TECHNOLOGY+DESIGN+CYCLE

=// Investigation //= During the Investigation process, students had to research two tutorials their teacher presented them with. The students took notes about the things they especially liked about the tutorials, what they disliked, and what they would like to include in their own tutorial. Afterwards, they came together to create a forum discussion about all the things that are expected in a tutorial. Some students remarked that they learned a great deal about the type of criteria that others enjoyed.

=// Plan //=

For the plan stage, the students would look at their forum discussion and draw or print screen images on to a storyboard draft of their completed tutorial. Students were given the choice of making their storyboard on the computer or on paper. The sixth-graders wrote important notes in each clip like: Audio, Script, and steps. These notes helped the students out in the future when they started making their final Tutorial.

=// Create //=

The students were all very excited when they heard that they would finally, start to make their complete tutorial. The whole room was filled with "The first step is..." and "Now, you start..." as students spoke into microphones. They used SMART Recorder and Windows Movie Maker to ensure that their tutorial would make viewers blown away. All in all, the students enjoyed recording their voices on the computer and making titles and credits for their prized work: Their very first Tutorial.

=// Evaluate //=

During this final part of their project, the students wrote a reflection about their whole project, starting from Investigate, all the way to Create. They wrote about their opinions to the tutorial, their process through the tutorial making, and their overall progress: were they putting in their full effort? They finished off their reflections by posting them on their blog.

The Design Cycle our class worked around is listed above. It was very useful to us.