2007

=Horizon Project Sounding Board 2007=

Peer Review Sounding Board
We have been asked to take part in the Flat Classroom project which links students in five different countries. These students are creating videos that help explain the main topics discussed in the book The World is Flat.

We have been asked to review and comment on their work. Your comments will be read both by these students and by some serious experts who are evaluating the project. Your main audience is the students. You should remember in your writing that they are working very hard and also that only 1/5 of them are from the USA.


 * New:** Grade 5 student Sounding Board reflection: read about what we learned completing this project!

=2007 Project Outline=

Building upon four of the six senses of the conceptual age from Dan Pink's Book, A Whole New Mind, the students will be working in pairs to create **one video** in **each of three categories** for each topic.

1) **Design** and Innovation 2) **Story** and **Empathy** 3) The Fun Factor **(Play)**

Specifics
=Peer Review=
 * Students will work with a partner to create a digital story about their topic.
 * Students will be assigned (or select) one each of the following themes: design and innovation, story and empathy, and the fun factor.
 * **Design and Innovation** - Students will work to create and envision an innovation related to their topic.
 * **Story and Empathy** - A compelling narrative combining persuasion, communication, and self-understanding. This video will tell a story and cause the viewer to empathize with the characters.
 * **The Fun Factor** - Enjoyment, laughter, games, and humor are an essential part of the Conceptual Age because of their importance for our general well being. This video will highlight the fun aspects of technology that this trend enables or makes possible.

Our task is to review and comment on their wiki work and video work. Our comments will be read both by these students and by some serious experts who are evaluating the project. The main audience for our comments are the high school students. We need to remember in our writing that they are working very hard to meet the judging criteria for the flatclassroom project.

Task I: Discussion
Considerations before we begin to Peer Review

These specifics must be shown in the **wiki** as part of the students' set criteria:


 * 1) Students must contribute equally to the wiki / show communication with each other (we can check the history pages/discussion tabs to verify this)
 * 2) The information on the wiki page is organised, easily understood and visually appealing
 * 3) Resources accessed must be listed and cited correctly, tagged and bookmarked

These specifics must be included in the video as part of the students' set criteria:

> Those students who where part of the Horizon Project Peer Review, will each lead a group of reviewers for this Peer Review.
 * 1) Up to 50 word summary of the video (should make someone want to watch the video)
 * 2) Credits/Citations - At the end of the film, they do not count as part of the length of the final video
 * 3) Length of Outsourced Clip: 1-4 minutes (Outsourced means that it must come from another person not taking part in the project)
 * 4) Length of Final Movie: Up to 5 minutes (not including the credits)

Graphic Organizer
We will use the [|321 Graphic Organizer] for our review comments.[| 321_wiki.doc] [| 321_wiki.pdf]
 * 3 good things about the wiki/video topic
 * 2 improvements for the wiki/video topic
 * 1 piece of new knowledge that your group has acquired due to these high school students participating in the Flatclassroom Project

Task II: Organisation of Topics for Peer Review
There are 11 topics. Each topic has the 3 categories - Design & Innovation; Story and Empathy; The Fun Factor (Play). We will review a topic as a class to introduce and acquaint ourselves with the Review process. Next, we will split into groups of 3 to evaluate 4 of the group projects:


 * **Projects in Progress** || **Student Groups Providing Feedback** || **Your Feedback Pages** ||
 * **Group 1 Topic: Connecting the World Online** ||  || Group 1 Feedback ||
 * **Group 2 Topic:** How the World Wide Web has Changed the World || Chandler, Lily & Raimy (ISB) || Group 2 Feedback ||
 * **Group 3 Topic:** How Work Flow Software can Enhance Productivity and Communication ||  || Group 3 Feedback ||
 * **Group 4 Topic:** The Changing Shape of Information ||  || Group 4 Feedback ||
 * **Group 5 Topic:** Why we should be promoting Web 2.0 Tools for Sharing Information ||  || Group 5 Feedback ||
 * **Group 6 Topic:** Globalization and Outsourcing ||  || Group 6 Feedback ||
 * **Group 7 Topic:** Google Takes Over the World || Tom, Justin & Marcus (ISB) || Group 7 Feedback ||
 * **Group 8 Topic:** Personal Learning Environments and Social Networking ||  || Group 8 Feedback ||
 * **Group 9 Topic:** Mobile and Ubiquitous || Ciel & Souki (ISB) || Group 9 Feedback ||
 * Group 10 Topic: Virtual Communication ||  || Group 10 Feedback ||
 * Group 11 Topic: Wireless Connectivity || Richard & Pete (ISB) || Group 11 Feedback ||

Task III: Evaluate Projects in Progress
Use the criteria below to evaluate the each group's work. Be sure to remember that they are only about half-way through their project. This means that your comments will help them make their work even better! Think of this as a standard Peer Review and use constructive comments to help improve their work.


 * Take notes and provide feedback (on your Feedback Page) for each criteria listed below.**


 * __Peer Evaluation Criteria__**


 * Quality of Content**


 * Does the content (writing) make sense?
 * Can you identify any areas which need clarification?
 * Pose three questions that arise from your reading - it could be questions about ambiguity of content, questions that were not addressed, or questions that you had after reading it (you would like more information).


 * Communication**


 * Look at the Discussion pages of the wiki pages - effective communication?
 * Do they need more?
 * Are they clear in their messages to each other?
 * Is there a sense of negotiation and collaboration?


 * Collaboration**


 * Does the work appear to be equally shared?
 * Does there appear to be any difficulties by one or more members of the team?


 * Presentation - Layout and Design**


 * amount and relevance of graphics and media - comment on that
 * Recommendations?

Task IV: Provide Peer Feedback
Answer the following questions on your Student Feedback Page (linked in the table above):


 * //What do you think are the three key facts from the project?//
 * //Evaluate the accessibility and usability of the project (video, links, alt text, etc...)? Can you find the information easily? Is it formatted clearly?//
 * //Is there anything that you would add? There may be important links or ideas that we have covered in class that you could add to this project.//

Be sure to follow the online writing guidelines to ensure that your work can be easily read online. Utilize:


 * lots of space between paragraphs
 * clear and deliberate headings in large, bold font
 * bullets to organize lists of information
 * horizontal rules (lines) to separate large sections of text
 * less writing on more pages - links, links, links!
 * images to break up the page

NOTE: These will be probably be read as soon as you post them. Remember these kids have worked very hard. Give them positive, constructive feedback to help them improve their project.

Task V: Tag
Don't forget to tag your work using the Technorati tag: [|flatclassroomproject2007]