by Connie Weber on February 5, 2008 at 4:40am

What ages are your students?
I'd suggest you try doing something that impacts the local environment (human or natural environment) in some way. Have the students locate a problem or need, document it, create a community of linked problem-solvers, document that group shaping up, have everyone decide on an action or direction to take, document that, and then report the whole thing with multimedia projects that include photography, videos, soundtracks, narration, reflection. The drive is not only to find a way to actively make a difference, but also to share a model that could tried or learned from in other places.
It'd be a challenge, could be very meaningful.

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Permalink Reply by Fred Zimmerman on February 6, 2008 at 6:14am

Connie,

Your ideas sound intriguing. I'm not, nor have ever been a teacher (but do hope to be as career-changer).

In that vein, let me ask you what you're referring to with "create a community or linked problem-solvers". Can
you give me an example lesson plan (or site to link to) in this area? I have a lot to learn about eLearning, and
how to incorporate instructional technology in K12.

Thanks for your help.

Fred Zimmerman - Grad Student UGA (Instructional Design)
High Technology Consultant/Contractor (Info. Technology)

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Permalink Reply by Connie Weber on February 6, 2008 at 8:52am

Hi Fred,
Well, if you don't have a group of people you're working with, I don't know how you'd do what I'm suggesting. But the examples are many: Edutopia, for instance has many brilliant examples of brilliant project-based learning There are some that are service-oriented and local problem-solving enterprises. The whole site is worth studying. You'll get a lot of ideas.
For outstanding student multi-media productions, many of which are based on problem-solving or taking on "causes," see Marco Torres' site. This is the student movies section, at iCan film festival. The numbers across the top of the page are the various different festivals.
Hope that helps!

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on February 6, 2008 at 10:28am

Fred, We've done several projects over the years that have included community, primary sources and technology. Check out major projects (lots of kids, lots of time) CSI:Cemetery Scene Investigation (2007) and Guardians of Freedom (2001)

NE Kansas City Walking Tour (2007) is a much quicker easier project.

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Permalink Reply by Connie Weber on February 6, 2008 at 10:50am

Yes! Fred, Nancy has some EXCELLENT resources. Definitely check them out. I should have thought of them right away. Very inspiring work!

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on February 6, 2008 at 11:00am

Thanks Connie, this week we started another mammoth project, this time on the Titanic. With focus on the primary sources (which there are tens of thousands) students will ultimately be able to answer some essential guestions--mainly--- "What makes the sinking of the Titanic one of the most memorable events in modern history?"

The school board of Western Australia gave me the curriculum and a searchable database (under construction as we speak). I reworked and updated the curriculum, republished it here. Using the database we will look at the Titanic by the numbers, "did more woman and children survive? did it make a difference which class you were in?" "how many people died from different countries of origin?", etc. Over the last year,

I've struggled with authentic uses for podcasting (I want something more than reading into a microphone) and my latest idea I think is a good one---students will be given the name of a person aboard the Titanic, each student will research their person to see what happened to them. Some of the students will podcast as their person. I think it'll add to their final projects and to our website.

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