The purpose of the projects in each unit is to provide you with hands-on experience with the content in the unit. Each unit will have several project options. You should choose the one project that best aligns with your personal interests and your context. NOTE: For some of these projects, these deliverables may already exist in your district/organization. While you’re free to build on what exists, you cannot simply turn in what your district/organization already has.

Option 1: Identify Device Standards

For this project, you should identify the device standards for your district/organization. Note that this is a “moving forward” state and should not encapsulate whatever mess your district/organization may or may not have. You should include the standard models and configurations for laptops and desktops for teachers and students, classroom display configurations, printer configurations, and any other relevant classroom technology (4 points). You should get a third-party review from an administrator in your district/organization and address the changes made in your write-up (2 points). In your write-up, you should include how you arrived at these decisions, including your rationale, how it differs from the current state, where you received input from outside (4 points).

Option 2: Develop a BYOD and Guest Access Policy

Develop a policy for BYOD and guest access in your school/organization. The policy should explain what’s allowed, what isn’t allowed, the responsibilities of the school/organization, the responsibilities of the student, and any relevant logistics (4 points). Device configurations should be included in a BYOD policy. You should get a third party review from an administrator in your district and address the changes in your write up (2 points). In your write-up, include any critical decision points or controversial points, the rationale behind the decisions you made in selecting the elements of the policy, and a plan for implementation (4 points).

Option 3: Design a Classroom

Design a responsive classroom space for another teacher. For this project, you should interview a teacher and students to determine what they need from their classroom space (2 points, include takeaways from this interview in your write-up). Develop a scale-accurate drawing of their classroom with the furniture you propose to include (5 points). In your write up, include a manifest of the furniture you propose to purchase, your rationale for selecting this furniture, and the compromises you had to make in this selection (3 points).

Option 4: Design a Makerspace

Based on the needs of your school/organization, design a makerspace. Conduct an interview with teachers and students to determine what would be needed in a makerspace in your school/organization (include takeaways from this interview in your write-up, 3 points). Your write-up should include a list of the equipment that would need to be in your makerspace, and why you selected this equipment (5 points). You should also describe a possible physical layout for the space and how the space would be used by students and teachers (2 points).

Option 5: Create a Makerspace Lesson

Create a lesson/unit plan using the makerspace that exists in your school/organization. Your plan should be a hands-on project based unit in which students create one or more artifacts that utilize the maker space. The plan should cross at least three curricular areas. The plan doesn’t need to be day-by-day but should lay out how the content integrates, and how the makerspace will be used (5 points). The write-up should explain the rationale for this activity, how the product includes elements from each content, and how students will engage with the project. Include any challenges and compromises you made (5 points).

Option 6: Create a Student Technical Support Curriculum

Create a curriculum for a student technical support team. Include student responsibilities, learning products, overarching products and projects, and the format for the course and program (5 points). In your write-up, address the rationale for your decisions, barriers to implementation, and any other relevant considerations (5 points).

Option 7: Understand the Homework Gap

Survey your school to understand how and if students get online at home. If possible, collect addresses so you can look for “clusters” of internet access issues (get principal approval first). Distribute the survey to part or all of your school. Submit the survey (3 points) and a write-up indicating the rationale for the questions you asked (3 points) and the key takeaways (4 points).

Option 8: Write a Research Paper

Write a research paper (6-10 pages) describing the impact of the Gartner Hype Cycle and the contents of the CoSN trends/barriers report on educational technologies in K-12 learning environments. Include a sampling of technologies and how their hype has been realized or not within K-12.

Option 9: Choose Your Own Adventure

If there is a different product that you would like to create that is along the lines of the above projects, please contact me with a brief proposal.