Stijn stumpel final report

PROJECT REPORT B3.2tools for teaching.

by: stijn stumpelcoach: frans parthesiusclient: waag society

MiniMakers

Doceer het zelf.

The concept.

The main value behind the MiniMakers concept is learning through doing/making. Many schools put great emphasis on listening, reading, writing and repeated exercises, and too little on procedural knowledge and skills, especially concerning new technologies.

Kids in school today will grow up in a technological society. This means it is important that these kids are ‘technologically literate’. This doesn’t to just mean knowing how to use technology, but understanding how the technology around you works and why it does what it does.

There have also been big developments in desktop manufacturing in recent years and this, combined with the availability of all kinds of open information on the internet has started to give rise to possibility for many people to produce their own technology. Knowing how to make things yourself could very well become a very valuable and empowering skill in the future.

Both of these learning goals, understanding technology and making your own, are difficult things to teach in school. It requires a teacher who is very comfortable with technology and willing to carry out projects that teach these skills properly. This is at the core of what MiniMakers tries to accomplish.

There are currently many resources available that guide amateurs makers through projects (e.g. instructables) but they are generally aimed at a more ‘geeky’, hobby-oriented audience. For a tool that facilitates this involved style of DIY. learning, it should be designed in such a way that is fluently guides a complete layman teacher through the process in a friendly, accessible way.

Another important aspect is that preparing these types of classes take a significant toll on a teacher’s busy schedule. This means the tool has to facilitate smoothly getting materials and orienting the teacher on a subject matter souutside of their comfort zone. It should also provide the opportunity to integrate these projects in to the curriculum in different ways, at different levels.

The MiniMakers platform can best be viewed as an assistant for doing more challenging maker projects in a school context. It provides a smooth, non-threatening environment that helps the teacher properly carry out those kinds of lessons.

It is is a digital educational method that provides teachers with different projects in various themes. These projects follow a specifically designed template that guides the teacher and student from beginning to end in carrying out a project.

Projects are divided up in to the orientation phase and the project phase. In the orientation phase a teacher can read about the project, watch a video, look at photo’s of other schools and lesson examples. The teacher can also order all the material necessary for the project in a user friendly way.

The projects themselves are divided up in to simple, manageable steps. Each step shows the materials needed for that particular step, a video and a text transcription of the instructions in the video. Students are encouraged to take pictures during the process to share in the orientation phase of that particular project to help future educators.

The platform does not tell the teacher how to integrate the projects in the curriculum. This is done by other teachers. After doing a project the app encourages teachers to fill in a questionnaire about how they made use of this project in their lesson plan. The shared lesson integrations can are then placed in the orientation phase of the project it belongs to for other teachers to read.

During the process of the project students are encouraged to document what they are doing with the device’s camera. They can then share it to the photo library of that project (in the orientation page) and use it to present and reflect on what they have made.

index.

tools for teaching 4

vision behind the project 6

partnership with the waag society 8

research 10

quickscan 14

conceptual options 20

first iteration 26

cutting the concept in to pieces 30

developing the final concept 38

mapping the concept 40

quickscan: partners 44

designing the UI 48

content template 56

creating one piece of content 58

possible projects 59

programming the prototype 60

business models 62

detailed features 64

future development 70

The project Tools For Teaching aims at designing tools and services to support students and educators.

For this project I collaborated with the Creative Learning Lab at the Waag Society. They have different projects running around learning and technology, mine being aimed at designing a tool for teaching.

I will start my report by explaining the vision behind the project and how I got there. Then I will talk about the collaboration with the Waag Society, and the more specific design brief that guided the rest of the project. Before the midterm exhibition the project consisted of three main activities: exploring vision, doing research and developing a workable concept. After the midterm exhibition I focused developing this concept in to a presentable final deliverable.

This final deliverable consists of a presentational prototype of the app, an example of a project in the form of an instruction video, and my research in to topics like educational video and possible partners. This research, together with a more detailed explanation of the concept was put in a final deliverable booklet, delivered to the client at the end of the project.

Finally I will discuss the future of this project, as development is scheduled to continue throughout the next year.

tools for teaching.

4

initial research (vision). partnership with waag society

design brief

guided research.

conceptual optionsquickscan 1

first iteration concept.

cutting the concept in to pieces

final concept.

mapping the app.

development of final deliverable

template of content.

creating content.

list possible projects.

designing the UI. quickscan:

publishers.

component companies.

media partners.

programming prototype.

future development.

midterm

vision behind the project.

I started the project by exploring what my vision on the current state of education is. This was mainly informed by my previous internship, sources I found and material received from the Waag as initial reading. Here, I have outlined the main topics that ended up being the driving force behind the project.

“The way knowledge and skills are categorized shapes learning. Education in the UK is currently organized around subject headings that have been used for over a century. Today’s subjects are comparable to those listed in the 1901 orders (England): English, maths, science, history, geography, modern language, drawing, Pe, and housewifery. Many of the innovations we have reviewed focussed on using technology to support teaching of the traditional ‘core’ subjects of maths, English, and science. Some forms of learning activity may lend themselves to certain subjects, particularly subjects that can be easily codified and assessed. However, the rather limited set of subjects covered by much of the innovative practice we have reviewed, and the lack of emphasis upon skills, is a concern.”1

This quote from the book ‘Decoding Learning’ does a great job of summarizing my vision on the current state of education. A lack of emphasis on skill and a lack of innovation in subjects taught. I believe is schools put more effort in to skill-based learning, it would not only be more beneficial for many children but also simply more fun (which, in turn is beneficial).

Technology

One of the areas I explored is the state technology in schools. I remembered from personal experience that my it-related classes and the technology available in my elementary school and high school were especially bad. But developments in this area are moving at increasing speed. To get a good overview of the current developments I used the Kennisnet Trendreport on Ict in schools, of which I have highlighted some key points that stuck out to me.

“The digitalizing of society asks different skills from citizens. To make sure people van function in this new society, schools need to educate new skills that are necessary in the 21st century. Apart from the basic subjects like language and math should we also teach critical thinking, icy-literacy and creativity (Voogt & Pareja Roblin, 2010).” From the Kennisnet Trendreport on ict in education.”2

This notion of technological literacy interested me a great deal. Most people have very little understanding about how most of their technology works. Often people seem to know more about how something like DNA works than say, their laptop. Is this because laptops are so much more complex, or because we teach our kids now the human body works in biology class but not how the technology around them works in ‘technology class’? And just like biology class has experiments and practical assignments, ‘technology class’ should emphasize this even more so.

6

Learning through doing:

I was initially interested in learning through doing because of my previous internship at LEGO Education. A big part of their vision is to promote learning through doing and making.

One documentary I watched “De Echte Jongensfilm” by Holland Doc stuck with me. It dealt with the problem many kids, especially boys, have to concentrate in schools today, many of which get diagnosed with ADHD at increasingly younger ages. Although the film mainly dealt with the problems schools and kids have dealing with ADHD, a segment about one of the kids made a big impression on me. The boy had a lot of problems concentrating and sitting still in class, but at home he could concentrate perfectly well on working with his hands. He for instance, repaired bikes for the people in his neighborhood. This highlighted for me the disproportionate attention payed in to linguistic ability and retaining knowledge as opposed to procedural knowledge. I would like to see schools putting a greater emphasis on a greater variety of creative skills than they currently do.

Later, during an observation session in a school I observed that the whole class, not just the particularly active kids have trouble concentrating when they have to work individually. This

was very apparent in the amount of noise in the classroom. When the kids had to work quietly they did not stay quite but got progressively more talkative until the teacher stepped in again. This cycle of quiet working to talking repeated itself about three times in 10 minutes. Many of the kids were discussing their work, showing that they naturally want to engage in teamwork even when they are not allowed to.

“The kids have to work individually, and are all quiet. Slowly the whispering turns in to talking and then everybody is talking to each other and some kids are even talking to the teacher. Clearly keeping kids quiet for a few minutes is difficult. When the teachers walks around it gets quiet. The moment the teacher walks out of the classroom to discuss something the noise increases, as soon as he walks in again it immediately gets quiet again.” - Class observations, start of semester.

This was also an early indicator of the value in looking in to a different style of teaching that individual, listening/writing oriented work.

“Some of the kids have little toys or things they play and fidget with when they are done with their exercise and the rest is still working.” - Class observations.

Wouldn’t it be better if fidgeting was not something kids had to do after their work to keep them calm, but constituted the work itself?

Another influence on the idea for learning about technology through making your own are the developments in desktop manufacturing. It is becoming easier by the year for the average individual to be the consumer of their own technological products. Schools in Japan are starting to integrate 3D printing in to their schools3, and MakerBot currently provides to a lot of schools in the United States.4 A view of the future where people are more involved with their own technology and more independent, informed consumers seems very positive to me, and I feel like there are great educational opportunities for schools to teach their students such skills.

1 - Rosemary Luckin et. al., “Decoding Learning”, Nesta, 2012

2 - Stichting Kennisnet “Kennisnet Trendreport 2014-2015”, 2014

3 -3Ders.org, “Japanese government to fund 3D printing in Education, ” http://www.3ders.org/articles/20140203-japanese-government-to-fund-3d-printing-in-education.html, 2014

4 - Makerbot Acedemy, http://www.makerbot.com/academy, 2014

The Waag Society is an organization that develops concepts based around various kinds of open-source technologies and media in various societal themes or ‘labs’. One of these themes is education. They also host the Fablab in Amsterdam and are very active in the maker movement. The Creative Learning Lab’s vision on education and technology overlaps greatly with mine, which is why I chose to work with them on this project. Although I worked largely individually, I was able to make valuable use of their resources like educational experts, research and workshops.

At the start of the partnership we discussed the possibilities of developing a tool for teaching. They needed somebody to take on a project for developing a product that assists teachers in technological education, which was very applicable to the Tools for Teaching project. Together we devised an initial design brief including the first elements of a concept like user generated content and instructional video. Many aspects of this would later change, but it was nevetheless a great starting point. The project got the working title “MiniMakers”.

- A concept for a platform that helps kids learn ‘technological arts and crafts’ through instructions.

- The goals behind it are: getting kids interested in technology and learning through making.

- Kids act as “ambassadors”, peer to peer.

- For at home or in the classroom, ages 8 - 99.

- A tool for user generated content.

- Who are possible partners to work with on this platform?

- Is there a conceivable model through which the platform can sustain itself and the quality of the content?

partnership with the Waag Society.

