Dr Hans Rosling demonstrates Gapminder World

I was looking forward to creating Unit 2 because I had already planned for it. The Backward Design model has been an refreshing way to re-think planning. I feel like I’m looking through the walls of a glass house to all the different rooms and spaces, rather than having to move through opaquely, not really understanding what is on the other side or whether or not the door will be locked. O.K. – I’ll stop with the metaphor, but leave it so say – Understanding by Design allows educators to see and plan for the big picture and the details at the same time. I outlined Unit 2 way back at the beginning of the course. Since it represents “getting into it” as far as the course content goes, I already had the roadmap and the motivation to design the details. Another motivating factor has been my intention to create a course that is ready to go in September. I feel like I’ve succeeded.

I know my patterns, and I fell into one of them right away: creating a mobile game and supporting video that is time-intensive. Our digital storytelling activity in class was serendipitous with the first two activities in my new unit, creating a mobile game based on a family geographic journey. ARIS is the game platform that I planned to use. I had a slew of new ideas that I wanted to try-out with it after the ARIS Summit in Madison in July and the Unit 2 game provided me that opportunity – or should I say, temptation. I have a history of going down the rabbit hole of concentration and focus at the expense of other commitments, and I did that again with this activity. Eventually, I knew that I had to carry-on with just an incomplete demo game and video that shows my intentions. I’ve just got to re-make the video with some more images and a voice-over so that it is operational. Continue reading →