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
Author: Jonathan Pang
Tools Deep Dive
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
Tech Critique
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
Tech in the Wild
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
Dream Toy
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
3C’s Essay
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
Rube Goldberg
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
Lab Safety & Norms
These safety norms apply at all times in the lab. There are additional safety precautions for each tool; make sure you read these before using a tool. Woodshop Protocol Storage Cleanup Machine & Tool Sign-Up We want a collegial and supportive community in the lab, and encourage lab users to help accommodate each others’ needs. As… Continue reading Lab Safety & Norms
Topics of interest, Powerful Ideas and Microworlds
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
Creative Code Remix
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