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Overall I believe this project could easily be accessed online and through the blended platform on an individual basis. Bring in the critical collaborative thinking and brainstorming process could present some challenges. To get around this the project could be scaffolded so that benchmarks are met. One of these benchmarks could be a collaborative GDoc, or a recording of a Google Hang Out.

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For the proposition project core standards were embedded in the project through a "Need to Know" component. In order for student to accurately represent their proposal it is required that they know and understand background information. This could be challenging to uphold for students who do not buy into the collaborative effort or idea. I wonder how we engage all students to see the value in "need to know" information.

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A few challenges come to mind with this project. The first is a negative group position. If everyone is not in agreement how sill students work around this challenge? Also, some hot topics that all teachers and parents are not willing to address with their students. Constructive classmate feedback is valuable. How do we engage all students and encourage then to see value in this process? How might our technology policy hinder this process.

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In Fall of 2016 the statistics students were challenged to review on and collaborate on a proposition. They needed to gather real life data and create a short presentation. This presentation would be more meaningful if it connected to real life and was available to a public audience. This could be a great connect with our parents. They could hear what their students are asking for and potentially direct their voting to align with this thinking and wishes.

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Blended Environment: Create a collaboration with schools across the state interested in civic engagement (same election dates). Each group should create their own ad, but they can collaborate with other groups across the state that have chosen the same proposition to focus on. This can expand their knowledge on this topic and how it will affect other people. Additionally, this inter-school collaboration creates a research participant pool. For instance, each group can create questions about support for the prop and about other aspects in that topic. Then they can create a large survey that all the students take, regardless of their group focus. This not only introduces survey design and elementary statistics, but gives them a real world relevance based on their peer’s opinions. This data can be used in the ad itself or simply to inform the groups on the direction of their messaging. The groups at each school can record videos of interviews (or other videos), and then share these among other groups in the state that may want to include that video in their ad. This allows for a sharing of resources and promotes diversity and inclusion. Additionally, students (and others) will be able to view the ads from across the state. This large-scale collaborative effort can be influential to lawmakers, businesses, or organizations, who may be able to “endorse” an ad and actually get it on TV or on the internet. Just like the teacher from the video discussed, finding a way to publish these is very important, so creating a publicly viewable database of these videos online is a great way for students to get examples and improve from year to year as well as feel like they are making a difference. The whole project would require research and utilizing appropriate sources/citations, just like the version of this project done in the video. The blended environment version that I propose, however, would be able to include resources from all over the internet and in multiple formats, which adds to the challenge as well as the reward. An additional aspect of this project would include their advertising campaign. The original project assumes that the ads will likely play on TV, but now there are so many media outlets that political ads can (and do) play on, like YouTube, website ads on the side of the screens, apps, games, online radio/music sites, etc. The blended learning project would explore this as well.

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This project includes all five of the standards that are introduced on the description for this assignment (R.CCR.7, W.CCR.6, W.CCR.8, SL.CCR.2, SL.CCR.5). Diverse media and formats is essentially important to this project because it is focused on the HOTS, especially Creating and Analyzing. The groups can apply their knowledge and create their own media projects, so understanding these tools is integrated into the project. The technology standard is explicitly present in the nature of the project. Gathering information is a major aspect of this project and can be greatly enhanced through the research aspects I propose in the blended learning version of this project. The two strategic learning standards are also a major part of this project, especially in the blended learning version. The student groups will be expected to gain ideas and methodologies from existing media and other sources and analyze them for applicability in their own projects.

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The challenges include time conflicts or barriers in collaborative efforts. For instance, if groups from various schools are collaborating via synchronous video chats, they will have to find a time they are mutually available. As with any online program, a challenge might be the potential that certain schools don’t have the same resources as other schools and that the students have unequal access to technological tools. When bringing large groups of people together, a challenge includes finding ways to listen to everyone’s opinions and mediate a conversation with many participants so that it stays productive and not polarizing. An additional challenge would be the general logistics of coordinating students from across state and developing continuity between the assignments from all the teachers and schools. From an administrative side, it might be challenging to find a way to collate all the videos and find real-world public audiences for the videos.

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About real world issues and how to prepare for them. Create a “Need to Know” which as an aspect of good project design.

Project Based Learning (PBL) is the school’s focus, not simply remembering information.

The teacher, when interviewed, mentioned that the goal is to move from an “intellectual” process towards application.

Started with campaign examples over the years and showed student PSAs as well.

Feedback from peers and the teacher was an essential aspect of the project.

This project exemplifies GRR, where students begin with instruction and the focus is on the teacher and the information, and moves toward student led creative development and the teacher simply assists.

