Digital to REAL

Computer Science Entrepreneurs

I would like to tinker with the idea of creating software development entrepreneurs. I have done some of this the past two years so I believe that this would be interesting and engaging for the students as well as profitable. (Maybe, using the profits, we could celebrate with a class outing.) This would also help our community of learners, parents and educators. This idea also would adhere to REAL standards.

The experience would be that the students would be responsible for the development of educational software that could be used by elementary school students. The class would be divided into teams with each team responsible for a different component.

• The first component is the user requirements phase. This phase would require the students to interview teachers, parents and even the students to ascertain what type of software is most needed. (Which learning concept do these students need to know?) Also during this phase they would determine the requirements and basic structure of the program. (Will it be a game or drill and practice or something else?) The entrepreneurs could use a Wiki site to update the user requirements for the software.
• The second component is the design phase. The students could work with the advanced art department graphics designers and music department and design the screen components, animation, music and other visual features. The tecnology used here would be the internet, cd burners and midi technology. Also students might find volunteers in the community to help with the project. The final design would be approved by the elementary teachers and students.
• The third component is the coding phase. The students would write the actual code for the program using the computer. Extensive testing would be done before the next phase.
• The fourth component is the user testing phase. The students would organize a small test team consisting of elementary parents, students and teachers that would completely test the program and make recommendations for improvement.
• The final component is the roll out phase. Here the students would roll out the final product to the pilot school and then market it to other elementary schools in the US. This phase would require good salesmanship and marketing skills and solid accounting of funds in order to determine profit. Also during this time ongoing management would be going on to improve the software to meet changing needs of the customer.

The students could develop a website to advertise the software and could even set up an online version of the software and deliver it that way. We could have a media relations team that would be responsible for delivering press releases to the papers and TV. Blog sites could be used for team communication as well.

Last Spring we did this on a small scale where the teams created fun educational software geared towards elementary school children. Then the teams were judged by guest judges from the school and community. It was a positive experience for all. Now we can take it one step further and develop our own software entrepreneurs. Bill Gates watch out!!!

posted by Mr. Don @ 9:30 PM 0 comments

Introduction to Music Industry

I am going to focus on the topic of teaching my classes some beginning skills in music industry. Through this project, students will be able to gain some different perspectives on how this industry operates. Each class will have a different assignment and because the classes don't meet together, they will have to use electronic communication to keep track of the overall project, each teams progress, and the various information that each team must have to function. Such teams will be a production team in charge producing a music album, an advertising team responsible for getting the word out about the product, the sales team responsible to selling the product and keeping track of the financial information, etc.

Through this project the teams will be able to use various forms of technology. They might use a blog site to keep a timeline of what is going on and comment to each event with pertinent information. They will be able to use recoding software, CD burners, desktop publishing software and many other programs. The teams might use a wiki for keeping track of sales information so that information can be changed as each shift (class) comes to work.

This project lines up with REAL's experiential learning by having the student interact in a very hands on way. They will be able to actually create a product and see what steps have to be taken to get that product on the market. They will also see how important advertising is and how it effects the overall product sales. The students will be able to gain a great insight into what takes place to make a CD available for purchase at the music store.

posted by Greg Franklin @ 7:45 PM 1 comments

community-mind leveraging

"As we discuss in our recent book, The Social Life of Information, we—as technologists—have tended to focus on information and individuals leaving out context, communities. Open source is a beautiful example of how the expert system often lies in the community mind. With the rise of the internet and tools for supporting virtual communities we may now be in position to really leverage the community mind."
John Seely Brown, in Interview with John Seely Brown, Wired Magazine.

posted by Bob Houghton @ 8:51 AM 0 comments