Reminder on who my audience is: My audience is specifically elementary art teachers, working full time. These users typically see 300-500+ students a week and have 3-6 different preps per day. Reminder on what my problem of practice is: The learning experiences and projects that happen in an Art room entail hundreds of supplies for hundreds of students. One of the most difficult things about managing all of these materials and supplies is swapping materials within the small amount of time between class periods, multiple times a day. Reminder on what my prototype is: A screencast video with my voice over it explaining to elementary students what a self portrait is and showing famous examples. If you'd like to see my prototype, click here. If you'd like to see how I tested my prototype, click here. What I was testing: I was testing to see if an educational video that I created can teach my students something specific (that I would be teaching them anyway) while simultaneously "buying" me more time for setup and cleanup of necessary materials from the previous and the next class. I decided to do the observation method where I was the user. As the user, I should see the 5 minute transition become a little calmer, with things being done exactly how I want them and I should have a moment to breath and reset between classes.
The planning: I had to imagine a day in the art room: What the previous class was doing and what the next class would be doing. I arranged the furniture in my living room to help resemble my classroom at school. I provided a timer that kept me on track as if it were an actual day in school. I asked my husband to pretend he was a group of students coming in at their specific class time. What happened: The first run through where I only had 5 minutes to get my to-do list done, I was rushing around my “classroom”. I kept checking the time, was frustrated and I actually worked up a sweat! I wasn’t even in my real classroom where the tables and supplies are significantly farther apart. When my “students” came in, I was not able to greet them at the door, I was not ready for them and I was a bit irritated because of all of this. That's not how I want to start off class. The second run through ran smoothly. Because of my educational video (which was 4 minutes long), I technically had 9 minutes to get my to-do list done and I did everything with time to spare. It put my mind at ease knowing that I would have extra time to swap something or place materials on tables as needed. I was able to greet my students at the door and calmly begin class. I started the prototype video and finished the last-minute things that needed to be done while my "students" were watching the video. Interesting outcomes: In the second run through, I actually had time to add things to my to-do list! Prior to students coming in, I had a moment to check email, take a drink of water and mentally prepare myself for my next class that came in. I also learned about a couple of pros and cons to this method:
Most importantly, I learned that although there are a few disadvantages to this process, I believe the time, energy and resources spent to make videos like this would worth it in the end.
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