The following is an outline that will help you create a professional
electronic presentation with your family or classroom. We are going to
pretend like you are using HyperStudio to get the job done. The thing is
that it doesn't matter what software you use to carry out this project.
You can use this format to create videos, slide show presentations, CD-Roms,
interactive games or whatever. You can use this format to work in HyperStudio,
Power Point, Aldus Persuasion, Adobe Premiere, Author Ware, Director or
whatever. We just mention HyperStudio because it's hot all across the country.
We live in a world of instant gratification. Production is not instant.
Kids and adults want to sit down in a couple of hours and get something
done. It doesn't work like that. If you are leading this project, you
need to be the one that decides how long will we give this project.
In considering your time frame, think realistically and remember that anything
that can go wrong, will go wrong. If you can, give yourself 3 months, or
9 months for a great project.
Don't kill yourself. Develop a theme that you will use through the year.
Think about how you can plug in different areas of curriculum like math,
science, history, writing, art, etc. As you develop your lesson plans,
keep your project in the back of your mind.
Save all pictures and documents (and organize the stuff so that you can
find it).
The more junk you have, the more diamonds in the rough you will find.
It's better to have a bunch of junk to work with than waiting for that perfect
piece to come through. Junk can be refined and rewritten.
Let your class or family know what you have planned. Let them know
when you expect to finish the project. Ask them to brainstorm on ideas
that relate to the theme. After they have a big mess of ideas, ask them
how they could present their ideas in an interactive format. Maybe they
could make some kind of computer game, or an adventure test.
Be sure to take notes. There is nothing worse than a great idea that has
been lost. If you can't take notes and facilitate the brainstorming session,
use a tape recorder.
If you are in a great school and have students that can read and write
on their own, then give big research responsibilities to individual students.
If your students are challenged, then break them into groups and have them
research together.
Remember, don't kill yourself, break these steps up so that you're getting
your other work done too. After the dust has settled from the research,
let the presentations begin.
Given your findings, how do you present your project and make it fun
and educational?
This should be a more restricted brainstorming session. Students should
be asked, "Will this be a game, a story, an adventure, a test or a
slide show presentation?"
Make a decision (or if you have an idea, make the decision yourself, then
brainstorm with the class on how to carry out your plan).
Maybe I should have said this earlier, but you should have an idea of
how many HyperStudio Cards you are going to use? Will each student make
one card? Will you use 200 cards ( hope you have lots of memory). How
will we distribute or present our finished product (you know that you can
take your project to CD Rom)?
Break up the various categories of your project and create a story board.
Something like this.
Doesn't that look like a big mess? That's the way it goes. You can use
this plan for a HyperStudio Project or an Internet Web Page.
With your project cards, you should be thinking;
When the user clicks here, they go to this card.
When the user clicks on the correct answer, they hear this sound.
When the user clicks on the wrong answer, this picture appears.
When the user make five wrong answers in a row, they see and hear this.
When the user clicks on this answer, they go to the bonus page.
Once you know what words and pictures you need, give students the responsibility
of taking their research, and turning that research into an interactive
report. Give different students the responsibility of developing different
cards, or different groups of cards.
Have them design what words will go where. Have them decide how they will
use pictures, graphics, video clips etc., to portray their ideas. Have
them figure out how to create sounds, and use the sound for sound effects.
Here they should decide if they will use video cameras, quick take cameras,
scanners, drawn graphics, water colors etc.
Use HyperStudio to create your project. We're not going to discuss
the technical aspects here. That's where the HyperStudio Manual comes in.
Read it! Have your students read it too! That's a big part of the game.
From what I've seen in schools, most classrooms have one or none computers
there. If you are lucky, you have at least one. Make a schedule that gives
each student time to complete their assignment on the computer.
Some schools are lucky enough to have 5 or 6 units in each classroom.
This should be much easier.
If you have a computer lab, try to cut a deal with the computer teacher.
See if they will let your class into the lab regularly during production
time.
Remember, Kids will play instead of create. Watch them closely and
have well defined goals for them during computer time.
Have someone review your end product. Have them tell you what they
like, and/or don't like. Have the students make the changes. Make sure
that your students know up front that this will happen. Let them know that
this is a part of the plan.
Invite other classrooms, families, the PTA, the President, and/or
the local TV Station, to come and see your project. Make sure you remind
the students how this project came to be. Remind them of the brainstorming,
research, planning, and reconstructing they did. Have them discuss what
they learned. Ask them how do they think people that create CD Rom books,
or computer games do their jobs. Discuss the future of the technology.
Now really, this should be Step Nine. But why have production if you're
not going to have a marketing effort. If you plan on selling, or distributing
your product, then continue reading.
You can buy a CD Rom Burner for $600 to $1400 dollars. Someone in your
community has one. Find out how many copies you want. The great thing
about "Burning" CD's that you can burn 2, or 44 or 1982374748,
or whatever.
You can burn the copy so that it runs on the Mac and the IBM too. It's
very cool and the process of the students seeing their end product on CD
Rom is a real trophy.
You can make your project simple with 4 to 10 cards, or you can create
your own Encyclopedia on CD, taking a whole year to finish it. That's up
to you. The thing is that while you as the teacher or parent go through
this project, you're going to learn lots about many different forms of software.
You're going to learn how to make different software systems work together.
You're going to learn that you didn't know anything at the beginning, but
now you know a lot. Your students are going to learn the same lessons.
The world of production is yours. If you do this project you will have
the confidence to create videos, CD Roms, and all kinds of other high tech
stuff. People in your position, or in your neighborhood will still be standing
around trying to figure out how to turn the computer on. These little electrical
boxes are the future. Developing a command over these tools will greatly
enhance your communication skills and keep you on the edge of cyberspace.