8

This helped give the project some direction in the first few weeks. I now had a concrete design brief to work with an a vision behind it. From this, I started doing more guided research and thinking about the different options for generating a first concept. To start doing research with some direction I put together several specific research questions related to the various aspects defined in the brief.

What is the feasibility of a digital learning platform in schools today?

Video as a proper medium for teaching.

How will the concept relate to school’s curricula?

What makes a good instructional video?

What makes a good video editing app?

What are some of the major related educational platforms on the market today?

Next to answering these research questions I also got started outlining the different problems to solve related to the idea of a video-based learning platform for making. I also started ‘scanning‘ the internet for things like related platforms and video editing apps on currently the market. These three activities (research, scanning and conceptual options) provided me with an oversight on the subject matter and the context in which the product would operate. Those three things would ultimately lead to the first concept.

research.

What is the feasibility of a digital learning platform in schools today?

The book Decoding Learning makes an interesting point about the state of technology in schools today

“Institutions can now recruit, register, monitor, and report on students with a new economy, efficiency, and (sometimes) creativity. yet, evidence of digital technologies producing real transformation in learning and teaching remains elusive.” 1

It was clear that the relationship between technology and education is very new, and most of the innovation takes place in secondary tasks for teachers. Even though technological innovation happens fast, education innovation seems to happen slowly.

For a digital teaching method to work there needs to be proper infrastructure in schools to support it. According the Kennisnet Trendreport on technology in schools, tablet and mobile devices are slowly replacing pcs. The necessary WiFi connection for laptops, tablets and mobile devices is in place in most schools today. 2

Tablets are in general cheaper to than most pcs, and they lend themselves well to teaching because they are easily moved around and very user friendly. There is also an increasing library of educational apps and services ranging from education specific ones like Leraar245 and ones also aimed at a more general audience like KahnAcademy6.

Because of this tablets were chosen as the desired medium for developing the MiniMakers concept. The built in camera is also an important factor in tablet-based teaching methods, as it allows the teacher and student to document the learning process, which promotes reflection on the activity. This makes them especially suitable for doing project based learning that involves moving around and documenting your process.

1 - Rosemary Luckin et. al., “Decoding Learning”, Nesta, 2012

2 - Stichting Kennisnet “Kennisnet Trendreport 2014-2015”, 2014

5 - Leraar24, http://www.leraar24.nl/ 6 - Kahn Acedemy, https://www.khanacademy.org/

Video as a medium for teaching.

‘Flipping the Classroom’ is a term coined by Salaman Kahn, the founder of the educational website Kahnacademy6. It is a recent trend that uses video to teach students at home and allow them to do other ‘homework’ at school. One big reason this development seems to be gaining traction because technology is making the creation video content very easy for the average user.

This was the reason the concept initially included the idea of teachers producing their own content. The internet is full of educational video’s on all kinds of different subjects for hobbyists, altough little application of this can be seen in schools today. Tutorial videos are especially valuable when teaching practical skills like using software or DIY projects.

10

The report further dives deeply in the exact definitions of CPS skills and how to assess them. From this it seemed reasonable to assume that there will likely be a greater emphasis on project based learning school’s curricula in the future.

In conclusion, to fit in to this definition the concept would have to allow a teacher to easily put an emphasis on teamwork, problem solving, planning and reflecting. It should also facilitate doing projects that do not strictly apply to one subject, like for instance traditional science experiments in school. If the content offered in on the platform has application in a wide range of school subjects it would also make it easier for a teacher to fit these projects in to their curriculum.

How will the concept relate to school’s curricula?

This project does not directly revolve around designing a tool to make the current tasks of teacher easier. Instead, it aims at promoting a new way of teaching. Even though this might be very positive, it also has to be grounded in reality. Many schools deal with very tightly planned curricula, so if there is no room for ‘making-class’ then there would be little point in developing a tool for it. The following is from a slightly disconcerting blog by Art Belliveau, an elementary school teacher experiencing this problem, among many other teachers today.

“I still try my best every day to help my students learn, but with the loss of autonomy I have experienced, I feel that I am much less effective than I used to be, though there has been some slight improvement this year. I teach to a curriculum map that I have virtually no input into. It is a map that goes, literally, day by day into what I should be teaching. Sometimes to the point of what state and corporate core standards I should be teaching that day. It is a major change from what I did for most of my career before that.” 7

Even though the concept might be well designed with high quality content, if there is no room for such activities within this tight schedule the platform is of little use.

PISA, the Programme for International Student Assessment is a worldwide study carried out by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The OECD is an international economic organization that does research to guide international practices and policies in education among many other fields. In 2015 PISA plans to include “collaborative problem solving” to it’s list of competencies taught in education next to literacy, math and science as part of the “21st century skills”. At this moment work is being done to determine how this skills could be implemented and assessed in schools.

“Recent curriculum and instruction reform approaches have focused to a greater extent on teaching and assessment of 21st century skills (Griffin, et al., 2011; National Research Council, 2011). These skills have included critical thinking, problem-solving, self-management, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills, communication and collaboration (Binkley at al. 2011 for a review; OECD 2011). Collaboration and communication skills are central to these 21st century skills and are described in a number of 21st century skills curriculum and assessment reports.” 8

“There is a growing emphasis in state and national educational systems on project-based and inquiry-oriented learning (National Research Council, 2011).” 8

“An individual’s capacity to use cognitive processes to confront and resolve real, cross- disciplinary situations […] where the content areas or curricular areas that might be applicable are not within a single subject area of mathematics, science or reading.” 8

“What makes a good instructional video?”

Making good instructional videos can be viewed as a completely separate design process that requires it’s own kind of user research. Here I used two different research papers as sources to guide certain design decisions for the MiniMakers platform, sorted by the most relevant topics discussed in both sources. One is an article from Kennisnet, describing what makes effective e-learning material based on other sources. The other is an article from Technical Communication that lists “Eight Guidelines for the Design of Instructional Video’s for Software Training” based on

various scientific papers. The latter mainly focuses on videos for software training as opposed to maker projects, but there are some relevant aspects of the guidelines that apply to instructional video’s in general.

Visual and auditory parts of the brain.

“Effective multimedias education sources combine image and sound” 1

There needs to be a clear distinction between the visual and auditory systems addressed. The actions and the narration should be in-sync with the tasks demonstrated in the video. It is more difficult for users to retain auditory information to later be presented with visual information.

“According to the Redundancy Principle (Mayer, 2001) one should avoid duplication, which would happen when a written text presents the same information as narration.” 10

“Furthermore the story should be presented in spoken rather than written form and the voice should be that of a real person rather than computer-generated.” 10

This means that the user in the app should ideally have the option to choose between written text and spoken word but should be advised against using both in a redundant manner. Seeing as spoken word is more powerful, the application should provide a function allowing content creators to add their own

voice-overs to clips. These spoken voice overs should be done in a conversational, rather than a formal style.

“(this) is reflected in Mayer’s (2005) personalization principle. This principle rests on the assumption that messages that use first or second person voice are more appealing to the user, and thereby stimulate more active processing of the instructions.” 10

Clear sorting of video material.

“It is preferable to have a title contain a verb and an object, telling the user what task the video demonstrates how to perform.[…] Likewise, sires may offer the ability to show a brief abstract or summary of the video that could enhance its accessibility.” 10

This refers largely to the ability of the user to find the proper instructional video online, which is not very applicable to Mini Makers as the videos all exist in a centralized platform. It does however contain important guidelines for clearly communicating a the video’s content and highlights the importance of good content sorting.

Titles serve as a means of clearly ordering content for the user, which is part of an aspect called pointers.

“Pointers serve such as a table of contents, an index, or a keyword search facility assist the user in getting past the first hurdle of gaining access to a set of potentially useful sources.” 10

“During the initial training, they (the users) should be able to locate video’s quickly and without effort. To facilitate such switches the table of contents should be permanently visible so videos can be called up at any time.” 10

These aspects all refer to the user finding the right video to watch, so the platform should provide a communicative interface with different pointers. Example of such pointers relevant to MiniMakers might be things like applicable subjects, difficulty or cost per student.

Break down a video.

“The influence of user control on learning is also acknowledged in multimedia research. In this segmenting principle, Mayer (2005) contends that learning is advanced when the learner can break down a video in meaningful segments rather than as a continuous information stream.” 10

“Effective multi-media learning sources splice footage in to meaningful parts […] and provide the possibility for pausing and rewinding” 9

“Empirical research shows that segmentation increases learning (e.g. Khacharem, Spanjers, Zoudji, Kalyuga, & Ripoll, 2013; Spanjers, Wouters, et al., 2010; Zachs et al., 2007)” 10

This, (opposed to one long video that explains the entire process) “guards against viewer passivity,

12

also known as the couch-potato effect” 10 and to “prompt reflection on the video segment the student has just watched” 10. This also avoids the annoying process of skipping back and forth in the video to find the part you got stuck at. This means the platform should contain a built in, user friendly mechanism for following segments and creating an instructional video in different segments.

Preview the task ahead.

“A preview of the task ahead brings across the big picture, orients the user and should help in developing a general, condensed schema for task completion. […] A preview can increase learning by raising user awareness before beginning the task at hand.” 10

This means the user should be encouraged to start off theirs video instructions with an overview of the completed project, perhaps in an kind of introductory part of the project. This does not only increase oversight on the task at hand but also motivates the user by showing them exactly what they are working for.

Keep it simple and communicate difficulty.

Attention should be payed to the skill level of the user group. Can they solder? Program? How old are they?

“Simplicity can be realized by using a vocabulary that suits the audience and by keeping the task

accomplishment within the limits of the user’s cognitive capacities.” 10

“Effective e-learning sources provide tasks within different levels of complexity whereby the student can choose the appropriate level” 9

This means the e-learning material on the Mini Makers platform should in some way be sorted by difficulty, agree group or interest of the students.

Allow for further exploration and reflection after the task is completed.

