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Objective for Technology Intervention in Course

Producing original creative work is a central portion of virtually all of the courses that I teach. In some instances students work individually on projects, submitting them over the course of the semester (and completely a large final project). In other cases, students work collaboratively the entire time. In still other cases, I collaborate with students doing an independent study, and together we complete a project.

There are two "problems" regarding these scenarios that I'd like to address with technology.

The first: how to organize and focus creative work? For many people, producing original work can be daunting, in part because the process itself can be so amorphous. When are you actually working? When are you idly daydreaming? Gathering references and inspiration for an artistic project is critically important, but it is easy for some people to confuse this process with looking at blogs of wedding cakes gone wrong.

The second: in individual, and, especially, collaborative contexts, how do students show their process (and as a useful byproduct for the person who has to assess them, demonstrate that they are in fact actually working)?

It took time to focus these questions, as my first impulses turned out to have some fuzzy thinking. I wanted something to serve as the "glue" for a collection of text, images, sounds, video, etc., and that would also easily connect various tools, such as the github software development platform. Thinking about it a little more clearly, it turns out that the glue already exists, and it is called HTML!

In other words, there are various ways to link to whatever kinds of media the web supports. So the question is not so much "if," as "how." Go with some kind of visual approach but “lighter-weight”  and more nimble approach, such as Pinterest or Mindomo? Or a more task-oriented framework?

In looking a little further, I learned that--duh!--the business world kind of needs "project management software," and that there are plenty of options to try! Therefore, I'm simply going to start trying them.

Initially, these tests will take place during an independent study course I'm doing currently with a doctoral student. We are working together to develop physical computing software and hardware for a large art installation. There are many creative issues to resolve, and a good deal of coding to keep track of.

In an ideal scenario, the right environment will help both me and my students create richer work, by helping us keep track of where we are coming from, and by helping us see the road ahead. And, critically, at the end of the day, a student will be able to send me a link to a site where all of their individual contributions are logged, making the task of assessing creative work at least a little easier.

The test-case for my project management experiment is an independent study course that I am currently teaching. The student is a first year doctoral student ("J"), getting his PhD in the ATLAS Institute. We are collaborating on the technical components of a large art installation, and have a good deal of information to manage. Beyond that, we have a series of increasingly pressing deadlines that we need to track.

After looking at several possibilities, I've settled on . In further posts, I'll reflect both on the experience of using this environment, and why, after looking at several others (workflowy, team box, and more), I chose this particular approach.

In an ideal scenario, J and I will be using the software virtually every day, both during our daily meetings (to capture questions, ideas and targets as they come up), as well as when we are working individually. (Incidentally, I have now also looped in the personnel at the gallery where this project will be mounted, sharing "boards" with them as appropriate or necessary. Possibilities like this offer students a concrete glimpse into the mechanics of real-world scenarios for creative work.)

One measure of success will be how easily we are able track the large amount of detailed information about various components of the project. Another will be: when the work is over, can someone look at the record left in the environment and easily understand the objectives and creative trajectory of the project?

I am already looking forward to implementing this or something similar in the various other courses that I teach (with a full complement of students).

Trello wound up being a fantastic organizing tool: items are laid out in a clear, visual manner, instead of being scattered across multiple emails. This alone is worth the price of admission, and it provides a clear demonstration of just how much superfluous verbal "glue" is required in routine communication, and how much time can be saved by efficiently cutting to the matters at end.

On a related note, it is easy to tell at a glance if something has been done, or still needs doing. This is absolutely invaluable when undertaking large, complex tasks.

One aspect was problematic, however, and it mattered to a much greater extent than I might have suspected in advance. Because this is a virtual "post-it" environment, accurate and timely notifications are critical. In each of my tests of this system, I learned that people will only use it productively if the notifications are pushed to them (i.e., if they have to take the initiative to check back in, it doesn't happen).

I, along with several other users, experienced substandard and unreliable notifications. It is entirely possible that there are some settings (beyond the obvious ones) that need to be adjusted, but part of the required utility of the system is that it is up and running quickly.

These notification problems were at the core of the students' critical assessment of the system. During times of unreliable notifications, we would revert to emails, given us the worst of both worlds: the relatively cumbersome and highly diffuse communication of email, along with potentially confusing duplication of information in another location.

However, even with these issues, the experiment was extremely productive. In a very short period of time, I saw faculty/student communication become highly efficient and focused; it became simple to track problems that needed to be resolved. It was also highly satisfying for all concerned to move issues from the "to do" list to the "done" list!

Going into the future, I plan to iron out the kinks with the notifications, but once that aspect is carefully resolved, I am very excited to use this tool in the majority of my classes, graduate advising, and staff supervision situations.

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