The lessons behind the burger…

Brainstorming at the outset of the project quickly developed a ‘wish list’ of (low/no cost) technology tools to employ. One aspect of this was the use of Web 2.0 wherever possible. A second – and more school-relevant aim – was to employ our portal facilities better.

There are many educators out there enthused by, and using Web 2.0 tools, but how many are seriously trying to make as many happen in one project?

So here is a list of what was intended from the outset (note: ‘intended’ and ‘actual’ might vary to some extent):

• A blog (edublogs) – for the publishing aspect of the project
• Social networking (Twitter) – to provide updates and information live (and to develop a ‘personality’ for The Burger
• RSS feeds – the facility for people to use RSS to provide updates on the project
• Live streamed video feed (ustream) – to allow for anyone to monitor the project (this to be embedded in the blog itself)
• Moderated discussion forum (portal, SharePoint-based [Scholaris]) – for school-side asynchronous planning
• Wiki (portal, SharePoint-based [Scholaris]) – to develop a corporate repository for information
• Integrated multimedia (podcast/vodcast) – to add rich media content to the project
• Tracking tools (Google Analytics, Clustrmap) – to visualise and analyse global reach statistics
• Mobile blogging (utterli) – to blog remotely (if a relevant context can be found!)

A note about what won’t (officially) occur as part of the project. Facebook/Myspace and YouTube are not available for student use at school due to existing policies. These aspects of social networking and multimedia distribution were, therefore, not considered as part of the project proper. That’s not to say that they haven’t been employed by individuals (at home, in their own time) to promote the project!

An additional tool that has ‘appeared’ during the project, which has added to student motivation has been Twitter Grader. This rates your Twitter profile against all of those already rated on a number of criteria including the number and ‘power’ of your network, how frequent your updates are and how informative your profile is. This is expressed as a percentage. Interestingly, during the first two weeks of the project, The Burger’s Twitter Grade went from 30% to 48% in the time the number of graded profiles rose from 90,000 to 180,000. Seeing this turned out to be a very exciting thing for students.

Another interesting tool that emerged early on during the project, relating to Google Analytics, is the Adobe air application called Analytics Reporting Suite. This allows application- rather than web-based access to the site statistics in a way that students could view and understand with ease. Incidentally The Burger’s Twitter account was mainly updated through the use of another air application: Twhirl.

Now two weeks into the project proper. It is going fairly well, though I’ll explore the issues encountered and considerations that should have been… well, considered, in later posts. I haven’t been back to this blog, which I intended to use to record my progress and thoughts partly as a function of the time required to keep The Burger itself on-track.

I will say that I was conscious from the outset (wearing my hat as the ‘Head of Academic Computing’ at the School) that I was taking ‘my curriculum’ and employing across that of others; even if some of those subjects I do actually myself as well. This was, in my mind, a definite aim anyway; to demonstrate, if not model how the technology could be applied to a variety of circumstances.

Tip 1: Ask for permission

In the case of this project, I was well aware that it just might become one of those freakish ‘Net phenomena that takes-off. This could in turn lead to attention from outside the school – even media attention. Not wanting to get ahead of myself, but it has been known to happen, and I didn’t want to be caught out. In fact, part of the project plan (brainstormed with students) was to undertake marketing and even to exploit student connections with the local media; very possible given we are based in a regional city. So following Tip 1 was a prudent move. The Headmaster and Director of Studies were both informed of the project in some detail and given an opportunity to seek clarification with issues and give approval. This in some ways was designed to head-off problems with others down the school food-chain deciding non-co-operation might be an option (an unfounded fear as it transpired).

Tip 2: Keep people informed

This relates more to the cross-curricular aspect. Given the application of the technology (my area) was going to merge into the content/concepts of other subjects, I made sure key people (Heads of Department/Faculty) were informed where necessary. This was an even greater imperative given the need to enlist the assistance and expertise of certain departments (for example Science’s laboratory and technical resources and Art’s equipment and know-how to build the “Burger Box”). This, I must say, has worked well. I should note at this point that I became aware that the degree to which the project might ‘hijack’ (perhaps too strong a word, but clearly the intended meaning) was question indirectly, and also that it was made clear in no uncertain terms that nothing should happen with this project at the expense of any of the regular curriculum. Duly warned, it was full speed ahead.

Going back, what did I intend to achieve in a cross-curricular sense? Here is the list of initial ideas – in no particular order – that were brainstormed by those involved, including the students themselves. Some have been done. Some might get done. Some possibly won’t happen at all during the life of this project.

• Mapping the burger’s location and travels (Google Earth/Maps, GPS) – Geography
• The background and development of the ham/cheeseburger – History
• Where do the burger’s constituent ingredients come from? (mapping/analysis) – Geography
• The nutritional/energy value of a burger (calorimeter experiments) – Health/Science
• What micro-organisms are present on a burger? (agar cultures) – Science
• Hypothesis development and scientific methodology – Science
• Measuring the rate of temperature loss of the burger – Maths/Science
• Monitoring change in mass of the burger over time (accurate to .001g, graphing) – Science/Maths
• Burger-inspired writing or poetry/prose – English
• Translating selected information into other languages – LOTE
• Multimedia capture, manipulation and publishing/broadcast – ICT
• Implementation and management of the Web 2.0-based technologies – ICT
• Construction of a case for the burger to allow for on-going monitoring – Art/design technology
• Development of marketing and advertising strategies for the project – Commerce

Within the context of these tasks, there is clearly scope for both qualitative and quantitative work. Skills such as collaboration, observation, data collection, analysis and presentation, research and writing for a specific purpose should all come to the fore. There should be enough variety, too, to enthuse all the students at some point.