Assignments (2023)

Description: Disassemble and re-purpose something you own. The idea is to explore the materiality of the world around us and discover affordances in what we thought was immutable.  In this assignment you will get comfortable finding materials at home, integrating them into your creative projects, and finding tools to aid your process. Additionally, you will… Continue reading Frankenthing (2023)

Write a close analysis of an experience you have had in the lab so far in this class, using constructivism, sociocultural learning theory, and/or constructionism as lenses for interpreting the experience. Positioning yourself as a learner, describe the context of the experience, potentially including the space, tools, people, and other resources you were working with.… Continue reading Praxis Reflection (2023)

In class we’ve also discussed the framework of “low floor,” “high ceiling,” and “wide walls” to evaluating learning technologies. Before we fully launch into the final project phase of the class, let’s take a moment to review the various lab tools that we’ve spent the first half of the semester learning and explore their “high… Continue reading Tools Deep Dive (2023)

Due Feb  1st, 11:59pm ET Description There are a gazillion topics out there, but sometimes it is hard to think of just one. There are also many ways to learn each topic, so it is also hard to think of all of them. This assignment is meant to help you in selecting a topic, a… Continue reading Topics of interest, Powerful Ideas and Microworlds (2023)

So far in the course, we have considered theoretical approaches to the learner, learning, and knowing, and explored theories that help us understand the ways that technology can be used for learning. In this assignment, we ask you to observe a learning technology in practice, and to attend to the context in which it is… Continue reading Tech in the Wild (2023)

Critique an educational technology through the theoretical and design lenses we have examined so far. The critique involves an analysis of the design decisions of a learning technology — both the explicit and implicit intentions of the designer. The critique might directly inform your final project, and it might be used for the related work… Continue reading Tech Critique (2023)

Description As a class, you will build a single Rube Goldberg Machine, using the GoGo boards with various sensors and actuators, the laser cutter, and the lab’s woodshop tools. The Rube Goldberg Machine you build will consist of 6 stations, each of which takes a particular sensor input and has to activate the following sensor in… Continue reading Rube Goldberg (2023)

The joint project for the two courses is a working prototype of a constructionist educational technology, to be displayed at the BBA Expo, and an accompanying paper suitable for submission to an academic conference related to education and technology. You will select a conference appropriate for your project and hopefully also your professional goals, and write… Continue reading Final Project (2023)

Part 1: Co-design Part 2: Prototype Part 3: Final Overview Co-design a tangible learning artifact with a child, develop it through iterative prototypes, and then build a final version you will give to the child as a gift. (It could also be a gift for another child.) The artifact might be: You will draw on… Continue reading Dream Toy (2023)

Description Every programmer is a bit of a code thief. The practice of recycling or remixing code is a  valuable way to learn from more advanced programmers, it allows you to do things you would hardly be able to do from scratch, and it also saves you a lot of time.  In this lab assignment,… Continue reading Creative Code Remix (2023)

Draft Due: Tue, Feb 15Final Due: Tue, Feb 22 By the time this assignment is due, we will have read about and discussed the core learning and educational theories that this class is based on: Constructionism, Constructivism and Critical Pedagogy. These theories are broad and contain many ideas and concepts. The goal of this writing… Continue reading 3C’s Essay (2023)

In class we’ve also discussed the framework of “low floor,” “high ceiling,” and “wide walls” to evaluating learning technologies. Before we fully launch into the final project phase of the class, let’s take a moment to review the various lab tools that we’ve spent the first half of the semester learning and explore their “high… Continue reading Tools Deep Dive

Critique an educational technology through the theoretical and design lenses we have examined so far. The critique involves an analysis of the design decisions of a learning technology — both the explicit and implicit intentions of the designer. The critique might directly inform your final project, and it might be used for the related work… Continue reading Tech Critique

So far in the course, we have considered theoretical approaches to the learner, learning, and knowing, and explored theories that help us understand how technology can play a role in learning. In this assignment, we ask you to observe a learning technology in practice and to attend to the context in which it is used.… Continue reading Tech in the Wild

Part 1: Co-designPart 2: PrototypePart 3: Final Overview Co-design a tangible learning artifact with a child, develop it through iterative prototypes, and then build a final version you will give to the child as a gift. (It could also be a gift for another child.) The artifact might be: You will draw on your readings… Continue reading Dream Toy

Draft Due: Tue, Feb 13Final Due: Tue, Feb 20 By the time this assignment is due, we will have read about and discussed the core learning and educational theories that this class is based on: Constructionism, Constructivism and Critical Pedagogy. These theories are broad and contain many ideas and concepts. The goal of this writing… Continue reading 3C’s Essay

Description As a class, you will build a single Rube Goldberg Machine, using the GoGo boards with various sensors and actuators, the laser cutter, and the lab’s woodshop tools. The Rube Goldberg Machine you build will consist of 6 stations, each of which takes a particular sensor input and has to activate the following sensor in… Continue reading Rube Goldberg

Due January 30, 2024 at 8PM ET Description There are a gazillion topics out there, but sometimes it is hard to think of just one. There are also many ways to learn each topic, so it is also hard to think of all of them. This assignment is meant to help you in selecting a… Continue reading Topics of interest, Powerful Ideas and Microworlds

Description Every programmer is a bit of a code thief. The practice of recycling or remixing code is a valuable way to learn from more advanced programmers, it allows you to do things you would hardly be able to do from scratch, and it also saves you a lot of time. In this lab assignment,… Continue reading Creative Code Remix

Design and build an Omni-Animal. In this assignment, you will get comfortable with working in the TLTL, and with using the laser cutter to prototype two- and three-dimensional objects. Alternative: Propose creating another object, useful or beautiful, of similar complexity as an Omni-Animal. Your project should still meet the same technical requirements. Starting with paper,… Continue reading Omni-animal