Digital Gift

Situation

Working with computers opens up a whole realm of possibilities for creating interactive content that is not available to us when we work with conventional media.  Books, music, movies, these things don't tend to offer much interaction with the users.  They are static.  They provide content for the user to absorb.  Computers however, allow us to create content that is dynamic.  What users see and hear can change based on their interactions.  Working with a programming language such as Processing, we can create such interactive content with ease.  And the objects that we produce can be shared online, on a desktop computer or even on a handheld device.

This project will help you develop computational thinking skills.  Computational thinking works like this:  
  • It takes a certain level of understanding to perform a given task.
  • It takes a much deeper understanding to teach that task to someone else since you need to break it down and explain each part.
  • It takes an even deeper understanding to teach that task to a computer since a computer is unable to do any real thinking on its own.  The task needs to be broken down even further into very small steps.
Here's a nice quote to help explain it a different way:

“The computer is incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid. Man is unbelievably slow, inaccurate, and brilliant. The marriage of the two is a force beyond calculation.”

– Leo Cherne


So, computational thinking is all about combining what people are best at with what computers are best at.  This has become widely regarded as an essential skill for the 21st century.


Situation Specific

For this project, you will design and create a Digital Gift for a specific person--a target audience of one.  This could be a friend, a member of your family or anyone else you choose.  You will create an interactive digital gift for this person.  You are encouraged to use Processing, but are certainly welcome to try any other tools with which you are familiar (such as Flash.)  You will use the Design Cycle to guide your efforts through the various phases of the project's development, collect feedback along the way to ensure that your efforts result in a suitable, high quality product and document your work in your process journal.

Look for ways to make connections between this project and work that you are doing in your other classes.  The project itself is wide-open.  Students in the past have included their own, original artwork and music that they were also able to submit to other teachers for additional credit.  Some students have created interactive fiction and submitted it as an English assignment.  This is something that I encourage and support, but you are responsible for getting the ball rolling.


Phase 1: Researching and Analysis

During the Investigate phase, we will view a number of other projects, independently brainstorm a variety of project ideas of our own, then work with our classmates to choose which idea is the most appropriate to pursue for this project.


Brainstorming

The first step is to brainstorm as many ideas as you can come up with for this project.  Consider some of the projects that you have seen already for inspiration.  Some of your ideas may be serious and others silly.  Some may be difficult and others easy.  Right now, you just want to get them written down and start imagining what to make and who to make it for. 

Possibilities

Now that you have looked at a range of ideas, you need to start thinking about what sort of project you could realistically make.  You need to consider the parameters.  Who is your target audience?  In this case, it is a single person--someone you care about.  What is the purpose of your project.  In this case, it is a gift.  Why do you think this person will appreciate what you are making?  Why this and not something else?  Consider the time that you have available to put this together.  Think about what you already know how to do and what you will still need to learn.  List 3 possibilities in this section.  Include a brief description of what the project will be about and what it might look like.

DeBono's Thinking Hats

Picture
Now that you have come up with 3 different ideas for projects that you could make, you will share them with your classmates to get some help choosing which idea is the best one to go with.  A useful tool to help us consider a problem from multiple perspectives is Edward DeBono's 6 Thinking Hats.  As you present each of your 3 ideas to your group, they will wear different 'hats' (facts hat, feelings hat etc...) to offer you input to help you think about these different perspectives and make up your mind.  Be sure to write down what they say and add this to each of the 'Possibilities' that you already wrote on your webpage.  This process will help you choose the best idea.  Finish this 'Possibilities' section with a brief statement about which idea you chose to work on and why you decided to go with this one over the other ideas.

Design Brief

You will write a Design Brief that outlines the basic concept behind your project.  This will be 3-4 sentences and will outline:
  • What sort of project you are making?
  • Who is the target audience for your project?
  • Why are you making this project?
  • What form it will take?  How will it be interactive? 

Here's an example:

I will design and create a screensaver for my mother.  It will show random images depicting happy moments of our family together.  It will be interactive in that when she clicks on an image, it will play an audio clip that provides some commentary on the image shown.


