Wicked Problem Project

The Problem: Schools don't have the funding to continue or create gifted programs.

The Solution: Create a WIKI where gifted kids and their parents can go for resources, lesson plans, activities and a forum.

Part A:

PART A - Description of Need or Opportunity

As a parent of gifted children I often struggle with the lack of gifted programs or even clubs for my children to be engaged in. In our school district, and many others around the state, funding for gifted programs was cut years ago. The challenge was to find ways to connect other parents of gifted children to resources that can help them engage their children outside of the classroom.

My strategy was to use a wiki to get local parents talking to each other and provide information for how they can challenge their gifted children. There are many websites out there that provides educational resources that are free and challenging. However, being able to connect local parents would mean giving support to them to be able to arrange group activities, talk about what the students are currently studying in specific classrooms,  and what resources and activities reinforce the current topics in class. 

This is an example of a wiki that seems to have been created in 2010 by a school district and offers resources but doesn't look like it has been used since its creation. Identifying why this wiki fell short may help in preventing barriers to the implementation of my project. Unfortunately I did not receive a response to my inquiry but I suspect that it may have had trouble in being marketed to the parents and kids. This is an example of a wiki that seems to be active and has recent content updates.  It provides information for parents of gifted children to connect with each other, local events, resources for educational materials for gifted children,etc.  This wiki shows me that my project is still plausible.

For this project, I attempted to connect with other parents and get content into the Wiki.  After the completion of this course, I hope to be to promote the wiki in the community via social networking, networking with parents at sporting events, and connecting with the school district to gain their support and promotion.  Ideally, in a year it will also enable me to plan online and local activities for gifted kids in our area.

I created a google document with resources and ideas for content on the wiki, however each link in the wiki has been visited and assessed for it's usefulness which has proven to be a more time consuming activity than predicted.

A successful implementation of this project would result in a membership roster for the wiki that containes 20 or more active contributing members (parents, students, school teachers or administrators) by winter break in the upcoming school year. Although I do not have any members as of the end of June, I believe if I go forward with a marketing plan for the upcoming school year, this end goal might still be attainable.



The REVISED PART A Solution amendment: Create a wiki and then market it in the district and community to get parents and kids to actually log on and use it.  A tool is only a tool if it is used-and it can't be used if no one knows about it.  Going forward, I will attempt to meet with administration in the school district, the local PTO, and network with other parents in the community who may have a need for the wiki.  So far I have reached out to parents via facebook and sporting events for my kids.

Research clearly shows that gifted kids can struggle with being bullied, social interaction, etc. It also shows that parents need support in parenting their gifted child(ren). This wiki is creating a support system using technology to facilitate the process.

1. 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?)  A wiki will help to connect parents at various schools in the district-we have multiple public elementary schools, a middle school and a high school.  In addition, we have private schools as well.  Short of calling an in person town hall meeting, a wiki (virtual cafe of sorts) would be the next best thing for forming these connections. Promotion of the wiki is also a part of this project as I will have to engage parents through facebook, twitter, etc. Connections are a key part for the gifted child and a support system is key to parenting a gifted child.  The wiki will be a bulletin board type solution where parents and kids will be able to go and see what is going on within their local community that will support them.
2. 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.) Many of the classroom teachers at the schools have a newletter where the teacher communicates specifically with the parents of that class.  Additionally our district uses "PowerSchool" as a grade portal for parents to access their child's grades on individual assignments and as a whole in each class. However, since most schools have cut out specific gifted programs, there are not really any ways for gifted kids to be identified or grouped together.  Parents don't go to sporting events with buttons that say "My kid is gifted."  Having a wiki that a parent or gifted child can become a member of is a little bit like wearing that button-virtually.  It is an icebreaker for parents to then share experiences.  It is a way for gifted kids to discover new challenging websites full of fun educational activities that they will enjoy. Many of the resources I have posted so far are interactive. It also eliminates parents searching through pages of material online to find something to engage their child.
3. 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?) Be sure to think about how the student will experience the content given these instructional strategies.  Taking into consideration the level of technology use in our community by both children and parents, a Wiki is a user friendly platform that does not require a high level of technical skills.  However, if a person has those skills they can use the resources within the wiki to learn, use and explore higher levels of technical abilities. The resources provided for kids (curriculum, activities, etc.) vary in pedagogical approaches and can be utilized by students and parents at various intellectual levels. 

