The first section of Block 3 of H817 – a Learning Design approach to innovation in technology enhanced learning – was divided into major steps:
- agreeing on a definition of our project
- defining and assigning project roles
- setting up our various workspaces
- describing the context of our project
Steps 1 and 2 have been completed quite straightforward in a group effort – we shared our ideas in our dedicated tutor group forum and set up two online meetings to agree on a what we want to do and how to approach this.
For step 3 I did not contribute much because the respective tasks have been executed by the other three members of the group.
Step 4 was about defining the context of our project in detail and required a lot more coordination within the group. We had to create and share several personas which reflected different targeted user types for our project, identify the key factors and concerns of our personas and list them as a system of forces, illustrate these forces in a map and put them into relation to each other, and based on this set of information frame the challenge of our project.
Teamwork
Similar to a previous team exercise in Block 1 of H817, all group members contributed in various ways (except John who has excused himself for the second week). Because we have not assigned dedicated project roles but decided to coordinate work based on individual tasks, everyone took on several roles as required. A key contribution for the context description – the mapping of the forces – came from Asanka. She also provided a very thorough persona background research which revealed important factors and concerns.
Challenges
The biggest challenge for me have been the teamwork which requires coordination and clear communication, especially in this first phase where we needed to establish these routines while at the same time finding a common understanding of the project itself. The decision not to assign any dedicated roles seemed risky to me, but it worked out surprisingly well again and will now allow for a lot of flexibility to tackle the tasks to come.