Criterion A Assessment Rubric; Researching and Analysing


    Students identify the need for a product/solution.  At the end of the course, they should be able to:
    • Explain the need for a product/solution for a specified client/end user.
    • Analyse a range of existing products that may solve the problem.
    • Summarize the findings from a range of sources, cited appropriately, relevant to the development of the requirements for a possible solution. 

    0
    The student does not reach any of the    standards described by any of the descriptors

    1-2
    The student:
    ·  States the need for a product/solution for a specified client/end user.        
    ·  states the findings from a few sources relevant to the development of the  requirements for a possible solution.

    3-4
    The student:    
    ·   outlines the need for a product/solution for a specified client/end user.        
    ·   Analyses one existing product/solution that may solve the problem.    
    ·   outlines the findings from a range of sources, cited incompletely, relevant to the development of the requirements for a possible solution.

    5-6
    The student:    
    ·   Explains the need for a product/solution for a specified client/end user.  
    ·   analyses a range of existing products that may solve the problem. 
    ·   outlines the findings from a range of sources, cited appropriately, relevant to the development of the requirements for a possible solution.

    7-8
    The student:    
    ·   justifies the need for a product/solution for a specified client/end user.    
    ·   analyses a range of existing products that may solve the problem in detail.    
    ·   summarizes the findings from abroad range of sources, cited appropriately,  relevant to the development of the requirements for a possible solution.    

    Notes:
    Summarize:  The summary will enable the student to concisely present all of the useful and relevant information they have found through their research.  They will present this information in their own words.  No credit will be given if students simply “copy and paste” text from sources.


Phase 2: Designing

As we have often discussed, if you do a thorough job during the Designing phase, the Create phase should be simple and straightforward.  In this section, you will consider the project in terms of its design specifications. Then, you will want to work on images and sounds and how the project will be interactive.

Design Specifications

Your Design Specifications will give some more detail to help us get a clearer picture in our minds about what the project will be like.  It is a good idea to begin this section with a list of questions that you know will need to be answered before you can get working on the project.  The answers to these questions will make up your list of Design Specifications. 

Here's an example:

1.  The project will include members of our immediate and extended family.
2.  Each slide will be accompanied by audio commentary.
3.  Each image will be clickable.  A click will trigger the audio clip.
...

Images

In this section, you will show the images and visuals that you are considering.  Consider it as a sketchbook for your idea.  You may want to draw some ideas by hand.  You may play around with a paint program to sketch out ideas.  You may test out ideas in Processing itself.  Whichever you choose, be sure to document your thinking process.  Show the winning ideas as well as the ones that won't make it off the drawing board.  Explain each one with some sort of caption.  The idea is that you will show the thinking process that took you through a variety of options on your way to the Creating (Realizing the Solution) phase.

Sounds

In this section, you will do very much the same as above, only this time with sounds.  You may have some idea what sorts of sound effects you want to use, but you will certainly go through some process, whether you create the sounds yourself or you find them online (Freesound.org is a good place to start).

Interactivity

In this section, you will explore how the user will interact with the project.  You should explore a few possibilities and see which works the best.  Will they use the mouse?  The keypad?  Which keys?  How will the interactive part work?  For example, think about the picture that appears to explode as you move the mouse over it (in the examples that come with Processing--it is called 'explode'.)  As the mouse moves left to right, the image 'explodes' and as the mouse slides from right to left, it reassembles itself.  The designer made a conscious choice to do it that way.  He or she must have had a reason.  This is where you will consider various ways of engaging the user and explain your thinking.


Criterion B Assessment Rubric; Designing


Students design the solution. At the end of the course, they should be able to: 
  • Create a design specification which clearly states the success criteria for the design of a solution. 
  • Present a range of feasible design ideas using a range of appropriate mediums and annotation so that they can be interpreted by others. 
  • Present and justify the final chosen design with detailed reference to the design specification. 
  • Create detailed planning drawings and requirements for the creation of the chosen solution. 

0
The student does not reach any of the standards described by any of the descriptors 

1-2  
The student:  
  •   lists some basic design specifications for the design of a product/ solution. 
  •   presents one design that can be interpreted by others. 
  •   creates incomplete working drawings. 

