reading reflection #5

There are many things that should be considered before starting a project. The first is to gather resources. Teachers should look at the materials that are available at the school and find ways to acquire the material not provided. It should also be determined if there will be anyone who will assist with the project. This could include someone who does a demonstration in front of the class, or an expert that the students will need to speak with to get questions answered. This also includes technology coordinators and media specialists. Another thing to consider are milestones and deadlines. Teachers should provide students with a project calendar with milestones along the way. This will help students manage their time more effectively and plan ahead. If the project will last more than a few weeks, it should be broken down into smaller assignments with several deadlines. The next thing to consider is team planning. It needs to be determined how student teams will be organized. Sometimes students will be grouped by their skills and interests, and other times students should complement each other attributes. Students with disabilities also need to be considered. How will all of the students be challenged? Teachers need to plan for assessment. This should be done throughout the entire project. One should be done before the project even starts to determine student’s prior knowledge and interests. Assessments during the project allow you to see what students are thinking and understanding. Assessment shows you if the project is successfully meeting the goals or if changes need to be made. Assessments differ depending on the complexity of the project and can use formal or informal. Technology can assist in assessments such as an online survey. Teachers and students both have management needs. Teachers need tools for communicating about the project to students and others involved. Milestones should be visible for students to see at all times. Teachers need a method for getting resources to the students and a way to manage the students work. Assessment tools and strategies should also be included. Students’ management needs to include a system and tools to manage their time, and a system to help them manage their materials and control work drafts. Collaboration tools, methods for seeking assistance, and a way to receive feedback should be included. They should also have a way to work iteratively and to see how parts add up to the whole. There are some technology applications that should be considered to use in projects. A wiki is a web page that can be easily edited. Users can create pages and they can write and edit pages together. A blog is another application that can be used that is also easily edited. Usually one person is in control of the content and viewers make comments. Drupal and textpattern combine a content management framework and blogging engine. These concepts relate to our topic because we will need to determine what resources we will need. We should create milestones and deadlines for the students to follow. There should also be multiple assessments throughout the project that we should determine.