CREATOMsetgo Tools:
Project Planning Design Tools for K-12 Educators and Students
challenge
How do you bring design innovation to classroom projects?
After returning from a teacher training trip to India in November 2012, I began discussing with teachers in the US the difficulties with integrating innovative new projects like STEM and STEAM or design thinking into existing curriculum. Many schools were moving towards innovation and design thinking as a means for teaching 21st century skills such as perseverance, creativity and problem solving, but their teachers were ill-equipped to hand the demands of such a paradigm shift. I saw this same situation in working with the out-of-school teachers in rural India.
After returning from a teacher training trip to India in November 2012, I began discussing with teachers in the US the difficulties with integrating innovative new projects like STEM and STEAM or design thinking into existing curriculum. Many schools were moving towards innovation and design thinking as a means for teaching 21st century skills such as perseverance, creativity and problem solving, but their teachers were ill-equipped to hand the demands of such a paradigm shift. I saw this same situation in working with the out-of-school teachers in rural India.
team
The initial team of volunteers working on CREATOMbuilder platform included myself, a developer, two content creators and two technology consultants. Twenty educators contributed their expertise in the initial development of the CREATOMbuilder platform. CREATOMbuilder V.10 was fully self-funded.
The creation of the CREATOMsetgo project planning manipulative tools was developed from working with the teachers of Centennial Academy, Atlanta, GA and the researchers from Georgia State University and Georgia Tech's CIESMC during a three year National Science Foundation Integrative Computer Science grant from 2015-2018. Continued development of workshops and coaching techniques were greatly supported through work with long time partner, Drew Charter School, Atlanta, GA.
The creation of the CREATOMsetgo project planning manipulative tools was developed from working with the teachers of Centennial Academy, Atlanta, GA and the researchers from Georgia State University and Georgia Tech's CIESMC during a three year National Science Foundation Integrative Computer Science grant from 2015-2018. Continued development of workshops and coaching techniques were greatly supported through work with long time partner, Drew Charter School, Atlanta, GA.
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process
The process highlights main activities in the creation of CREATOMbuilder pbl project planning web application, and the pivot to CREATOMsetgo manipulative tools from 2013-2018.
Co-Creation Event
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Web Development
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NSF Grant Testing
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Pivot to Print
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CREATOMsetgo Tools
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research
Initial Co-Creation Event
A co-creation session was held with twenty public and private school teachers and administrators, education consultants, non-profit, and government program directors, artists and designers. These professionals donated their time to share expertise on lesson planning, art, and design thinking. The session explored the organization of a web-based tool being developed to integrate web content and art and design thinking into lesson planning. The session first defined for participants the terms art integrated learning (using art methods like painting, book making or sculpting for exploring non-art related subjects or topics; design thinking (a method used to understand how a user responds to and interacts with an object, environment or system) and project-based learning (using a project to explore a larger problem which addresses multiple and integrated learning opportunities across a subject or curriculum).
Participants were asked to work through a series of exercises designed to capture how end-users (i.e. educators) currently organize lesson planning, how they would incorporate new content or approaches into lesson planning, and how teachers would
organize a web-based tool which represents this experience. The co-creation session conducted participant profile interviews, web topics card sorting and a lesson planning touch-point matrix.
A co-creation session was held with twenty public and private school teachers and administrators, education consultants, non-profit, and government program directors, artists and designers. These professionals donated their time to share expertise on lesson planning, art, and design thinking. The session explored the organization of a web-based tool being developed to integrate web content and art and design thinking into lesson planning. The session first defined for participants the terms art integrated learning (using art methods like painting, book making or sculpting for exploring non-art related subjects or topics; design thinking (a method used to understand how a user responds to and interacts with an object, environment or system) and project-based learning (using a project to explore a larger problem which addresses multiple and integrated learning opportunities across a subject or curriculum).
Participants were asked to work through a series of exercises designed to capture how end-users (i.e. educators) currently organize lesson planning, how they would incorporate new content or approaches into lesson planning, and how teachers would
organize a web-based tool which represents this experience. The co-creation session conducted participant profile interviews, web topics card sorting and a lesson planning touch-point matrix.
Card Sorting
Each team of 4 and an observer were given a set of 60 cards with terms that are being proposed for the new lesson building tool. These included typical web conventions such as about, contact and info; words specific to art and design like ideation, art techniques, design thinking; potential end-users such as novice, performer and journeyman; action terms like implementation, organize, and share; and finally terms relevant to lesson planning such as rubric, assessment, lesson builder and projects.
Participants were asked to determine which terms would be used as headings of categories and then sorted the remaining cards into those categories. The teams were asked to fill out blank cards with any new content that the team thought was missing. Observers took notes and photographed the process documenting how group members were thinking and making their arguments for locating certain terms in specific categories.
Each team of 4 and an observer were given a set of 60 cards with terms that are being proposed for the new lesson building tool. These included typical web conventions such as about, contact and info; words specific to art and design like ideation, art techniques, design thinking; potential end-users such as novice, performer and journeyman; action terms like implementation, organize, and share; and finally terms relevant to lesson planning such as rubric, assessment, lesson builder and projects.
Participants were asked to determine which terms would be used as headings of categories and then sorted the remaining cards into those categories. The teams were asked to fill out blank cards with any new content that the team thought was missing. Observers took notes and photographed the process documenting how group members were thinking and making their arguments for locating certain terms in specific categories.
Each team had a distinct approach to how they organized the cards. Team 1 organized their cards through the lens of Bloom’s Taxonomy: looking at the parallels between Bloom’s, the design process and the creation of the lesson builder. Team 2 organized their cards through the lens of the teacher as the driver of building lesson plans.
