Team A – S20 Design Thinking, Media, and Community

Welcome to Team A!

This semester, we worked with a ninth grade English class taught by Sarah Ostrom at Ithaca High School. Ms. Ostrom’s class focused on ensuring that her students were passionate about the class, could express arguments in different formats and developed research skills. These goals were accomplished by enabling students to work on a multi-genre research paper in which each section (e.g. introduction, conclusion, etc.) was in a different media format and by allowing students to pick their own topic. Our team supported these goals by helping students conduct research, proposing different media forms and providing resources for additional assistance as class became virtual.

Please take a look at the rest of our page to see the design and conceptual frameworks we utilized as well as the various deliverables we presented!

Classroom Goals Applied to Distance Learning

Project 3 Illustrated Report

IHS Team A Project 3 Illustrated Report

Report Executive Summary

In the above report, we discuss our community work throughout the semester and how our partner and client, Ithaca High School (IHS), can utilize online tools to succeed with their design challenge.

Our team worked primarily with a ninth grade English class, taught by Sarah Ostrom, at IHS to support two of their project-based learning initiatives:

Literature Circle Comics presenting connections between books from other cultures and student’s personal lives. Our team worked with students reading War Brothers, Things Fall Apart, and Darius The Great Is Not Okay.
Multigenre Research Paper in which students have the agency to select any topic that they are passionate about. Student topics range from local farming and nutrition to book production or physical therapy.

Prior to the semester being cut-short, our team conducted two visits to Ithaca High School with each starting with project updates via email and team meetings. In the field, we discussed goals with Ms. Ostrom, worked with other IHS students, and aided Ms. Ostrom’s students in groups and individually on their multigenre research paper.

Additionally, with the shift from in-person learning to online learning becoming necessary due to the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation, our Cornell team is no longer able to directly connect with IHS students and so in the following section, we propose resources and forms for our partners to successfully extend their projects into a virtual environment.

In particular, in the above report, we recommend resources for:

1. Additional genres
  - YouTube
    - Video blog (vlog) creation would be a robust way of remotely tasking students with creating transmedia knowledge for a modern audience while developing skills such as videography, editing, and online platform publishing.
  - Artsteps
    - A virtual museum exhibit software that would allow students to simulate creating museum exhibits that mimic real spatial planning, piece curation, and presentation skills even with online instruction.
2. Research
  - Boolean Searching
    - Instructions on how the older Boolean searching capabilities function so that younger generation Google users can navigate older-style database search engines.
  - Advanced Searching
    - Instructions on how to use advanced search functions that exist in databases to increase accuracy, reliability, and efficiency of searching.
3. Production
  - Medium
    - Allows transmedia knowledge by combining different media sources (traditional essay, picture, video, social media, gif, etc.) into one comprehensive piece.
  - Fotojet
    - Allows access to professional templates, graphics, image editing tools, and user-friendly navigation to create aesthetically appealing end products.
4. Collaboration
  - Slack
    - A one-stop platform for official message conversations in different teams and workplaces, scheduling, and video calls to assist with overall communication.
  - Miro Production
    - A digital whiteboard that can be used for research, ideation, building customer journeys and user story maps, wireframing, and a range of other collaborative activities.
5. Publication/Sharing
  - Instagram
    - A relatable platform for students to showcase their work, receive comments, and share their classmates’ works on a non-intimidating, far-reaching medium.
  - Edublogs
    - A platform specifically designed for students to create their own pages, write posts, and share their projects for collective learning.

We also have created a brief instructional video on virtual projects that students can create leveraging Youtube.

Although it is clear that the transition to virtual learning will come with many challenges, we believe it is still possible for our partners to leverage new resources to ensure a positive, engaging, and effective virtual environment.

CAT Analysis of Pecha Kucha Instructional Videos

Our team designed instructional videos with quality and consistency in mind. Conceptually, we each introduced our topic by defining the type of media, identifying its common uses, and breaking down its components. Then, we went on to explain what our respective topics are most suitable for, including a specific example. Though the topics varied greatly, establishing the mood remained key to conveying the intended message in all formats. Aesthetically, we each adhered to a theme while still having an assortment of pictures. Some slides have only one image to promote focus on the particular topic while others showcase media in action. Slides have minimal wording and clearly spaced pictures in order to limit distractions. Technically, the videos are very similar because they adhere to the format of a mini pecha kucha. The slides transition in concert with the information being given at a reasonable pace considering the time constraints. Though our sound levels needed to be stable across slides, our team worked on inflection and emphasis to hold our audience’s attention.

Padlets

Megan Chang