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And if there was a problem, yo, I’ll solve it. Check out the hook while my DJ revolves it

Vanilla Ice, “Ice Ice Baby”

Teaching students how to solve problems is an important part of a 21st Century education. But what if you don’t have a hook for a DJ to revolve like that great philosopher Vanilla Ice? Is there a process we can teach students to help them solve problems? Of course there are a number of different processes but the one I will focus on here is Design Thinking.

I recently organised a teacher workshop around this called ‘Design for Success’. Supported by Dr Cathy Bunting (Director of the Science Learning Hub), we guided 25 Tauranga based educators through a sequence of activities designed to enable teachers to “use Design Thinking to unlock students’ creative problem-solving potential.” So first up, what do teachers come up with when asked to articulate a process to solve problems? Check out their responses:

Next step was to hear from people who used a process in their day to day work. I was fortunate enough to have a link with Rocket Lab through their recently announced Space Educator programme and had a one hour video call with Felicity and Alex who went into great detail of how the $4 billion aerospace company use a design thinking process to build and launch rockets. We were particularly lucky to have Alex, who is the project manager on the Neutron rocket project, describe in detail their processes. He talked about trying to solve complex problems, where the solutions are unknowable and that it is often the ‘crazy solution’ that can lead to a significant insight in to building the actual solution. He also stressed the importance, as a project leader, the importance of empathy and integrity when leading a team on such ambitious projects.

Then it was time to get into some of the nitty gritty of how to teach this process to students. When I first started this, I used the d.school Design Thinking process – you know the one with the pretty hexagons?

But I found that I had to put in a heap of time and effort to deliberately teach what those words mean to students. They weren’t that accessible to the students I was teaching, but then I discovered John Spencer’s LAUNCH cycle.

I have been using this approach over the last couple of years with much more success than the more challenging language of the the d.school steps. Over that time I’ve sourced a series of activities for students to complete as they work their way through the LAUNCH cycle and come up with a solution to their problem. I’ll go through a task for each step in more detail with each heading being a link to a web page with more activities, but feel free to make a copy of the slide deck I put together (and please share with me any awesome activities that you have come across!)

Look Listen and Learn (Empathise)

The first step is to get a problem and a user. So it’s not just enough to have a problem with Design thinking – you need a user who is experiencing that problem to come up with a solution for. A task I get my students to do is to story board for someone who is experiencing the problem:

Ask Tons of Questions (Empathise)

In this next step, we want to get a deep understanding of the problem so that when we come to identify possible solutions, we know we are solving the problem at hand. The 5 Why’s task is a great activity for getting students to consider the root cause of the problem (best explained in this video).

Understand the process of the problem (Define)

As well as researching existing solutions, technology that they could use for their solution, students should get a deep understanding of users by conducting user research. They can either conduct an interview or use a survey.

Navigate Ideas (Ideate)

One of the best activities I’ve found in this phase in Crazy 8s. There’s a great video explaining the process as well as a timer you can use when your class does this task.

Create a prototype (Prototype)

This is then fun part – creating a physical representation of the idea. This could be a scale model or a diorama that represents how the idea works. Although it would be great to have a flash as maker space with different stations such as laser cutter, 3D printing, fabrics, modelling and the like, I’ve found pretty good success with just cardboard, hot glue guns, and a couple of bins of ‘junk’ that would have just been thrown out (think Pringles cans, egg cartons, disposable cups etc).

Highlight and Fix (Test)

Now the students have something physical to communicate their idea, they can show it to someone else to get feedback. John Spencer has a really good structured activity for peer feedback and you want students to end up with some sort of summary so that they can make improvements (iterations) to their idea.

LAUNCH to an audience

So we’ve been through all those steps and your student has a kick arse idea, it’s now time to share with the world! So, get them to create a LAUNCH video – a sort of ‘elevator pitch’ where they communicate the problem, who is affects, and their solution with all the awesome features. Flipgrid is such a great tool for this. Students can record straight from their device using a web cam, or make their own video to upload. Then all student submissions are shared with the class for others to see, like and comment.

