Sharp Elementary Parent Calendar The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College By Elizabeth Zamarron EDTC-6329-80 Spring 2009
Client (s)
Dr. Mike Sullivan (UTB/TSC)
Pete Harris (Sharp Elementary Parent)
Joe De La Fuente (Parent and Pres of PTO Meetings)
Grade Level
The project will allow all grade levels in Sharp Elementary to spend more time at the playground and to have more supervision at other school events also
It is mainly for volunteer parents to schedule free time for playground supervision and other school events
Objective (s)
To learn how to self-direct a project for a real client that will allow student in Sharp Elementary to spend more time in the playground and have some more supervision in other events as well
To assist the Sharp Elementary community in the scheduling process using “cloud computing” and Google tools
Project Task (s)
Research on “cloud computing”
Research on Google Tools
Create a Demo to present to PTO members
Create a scheduling calendar for parents to supervise the playground and other school events
Timeline of Activities
Introduce my self to the client (name, why the contact, project, preferred method of communication, my qualifications, etc.)
Ask questions (clarify objective of project, establish means of communication, etc.)
Establish a meeting (personal and virtual)
Listen (discuss, take notes, establish time line, discuss technology tools, etc.)
Start research on project
Timeline of Activities Cont.
Make suggestion for the project and provide samples
Send suggestions to the client
Analyze feedback from client and modify project accordingly
Continue with steps 6, 7 and 8 until you have the end product the client wanted
Communication and feedback are the most important steps of the project
Feedback and Contributions
Researched “Cloud Computing” and Google Tools
Introduced Google Calendar to client (Client was not familiar with Google Tools)
Created a Demo event on the calendar as a sample to the client
Client believed that creating an email will be an obstacle for parents, not computer literate, suggested a memo with steps on creating an email
Created a step-by-step memo for secondary clients (students’ parents)
Collaborative Involvement
Consulted with Distance Education over Google tools possibilities
Distance Education Instructional Designer: not familiar with Google Calendar
Researched “Cloud Computing” and Google Tools
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing
http://www.google.com/support/calendar/?hl=en
Introduced Google Calendar to client (Client was not familiar with Google Calendar)
Collaborative Involvement Cont.
Parents of Sharp Elementary students: not computer literate
Created a memo to be sent to parents explaining step-by-step on how to create an email account
Did not received feedback from client if it was fine to send it to the parents
Suggested for teachers to provide parent feedback to PTO members
Collaborative Involvement Cont.
Consulted with PTO members about school district’s emails possibilities
Emailed client and PTO members over concern
Obtained feedback that emails were fine since calendar was to be created for the Sharp Elementary Gmail account
Created a calendar event and sent it to all (client and PTO member)
Communication
Here are some examples on how I conducted myself with the client and the PTO members
Evaluation
Clients got some samples of invitations to the participate as volunteers (Project Testing)
Clients got a change to look at the sample memo that described step-by-step how to create an email account (before it got sent to parents)
Supervisor was also able to preview the invitation for the calendar
Feedback form client and supervisor got assessed and project got modified accordingly
Project
Project
The purpose of the project was to provide means of “Cloud Computing” for Sharp Elementary Parents to be able to volunteer some free time to assist at the schools events
A shared Calendar (Sharp Elementary Calendar) was to serve as the scheduling tool
All parents were to provide email addresses so they will receive notices on when the school needed to have volunteers for different activities scheduled
Parent were to respond (online) by accepting or denying the invitation
The Client
My client knows a lot about technology
He made very good suggestions for the project and I did some research on his suggestions
Throughout the project he learned about Google Calendar and how we were going to approach the elementary parents through it
Unfortunately we missed each other in some meetings, phone calls and feedback was not consistent
We are still in touch and will take care of the project throughout the Summer
My Growth
I was very excited and nervous at the same time of having to self-direct a project with a real client
I was happy to have an opportunity to assist the community in Sharp Elementary
I learned about Google Calendar and other tools
I met other clients that were going to be affected by the project
I learned that technology can also be a barrier under certain circumstances
I learned that having to work on a project remotely is very challenging mainly because it is hard to find a common time for you and the client to discuss the project issues
I learned that we must set timelines and responsibilities in order for the project to succeed
I learned that communication is the most important aspect in a self-directed project such as this one
0 comments
Post a comment