Highly gifted children and peer relationships

In the above article, Lovecky describes the difficulty for some highly gifted children to develop healthy social relationships with their peers. "The children themselves identified problems with social acceptance and feeling valued for their opinions, difficulties with social skills and dealing with being picked on by age peers (Lovecky 1995). In my Wicked Problem project, I hope to connect gifted children with each other to assist in the sometimes difficult process of gifted children connecting with "like minds".  In a virtual relationship, children experience less social pressure than they do in the school group environment to interact with kids that may be of the same age or in the same grade. Often gifted kids have different levels of maturity because of developmental differences.  These differences are not necessarily as distinguishable by age.

Square Pegs in Round Holes—These Kids Don't Fit: High Ability Students With Behavioral Problems
 
Research has also shown (in the 2nd article listed above) that gifted kids can often be accused of or confused with having behavioral issues.  Parents often struggle themselves handling the different emotions a gifted child sometimes focuses on.  Having a parent forum to hear other parents going through the same things is comforting and helpful.

Although I have moved along in the design of the wiki I am still struggling with how to promote and implement it. I will be anxious for the new school year to begin this fall because I think it will be a more appropriate time to be able to network with parents, the community and the district in order to promote my solution.


My presentation is geared toward being presented at a PTO meeting.

Group Leadership Project

1. What tool did your group use to deliver the PD tutorial?  Why? We chose to create our presentation in Prezi but then make the slidecast in Microsoft Movie Maker and add an Audacity voiceover. It's usability for doing images, audio and video (YouTube) made it our first choice.
2. What did you learn during the development process of the final product?  I learned that group projects can be very time consuming and difficult to coordinate but that so much can be learned from your group members. Technically, it was difficult to get clear images, a good font for visual appeal, as well as timing audio with video to be accurate.
3. What would you do differently if you had to develop a similar product again? If we could redo it I would suggest we not do the presentation in Prezi and instead use Powerpoint because it is easier to do images and audio in Powerpoint and then incorporate special effects in Movie Maker rather than using Audacity, Jing, Prezi and Movie Maker.  We couldn't get a program to really record the Prezi transitions the way we wanted without them being choppy and since Prezi doesn't let you record audio we ended up doing a lot more work.

Professional Learning Plan

So as I reflect, I think that as a non-teacher I have come a long way in this class. I believe that I often struggle more with coming  up with ideas for lessons than the actual tasks themselves of using a new tool or applying theories and principles. I spent quite a while in my free trial version of Camtasia Studio today creating a screencast only to have it freeze my computer up and never "produce" my media. After restarting the program several times.....I finally had success!!

Here is the link to my screencast. 

Wicked Problem Project: Part D - Findings and Implications

• Formative: Did the project get implemented as planned?
• Summative: Evidence of success in addressing the problem of practice
• How would you approach another project of this type differently given what you’ve learned here?
• What are the lessons learned that others might benefit from knowing about?
• In what ways will you endeavor to do the same project again, and what will you change or not do?

My Wicked Problem Project  was not able to be implemented as I had planned. However, I fully expect that with the correct marketing plan after school is back in session that I will be able to connect parents and students with the resources available through the wiki. The general feedback from family and friends is that this resource will be very valuable to those in my community. The research that I have found regarding gifted children and their families fully supports the wiki idea as a valuable resource. 


If I attempted another similar project I would probably spend more time on the marketing, networking and research of the project.  A tool is not a tool if you don't know how to use it.  A resource is not valuable if it's not accessible. This wiki would have greatly benefited from being introduced to parents through a PTO meeting or with the school district's support. 