“The value of coupling a recorded demonstration with practice was demonstrated in an experiment by Ertelt (2007; see also Rieber, 1991). The study found that the opportunity for practice after video instructions significantly improved user performance after training compared to the non-practice control condition. […] Research indicates that learning can be increased significantly and substantially when users reflect on their experiences” 10

“Effective multi-media learning tools offer enough initial tasks, but also addition tasks to allow the student to complete tasks independently” 9

The end of the video interactions for the Mini Makers platform ideally provide the user with suggestions for further exploration and practice they can engage in. These could also be provided by the teacher, allowing more easy integrating with the teachers lesson plan. Or perhaps providing directions for thinking

7 - Art Belliveau, “I used to be a good teacher”, 2014, http://mrbchs.blogspot.nl/2014/02/i-used-to-be-good-teacher.html

8 - OECD, “PISA draft report”, 2014

9 - Liesbeth Kester & Jeroen van Merriënboer, “Effectief leren van multimediale leerbronnen”, 2013, Kennisnet, http://4w.kennisnet.nl/artikelen/2013/12/18/effectief-leren-van-multimediale-leerbronnen-deel1/

10 - Hans van der Meij and Jan van der Meij, “Eight Guidelines for the Design of Instructional Videos for Software Training”, Applied Theory, 2013

about future improvements on the build or asking thought provoking questions about applications for the thing they just made.

Stimulate teamwork.

“Effective multi-media learning tools stimulate team-based learning where a complex task is concerned. Think about a project where children get assigned different roles to complete the task properly. The Jigsaw-model works well here.” 9

The projects should facilitate a teachers choice to let kids work on groups and assign them properly divided tasks. This could be integrated in to the app during the process of uploading the video to the platform, perhaps providing a teacher document with each project describing possible team roles.

The research for this project also included mapping the context in which the concept would function. Over the course of the project I kept several lists of categories like related products and possible partners for distribution and content creation. This helped to form an image of the different related products on the market today and to inform design decisions, but also to validate the concept in terms of content and the way it differentiated itself from mother products already available.

I divided this type of research in to two different parts of the report, for the sake of clarity and relevance.

Movie making.

The first versions of the concept included the ability for teachers to create their own content. This meant the app had to include a feature that guides the teacher through the process of filming and editing a video of reasonable quality. Before I started designing the video editing feature I downloaded all the big movie editing apps for tablets available and analyzed them in terms of strengths and weaknesses, a selection of which I put in my report.

LEGO Movie MakerBy The LEGO Group

“Help your child bring their LEGO characters to life with the LEGO Movie Maker App. This fun, kid-friendly app brings the whole family together to create a custom LEGO stop-motion movie. Simple tools and guides make it easy to shoot, edit, and even score your movie with music. Add one of the customizable title cards then share it online and, who knows, you may have the next summer blockbuster in your hands…literally!”

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lego-movie-maker/id516001587?mt=8

Observations:Extremely friendly and intuitive user interface. App is made for stop motion from 1 fps to 10 fps. Includes standard soundtracks with themes, allows user to create their own soundtrack. The soundtrack will automatically be applied to the whole movie. There is no possibility of having two soundtracks or both a soundtrack and a voice track. Editing is done through individual frames, and are not easily dragged around or cut.

Drop ’n RollBy New Photographers Burning Factory Ltd.

“Drop’n’Roll is a free video editor to create movies instantly and automatically, and easy share to Youtube, Facebook and Instagram. Simply feed your iPhone/iPad videos and photos into Drop’n’Roll, add music from your library or pick a theme, and have the app trim, splice, cut and mash it all up into a professional-looking movie complete with a soundtrack, titles and effects.”

quickscan 1.

14

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dropnroll-automatic-movie/id484869111?mt=8http://dropnroll.tv/index-ios.html

Observations:Not a lot of freedom or editing options. This app seems to be designed for photo/video compilations with a soundtrack under it. It randomly cuts shots together and allows for very limited editing. Interface is overwhelming on first impression.

My Movie MakerBy Genera Mobile

“lights, camera, action! Become a director with My Movie Maker. Transform your favorite photos into a fun and entertaining video with exciting features!”

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/my-movie-maker/id633888737?mt=8

Observations:Only for creating a kind of video e-card, allowing the user to add a photo, some text and a predefined soundtrack. Video editing in the loosest sense of the word.

Splice - Video EditorBy Path 36, LLC

“Splice together HD photos and videos in an amazingly simple way. Add music tracks from your iPod library, sound effects, transitions, borders, effects (like Ken Burns, slow motion and fast forward), trim video and audio, narrate with your own voice, and much more.”

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/splice-video-editor-free/id409838725?mt=8

Observations:Very straight-forward, well made video editing app. Add multiple layers of sounds and splice clips together in an intuitive fashion. Does not allow for cutting clips, clips can only be added after each other. Interface is simple but looks quite dated.

MagistoBy SightEra Technologies Ltd.

“Magisto is a fun and easy way to automatically edit videos and photos and share them with your friends and family. Magisto will turn your video and photos into beautiful edited movies, complete with music and effects, in minutes.”

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/magisto-magical-video-editor/id486781045?mt=8

Observations:More of a social network for short videos. It automatically adds music and camera effects based on pre-defined categories.

VideoBite By Adobe

“VideoBite makes it easy to create short movies on your smartphone—no experience necessary! Trim the best moments from your video clips, add photos and special effects, and then let VideoBite piece them together to make an awesome short movie. Add music to make it complete!”

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/adobe-videobite-your-quick/id592464499?mt=8

Observarions:Very intuitive user interface, allows for cutting together clips, cutting clips, adding titles and a soundtrack. No feature for adding voice over to the soundtrack, adding multiple soundtracks or adding a soundtrack and keeping the video sound. Best app so far.

CuteCUTBy YU BO

“Do you want to create your own unique movie? Just draw it by yourself with Cute CUT!”

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cute-cut-full-featured-video/id583555212?mt=8

Observations:A lot of options for resizing video, cutting and editing. Soundtrack functions confusing. Interface not very intuitive.

MONTAJBy Montaj, Inc.

“MONTAJ is a free social video app that turns life’s moments into amazing stories. Video editing and video sharing have never been simpler!”

http://montajapp.com/https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/montaj-video-editing-sharing/id545997471?mt=8

Observations:Video editing tool with heavy emphasis on social media. Clips can be no longer than 5 seconds and the purpose is to create montages with these clips. Interface is intuitive, allows for mixing three soundtracks (clip volume, music, voice over). Also allows to trip clips shorter and rearrange them. While exporting footage the app gives celebrity trivia and tips on how to use the app, which is interesting.

viddy

“Turn everyday moments into fun little movies with Viddy – a simple way to capture, create, and share short, 30-second social videos with friends. It has been the #1 app in 49 countries and was named iTunes App of the Week for May 12, 2011.”

http://www.viddy.com/https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/viddy/id426294709?mt=8

Observations:No real editing possible. Allows the user to capture about 30 seconds of footage. All editing is done during recording by pressing pause and then rec again. Heavy emphasis on social media as opposed to video editing.

CaptureBy Google, Inc.

“Create beautiful movies on the go with YouTube Capture 2.0. Start recording in a snap, then edit and share videos of any length right from your phone.”

https://www.youtube.com/capture

https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/youtube-capture/id576941441?mt=8

Observations:Good tip: “videos look better in landscape”, “rotate to begin”, vertical video impossible. Video editing very easy, drag clips around, tap clips to enter ‘cut mode’. Only able to add a single soundtrack, little sound editing.

Lapse itBy Interactive Universe

“Lapse It is an award-winning full featured app for capturing amazing time lapse and stop motion videos. It is easy, fast and intuitive. No need for expensive photography equipment, you just need Lapse It.”

http://www.lapseit.com/https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lapse-it-time-lapse-stop-motion/id539108382?mt=8

Observations:This app lets users create time lapses. It allows for setting a time delay between frames, cutting your clip afterwards and adding filters and one soundtrack.

VycloneBy Vyclone Inc.

“Vyclone is a video app like nothing you’ve ever seen. Vyclone automatically and intuitively syncs video taken on your phone with footage taken by others around the same happening. You just shoot something and upload; Vyclone does the rest. Within moments, Vyclone begins creating one seamless video

with everyone’s content mixed together. So why take static photos or single videos by yourself when you can co-create for the bigger picture? Vyclone, now that’s really social media!”

http://vyclone.com/https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vyclone/id521680614?mt=8

Observations:This app is not about editing videos shot by one user, but about cutting together videos from users in the same area. Only editing available is adding filters and effects.

16

Conclusions.

Sound editing is rarely done well in video apps. The best, most simple one was from the MONTAJ app, allowing three soundtracks (clip sound, music, voice over) with dedicated sliders.

Managing clips often slightly messy, importing all videos from iPhone’s camera roll all at once.

Interfaces are often intimidating, best apps in regards to this are LEGO Movie Maker and VideoBite.

Many video editing apps have a heavy focus on social media, often clearly aspiring to be the next Instagram/Vine. These apps are often geared towards a teen/young adult demographic with a lot of stock photo’s of people skateboarding and vintage filters.

Many apps have a time limit on the length of your video or clips, either because the platform behind it requires it or unlimited length is locked behind paywall.

The YouTube Capture app makes a good effort to prevent ‘vertical video’. It also has a very well designed and intuitive interface.

A good video editing app allows for clear managing of clips and projects, easy splicing together of clips and cutting clips shorter and good management of sound. The design challenge is to provide all these features in a way that does not look cluttered on a small iPhone screen.

Apps that made a positive impression: Splice, LEGO Movie Maker, VideoBite, MONTAJ, Capture, Drop ’n Roll.

Wikiwijs Leermiddelenplein.

“Wikiwijsleermiddelenplein is hét onderwijsplatform waar je leermiddelen zoekt, vergelijkt, maakt en deelt. Stel zo voor iedere onderwijssituatie de optimale leermiddelenmix samen.” (samenwerking van Kennisnet, de Open Universiteit en SLO)

www.wikiwijsleermiddelenplein.nl

Leerlingen voor Leerlingen.

“Leerling voor leerling is een online video repository, van leerlingen, voor leerlingen.”

www.lvoorl.nl

Leraar24.

