Course 5: Post 4 - Prototype and Test

Context

In one of my classes for my Master of Arts in Learning, Design, and Technology (MALDT), I am taking 16 weeks to design (and redesign, and change, and tweak) one lesson really well. We are working through a design cycle as we create this lesson. This is a reflection of my second fourth and fifth steps - Prototype and Test. You can follow more of my MALDT Progress here.

Prototype

My idea changed a lot since the beginning. I had created small amounts throughout the design cycle, like the roadmap, which had given me the idea of making a HyperDoc in Slides to guide learners through the process. I continued down that path and completed the prototype of a working set of slides for learners to progress through. 

Screenshots from my prototype can be seen here. Or you can view the working links and videos here.

Because I wanted a more social aspect, I changed a lot of my original idea using Sheets and the commenting features in Docs/Slides. I opted for Flipgrid to make it more personal and interactive. This meant creating areas on Flipgrid for each of the traits of writing as well as a place for students to share their background knowledge of one of the traits of writing. I like this idea because they can continue to add videos or poster creations about traits as they learn more.

Test

I started testing the prototype slowly with my students. They had actually already started the background knowledge process by making a poster about one of the 6+1 traits of writing. The only thing they had left to do for this stage was to add this poster to FlipGrid and talk about it a little bit.

​My students were very vocal and open about the design of my slide (contrast, proximity of some icons, etc) which actually made me proud to see. They struggled a little bit with being confident enough to talk about their posters in a short video, but I think this is because we made the posters a few weeks ago. If it was an immediate activity done after they completed their poster, I think it would have gone a little more smoothly.

As we moved on to uploading and offering feedback, things went a little more smoothly. I was impressed with the ease my students had with the process. The slides that had videos of me speaking and explaining things were definitely more easily understood by participants. It was odd having me sitting there while playing this instructional video, but they understood why we did it this way. 

Unfortunately, I did not have time to finish the cycle before this weekend, but on Monday I will be completing the review and give thanks steps… and speaking to the “repeat” option.

Moving Forward

• Adjusting CARP: As I said, some of my students were very expressive when it came to CARP aspects of my design. I took this as a win from our previous unit which included visual design. The contrast of the colour I chose was not good once it was projected onto the big screen, the placement/proximity of one of the icons confused a student.
  
• The addition of QR codes would be beneficial for learners using iPads. 
  
• When uploading posters/videos to Flipgrid for the Background Knowledge step, students need to add the writing trait to their Flipgrid description so future viewers know which trait their video will be about.
  
• Change the checklist: add a space for the writer’s name and the title of the piece they are using the checklist on. Possibly even adding space for two different dates and colours used on each of those dates before and after the feedback process has happened.

Above all, I think these changes will create more clarity for my learners. Things will be more organised. This includes Flipgrid having labels/descriptions that are easily accessible as well as the assessment portion having a clear before/after aspect to clearly show growth.