Reading Reflection #5

There are some things you need to have prepared before starting a project with your students. One might need to take a look through their inventory and see what supplies, tools, and other materials are available at the school or offered by supporters. The community can have a wide variety of sources if needed. It all matters what you have offered around you, and what you don't.

Teachers have management needs:

• tools for communicating with students and others about the project
• tools for making milestones and events visible and for notifying students when changes occur
• methods for getting resources to students
• systems for managing work products
• structures that support a productive learning environment in which teams and individuals are engaged in a variety of learning tasks at the same time
• assessment tools and strategies
• ways to gauge whether students are working productively and accomplishing project goals
• ways to assess the load balance within a team so no individuals end up doing too much or too little
• ways to give just-in-time feedback on student work as it develops, not just when its completed

Students have management needs:

• systems and tools that help them manage their time and flow of work
• systems that help students manage materials and control work drafts
• collaboration tools
• methods for seeking assistance
• ways to get and sue feedback on their work, through self-reflection, team input, and teacher advice
• ways to work iteratively and to see how parts add up to the whole

There are some technology applications that should be considered when doing a project. A wiki is the simplest application to use. Two wikis that are popularly used in education are Wikispaces and PBwiki. Blogs are very effective. Two good blogging engines are Drupal and Textpattern.

Topics in this chapter relate to our project in numerous ways. We need to know what we have and who we have before we even start our project. Without the correct tools, then there will be no project. It is important to know and understand what us as teachers will need when it comes to management needs and we know what to hope our students will have when it comes to their management needs. Since it all technology, we must know important applications in order to create and update our projects. It is one of the most important things.