“Leraar24 is een online platform van, voor en door leraren, bedoeld om u te ondersteunen bij het uitoefenen van uw beroep. Met Leraar24 kunt u zich op elk moment van de dag efficiënt en kosteloos informeren en verder groeien in uw vak.” (onderdeel van Kennisnet) www.leraar24.nl

Klasse TV

“KlasseTV is een overzichtelijke internetportal met digitaal lesmateriaal voor alle groepen van het basisonderwijs. Het lesmateriaal van KlasseTV is afgestemd op het lesprogramma van de vijf grote educatieve uitgeverijen. Zij staan achter KlasseTV.”

www.klassetv.nl

PeerScholar

“peerScholar is een innovatief online onderwijsinstrument, dat leerlingen ondersteunt in samen werken, leren en reflecteren. Docenten kunnen met deze wetenschappelijk beproefde methode op een unieke manier vakinhoudelijke én vakoverstijgende opdrachten en toetsen aanbieden.”

www.peerscholar.com

Teachers Pay Teachers

“We believe that real teachers create the most relevant and engaging educational resources. Our open marketplace model supercharges resource quality, quantity, and availability.”

www.teacherspayteachers.comGet in the Zone

“In the Zone is the Wellcome Trust’s major initiative inspired by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It provides a fun, free and fascinating way of using science to discover how our bodies work during sport, activity, movement and rest.” www.getinthezone.org.uk

DIY

”Learn new skills and make awesome friends!”

diy.org

YouTech

“Het YouTech magazine is het leukste magazine van Nederland dat ieder kwartaal uitkomt. Bomvol leuke interviews, een kijkje achter de schermen bij coole jobs, het laatste nieuws over games, films en gadgets, spannende prijsvragen en de leukste experimenten. Bestel hem hier helemaal GRATIS.”

http://www.youtech.nl/

Lab121

Lab212 is a multimedia collective, founded in 2008 by some friends.The collective is now made of 10 members whose skills in different fields allow them to deal with artistic, pedagogic or even commercial projects.

http://www.lab212.org/

MinecraftEdu

“MinecraftEdu is a school-ready remix of the original smash hit game Minecraft, played by over 30 million people worldwide. Created by teachers for classroom use and officially supported by Mojang, the company behind Minecraft, MinecraftEdu contains a set of powerful yet simple tools to fine-tune the Minecraft experience for learning. Teachers in over 40 countries use MinecraftEdu in every subject area from STEM to Language, to History, to Art.”

http://minecraftedu.com/

Related educatoinal services.

18

Conclusions.

There are many different platforms that deal with educational video in various ways. Most of them integrate user-generated content in some way, which seems to be a trend in digital education platforms.

Many services have a large focus on secondary tasks or are simply a portal to already existing material.

The educatoinal platforms that specifically deal with making and DIY are never directly geared at a school context, but generally more in the direction of hobby-users or workshops like Instructables or Lab121.

There are a lot of teacher community platforms. This means integrating a straightforward teacher community in the app might be a bad idea because it would add another password to remember and inbox to check to a teachers schedule. Preferably community discussion about MiniMakers can take place on a per-existing platform if it should be facilitated at all.

There is currently no large, completely integrated digital teaching method on the market that deals with both video and maker-based learning and aims specifically at a school environment.

1. option.

1. option.

2. option.

2. option.

3. option.

3. option.

After defining the idea from the design brief the broad strokes were fairly clear. The concept would be a digital education platform that makes it easy for educators to conduct a more challenging kind of class involving ‘making’. The platform had to facilitate interaction by the users, allowing them to create and share their own content to make the platform grow and sustain itself.

The next step was to turn this idea in a more concrete concept. For this I came up with a design method I called the ‘conceptual options’ method. I did this after discussing the idea with fellow students and colleagues. During these conversations, a lot of immediate questions arose. They ranged from broad questions like “How exactly will this content be created?” and “How will the teacher community function?” to lesser obvious and more detailed ones like “Who owns the content?” and “How does a teacher get actually their materials?”.

Being confronted with all these design problems at once was slightly overwhelming. To gain better oversight on all these questions and the various possible answers to them I made an overview through several brainstorming sessions. All these conceptual questions were then put in a list, and over a course of time I tried to come up with as many answers as possible to answer these questions.

Even through the goal was, of course, to end up with the ideal option for each question, I applied this method without initial judgment to the ideal answer. It served more as a guide and throughout the entire project options were added. It was also a way to give loose ideas and epiphanies a place within the larger context of the project, as developing a platform like this has many different facets that need to be taken in to account.

idea.

concept.

question.question.

conceptual category. conceptual category.

conceptual options.

20

Content creation.

Of course, a platform that aims at teaching technological skills in schools needs content. How this content is made has a big impact not only on the content, but on the quality of the concept itself and even the business model around it.

4.Everyone can create and view content. The most free, open option but with the risk of low quality content. Through good content sorting (described in the next topic) quality content can be filtered.

5.MiniMakers includes a documentation tool that guides the user step-by-step through making a quality instruction video. In a way this integrates a version of the video workshop in to the user flow of the app itself. It will increase the quality over simply uploading video, but increases the development cost.

6. One overall main activity each week/month for the whole community to tackle, posed by the Waag or partners. One broad brief with example solution, teachers don’t upload projects, but instead upload solutions to the featured project. Different solutions and approaches can be curated and discussed or copied in class. Solutions are more easily created and curated than instruction, and quality is less of an issue. This does however severely

1.Content is made by the Waag Society. All videos and instructions are done in-house. This ensures a level of quality and control over the content, but is very expensive and time consuming.

2.Content is made by a media partner. This will make the production of content faster and give it a better quality, but is also expensive.

3.Content is made by ‘premium teachers’. Teachers who want to participate do a course organized where they learn how to produce content of a certain standard. Once they have done this workshop they are allowed to post content. This will mean less quality, but is a much cheaper option. One could even imagine making this option pay for itself by letting teachers pay for the workshop (although this would increase the threshold for taking the workshop).

Content selection.

The way the user accesses the content is the next question. This is more directly related to the user interaction, as it applies to the different routes a user can take to reach the project they are looking for.

1. Content is sorted according to curriculum needs, using keywords and subjects. “I have a history class and a biology class, what would be a good project for my students?”

2. Content is sorted freely in user generated categories. More free, but may become messy over time.

3. Content is sorted through predefined, overarching keywords other than school related. Light, move, sound, music, etc. This allows the project to function in the curriculum on a more versatile way. One project related to sound might have applications in music class as well as physics class.

4. Content is sorted through type of activity: programming, bio, making, electronics, interaction, etc. “I am personally interested in biotechnology and would like my students to learn more about this.” Follows a similar logic as option three, one category might apply to different specific lesson plans. 5. Content is sorted by time it takes to do

the project. “I have 5 hours or 5 classes for a project, what are my options?”.

6. Content is selected through the materials already available. “I have a ‘Makey Makey’, some wires and some LED’s, what can I make from this?”.

7. Content is sorted by difficulty, their by age, grade with a general ‘easy, medium, hard’ system.

8. Content can be sorted by the cost in materials per student. Some schools have bigger budgets than others and this might be a big factor in deciding on what project to do.

Providing of Materials.

An app that deals with enabling teacher to do projects requires the user to have access to the proper materials. At first this might seem like a detail, but how the user gets their materials has a big influence on the ease with which they go through the whole process of preparing for a class.

1. The Waag hosts a web shop where you can directly buy the components needed for the specific projects uploaded centrally.

2. The Waag hosts a web shop where you can directly buy the components needed for the “premium teacher” generated content. These teachers will have to specify the materials needed exactly in the projects and communicate this with the central web shop.

3. The Waag hosts a website that recommends to web shops that can the user could contact. These links are provided within the projects hosted.

4. When a teachers purchases the “Mini Makers package” they receive all the tools they need for at least the first year of use. This makes the product more expensive, but makes starting new projects and experimenting much easier because the entire package of materials is already present in the classroom.

5. Each project in the app has in it’s template the materials needed. Selecting the materials that the user still needs to purchase redirects to a (partner) provider’s website with the shopping cart already filled with the selection based on the amount of students.

22

Documentation of projects.

The medium of the platform (tablet) lends itself very well to documentation of the process through it’s built-in camera. Documenting the process can have major benefits on the learning of the students, as it not only allows them to look back at what they did and reflect on it, but also present their project to their peers.

1. An app provides a tool that guides the user step by step in making, editing and properly uploading videos grounded in the provided template of step-by-step video’s.

2.The app provides a lighter tool that only links to the iPads camera option, while providing some tips. The user is responsible for editing and uploading.

3.The app only provides instructions for creating content, the user has to provide it’s own equipment to create and share the videos.

4. The projects are only documented by photo’s, done through a photo tool in the app.

5. Documentation completely exists outside of the app. The app functions only for browsing and viewing projects.

6. Product ships with dedicated camera and tripod. In the ‘tutorial’ section of the app everything about making movies is explained. Makes for high quality content but makes product significantly more expensive. Can also be optional, different packages: either with or without additional documentation products.

7.Documentation happens completely outside of the app, but the content does give suggestions on things to reflect on.

Content feedback.

To have an active community that sustains itself there needs to be user feedback on the content, especially if this content is created by the users themselves.

1. Feedback is provided through a Reddit-style upvote/downvote system within each category.

2. Feedback is provided through comments with feedback. The project can be edited and updated later through the feedback received. This feedback can either be done through a fixed template or plain text.

3. Feedback is provided by specially trained volunteer educators only. Higher quality feedback, less clutter.

4. Feedback is provided and curated by the Waag Society.

Dealing with user data.

This is also a questions that seems like a detail, especially in the early development of the concept, but I found it important to mention, especially considering the values and image of the client who deals a lot with issues like privacy and data in it’s other projects.

1. Users accept a standard license agreement that gives away their data.

2. No data is collected, except for essentials (name, e-mail etc.)

3. Every month/week a teacher can choose to review and safely send that months data out to Waag for analysis.

Community for teacher contact.

Because many of the users will still be uncomfortable with the technological, seemingly complex nature of the projects it could be desirable to have a system in place that puts teachers in direct correspondence with each other.

1. Online community is integrated in the app itself. Required an authorized teacher account to post. Every user can view. Allows teacher to more easily start using the community through the app, required additional development costs.

2. Online community exists outside of the app, but still required authorized account to post. Cheaper in terms of development, easy to moderate.

3. Online community exists outside of the app, everyone can post and share. Easy to moderate, risky in terms of trolls and negative content.

4. No online community, only the shared projects in the app. Cheaper development costs, less of a ‘community feeling’.

5. Online community exists as integrated part of already existing teacher community (kennisnet etc.). Allows for less moderation, but had established user base and can easily introduce new teachers to the product.

24

Legal.

This is a question that is heavily related to the previous one about privacy.

1. Users own their own content. This means that they could also upload it to related services like Teacher Pay Teachers or Wikiwijs Leermiddelen

2. Users relinquish content to Waag under Creative Commons.

Getting started projects.

This was a an idea that started as an option for content management, but it has it’s own sub-options, so I list it here as a specific question.