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Hi everybody,
I thought I would also give you this space to ask questions, share successes, collaborate about your 5.2 project... then again... there always is the Q & A and Water Cooler and the Group Discussion space I provided... just thought this could be a one-stop-shop. :-)
M

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In a blended environment, students could use something like this Padlet app, or discussion boards to communicate and share ideas. Students could also use skype or even face-time to chat. It could also be helpful to have students do the majority of their research online and independently in order to save face-to-face class time. I also wonder if students could use apps like flip grid when they first begin brainstorming ideas.

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I see several challenges if this were to be an online assignment. It would be far more difficult to stay in touch and therefore for students to stay on task. Losing the face-to-face aspect, and live discussions that help kids bounce ideas off each other would be a downside of an online version of this project. Also some students might not have access to devices with recording options and if they were ever going to meet outside of school I know that can be a real challenge for some kids. Just getting from place to place.

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Based on how detailed, complex, and varied this project is, you can clearly see that many Common Core standards are embedded. In the reading for the chapter you are reminded that the Anchor Standards cover Reading, Writing, Speaking & Listening, and Language. This project requires students to read up on various bill proposals, write up their ideas and create a script, speak in a video presentation, listen to each other's ideas as well as the ideas of politicians, and use precise and academic language to get their point across. When the entire project is said and done, these students will walk away with transfer skills that go beyond the tiny details of the project and truly prepare them to be critical thinkers.

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Turning this project into a web based project can be very successful. I believe this because there are so many web tools and apps that are accessible to students, it would be fairly easy to communicate with each other. I feel like that would be the hardest part, is to communicate and plan with your peers while being away from each other. Web tools like Google Doc, Trello, and even Padlet can allow for groups to share and brainstorm with each other and get their project completed.

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Looking at this project, there are a couple of challenges that quickly come to mind one being it taking a while for a group to come to an agreement as to what position they hold. There may be a disconnect between group members if they cannot agree on the position they want their project to be about. Also, another challenge that can arise, that happens both in and outside of the classroom is the lack of participation by a group member. It's a littler easier in class because the instructor can easily redirect an off task student to continue working, but online if there is a lack of participation, there is no one there to hold that student responsible.

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It is easy to tell by the intricate and detailed requirements of the project that common core standards have been embedded into this project. It is clear that students are collaborating and brainstorming in a way that allows them to utilize reading, writing, listening, and speaking which are all apart of the common core standards. It also requires them to read and gain knowledge about bill proposals and what goes on in their community. It allows them to listen to each others ideas and brainstorm collaboratively. At the end of the project each student will have gained knowledge and skills that will transfer over into any classroom or blended learning environment.

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First and foremost, my mind is teeming with ideas and concepts that I want to present to Rob come Tuesday. He and I are teaching the Government and Econ class during summer school and it would be an excellent experience for students to utilize digital tools, such as those my fellow LEC cohort members refer to in their discussion board posts, to explore/analyze/and better understand the various aspects and intricacies for civic literacy as they (our students) prepare to vote and participate in community activities and assume the roles and responsibilities of citizenship.

I believe that collaboration between students and exploration of various resources while they research and report on propositions and their impacts can take place on a digital word document such as Google Documents. The amount of support, flexibility, and digital assistance offered via Google applications is tremendous and I believe that almost all learning can utilize tools from Google.

Group share outs or exchange of informations between student groups; or even instruction from the teacher can take place digitally via flip grids.

Students can brainstorm via web applications such as bubbl.us - a mind-mapping tool.

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During this project, students are required to read about a plethora of different bill proposals and propositions, they then write up their ideas and create a script, they speak about their writing and understanding of the proposals in a video presentation, and listen to politicians, and each other. Students do all of this while using academic language. Easily, I can identify that students cover: Reading, Writing, Speaking & Listening, and the use of Academic language during the course of this project.

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Looking at this project and thinking about my own experiences participating in group projects, and my experiences implementing group projects in the classroom. I imagine common problems and conflicts that might arise in any group collaboration might exist. The benefit of tracking student participation through applications like Google Documents mean you can hold students accountable for their work while also offering scaffolds and supports for all students to be successful.

Access to devices or internet might be limited outside of the school and students could have problems continuing their work.

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Jeff- I think this would be a great project to transition from traditional to online or blended. I think that if I was going to transition the project to a blended project, I would start by having the students watch the videos of prior candidate commercials and prop commercials as a class. I would then turn them loose to watch more online, and then take a position on the three props they were interested in on their own. That initial work could be done online and then submitted. Next, I would have the class meet again for the first time they were put in groups. I think that it is always good to get the groups together for an initial face-to-face meeting. At that point they could use google hangout, email, skype, zoom, or other 2.0 tool to collaborate. This would also gave the groups the opportunity to meet face-to-face on their own if they so choose to. As far as the progress check-in presentations, I think having the initial presentations face-to-face would allow the teacher to set the expectations, then further presentations could be online using a tool like flip grid. The teacher could also use skype or zoom to do check-ins with each group. Overall, I think a project like this that is already largely online, and technology based makes the transition easy.  Looking forward to trying more PBL and blended learning in my projects next year.

