Classroom Use: Development
Planning is a critical part of project implementation. Know your students and think ahead. If you're planning a large-scale Internet project, try elements with your class first to determine how much time the project will take. Also consider implementing a trial project with two or three schools rather than twenty or thirty schools your first time.
Use a wall or bulletin board in your classroom as "web headquarters." Include timelines, a layout of the site, a world map of participants, screen dumps from sites used, background information, and a responsibility chart. You may also want to post information in the lunchroom where all the students in the school can see your progress. This will get the entire school behind your project. Students love to see a map expand with participants from around the world or see a thermometer fill as project spaces are filled.
Timelines
Timelines, flowcharts, calendars, and due date postings are all ways to help you and your students keep track of the project. You'll be surprised how fast the time will go. Remember when a project falls behind it impacts all the schools involved. Keep on top of the project and develop contingency plans for slow downs and bottlenecks. For example, it may take twice as long as you anticipated for students to respond each day to email. You may need to use an additional email connection or ask a small group to volunteer after school to catch up. You'll have no trouble recruiting students. Try to incorporate your theme into your bulletin board. A government class used pictures of race horses in their "race of the bills" project.
Your timeline should include milestones for the project, key due dates, and other important times that your class can anticipate. Involve students in the timeline by filling in dates or counting down days. The chart below contains a horizontal timeline.
If you're the project leader, it's your responsibility to keep your participants on track. You may need a separate director's timeline. For instance, you need to send out confirmations before the project starts. You also need to send out reminders immediately before due dates.
In addition to the timelines, you might also want charts that show numbers of email messages, numbers of participating students or schools, and other interesting data. This is a great math activity for students.
Topic: World Peace
Overview: Students at each site create digital peace quilt pieces representing what their country can contribute to the world.
Subjects: Students at each site create digital peace quilt pieces representing what their country can contribute to the world.
Outcomes: Apply design skills to the development of a digital quilt piece.
Synthesis information about a country.
Identify contributions of countries around the world.
Create geometric patterns.
Share concerns about world peace.
Ages: 10-14
Timeline: 10 weeks
Connections: Countries around the world
Procedure: Post a Call for Connections.
Pinpoint participants on the map.
Research additional countries not participating.
Discuss unique aspects of each country.
Develop digital quilt squares.
Publish each digital quilt square as a thumbnail graphic.
Develop a web page for each thumbnail, plus a core page.
Optional: Contests for most unique, colorful, guess the country.
Site Layout
As students begin to develop web pages for the site. It's helpful for them to visualize the entire web project. There's probably a core page, credits page, participants page, FAQs page, and information pages.
Ask a small group to create a series of cards for each page that can be placed on the bulletin board. Or, direct the group to create a diagram of the site on paper and post it on the bulletin board. This visual representation will help students track their progress. For example, as each page is created or completed, a sticker or checkmark could be added to the chart.
Map
Many web projects involve students from around the state or province, country, or world. It's fun to keep track of participants on a map. The World Quilt project uses a world map. Some classes use pins or stickers to mark locations, while others color in the map or add an object such as a small leaf to the map.
Be sure all the students get an opportunity to interact with the map. Also consider placing a map in the hall or lunch room where everyone can see. Many projects also put a map on their website.
Screen Dumps
Sometimes it's hard for students and parents to "see" the project as it progresses on the Internet. Consider posting screen dumps or creating a print version of the web site in a notebook for people to see when they don't have access to the computer. You many even print out email communication and create a project diary or journal.
With a color printer, you can print beautiful representations of your project. For example, if you're working on an animals project, you might print out pictures of animals from a variety of sites and post them on your bulletin board. You could also post new web pages that have just been completed for your students to evaluate or just admire.
Background Information
Some projects require lots of in-class preparation and background information. For example, before your students jump into an online geometry problem solving project, they need a firm grasp of the math concepts. Use the bulletin board to post sample problems or review formulas or examples. In the Tree Project, students started by studying deforestation and conservation. An area of the bulletin board was dedicated to information related to these Tree Tips.
Responsibility Chart
Like any class project, you'll need to assign responsibilities. In a web project, there are many ongoing duties such as updating the map, checking email, posting information, researching topics, and writing articles. In some projects, you may assign individual roles, while in others you may organize work groups with specific titles such as web weavers, email experts, and map makers. These roles could be for the duration of the project or they could rotate daily or weekly depending on the project.
As you develop your project, consider the following elements:
- Timelines
- Site Layout
- Map
- Screen Dumps
- Background Info
- Responsibility Chart