Touch Point Matrix
Each team filled in a chart with the names of the categories created during the card sorting exercise across the top of the chart. They then created a list of the touch-points, locations where teachers experience the process of lesson building, down the left side of the chart. Each team then walked through various end-users (i.e. teachers, students, community leaders) through the use of the lesson builder.
Both teams had ranked face-to-face as the primary place where their end-users found new ideas and began the lesson planning experience. This was followed by books/magazines, the internet and workshops. Both teams showed that from the gathering of new ideas the end-users moved to using the Lesson Planning Tools/Project Builder that were determined during the card sorting exercise. Both of the teams moved their end users between the Lesson Planning Tools/Project Builder and internet searches which included search engines like Google, social media, YouTube and blogs and face-to-face information gathering. The outputs for teacher end-users was primarily the classroom, and on Team 2 one end-user post the lesson on their teacher blog. For the community program directors the output touch-point was in community meeting spaces. Team 2 also explored a student as an end-user where the output maybe an idea exchange happening on a smart phone.
Each team filled in a chart with the names of the categories created during the card sorting exercise across the top of the chart. They then created a list of the touch-points, locations where teachers experience the process of lesson building, down the left side of the chart. Each team then walked through various end-users (i.e. teachers, students, community leaders) through the use of the lesson builder.
Both teams had ranked face-to-face as the primary place where their end-users found new ideas and began the lesson planning experience. This was followed by books/magazines, the internet and workshops. Both teams showed that from the gathering of new ideas the end-users moved to using the Lesson Planning Tools/Project Builder that were determined during the card sorting exercise. Both of the teams moved their end users between the Lesson Planning Tools/Project Builder and internet searches which included search engines like Google, social media, YouTube and blogs and face-to-face information gathering. The outputs for teacher end-users was primarily the classroom, and on Team 2 one end-user post the lesson on their teacher blog. For the community program directors the output touch-point was in community meeting spaces. Team 2 also explored a student as an end-user where the output maybe an idea exchange happening on a smart phone.
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The Co-Creation session informed the design of the lesson builder in three major ways:
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End-User Personas
From the co-creation event, we determined four main end-users of the product: k-12 teachers, students, administrators, and after and out-of-school program directors/coordinators.
From the co-creation event, we determined four main end-users of the product: k-12 teachers, students, administrators, and after and out-of-school program directors/coordinators.
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CREATOMbuilder web application development
Early Wireframes and Prototype Web Development
Early development of the CREATOMbuilder platform was based on the findings of the co-creation sessions.
Early development of the CREATOMbuilder platform was based on the findings of the co-creation sessions.
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CREATOMbuilder V1.0 Screen Shots
Version 1.0 of the project planning platform was released in 2014. It featured a step-by-step project planning wizard, preloaded project types for easy, moderater and difficult projects, and rubric maker.
Version 1.0 of the project planning platform was released in 2014. It featured a step-by-step project planning wizard, preloaded project types for easy, moderater and difficult projects, and rubric maker.
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NSF iTest Grant 2015-2018
Teachers Grades 3-5 Planning Sessions with CREATOMbuilder occured monthly from 2015-2017 along with coaching in PBL project management, integration of computational thinking into PBL and STEM activity skill building. Final workshops with the entire school commenced in the spring of 2018.
Teachers Grades 3-5 Planning Sessions with CREATOMbuilder occured monthly from 2015-2017 along with coaching in PBL project management, integration of computational thinking into PBL and STEM activity skill building. Final workshops with the entire school commenced in the spring of 2018.
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PBL Student Work from end of term Showcase events at Centennial Academy, Atlanta, GA.
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Findings
- Administrators liked that CREATOMbuilder provided documentation of PBL lesson planning and outcomes.
- Working on the document from multiple accounts was not user friendly. Teachers wanted "the same capabilities to edit simultaneously like Google Docs."
- Each teacher has their own method for lesson planning that matched their teaching style and wanted more flexibility of the workflow.
- Teachers also reported that Buck Institute (now PBLworks) training was also difficult to implement-too overwhelming, too much information, hard to break down.
pivot: the project design canvas
In January 2016, a fifth grade teacher in the cohort requested a graphic organizer for the design thinking and PBL workflow. The Design Challenge Canvas (featured below) was used directly with her students to create their spring projects. This was the first version of the Project Design Canvas.
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The project design canvas embeds the design thinking process (inquire, imaging, plan, create and iterate) into the project-based learning framework. There are several iterations of the canvas depending on year and subject being addressed.
Project Design Canvas Organization
The PDC is organized by stages (Ask, Make and Share) and three levels of Bloom's Taxonomy (Operations, Application, and Thinking-image left). There are nine phases (image right) which represent various skills and competencies to focus on during the project.
The PDC is organized by stages (Ask, Make and Share) and three levels of Bloom's Taxonomy (Operations, Application, and Thinking-image left). There are nine phases (image right) which represent various skills and competencies to focus on during the project.
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Project Design Canvas Sample Variations
The PDC can be reconfigured to address grade level or specific topics as the examples demonstrate below. This responds to teachers need to have a flexible process that matches their teaching style.
The PDC can be reconfigured to address grade level or specific topics as the examples demonstrate below. This responds to teachers need to have a flexible process that matches their teaching style.
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After the development of the PDC, project types and activities content created for CREATOMbuilder where turned into physical cards and project menus for teachers to manipulate as they built their project plans.
CREATOMsetgo
CREATOMsetgo was released for sale in Spring of 2017. The tool consists of the Project Design Canvas, 6 Project menu types that range from simple to complex, and 54 activity cards that feature community engagement events, learning scaffolds, buildable products and feedback.
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outcomes
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Conducted Coaching and School Workshops for over 8 years including:
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Presented at Conferences across the United States including:
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