1. One example project that showcases all the needs.

2. One project per curriculum/theme to inspire the creation of user generated content.

3. No example projects, the first videos on the site will be done by teachers from user-tests.

4.Every week/month one new example project (per theme) done by the Waag, partners or volunteer educators. This can either function as a weekly (national) project or as inspiration for user generated content within that theme.

5.One overall main activity each week/month for the whole community to tackle. One broad brief with example solution, teachers don’t upload projects but solutions to the featured project.

Conclusion.

From these options I chose ones that seemed like the best one concerning the vision behind the project and the design brief. The ‘correct’ answers later changed in my final concept because Let the design brief factor in too heavily on the decision. The right move would have been taking a more critical approach to the brief itself. In the part of my report where I discuss the shaping of the final concept I will also give an overview of the ‘concrete conceptual’ options change.

My Profile.

View and manage saved

project and review

feedback.

MiniMakers Platform

Create Project.

Add your project to th

e

library for other

people to use.

Explore Projects.

View the MiniMakers

Library and choose a

project for you.

MiniMakers Platform

project info.

Project Title.

Project Description.

Tags.

Difficulty

Length

Cost of Materials.

€

10 min.

43,-

Easy 6+Intermediat

e 11+Hard 14+

requirements.

i

r

i r tu123

Home/create/require

ments: provide item

list.Home/creat

e/tools: provide to

ol list.

MiniMakers Platform

Project Requirements.

Please provide as much

information as possib

le to make it

easier for others to f

ind/buy the proper mat

erials.

requirements.

tools.

steps.

r

t

€ 43,-

€ 1,-

€ 2,�0

€ 43,-

i r tu123

pricep�oto

link

�r�uino �no

x�

� meter copper �ire

x�

R�� E�

x��

MiniMakers Platform

Project �ools.



le to make it


ind/buy the proper too

ls.

tools.t

€ 21,-

€ 6,�0

€ 3,-

€ 43,-

i r tu123

pricep�oto

link

�ol�erin� �ron

x�

�cre�ri�er

x�

� mm flat�ea� scre�s

x��

123

steps.

uploa�.MiniMakers

Platform

Project steps.

Divide your project in

manageable steps. The

smaller and more cons

ice

the steps, the easier

it will be to follow.

123

u

�ol�erin�

Carefully sol�er t�e

�E��s to t�e cuicui

t �oar�.

�itle...

�escription...

�itle...

�escription

i r tu123

3

1

2

uploa�.

uploa�.

MiniMakers Platform

�ploa� �i�eo.

�eview the video you m

ade before uploading.

u

i r tu123

u

The first iteration of the concept was a platform in which teachers make their own instructional videos for projects with their class. These video’s get uploaded to the platform to be viewed by others. Over time a database of video’s form.

The teacher is guided through the entire process of making the video through a specially designed video editing feature that lets you film each step of the process. You can then edit these steps and move them around. (Teachers can also do a workshop in video editing at the Waag to improve the quality of their video’s.) This step by

step guide through making instruction video’s was sketched out and put in some user-interface exploration shown on the right. It allowed the user to film each step of the project and rearrange it based in interactions found in other video editing apps.

It also encourages the user to document their materials, with correct pricing, name and photo. This also included a feature to put in a link to a website that lets you order the correct component.

In short, the app consisted of two main components, an editing software especially designed for step-by-step project instructions and the sharing platform for those instructions.

first iteration of concept.

26

My Profile.

View and manage saved

project and review

feedback.

MiniMakers Platform

Create Project.

Add your project to th

e

library for other

people to use.

Explore Projects.

View the MiniMakers

Library and choose a

project for you.

MiniMakers Platform

project info.

Project Title.


Tags.

Difficulty

Length

Cost of Materials.

€

10 min.

43,-

Easy 6+Intermediat

e 11+Hard 14+

requirements.

i

r

i r tu123

Home/create/require

ments: provide item

list.Home/creat

e/tools: provide to

ol list.

MiniMakers Platform

Project Requirements.



le to make it


ind/buy the proper mat

erials.

requirements.

tools.

steps.

r

t

€ 43,-

€ 1,-

€ 2,�0

€ 43,-

i r tu123

pricep�oto

link

�r�uino �no

x�

� meter copper �ire

x�

R�� E�

x��

MiniMakers Platform

Project �ools.



le to make it


ind/buy the proper too

ls.

tools.t

€ 21,-

€ 6,�0

€ 3,-

€ 43,-

i r tu123

pricep�oto

link

�ol�erin� �ron

x�

�cre�ri�er

x�

� mm flat�ea� scre�s

x��

123

steps.

uploa�.MiniMakers

Platform

Project steps.

Divide your project in

manageable steps. The

smaller and more cons

ice

the steps, the easier

it will be to follow.

123

u

�ol�erin�

Carefully sol�er t�e

�E��s to t�e cuicui

t �oar�.

�itle...

�escription...

�itle...

�escription

i r tu123

3

1

2

uploa�.

uploa�.

MiniMakers Platform

�ploa� �i�eo.

�eview the video you m

ade before uploading.

u

i r tu123

uMy Profile.

View and manage saved project and review feedback.

MiniMakers Platform

Create Project.

Add your project to the library for other people to use.

Explore Projects.

View the MiniMakers Library and choose a project for you.

MiniMakers Platform

project info.

Project Title.


Tags.

Difficulty

Length

Cost of Materials. €

10 min.

43,-

Easy 6+ Intermediate 11+ Hard 14+

requirements.i r

i r t u123

Home/create/requirements: provide item list. Home/create/tools: provide tool list.

MiniMakers Platform

Project Requirements.Please provide as much information as possible to make it

easier for others to find/buy the proper materials.

requirements. tools. steps.r t

€ 43,-

€ 1,-

€ 2,�0

€ 43,-

i r t u123

price p�oto link

�r�uino �no x�

� meter copper �ire x�

R�� E� x��

MiniMakers Platform

Project �ools.Please provide as much information as possible to make it

easier for others to find/buy the proper tools.

tools.t

€ 21,-

€ 6,�0

€ 3,-

€ 43,-

i r t u123

price p�oto link

�ol�erin� �ron x�

�cre�ri�er x�

� mm flat�ea� scre�s x��

123

steps. uploa�.

MiniMakers Platform

Project steps.Divide your project in manageable steps. The smaller and more consice

the steps, the easier it will be to follow.

123 u

�ol�erin�

Carefully sol�er t�e �E��s to t�e cuicuit �oar�.

�itle...

�escription...

�itle...

�escription

i r t u123

3

1

2

uploa�.

uploa�.

MiniMakers Platform

�ploa� �i�eo.�eview the video you made before uploading.

u

i r t u123

u

My Profile.


MiniMakers Platform

Create Project.


Explore Projects.


MiniMakers Platform

project info.

Project Title.


Tags.

Difficulty

Length


10 min.

43,-


requirements.i r

i r t u123


MiniMakers Platform




€ 43,-

€ 1,-

€ 2,�0

€ 43,-

i r t u123

price p�oto link



R�� E� x��

MiniMakers Platform



tools.t

€ 21,-

€ 6,�0

€ 3,-

€ 43,-

i r t u123

price p�oto link




123

steps. uploa�.

MiniMakers Platform



123 u

�ol�erin�


�itle...

�escription...

�itle...

�escription

i r t u123

3

1

2

uploa�.

uploa�.

MiniMakers Platform


u

i r t u123

u

My Profile.


MiniMakers Platform

Create Project.


Explore Projects.


MiniMakers Platform

project info.

Project Title.


Tags.

Difficulty

Length


10 min.

43,-


requirements.i r

i r t u123


MiniMakers Platform




€ 43,-

€ 1,-

€ 2,�0

€ 43,-

i r t u123

price p�oto link



R�� E� x��

MiniMakers Platform



tools.t

€ 21,-

€ 6,�0

€ 3,-

€ 43,-

i r t u123

price p�oto link




123

steps. uploa�.

MiniMakers Platform



123 u

�ol�erin�


�itle...

�escription...

�itle...

�escription

i r t u123

3

1

2

uploa�.

uploa�.

MiniMakers Platform


u

i r t u123

u

I presented this concept to experts and fellow students in the space. My goal was to have a the foundation of a final concept after the midterm exhibition. This way the focus could be on developing a prototype, interfaces and working out the details to deliver a useful, finished result to the client at the end of the semester.

There were some smaller pieces of feedback, but the biggest change needed after this first iteration was in the user generated content aspect of the platform. This was clearly a big flaw in the concept in terms of user-focus. It became clear from talking with teachers and people with experience in the field that educators have very busy schedules.

Making video’s would give teachers an extra task to perform that does not only take up significant time, but also skill, no matter how well designed the video editing feature is. There is also the problem of quality, as many tablets do not have very good video camera’s.This aspect of the concept had to change for it to be more practical and grounded in the reality of a teacher’s every-day world. Asking teachers to make their own video instructions on topics they are often not very comfortable with in the first place simply did not seem like a realistic expectation anymore.

To make a fundamental change to the concept and design brief I had to come up with suitable alternatives. In the end the goal of the project is to simply make it as easy as possible to teach. This would be the focus of the rest of the project’s concept development.

“How do I facilitate the teaching of maker-based learning by putting the smallest possible burden on the teacher?”

My Profile.


MiniMakers Platform

Create Project.


Explore Projects.


MiniMakers Platform

project info.

Project Title.


Tags.

Difficulty

Length


10 min.

43,-


requirements.i r

i r t u123


MiniMakers Platform




€ 43,-

€ 1,-

€ 2,�0

€ 43,-

i r t u123

price p�oto link



R�� E� x��

MiniMakers Platform



tools.t

€ 21,-

€ 6,�0

€ 3,-

€ 43,-

i r t u123

price p�oto link




123

steps. uploa�.

MiniMakers Platform



123 u

�ol�erin�


�itle...

�escription...

�itle...

�escription

i r t u123

3

1

2

uploa�.

uploa�.

MiniMakers Platform


u

i r t u123

u

28

To move the project along I decided to create alternative concept and present them to the people at the Creative Learning Lab. This way I could get feedback from experts and make a decision what to start developing further. I cut the concept in to pieces, the two main ones being: creating teaching video, and teaching classes through making.

The presentation started by identifying and visualizing the problems with the original concept from before (shown on the right). I when formed four alternatives, and explained the pros and cons I could initially identify. These options were then weighed and discussed.