I learned that you can't have a "one man show" when trying to implement a project like this.  Since I have not lived in this community for very long I am struggling with figuring out where and how to promote it to create a "buzz" about it.  If I were more rooted in this community or had friends locally then I might have more support in the implementation. I may have also been able to start with a "team" of local parents who could have assisted me in the development and implementation of the project.  


I think that others would benefit from knowing that you could have the best idea in the world, but if other people don't know about it-it will never be successful. Planning a project like this takes a lot more time and research than I allowed for so if any one else wants to attempt something like this they should allow for that time. 


This project isn't over.  This fall, I fully intend to work on getting my idea into the school district and promote it within the community.  I know that there is a demonstrated need for it so it's just a matter of time before I can spread the word.  If I had to do it all over again, I would make sure that I have other parents on board to give feedback and promote the idea.

Data Visualization

Oh how I love, love, love free tools!  I could seriously play around for hours on Google Sketch up!  Creating 3D images like the one above easily and for free? Um, yes please!  The features of being able to orbit your image and see if your measurements are off, import other models that have been designed in the program, and being able to do things like add texture all in minutes are incredible.

I also played with some mind-mapping tools.  Pinball was really cool to play with.  There are a variety of things you can do like choosing "lucky" or "curve" to get it to use your word or image as a starting point and then making suggestions or random bubbles.  I have used mind-mapping tools before for brainstorming but none that offered suggestions. 

Wicked Problem Project Part C: Implementation

Here is a podcast on the Implementation of the Wicked Problem Project!!

Mobile Learning Lab Task 3

I know what you are thinking-where is task 1? Well, I am currently awaiting my classroom 2.0 membership but so far it looks cool.  At first, I thought the site was information overload!  For me at least, I like information like that better organized.  However it looks like a useful site. 

I can see where if I led a classroom with cell phone as a BYOD platform, that the poll would be very useful-and since I already love IWB displaying the results on it would be a must. I would think that kids would be more inclined to text their response via cell then raise their hands anyway.  Growing up with the digital world all apart of their lives has given them a sense of comfort in online anonymous posting which is pretty much what this polling tool allows for. I can't tell you the number of times recalling a teacher saying "everyone got this or do we need to spend more time on it before moving on" and no one would respond or the teacher would just stand there wondering on whether or not the class is following.  This is a great tool to know where the students are at before moving on and missing key areas.

Since I don't have a classroom and can't really experiment with mobile devices in the classroom, I can't really give my opinion on their benefits or drawbacks other than what I have drawn from our readings.  However, I did present last semester in a MSU class of 300 students where I observed the devices many of them used during my lecture/presentation.  Although I would like to think they all used them for the purpose of the class, because the teacher did not do a poll like the one we tried with poll everywhere there is really no way to know if these students are texting friends or really exploring class material.

I think some of the challenges I would anticipate would be different types of mobile devices and making sure the lessons were able to be accessed by many devices.  For instance, if you knew for sure that everyone had an iPhone, iPod or iPad you could even possibly use specific apps for your lesson.  However if some kids have an iPad, others an android tablet, some a kindle fire, others a smartphone you would have to carefully develop the lesson to be able to be completed from any device. 

Regardless of the BYOD situation, I think the poll everywhere is a great way to ensure class participation.

Mobile Learning Lab Task 2

Assignment: PART B - Storyboard and Script

Group 5 rocks!!

Dale, Ashley and I created a Google presentation to illustrate our storyboard and script.  We also simultaneously created the skeleton of the prezi to show graphics and videos instead of "sketches" for the visual part of the project.  You can view our Storyboard and Script here in the Google presentation.  Where it says "notes" on the bottom of the slide is actually our script.  You can view the beginning of our Prezi here as well to see the elements of our graphics and videos that are part of our storyboard.We began the storyboard in Prezi but felt in order to do our script portion we needed to add a powerpoint.  Since it is an instructional process that involves calibration and software setup, the final product will include a voiceover and timed slides that allow the user to perform the steps while viewing the slidecast. Prezi does not let us add audio to it but will play audio from the embedded videos.  Because of this we will have to do a timed slidecast. 