So I hope you found some of these ideas useful, check out my short video of the whole process.

Like a number of New Zealand schools, we have a wharenui on our campus. Our whare is called Aronui – named after one of the baskets of knowledge. There are number of beautiful carvings, both outside and inside, and along with a number of tukutuku panels has some rich stories to tell. We have a comprehensive document that details some of these stories but we were wanting to get students to create something that was more engaging.

Like the start of many projects, there were a few ideas bubbling away. Rach Duckworth was exploring something similar for her Google Innovator project at #SYD19, the gorgeous VR tour of the Waitangi Meeting house came through my PLN feed, and my co-teacher was keen to do something with our class on a localised curriculum bent. Sometimes you just need a spark to prod you into action!

My spark came from Raranga Matihiko – in particular the Marau Pāhekoheko Mentor Programme. At the workshop they hosted in Tauranga, one of the pieces of work was a VR / 3D tour of a class created wharenui where each student had a pepeha and pou inside (see video above). So I reached out to the team at Raranga Matikhiko for some more guidance and got a detailed reply from Kerry that I reckon is worth sharing in full here:

The virtual world you saw was made with a collection of CAD (Computer-aided Design Tools) and the virtual reality set itself (VIVE) with the use of the Tilt Brush VR app. The whare was built in Tinkercad. Worth noting, is that with Tinkercad, you are able to view as a Minecraft build and then configure block size and material before exporting as a schematic file which can then be imported into Minecraft.

The best way to experience the worlds such as we create, is to do so with a Virtual Reality interactive set. The Tiltbrush app now enables video to be imported directly into a PC world and developers are continually adding functions that allow users greater control over their own content. Unfortunately, although prices have come down significantly over the last few years, sets like VIVE are still too expensive for schools and educators to use widely and single sets only accommodate one user at a time. Alternatively, some good progress has been made with handheld viewers such as Google Cardboard.  You would possibly have to work on creating an app that supports your requirements but it may also be worth looking into what apps are already available. Some developers are open to working with users on specific requirements if that is something you think would be worth doing with your students.

If the end product of VR creation is your main focus, I would suggest the above. However, if your learning intentions are more about the content of the video or the creation of a Digital Learning Object, I would consider simply adding CAD created objects to your student videos.  For example; a student carving a pou whakairo using SculptGL and uploading to a 3D object repository, like Sketchfab. An audio recording of the student telling their story can be added to each object. You could also go on to use a screen recording of the object being rotated to see all sides in a Green screen background for their content video as they then retell their story (like a news report might do). 

From Kerry Leaf – Gallery Educator

I then reached out to Steve from Google NZ as I had a play round with Google Earth projects for another resource on Tauranga’s first migrants as part of an ancestry unit. Here’s the transcript:

The tip off to try Thinglink was the secret sauce that I wouldn’t have come to if I hadn’t been in touch.

First iteration: I used a panorama image and inserted the interactive just to test the basic concept. But I wasn’t able to embed the student video which was frustrating. So after doing some searching I came across an example of sort of what I was after so I reached out via Twitter which got a response in less that 24 hours!

YouTube embeds will not work in a Sandbox. It's a YouTube thing. You can use html5's video tag. See github https://t.co/ftuyDpcLpo for panel example. Sample Earth Project with both full and large panel html. https://t.co/WA30FSlnsT Feel free to copy project and grab html.

— jwilliams (@geteach) August 9, 2021

So after more trial and error I now have a concept that works!

After using the Streetview app to take a 360 image, this latest artefact shows the concept. Starting with a 360 Thinglink, going to the full video and then link to Google Earth Project which contains the embedded video.

So a great example of how collaboration, seeking help and having a go can lead to better outcomes. Our next step is to get our students to record high quality videos of carving stories as well as have them create their own Google Earth project of their story. Once these are done we will collate into one comprehensive resource for our school and use as an example for other story telling projects (we also have a grove of Totora tress planted on site for each of the Old Boys that fought and died in WWI).