There are different possibilities for creating tools that do one of those two things. The video teacher tool, for instance was an interesting concept (2). It focused completely on making video for a ‘flipping the classroom’ teaching style. From my research in to movie editing apps and software I discovered there is currently no good, education specific video editing tool on the market even through the use of video in education has become a big trend.

Or concept one, where the app focuses completely on making the process of doing project based learning as easy as possible for teachers. The inclusion of professionally made content, instead of user generated content allows for much better guidance through the process because they can have a stricter template. Because the materials needed for each project are known, ordering those materials can be made really easy with the help of retail partners. To still keep the user involved they are still allowed to upload their results in the form of photo’s taken with the tablet camera.

To define a better concept I had to analyze the different aspects of it and create alternatives that served the similar purposes but did not put so much emphasis on teacher generated content.

The concept as it was:A platform for creating(1), sharing(2) and watching(3) instructional(4), maker projects(5) to be carried out in class(6) or at home(7).

Those seven different aspect are all together very ambitious but not very realistic, and some had to be stripped away.

cutting it in to pieces.

30

The winning option ended up being concept 1. A platform that hosts professional quality content, created by either the Waag, or media partners. I then presented this concept at the midterm exhibition.

The reason for this is that it was the app that best facilitates the style of teaching I was trying to accomplish, even though it will cost more in terms of sustaining itself and creating content, the user benefits greatly. It is also stronger in it’s simplicity. It is very

easy to start using as the platform ships with high quality content from the beginning. The user-generated content aspect is still a part of it, but scaled down to sharing photo’s of the process. This does not only help students in reflecting through documenting and presenting, but also gives teachers who are about to start a project a better visual image of what the class will look like. This might put a teacher more at ease with teaching a class he or she might find challenging.

One other factor for this were the needs of the Creative Learning Lab. The three level model was interesting, but they did not have the resources to host regular video making workshops. The video making app also received good feedback, but it was not a realistic product to develop with the time and budget of the client. Concept 1 was also the one that most closely applies the core value the tool was trying to achieve in the first place: facilitating easier classes through maker projects.

Shown on the right is a broad overview of how the concept changed based on the ‘conceptual options’.

36

Content is made by the Waag Society. All videos and instructions are done in-house. This ensures a level of quality and control over the content, but is very expensive and time consuming.

Content is sorted through type of activity: programming, bio, making, electronics, interaction, etc. “I am personally interested in biotechnology and would like my students to learn more about this.” Follows a similar logic as option three, one category might apply to different specific lesson plans.

Content is sorted by difficulty, their by age, grade with a general ‘easy, medium, hard’ system.

Content can be sorted by the cost of materials per student.

Content is sorted by time it takes to do the project. “I have 5 hours or 5 classes for a project, what are my options?”.

The projects are only documented by photo’s, done through a photo tool in the app.

Each project in the app has in it’s template the materials needed. Selecting the materials that the user still needs to purchase redirects to a (partner) provider’s website with the shopping cart already filled with the selection based on the amount of students.

MiniMakers includes a video making tool that guides the user step-by-step through making a quality instruction video. This integrates a version of the video workshop in to the user flow of the app itself. It will increase the quality over simply uploading video, but increases the development cost.

The Waag hosts a web shop where you can directly buy the components needed for the “premium teacher” generated content. These teachers will have to specify the materials needed exactly in the projects and communicate this with the central webshop.

Content is sorted according to curriculum needs, using keywords and subjects. “I have a history class and a biology class, what would be a good project for my students?”

Online community is integrated in the app itself. Required an authorized teacher account to post. Every user can view. Allows teacher to more easily start using the community through the app, required additional development costs.

With a stronger, more pragmatic concept it was time to develop the things needed for a final deliverable. There were three main deliverables I proposed to finishing the project with to the client: a presentational prototype of the app, one example of a video and a report describing the various features and listing things like possible partners and projects.

After the midterm exhibition I made development plan for a final deliverable that included developing the concept as it was and various suggestions from the midterm feedback.

From presenting it at the midterm exhibition I got several pieces of useful feedback, on which I based the steps I had to take to move the project further along.

One of those was that the final presentation should include at least one example of such a project. Another important thing I took away from the midterm exhibition is that the tool’s focus should be on helping teachers to incorporate these projects in to their lessons, and allowing them to give each other feedback. From this I got the idea of letting teachers contribute lesson plans to each project. It was also clear that I needed to thing more deeply about which partners to work with, now that the video’s requires media partner and the materials a supplier. For both of these I did another ‘quickscan’ of possible partners.

developing the final concept.

38

mapping the app.

development of final deliverable.

template of content.

creating content.

list possible projects.

designing the UI.

quickscan:

publishers.

component companies.

media partners.

programming prototype.

presentational prototype.

final concept.

instructional video. final deliverable booklet.

The first thing I started developing was the prototype. To do this the app needed to take more concrete shape. I started exploring what the flow of the user through the app would be.

I started with a more detailed mapping of the MiniMakers platform in it’s context (shown on the next page) with the two types of users (teacher and student) and the various partners. Aside from helping to develop the user interaction, this also served as an initial guide for thinking about business models.

I then started sketching different ways of organizing the needed functions of the app itself. After many different explorations and ideas I settled on a very basic, linear user experience. From selecting the appropriate project to finishing it the user is guided through the complete process without potentially confusing added options ‘side-routes’. The interaction for getting materials in included in each project instead of in a separate feature for ease of use, putting the whole process in one big flow.

mapping the app.

home: browse projects.

select project.

orientation.

start project.

step 1.

step 2.

step 3...

share lesson plan.

introduction.

photo’s.

lesson plans.

order materials.

user flow.

EDUCATIONAL MEDIA

PLATFORM

EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHERS

MATERIAL SUPPLIERS

TEACHER

DEVELOPMENT

STUDENTS

CONTENT MODERATOR

PROJECT

LESSON

MATERIALS

PHOTO’S

42

EDUCATIONAL MEDIA

PLATFORM

EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHERS

MATERIAL SUPPLIERS

TEACHER

DEVELOPMENT

STUDENTS

CONTENT MODERATOR

PROJECT

LESSON

MATERIALS

PHOTO’S

Professional media companies work on providing hight quality video material for the platform. Educational publishers provide

things like funding, promotion and distribution.

Material suppliers provide the teachers with materials through the integrated ordering system in the app.

This content then gets attached to the approriate project.

The teacher sends the way the project fits in to their lesson and the photos taken during the process to a moderator for approval.

quickscan: partners.

Because the concept now included component companies it was important to include suggestions for these companies in the final deliverable. I also compiled lists of possible partners for content production and disribution. In every list I have highlighted the best option based on their description and feedback from colleagues with experience with the companies.

44

NTR: Klokhuis, SchoolTv, het Gouden Oog, etc

“Vanaf april 2014 nodigt de NTR weer leerkrachten in het basis- en voortgezet onderwijs uit om hun zelfgemaakte lesvideo’s in te sturen.” programma.ntr.nl/10574/het-gouden-oog

Zapp Live, NCRV

“Zapplive is een Nederlands televisieprogramma voor kinderen dat op ZAPP (Nederland 3) te zien is. Sinds 2011 leveren medewerkers van Waag Society regelmatig een bijdrage de show, door met de kinderen live te gaan knutselen met elektronica. We laten steeds iets nieuws zien, vaak iets dat kinderen thuis ook met eenvoudige middelen in elkaar kunnen zetten. Als het even kan maken we een handleiding of een uitleg bij de uitzending.” waag.org/nl/project/zapplive

Cinekid

“Cinekid zet zich in om de productie van kwalitatief hoge media voor kinderen te stimuleren. Daarnaast motiveert Cinekid kinderen om actief deel te nemen aan media en een bijdrage te leveren in de creatie hiervan.“

www.cinekid.nl

Squla

“Squla gelooft dat alle kinderen leren leuk vinden. En dat als leermiddelen aansluiten bij de leef- en belevingswereld van kinderen, er grote stappen in leerresultaten mogelijk zijn. Wij zien de leerkrachten, het menselijke contact en klassikaal onderwijs als bepalend voor de kwaliteit. Squla is een aanvulling, bedoeld als hulpmiddel, om elk kind op zijn eigen niveau en in zijn eigen tempo te stimuleren. ”

www.squla.nl

iPrototype

“iPrototype ondersteunt elektronische prototyping op basis van flexibele, open source en eenvoudig te gebruiken hardware en software.”

www.iprototype.nl

RS

“RS Components is ‘s werelds grootste distributeur met een assortiment van 500.000 elektrische, elektronische, onderhouds- en mechanische producten. Bedrijven die bij RS bestellen kunnen rekenen op een snelle en betrouwbare levering” nl. rs-online.com

Floris.cc

“Electronic thingies, open source hardware provider.”

www.floris.cc

Deal Extreme

“Cheap components and gadgets.”

www.dx.com

Conrad

“Conrad.nl, Europa’s grootste webwinkel in elektronica en techniek.”

www.conrad.nl

46

Wolters Nordhoff Uitgevers

“Wij leveren producten en diensten voor de basisschool, het voortgezet onderwijs, het middelbaar beroepsonderwijs, opleidingen voor professionals en het hoger onderwijs.”

www.noordhoffuitgevers.nl

Thieme Meulenhoff

“ThiemeMeulenhoff, educatief uitgeverij voor lesmateriaal, lesmethodes in het primair (basisonderwijs), voortgezet, beroeps en hoger onderwijs.” www.thiememeulenhoff.nl

Codename Future

“Codename Future bereidt jongeren voor op hun actieve rol in de samenleving. Je leert op school niet alleen voor een goed rapport. In de eenentwintigste eeuw wordt gevraagd om competenties. Daarom leer je nu, zodat je in de toekomst goed kunt functioneren in de maatschappij en je toekomstige beroep”. codenamefuture.nl

Malmberg

“Circa 300 bevlogen Malmberg medewerkers werken met enthousiaste onderwijsexperts samen aan leeroplossingen die in de lespraktijk zijn getoetst. Speciaal voor het basis-, voortgezet- en middelbaar onderwijs geven we leermiddelen uit die op school én thuis kunnen worden gebruikt.”

www.malmberg.nl

Kwintessens

“Voor de professionalisering van de individuele leerkracht en schoolleider biedt Kwintessens diverse materialen aan. Compleet met tips en concreet oefenmateriaal om aan de slag te gaan met sbl-competenties en daarmee de vakbekwaamheid van leerkrachten te bevorderen/ garanderen. Leren door te doen. Daarnaast is er inmiddels een ruim aanbod aan vakinhoudelijke informatie over manieren van leren van kinderen.” www.kwintessens.nl

designing the UI.