It has been a great process so far-Ashley has focused on the content for the lesson plan we will be demoing as well as the script, Dale has worked on the Prezi, hardware, software, lesson plan material and the script, Rachael has worked on troubleshooting, resources, lesson plan/software options. All three of us have come up with ideas for videos, graphics, and material.

Going forward, Ashley will be working on the final audio of the prezi/slidecast, Dale will be doing the instructional video of the setup with a PC and Rachael will be doing a video using an iPad (if it works) and a popular app that works well for the IWB. Dale will also be doing a video of Ashley's Lesson Plan Google Earth tour.   All three of us will continue to tweak the Prezi as we continue on in this project. I believe the most challenging aspect of our final product will be timing the audio and getting the prezi to transition correctly as a slidecast.

Wicked Problem Project:Part B - Application of TPACK

1. 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?)  A wiki will help to connect parents at various schools in the district-we have multiple public elementary schools, a middle school and a high school.  In addition, we have private schools as well.  Short of calling an in person town hall meeting, a wiki (virtual cafe of sorts) would be the next best thing for forming these connections. Promotion of the wiki is also a part of this project as I will have to engage parents through facebook, twitter, etc. Connections are a key part for the gifted child and a support system is key to parenting a gifted child.  The wiki will be a bulletin board type solution where parents and kids will be able to go and see what is going on within their local community that will support them.
2. 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.) Many of the classroom teachers at the schools have a newletter where the teacher communicates specifically with the parents of that class.  Additionally our district uses "PowerSchool" as a grade portal for parents to access their child's grades on individual assignments and as a whole in each class. However, since most schools have cut out specific gifted programs, there are not really any ways for gifted kids to be identified or grouped together.  Parents don't go to sporting events with buttons that say "My kid is gifted."  Having a wiki that a parent or gifted child can become a member of is a little bit like wearing that button-virtually.  It is an icebreaker for parents to then share experiences.  It is a way for gifted kids to discover new challenging websites full of fun educational activities that they will enjoy. Many of the resources I have posted so far are interactive. It also eliminates parents searching through pages of material online to find something to engage their child.
3. 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?) Be sure to think about how the student will experience the content given these instructional strategies.  Taking into consideration the level of technology use in our community by both children and parents, a Wiki is a user friendly platform that does not require a high level of technical skills.  However, if a person has those skills they can use the resources within the wiki to learn, use and explore higher levels of technical abilities. The resources provided for kids (curriculum, activities, etc.) vary in pedagogical approaches and can be utilized by students and parents at various intellectual levels.

Highly gifted children and peer relationships

Lovecky, D. V.
Counseling and Guidance Newsletter
National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC)
Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 2, 6 and 7
1995
In the above article, Lovecky describes the difficulty for some highly gifted children to develop healthy social relationships with their peers. "The children themselves identified problems with social acceptance and feeling valued for their opinions, difficulties with social skills and dealing with being picked on by age peers (Lovecky 1995). In my Wicked Problem project, I hope to connect gifted children with each other to assist in the sometimes difficult process of gifted children connecting with "like minds".  In a virtual relationship, children experience less social pressure than they do in the school group environment to interact with kids that may be of the same age or in the same grade. Often gifted kids have different levels of maturity because of developmental differences.  These differences are not necessarily as distinguishable by age.

Square Pegs in Round Holes—These Kids Don't Fit: High Ability Students With Behavioral Problems
Reid, B. D. & McGuire, M. D.
 
Research has also shown that gifted kids can often be accused of or confused with having behavioral issues.  Parents often struggle themselves handling the different emotions a gifted child sometimes focuses on.  Having a parent forum to hear other parents going through the same things is comforting and helpful.

Although I have moved along in the design of the wiki I am still struggling with how to promote and implement it.