App Planning

Excellent discussion today and yesterday with Class 62.  A beginning list of possible locations to include in the app was generated.  It was interesting to listen to what grade 6 students consider important about their town. For example, the waterfalls that I expected them to suggest because they are spectacular were not the first choice for some of my students.  They prefered to include the less spectaclar falls where they are able to play and slide down.  Places to eat also figured prominently in the discussion. For other students it was the beautiful historic buildings and for some, the great places to play. A few wanted to include their own homes.

List of possible places to photograph

Today we began to gather ideas for the actual layout and design of the app. We had a very thoughtful,  engaging and at times intense discussion about what needs to be considered.  There are no shortage of ideas in this class!

In order to design the app, students must determine audience.  They recognized that an app designed for an elderly person would look very different from an app designed for a teenager.  Who then is our market?  After much discussion, the class decided that the app should be designed for the largest possible audience: families.

The class also decided that if people were going to take the time to download the app, it should be useful - it needs to be more than just a fun activity for us to do.We discussed the merits of turning the app into a story with something happening at each location; this idea hasn't been entirely ruled out yet, but students are reflecting on whether this would have broad enough appeal.  The class wants people to want to download the app. How then do we make it appealing for adults and kids? If we had more time I would include market research. 

This flow chart displays our discussion and ideas

This led to discussion on the actual layout and design. One student, Ryan,  advanced the discussion by getting up independently and drawing a possible layout.  The main page could include two buttons - one for adults and one for kids.  Lively discussion ensued as to whether this is a good option. Ashley, a master of efficiency, stressed that the app needs to be simple and easy to use otherwise people might get too confused and not use it.   Rebecca suggested that each group of photos could have text aimed at younger kids and text aimed at adults.
Another Ryan pointed out that when the text is written, it must be done in such a way to entice people to want to go to the location.  Carlie suggested that we include a fun  puzzle at each location for younger children. Ryan thought maybe a secret code to solve would be fun.  All students seemed to like the idea of making it interactive in this way. There were many other great suggestions and unfortunately, I didn't record everyone's names when they were made. I'll do this from now on.

The greatest concern at the moment, however, is who is going to get to photograph which location. Several students are claiming rights to "The Peak", for example. How then do we assign the locations?  This is a problem for the class to solve.  There were several good ideas on how this might be done, from random selection, to whoever "called it" first, to seeing who actually wants to photograph each spot and then forming partnerships.  (Hunter's idea). We will have to make a decision by Friday.

Justin asked an important question, "Are you going to cry about it if you don't get what you wanted?" Which really is asking the larger question, "How do we handle the disappointments in life?"  We will have to talk about this before we proceed with location choices.

What was truly notable about this group of students is that all ideas were treated with respect. These students understand how to disagree agreeably.

Thank you Emily for uploading pictures of today's work.