Being an Ed Tech nerd, there are not many new apps, online tools, platforms that I haven’t had a crack at. I always enjoy trying out the new shiny things. However what seems to be the pattern is that I dive deep in the the tool and then realise that while it is great for a few particular tasks, it won’t be a tool that regularly comes out of my tool box.

I came across Parlay a few months ago via Twitter and as usual dove straight in. But it has stuck with me and I think it is one of those rare bits of gold dust in the Ed tech landscape that will grow and grow because it is just so good! So what is it? Basically it is an online, class based, discussion forum. Not too excited yet are you – seen heaps of those before aye. But Parlay is different, so let me explain why.

When I began my teaching career almost 20 years ago we had a great teacher who was starting philosophy classes with students. The philosophy for children movement was gaining traction in New Zealand and the old sage convinced me to invest some time going up to a weekend workshop. The basic premise with this approach was to get students tap into their natural curiosity through a philosophical inquiry with a main activity being the Socratic seminar. Basically, learners discuss with each other a particular issue, agreeing and disagreeing, building on and breaking down various points of view and gaining a richer understanding of the issue.

So I came back all keen and motivated to incorporate these discussion based activities in my health classes. Now, when it works it is awesome but it is a challenge in creating that class culture where every voice matters, where students will listen respectfully to each other, and the discussion isn’t dominated but a few voices. So throughout my teaching career, including a period teaching the IB Theory of Knowledge course (the best course I have ever taught), I would always try a few socratic seminars but didn’t use them consistently due to the struggle with management and trying to get all students to contribute.

Then along comes Parlay. Parlay solves many of these pain points of managing a meaningful class discussion and in the short time I’ve been using it has lead to some great ‘aha’ moments amongst learners and generate awesome reflective writing. So how does it work?

First you start with a discussion prompt. This can be more than a question and include image, audio of video resources. Students then respond to this prompt (I mostly use the anonymous setting for this as it definitely improves students honesty and depth of response). You can help scaffold this response by providing sentence stems or sentence starters. Thirdly, students can then comment and respond to other responses. Again the teacher can structure this peer feedback with sentence stems or prompts. You can then bring the online discussion offline and into a live discussion. Once completed, Parlay provides a rich data analytics interface where you can easily see how many students responded, the quantity of their response (average word length, number of responses to other students etc) . Finally, Parlay has built in an easily customisable set of assessment tools so you can efficiently give feedback to students.

Parlay plays nicely with Google and Microsoft accounts so your students won’t need to forget another set of log in details. There is also 1 click sharing to Google Classroom. The killer feature is the Parlay Universe. This is where busy teachers can grab curated content on a wide range (and ever expanding….) of topics categorised into different curriculum areas. It is so good to see their approach to sharing user created content – I don’t know how many lost hours I’ve spent trawling through the 1000 Kahoots on Space science to find just the right one. Parlay has the quality right at your fingertips.

The support from the Parlay team is awesome! I signed up to an online webinar (almost a must do as you don’t get the full scope of how you could use it in your classroom by just playing with the app) and was followed up with further support from the awesome Anna Lisa and Cynthia. Plus, they have a detailed Google Drive resource folder you can dive into at any time!

I’m just starting to explore some wider uses. For example I started a science lesson on bottle rocket cars with a Parlay discussion on Newton’s 3 laws of Motion and the question:

Just a great way to spark some curiosity before diving into the investigation. I also used another Parlay discussion for students to give each other feedback on their draft fertile questions before started an independent inquiry. Each student posted their fertile questions and then had to comment on three others with some research questions that would help answer the fertile question.

In conclusion, I can see Parlay sitting at the top of my teaching tool box for some time to come. I encourage you to have a crack.