3-4  
The student:  
  •   lists some design specifications which relate to the success criteria for the design of a product/ solution. 
  •   presents a few feasible designs using an appropriate medium or annotation that can be interpreted by others. 
  •   makes some attempt to justify the design against the design specifications.  
  •   creates planning drawings or lists requirements for the creation of the chosen solution. 

5-6  
The student  
  •   creates design specifications which state the success criteria for the design of a product/ solution. 
  •   presents a range of feasible design ideas using an appropriate medium(s) and annotation that can be interpreted by others. 
  •   presents and justifies the final chosen design with reference to the design specification. 
  •   creates planning drawings and lists requirements for the creation of the chosen solution. 

7-8  
The student:  
  •   creates detailed design specifications which clearly state the success criteria for the design of a product/ solution. 
  •   presents a range of feasible design ideas using an appropriate medium(s) and detailed annotation that can be correctly interpreted by others. 
  •   presents and justifies, fully and critically, the final chosen design with detailed reference to the design specification. 
  •   creates detailed planning drawings and outlines requirements for the creation of the chosen solution. 

Notes: 
Feasible: The product/solution must be able to be created by the student with the tools and facilities available to them. 
Detailed planning drawings: This could be: 

CT: 
Website navigation maps 
Interface layout   aesthetics considerations (websites) 
Detailed sketches   (graphic design) 
Detailed storyboards (video editing and animations) 

Phase 3: Realizing the Solution

As noted above, if you were thorough in your work in the first two phases of the design cycle, this part should be relatively straightforward.  Be sure to document the process in detail in your online process journal.  Take note of any difficulties that you ran into and any changes that you made.  Be sure to justify any changes that you made from your original plan with clear reasoning.  This section may take the form of a series of blog entries but it may be more helpful to organize them in terms of tasks/problems/issues, rather than by date. 

Be sure to include screenshots of the steps you took.  Remember that this should be useful to other users.  The idea is that anyone familiar with Processing should be able to recreate your project by following your instructions and they should have a chance to learn from your mistakes so they won't have to.  And don't forget to leave comments in your programming code.  This will not only be helpful to remind you of what each line means as the program gets more complicated, they may also be helpful to others.  If possible, you should share your code with the larger community--if you used Processing, a good place to start would be either OpenProcessing.org or StudioSketchpad.cc.

Criterion C Assessment Rubric: Realizing the Solution


Students create a solution. At the end of the course, they should be able to:  

  • Construct a logical plan for manufacture, which describes the efficient use of time and resources, resulting in peers being able to follow the plan to create the product/ solution. 
  • Demonstrate excellent technical skills when making the product/ solution. 
  • Follow the plan for manufacture to make the product/ solution which functions as intended and is presented appropriately. 
  • Fully justify changes made to the final chosen design and plan for making when making the product/ solution. 
  • Present the product/ solution as a whole, either: 
    • in electronic form, or; 
    • through photographs of the product/solution from different angles showing details.  

0  
The student:
  •  does not reach any of the standards described by any of the descriptors 

1-2  
The student:  
  1. demonstrates minimal technical skills when making the product/solution. 
  2. makes the product/solution which functions poorly and is presented in an incomplete form.  

3-4  
The student:  
  1. constructs a plan for manufacture that contains some details, resulting in peers having difficulty following the plan. 
  2. demonstrates adequate technical skills when making the product/solution. 
  3. makes the product/solution which partially functions and is adequately presented. 
  4. outlines changes made to the final design and plan for manufacture when making the product/solution. 


5-6  
The student:  
  1. constructs a logical plan for manufacture, which considers time and resources, resulting in peers being able to follow the plan. 
  2. demonstrates proficient technical skills when making the product/solution. 
  3. makes the product/solution which functions as intended and is presented appropriately. 
  4. describes changes made to the final design and plan for manufacture when making the product/solution. 

7-8  
The student:  
  • constructs a detailed and logical plan for manufacture, which describes the efficient use of time and resources, resulting in peers being able to follow the plan to create the product/ solution. 
  • demonstrates excellent technical skills when making the product/solution. 
  • follows the plan for manufacture to make the product/solution which functions as intended and is presented appropriately. 
  • fully justifies changes made to the final design and the plan for manufacture when making the product/solution.

Notes: 
Changes to your product / solution: In a case where changes have been made to the product/solution students must describe and justify the change. If there are no changes to the plan, there is no need to describe or justify any changes. This does not advocate a process journal. 