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Jeff- I think this would be a great project to transition from traditional to online or blended. I think that if I was going to transition the project to a blended project, I would start by having the students watch the videos of prior candidate commercials and prop commercials as a class. I would then turn them loose to watch more online, and then take a position on the three props they were interested in on their own. That initial work could be done online and then submitted. Next, I would have the class meet again for the first time they were put in groups. I think that it is always good to get the groups together for an initial face-to-face meeting. At that point they could use google hangout, email, skype, zoom, or other 2.0 tool to collaborate. This would also gave the groups the opportunity to meet face-to-face on their own if they so choose to. As far as the progress check-in presentations, I think having the initial presentations face-to-face would allow the teacher to set the expectations, then further presentations could be online using a tool like flip grid. The teacher could also use skype or zoom to do check-ins with each group. Overall, I think a project like this that is already largely online, and technology based makes the transition easy.  Looking forward to trying more PBL and blended learning in my projects next year.

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To turn this into a blended project, the students could start by watching some of the election videos online through the class web page, or explore even more on their own. They would have the opportunity to do most of the independent work that they are expected to do online, that way when the students come to class they are ready to dive right in to the group collaboration and project piece of the assignment. This would be a tough project to complete solely online because of the fact that the students are expected to create a video, in turn making the blended environment the most efficient option for this project. While there are many modes of communication and collaboration through online tools (Google Drive, internet face chatting programs, etc.), this could still pose a struggle for those participating in a group because of the difficulty of coordinating all members of the group to be around their computer at exactly the same time.

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Students practice MANY different standards with this project, from reading and writing standards to social studies and civics/econ. standards to even speaking and listening standards. To complete this project students must know how to use key terms to find information on the internet, write a script for a video, read very dry legal documents pertaining to voting on certain bills, create a video using voices or performances from one another within it, and use professional language to collaborate with one another. It's amazing how many skills are required to complete a single task, such as making a commercial/video explaining a proposition and taking a stance on it.

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One of the biggest challenges I could foresee students running in to is the online collaboration piece. Not everyone is always available at the same time to work on things. It could also be tough for the students to brainstorm ideas with one another online and decide upon one direction that they all want to go. Many times when collaborating through text, the receiver might not fully understand an idea because of the way it was written or because they simply misinterpreted the words. While this is present in a face-to-face atmosphere as well, it is a lot quicker to go back and forth in a verbal conversation because students would not have to wait for one another to respond to a text/e-mail.

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I liked this video and this project for the students. This is a project I could see myself enjoying as a high school student and giving my learning a purpose. It was a relevant project, and demonstrated mastery because they needed to know multiple skills and how to put those skills together to create a finished project. I feel that the presentation portion of the project gave the students a timeline that they actually felt as though they had to meet, because if not they would look silly in front of members of the public that were invited to come watch the presentations. Typically when students know that strangers will be observing, they put in a little more effort with their work to make sure they look good/smart.

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To incorporate blended learning into this assignment, I think Scoop.it would provide a great digital foundation for group research. The students would be able to collect and share important resources. Utilizing Google's many tools, such as Google Calendar, GoogleDocs and Google Hangout would offer efficient and user-friendly online tools for groups.

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The Anchor Standards/Common Core State Standards are embedded throughout this project. The reading standard,  R.CCR, which expects students to integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats occurs in the final presentation by each group.  In addition, core speaking & listening standards, SL.CCR.2 and SL.CCR.5 are embedded in the final group presentation.  SL.CCR.2 guides students to integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. Standard SL.CCR.5 advises students to make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.

The information gathering process for the creation of the final presentation highlights the writing core standard.  Standard W.CCR.6 expects students to use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.  This online research also satisfies core standard W.CCR.8, which suggests students gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.

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The main challenge I might encounter in conducting a project of this type online is ensuring student comprehension of information. I witness many students searching online for relevant information for their assignment, however, I wonder if they evaluate the resource. In my short experience, I have witnessed students copy and past information without synthesizing. The final product is usually a jambalaya of disjointed statements. They may all be about the same topic, but they lack cohesiveness and flow. This makes me wonder if students truly synthesized the information they found.

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This video was inspiring. They assignment seemed interesting and engaging. Personally, I enjoy political engagement and hope everyone understands the importance of civic duty. I understand that teenagers do not feel the same way, however, project based learning is an opportunity to meet in the middle.