When the app was successfully mapped out in more detail and I gained some insight in to the various functions it was time to develop the user interface. Here I will discuss how my design decisions progressed.

Different elements in the interface went through their own iterations. The process started with sketching out the broad strokes until landing on a template to work with. One of the main functions of the app is to guide the user through a process they are not very comfortable with. This means that the user can never be confused about what they are supposed to do or where they are in the app. To solve this problem I eventually came up with a sidebar element for every step of the process. This sidebar holds information on the user’s location and what they are supposed to do at that location. The notion of holding the teacher’s hand throughout the process in a friendly way was the central thought behind the design of the user interface. The toolbar always displays the name of the project, the orientation page and project steps always have an indication how far along the user is. Everything ended up serving the purpose of being ‘non-threatening’ without being condescending.

48

This shows the progression of the first orientation page of a project. The sidebar provides information about the project (length, etc), the project’s name and a short description.

The sidebar also corresponds to the buttons used to select the project in the homescreen for further visual consistency:

On the right are some examples of exploration of individual elements in the user interface. Because the final prototype was intended to present the concept as best as possible, much effort went in to making the app look as finished as possible.

50

The section of the orientation pages where the teacher can select the materials they need for a project and order them went through different iterations. The images had to be consistent (white background, clear communication) except for the safety equipment, which would be shown by it’s standard icon. This was chosen for realism and to add the educatoinal value of learning the correct symbols.

When the user has selected the materials they need, he has to finish the order. To also make this experience as easy as possible, all the teacher has to do is put in the amount of children he/she is ordering for. They can then easily fine tune the individual items in their order.

The students photo’s and lesson plans orientation pages were designed to be as consistent as possible in layout. Both provide previews and show more details upon selection. They can be added to the orientation page of their respected project through specific templates that ask for certain kinds of information. The lesson plans also include a feature for printing.

52

Once the project starts it is again very important for the user to be oriented at all times and know what they have to do. The sidebar displays the steps and contain the content of the video in text-form and the specific materials needed for that step.

At the top, there is an indicator that shows where in the process the user is, and allows them to navigate between steps quickly, as opposed to only using the arrow buttons. The videoplayer itself also had navigation, to quickly skip to desired points in the video instead of having to search through the timeline.

At the end of the process the teacher can share the way they used the project in their specific lesson plan. Together with different experts at the Waag a questionnaire was compiled to make the process of sharing lessons as easy and consistent as possible.

54

In early versions the home screen would direct to a ‘browse’ page. However, it seemed more user friendly to display the app’s main function on it’s home screen and move the secondary parts of the app to the toolbar buttons. At the top are four variables that serve as pointers (as suggested by research) and at the bottom the project buttons. The color yellow was chosen because it is gender neutral, friendly and ‘under-construction like’, which fit’s the theme of making and tinkering.

An important aspect of designing a teaching method like this is to determine the exact template for it’s content, because in the end good content is arguably the most important element in the product.

It was clear form the research that the projects would have to be cut up in to manageable steps, and would have to include an introduction video previewing the task ahead. The materials part also got significant attention. I put an emphasis on the project template because I feel that this is where a large part of the strength of this concept lies. By making the projects completely consistent a teacher will be familiar with the process after doing one project. The more consistent the projects are placed in the app, the smoother the user experience will be.

Lesson plans and community photo’s were initially not a part of this template as they are added by the community. However, after discussing the template with a colleague, we reached the conclusion that some initial content in these places should exist. Seeing as projects added as content would have to be user tested first, results from these tests could be added as initial ‘community content’.

Developing this template took place during the process of mapping the app and designing the user-interface. These things had to be developed simultaneously. For instance, initially the grid of materials was a list, I then added pictures in the interface for better communication after working on the interface. This meant I had to then specify the exact format of those pictures in the template. Developing the user template and interaction was a continuous process of going back and forth between steps.

content template.

56

This is an overview of the template each project follows. The grey blocks are the introduction elements and the two yellow blocks are the projects containing eight video steps and eight sidebar info blocks.

Inleiding.Grote delen van de wereld zijn niet aangesloten op een elektriciteitsnetwerk. De mensen daar moeten dus op zoek naar andere manieren om stroom te krijgen. Je wist misschien al dat je energie kunt halen uit zon, wind en water - maar wist je dat je ook met bacteriën in modder elektriciteit op kan wekken?

Je gaat zelf een batterij maken met onder andere modder, bakjes en elektriciteitsdraden. Met snelle proefjes ontdek je hoe je zoveel mogelijk elektriciteit kunnen opwekken en waarvoor je dat allemaal kunt gebruiken.

Om de stroom uit de modder te halen, heb je een materiaal nodig dat geleidt: koolstof. Van carbon doek, dat gemaakt is van koolstof, en een elektriciteitsdraad kun je een elektrode maken waar de stroom doorheen kan. Je doet er één onderin de bak met modder, één bovenin en de bacteriën doen de rest! Zij trekken door de modder heen naar het carbon doek toe, omdat ze daar lekker verder kunnen groeien. Het kan een dag of drie duren voordat er genoeg bacteriën bij een elektrode zijn aangekomen om stroom op te wekken. Een beetje geduld is dus wel nodig.

Veiligheidsbril Carbondoek Water Schaaltje Schaar

MultimeterStriptangModderDraadHandschoenen

Modderbatterij.

Leer een eigen batterij maken met modder. Kinderen leren omgaan met een multi-meter en werken met begrippen als stroom, spanning en energie. Creëer bewustzijn over het opwekken en gebruik van electriciteit.

Thumbnail image for the project button and sidebar.

Intruductory text for the first orientation page.

List of materials with thumbnails.

Eight sidebars, one for each step: title, step number, time, summary of video and materials needed.

Eight video’s showing each step of the process with voice narration.

Introductory video for the first oriantation page.

biotechnologie

3 uur

makkelijk12+

Sidebar information on project as a whole.

Sidebar short summary of project.

15 min.

Modderbatterij.Stap 1/8

1 .Maak het carbondoek nat.

2. Knip 2 stukken van dezelfde afmetingen uit het carbondoek.

3. Zorg dat het doek groter is dan je schaaltje zodat je het 2x dubbel kunt vouwen.

2 min.


Pak de elektriciteitsdraden erbij. Knip hier twee gelijke stukken vanaf, ongeveer zo lang als je onderarm.

5 min.


15 min.


Je gaat nu de 2 elektriciteitsdraden strippen! Dit doe je met de kabelstriptang.

Verwijder aan de ene kant 1 cm van het gekleurde plastic en aan de andere kant 5 cm.

Weef nu de kant met het lange ijzerdraad door het carboendoek. Maak aan het uiteinde een haakje zodat het beter blijft zitten. Je hebt nu een elektrode gemaakt! Doe dit nogmaals met het andere draad en carbondoekje.

0 min.


10 min.


10 min.


2 min.


Je hebt nu 2 zelfgemaakte elektroden. Eén plus en één min elektrode. Deze ga je straks gebruiken in je schaaltje met modder.

Haal een emmertje modder uit je tuin.

Vul vervolgens het schaaltje met een laagje van 1 cm modder. Maak je vingertoppen een beetje nat zodat je de modder goed kunt aandrukken.

Leg nu het eerste velletje carbondoek op de eerste laag modder. Dit is de min elektrode.

Druk dit goed aan zodat het doekje contact maakt met de modder.

Vul de schaal verder met modder. Zorg dat er zo min mogelijk luchtbelletjes te zien zijn.

Het tweede velletje carbondoek leg je bovenop de laag modder. Dit is de plus elektrode. Je batterij is af! Na een paar dagen begint deze te werken. Met de multimeter kun je dit in de gaten houden.

1:20/3:10

1:20/3:10

1:20/3:10 1:20/3:10

1:20/3:10 1:20/3:10

1:20/3:10 1:20/3:10

creating one piece of content.

For the concept to be presented well, it had to include one piece of a content. The project I chose to do was the Mudbattery project.

Pieter van Boheemen from the Wetlab, the part of the Waag dealing with biotechnology had been working on a workshop for this. Because this project was already available it was a good candidate. But I did not choose this as an example simply for convenience. The mudbattery fit the criteria I had determined for suitable projects very well. It is not complicated in it’s actions, but extremely varied in it’s related subject matter (renewable energy, biotechnology, electronics, physics, etc.). The material costs are also low, the most expensive requirement is a multimeter, but this can be re-used in many other projects.

My research initially indicated that the visual and auditory parts of an instructional video should ideally be separated. My video did not have voice-over speech, but instead displayed text in the video. With different groups of kids working on this project all at the same time,

listening through the relatively weak tablet speakers to instructions seemed unpractical. However, an improvement on this video and on the app itself is to provide the option for the user to choose between text and voice over speech.

58

After determining the criteria for content added to the platform, this part of the concept had to be validated by finding a list of suitable projects that could be included in the future also fitting those criteria. I compiled a list of projects to be included in the final deliverable to the client.

Program a spaceship. Design a spaceship out of clay and make LED’s light up.

“Onderbouw: De lampen van het ruimteschip zijn kappot. Samen met de kinderen bouw je met klei het ruimteschip en laat er lampjes in branden.Bovenbouw: Met behulp van de Makey Makey ga je samen een onderdeel van het ruimteschip programmeren.” Juf in de Wolken, Waag Society.

Makey Makey Music.Make music with the Makey Makey using materials of different conductivity.

“Now you can try making your own drums out of anything. How about a banana cowbell, a watermelon bass drum, or a crash cymbal sound when you high-five your friend?” makeymakey.com/howto

Mudbattery.Make a working electrical battery out of mud and carbon.

“The second sheet of carbon cloth you put on top of the mud. This forms your plus side. You battery is now ready! The only thing you will have to do is wait a couple of days when it starts working. With a multimeter you can measure the electricity that it produces.”Wetlab, Waag Society.

Minecraft redstone.Learn about basic logic gates and build various circuits in Minecraft Education.

“Minecraft can have huge educational benefits for children; it can help teach numerous subjects both with and without adult involvement.”Minecraft Wiki.

Unit UnlikelyBuild a small working synthesizer from a kit.