I have found myself in the daily routine of checking the numbers on COVID19. The go to is usually the Johns Hopkins COVID 19 data dashboard, and the Spin Off’s daily update for NZ data (pity it isn’t live data and you need to keep going to a new page each day) but also this Interactive graph of the logarithmic scale of COVID 19 cases has been intriguing.

But I got to thinking about the effect on population density and COVID19 spread. Surely in a more dense country with people living closer together would have higher number of cases. Could I find a quick answer to this query? No, so using a few recently gained Sheet and Data Studio skills I DIY’d!

Step 1: pull live data using the =IMPORTHTML function from Worldmeter COVID 19 data set and population & land area data from Wikipedia.

Step 2: Combine these two data sets using the MATCH and INDEX function (heaps better than a VLOOKUP). See this tutorial by my Innovator project mentor – Richard Poth.

Step 3: Use Google Data studio to play with the data! Shout out to Chris Smith and the Data Chat webinar he hosted.

Link to my Data Studio COVID19 Data Wall

So some insights from the data so far. Europe is being affected most – Belgium has been particularly hard hit with a high rate of deaths per million in a relatively dense population. Great using the interactivity of Data Studio to just play with the data.

With a shift to widespread online learning in place, I thought I’d summarise my recommended tools for different teaching strategies.

🏫Classroom management – Google Classroom

This is the hub of my online class. Sharing resources in the Stream such as web site links, videos and documents. Asking for students comments, submitting work in the Classwork section with Assignments – this tool does it all.

• First day of Google Classroom from the Google Teacher centre
• Getting started with Classroom at the Google Teacher centre
• A pretty comprehensive How to use Google Classroom video series from Eric Curts

👨🏽‍🏫Asynchronous Demonstration or Instruction – Screencastify

This awesome add on to Google Chrome gives you up to 5 mins (on the free version) of screen recording. You can even insert web cam footage of you explaining a particular task or demonstrating a skill. Record the video then share with your students via Classroom or YouTube. I’ve even used it to give feedback on a student’s assignment – just post the link to the video in the comments.

• One page overview by Edtech team
• Screencastify for remote teaching by Eric Curts

👩‍💻Video Conferencing – Google Hangouts Meet

This is a web based platform that doesn’t require any additional downloads/extension (like Zoom). However, not the best for whole class instructions as students have the ability to unmute themselves. You might also want to consider using a Slide Q&A during a presentation to get some interactivity.

• Hangouts Meet cheats sheet
• Meet Quick start guide – remixed from Jen Giffen
• Adding Hangout Meet chats to Google Classroom
• Video Series: How to Use Google Hangouts Meet. Five videos from Eric Curts on using Meet

👨‍👩‍👦‍👦Discussion – Flipgrid

Post a question for students to respond to. Allows asynchronous contributions and student love to add bling to their videos with stickers and filters.

Another tool I have been trialling for this is Google +. While this appears to be heading for the graveyard I’ve been using it to interact with students just on how they are going. Simple things like ‘post of photo of you wearing a silly hat’ have been a great way to keep connected. Only works with accounts within your school domain and because it’s social networking, students must be 13 or older (or they get locked out of their school account!)

• Flipgrid Quick start guide for educators

❓Quizzes – Google Forms

While there are a heap of well known tools like Kahoot!, Quizlet and Quizizz, Google Forms allows you not only to make self marking quizes that will automatically import the result into Google Classroom’s markbook, but also make them formative by using the Adding answer feedback. For example if they get a question wrong, you can add a link to a tutorial or website in the answer feedback section.

• Create and grade quizzes with Google Forms

📺Watching Video – EdPuzzle

Students have many different places where they can watch videos, some are even educational! But how do you know if they have watched a video that you have set them? Using EdPuzzle solves this. You can also add in questions part way through the videos to check for understanding. Even better, there are a number of videos with questions added that other teachers have shared that you can use!

• Get started with EdPuzzle online course

Well, that’s just some of the tools I’ll be using – what about you? Comment here or ping me on Twitter with what works for you.