Technical skills 
The level of technical skill a student will work can be determined using two factors: 
a) The complexity of skill demonstrated. 
b) The level of guidance needed from the teacher to complete the task. 

The teacher should determine the level of technical skills that the student demonstrates using a "best fit" approach. 

Minimal technical skills: Basic skills used and much assistance required 
Adequate technical skills: Competent skills with some assistance required 
Proficient technical skills: Complex skills used and independent work with some guidance 
Excellent technical skills: A wide range of complex skills used and independent with minimal guidance 

Phase 4: Evaluating

Now that you have finished your project, you need to get some feedback!  Before you give it to its final recipient, show it to someone who knows them and see if they have any suggestions for how you could tweak it.  Be sure to get feedback from your classmates as you work your way through the project.  Keep track of what they say and write it in this section.  Finally, after you give it to the person you intended it for, ask them what they think of it.  You can use all of this feedback to help you improve your work for the next project.  

During the 'Evaluating' phase of this project, you will complete 4 tasks:
1)  Reflect on the quality of your project.  How well does it fulfill what you wrote in your Design Brief?  (You MUST make specific reference to your Design Brief in this section.)  Summarize and analyse the feedback that you got from your target audience.

2)  Based on the feedback that you received and your experience making it, what would you change if you were to do it again?  Be very specific here.  For example, "I will explain the steps more clearly," is not enough.  You must explain exactly what you would and why.  JUSTIFY the changes that you would to make according to your experience and the feedback you received.

3)  Reflect on your performance throughout the phases of the Design Cycle.  What did you do well?  Why did those things go well for you?  How can you use this success to help you in the future?  What did you do poorly?  Why do you think those things did not go so well?  What can you do to improve in the future?  Again, be specific.  For example, "I will manage my time better," is not enough.  A better example might be, "I will take point form notes during class and keep them on colour-coded stickies on my desktop.  When I write my summaries later on, I will be able to use these notes to help me remember what I did."4)  Create a revised edit of your video.

Criterion D Assessment Rubric: Evaluating


Students evaluate the solution. At the end of the course, they should be able to:  
  1. Design detailed and relevant testing methods which are used to measure the success of the product/ solution.  
  2. Critically evaluate the success of the product/solution against the requirements based on authentic tests. 
  3. Explain how the product/solution could be improved. 
  4. Explain the impact of the product on society and the environment. 
  5. Outline how the product could be developed for the commercial market. 

Achievement level
Level descriptor

0  
The student:
  •  does not reach any of the standards described by any of the descriptors 

1-2 
The student:  
  1. designs a testing method which is used to measure the success of the product/ solution. 
  2. states the success of the product/ solution.  

3-4 
The student:  
  1.   designs a relevant testing method which is used to measure the success of the product/solution.  
  2.   outlines the success of the product/ solution against the requirements based on relevant product testing.  
  3.   states how the product/ solution could be improved. 
  4.   states the impact of the product on society and/or the environment. 

5-6 
The student:  
  1.   designs relevant testing methods which are used to measure the success of the product/ solution.  
  2.   outlines the success of the product/ solution against the requirements based on relevant product testing.  
  3.   outlines how the product/ solution could be improved. 
  4.   outlines the impact of the product on society and/or the environment. 
7-8 
The student:  
  1. designs detailed and relevant testing methods which are used to measure the success of the product/ solution.  
  2. critically evaluates the success of the product/ solution against the requirements based on authentic product testing.  
  3. explains how the product/ solution could be improved. 
  4. explains the impact of the product on society and the environment 
  5. outlines how the product could be developed for the commercial market, where appropriate. 

Notes:  
Product testing: A stage in the design process where versions of products (for example, prototypes) are tested against the design need, applied to the context and presented to the end-user or target audience. Testing includes physical and user testing (user trials, field tests, expert and user appraisal, user observation). The tests may include the collection and analysis of data. 

Authentic tests: These tests are relevant to the project and are completed by appropriate testers to gain high quality quantitative and qualitative feedback. For example, user trials and user observations are conducted with the exact target market group stated in the design specification. 
Subpages (1): Digital Gift: Sample Project
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