“Wij zijn een klein ontwerpbureau voor kleine kekke producten, muziek instrumenten en open-ended design.”www.unitunlikely.com

BristlebotBuild a simple robot with behavior.

“The BristleBot is a simple and tiny robot with an agenda. The ingredients? One toothbrush, a battery, and a pager motor. The result? Serious fun.”www.evilmadscientist.com

Launch-it Rocket ControllerConnect a fun button to some speakers and LED’s.

“The LaunchIt is an inexpensive and customizable model rocket launching system you can make yourself.”www.makezine.com

Simple Arduino RobotProgram a simple robot with a sensor and actuator.

“This guide shows you how to quickly and easily build an Arduino-based robot. Robotics is an exciting and fun hobby that has become very affordable in recent years. What would have required a lot of money and experience to do a few decades ago is now affordable, easy, and most of all, FUN!”www.makezine.com

quickscan: possible projects.

programming the prototype.

With the route the user takes through the app and the user interface designed, the next step was to make an interactive prototype.

I built the prototype in Flash, and uploaded it to a Samsung Android tablet. These tablets have a different screen resolution that iPads have. Since iPads are more frequently used in education, a next step was to also adapt the interface for different aspect ratios.

A point of improvement would be a function that allows the video to also be played straight form the app, which I did not manage to get working properly before the final exhibition.

60

Three variants of the user interface in tablets. From top to bottom,

Microsoft Surface, Samsung, iPad.Mini Makers 0.1 Teacher VersionMM Materiaal bestellen

Modderbatterij.Stap 7/8 10 minuten

1. Leg nu het eerste velletje carbondoek op de eerste laag modder. Dit is de min elektrode.

2. Druk dit goed aan zodat het doekje contact maakt met de modder.

3. Vul de schaal verder met modder. Zorg dat er zo min mogelijk luchtbelletjes te zien zijn.

Mini Makers 0.1 Teacher VersionMM Project: Modderbatterij

Schaaltje

ModderCarbondoek

1stap

7stap

3stap

4stap

5stap

6stap

2stap

8stap

1:20/3:10

1. 2. 3.

Mini Makers 0.1 Teacher VersionMM Materiaal bestellen






Schaaltje

ModderCarbondoek

1stap

7stap

3stap

4stap

5stap

6stap

2stap

8stap

1:20/3:10

1. 2. 3.

Mini Makers 0.1 Teacher VersionMM Materiaal bestellen






Schaaltje

ModderCarbondoek

1stap

7stap

3stap

4stap

5stap

6stap

2stap

8stap

1:20/3:10

1. 2. 3.

Thinking about business models took place throughout the process of the project, as this is to intricately linked to the concept itself. Here I will give a short summary of the results of this thinking.

There are different options for making the platform profitable, like having teachers pay a small amount for the app and for each student version that gets added to the package pay extra. Or the app can be free, but the individual projects cost a small amount of money (the orientation area would be accessed freely). Ideally though, the user would pay once and get full access. Another option would be to have the app be free, and the money gets made through the partnership with the material supplier. This comes with it’s own set of downsides as it would likely increase the end price of the materials for the user, or force the material supplier to make less money making the deal less attractive for them. The best option ended up being a simply model of buying the app once for a price that allows for profitability. The proper price would require a value perception analysis to determine, as most teaching methods can cost a lot of money, but apps are generally

perceived to be cheap. Both €5 and €50 for the app could seem reasonable to different people depending on their point of view. This test could be carried out by asking schools the following four questions after pitching them the concept:

- What price would you consider to be too high you would not buy it?

- What price would you consider expensive, but reasonable?

- What price would you consider a great deal?

- What price would be so low you would start to question the quality of the product?

The results can then be graphed and analyzed to find a correct price.

There are also two options for publishing this product. One is through a publisher, which would make it less expensive for the Waag, both in time and money, and lends credibility with schools. It would however require losing some aspect of control over the product, and allow the product/content to be less ‘experimental’ to fit in to the market better.

The three value flows show a possible future progression of the business model. The first being a small scale pilot. The two models on the right are two different options for larger scale distribution. Both of them assume a relationship with a material supplier, the realization of which is not yet clear.

business model.

62

developer

media

APP

user

current model for development.

title.

developer educationalmedia

publisher

APPmaterialsupplier

user

developer

media

APPmaterialsupplier

user

after 2014.

flow of goods/services

flow of money

I wanted deliver something useful to the client at the end of the project and present my concept in a detailed and complete way. This meant part of the concept development included going in to more specific detail on the exact features of the MiniMakers app. A compiled a list of all thecomplete functionality of the app, which may serve as a reference guide for any concept deveoper of software developer working on this project.

In the process of defining all these features I discovered several things I thought were defined but weren’t. Although this process was largely documenting the concept, there were still moments of developing certain features as it forced me to consider the whole picture.

Tool-bar.

The tool-bar is always visible at the top of the screen to orient the user in the app and make frequently used buttons always available.

Information displayed. (From left to right): - Logo. - App name. - Development version. - Teacher/Student version. - Location of the user in the app + icon.

Interaction with tool-bar. - Back button. - Home button. - Camera button. - Take picture. - View library. - Share pictures. - Settings button: - Edit profile. - Name - School name - Password - e-mail address - Set: teacher/student - Change default video play settings (sound/text) - Review and edit community contributions.

Home screen.

The home screen shows all the available projects. It lets the user scroll through the list of projects, select projects to view more information, filter through certain variables and start projects.

Filter projects by: (teacher version only): - Theme (toggle buttons). - Biotechnology. - Programming. - Fabrication. - Difficulty (toggle buttons). - Easy. - Medium. - Hard. - Time (slider). - Average cost per student, € (slider).

View all projects, scroll from left to right.

Select project. - Display: - Theme. - Duration. - Difficulty. - Cost per student, €. - Start button, directs to the project orientation.

detailed features.

64

Tool-bar.

Home screen.

Project selection.

Home - camera - settings.User’s location.

Project orientation.

The project orientation is where every project starts. It provides general information, shows pictures uploaded by other students and lesson plans shared by teachers. It also shows all the materials needed and allows the teacher to easily order these materials. The user navigates between these pages by swiping left/right or clicking the navigation buttons at the bottom of the screen. On each screen the sidebar contains a button to navigate to the start of the project.

Introduction. - Introduction text. General information for teacher and students about the project. - Introduction video. Shows the finished product and gives a preview of the project.

Photo’s. - Browse photo thumbnails, scrolling up/down. - Click photo. - Larger image. - Title. - Description. - Teacher’s name.

Lessons. (Teacher version only).

- Browse lesson thumbnails, scrolling up/down. - Click lesson. - Print button. - Associated photo’s. - Filled out form (where applicable). - Title, name difficulty. - # Students. - Subjects(s) covered. - Keyword(s) covered. - Most significant learning goals. - Type of research students had to do. - The “big question”. - Advice for others doing this lesson. - Other information. - Optional contact info.

Materials. (Teacher version only).

- List of thumbnails of material + name material. - User can select what materials are still needed. - Button to go to oder page.

Order page. (Teacher version only).

- List of materials selected in materials page. - Counter to put amount of students. - Smaller counters to fine tune amounts of individual items. - Button to place order.

After the order is placed the teacher will get redirected to a page from the components partner company to finalize the order and put in relevant information. The ‘shopping basket’ will automatically have been filled with the items selected previously.

66

Four orientation pages.

Introduction. Photos.

Lessons.

Navigation.

Start lesson. Fine tune order.

Select materials.

Materials.

Project.

The project screen is divided in to two parts, the sidebar (also present in project orientation) and the content area. Between certain steps the user will be optionally prompted to take a picture of their process with the tablet’s camera.

Sidebar. - Title of project. - Current step. (i. e. Step 1/8). - Approx. time the step takes. - Instructions of video written out. - Thumbnails of materials needed in specific step.

Content area. - Navigation buttons. - Next step button. - Previous step button. - Direct links to each step. - Instructional video. - Links to sub-steps in time line of video.

Photo screen. - Content frame fills with camera view. - Take photo button. - Next step button. - Back button.

Evaluation.

The final screen of the project is different for students and teachers. The teachers get the questionnaire to fill out about how they integrated the project in their lessons. The teacher and the students can review the photo’s they took during the process and send them to the teacher’s e-mail.

Form. (Teacher version only). - Title, name difficulty. - # Students. - Subjects(s) covered. - Keyword(s) covered. - Most significant learning goals. - Type of research students had to do. - The “big question”. - Advice for others doing this lesson. - Other information. - Optional contact info. - Submit button. When the form is submitted it gets Sent to the e-mail of a human moderator who manages the content.

Photos. - List of pictures taken. - Valuable pictures can be selected. - Pictures can be given a title. - Submit button. When the selected pictures are submitted, the pictures get sent to the Teacher’s e-mail address. Here the Teacher can review, and choose to share them.

68

Eight steps.

Sidebar.

Lesson form.

Navigation.

After this prototype a pilot will start with the pabo from the Hogeschool Nijmegen Arnhem. They will provide user feedback and development will continue in 2015. After this phase, if these steps are successful the idea will be introduced to educational publisher Thieme Meulenhoff.

The current example video for the mudbattery does not have as much quality as necessary. It is might usable for user-testing project and the effect of instructional video on the ease of use, but it is not of sufficient quality for final publication. For this better quality content would be needed.

I would also like to look in to the option of making the feature for ordering materials work. I believe this to be a strong aspect of the concept. It greatly lowers the threshold for many teachers to start teaching this way, even though it is not a high priority on the agenda.

The black blocks on the right are steps that are currently planned, the grey one’s are steps I would still like to propose.

Development of this project is scheduled to continue after the end of the semester. A second iteration prototype will be developed this summer. The prototype will likely be a stripped down version of the current concept, without the ability to oder materials and with and instructable-like medium instead of video instructions.

An interesting user test to perform would be to assess the difference in user satisfaction between having video instructions as opposed to image and text. Video is certainly an ideal medium for explaining how to perform the relatively complex actions needed in maker project like these. However, producing high quality video is expensive. If the quality of projects and user satisfaction with the product is negligible, it would be sensible to use images.

future development.

usertest:content medium,video/image

partner with material supplier. RS.

value perception analysis

2nd iteration prototype.stripped down version.

usertest:carry out lessons.

user feedback.hogeschool arnhem nijmegen

3rd iteration prototype.

partner with publisher.thieme meulenhof

70

Stijn stumpel final report

Documents

Transcript of Stijn stumpel final report