INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE PROJECT (COURSE-LONG)
Suggested Due Date: Sunday, March 27, 2016 (Note: There are earlier due dates for various components of the project.)
Throughout the course, you will be working on a project, a "product pitch." You will create a short video (3 minutes max) for a new, hypothetical (you need not actually create it) educational technology, designed by you and grounded in an understanding of learning and educational theories.
Rather than trying to do everything at once, you will work on your pitch progressively, approaching different pieces as we move through the units. Each participant’s pitch will be different.
Key areas your pitch will cover:
Why is there a need for this product?
What will it teach (or help students learn) and how?
Who will use it and in what context?
How will learners be assessed either within or outside of your intervention?
Could your product help a researcher shed light on a certain aspect of the educational experience? What research questions might your project prompt?
What kind of impact might this product have? What about major risks?
The audience for your pitch can be a potential partner/funder who might help you or an actual user (like teachers, elementary school students, parents, adult learners, etc.). No matter your audience, the goal is to convince them that this is a valuable product that should be used.
* Do not worry about making a specific request for funding or explaining your overall business plan. The focus is the product itself.
You are not required to appear in the video (For instance, you may choose to provide narration for a collection of visuals.). If producing a short video is not possible due to technical limitations, create a concise visual presentation. This could be a series of images with strategic and select text explanations, a Powerpoint like presentation with notes or annotations, or a Prezi. We want your work to be image-centric, rather than text-focused.
Important: You do not have to create an actual, functional educational product for this course. However, you should still ground your potential product in the real world and consider constraints that would be in place if you actually developed it. In the past, we have had a few participants develop working prototypes. You may want to consider this, or think about it for the future.