We've met four times thus far and I am impressed with my students. They have more good ideas than we can use or are feasible with our resources. Yes, there is a lack of certainty that the ideas they are offering don't exist in the rest of the world. Honestly, I don't see how that can be avoided. With Google Labs and Microsoft out there operating in this same thoughtspace, our best bet is to find a concept that is simple enough to achieve in the time available but esoteric enough to dazzle the mind. Right now, I am enamored with Mailbox Maps for it's elegant simplicity and am using that as a guidepost for the students.
To Marybeth's point, I don't know that this needs to be something no one has ever conceived of before. No, a simple mashup won't suffice, but taking an old idea and turning it upside down and sideways may just amount to genius. Think of the powersquid. It is, at its core, the ubiquitous powerstrip. But this innovative design was award-winning and makes most people scratch their heads and say "Why didn't I think of that?". If we can achieve a similar result on what I consider a more important facet of life, I would feel successful.
The student's have it narrowed down to five ideas and are zoning in on one in particular, but the final decision hasn't been made (to my knowledge).
Tomorrow (Friday) is not good for me and I have another call set for Monday at 1:00 p.m. CST. Any other time on Monday OR Tuesday after 2 p.m. CST is good for me.
4 comments:
I agree with Patrick's point that the students' ideas could be relatively simple tweaks of existing concepts/platforms. (They don't have to reinvent the wheel, so to speak.) My previous point referred more to the lack of basic research that their ideas are grounded in. I do feel we need to push them further in their research efforts and encourage them to investigate new tools/functions out there.
It sounds as if Patrick's team is not participating in the mixed discussions of the entire groups ideas.
"The student's have it narrowed down to five ideas and are zoning in on one in particular, but the final decision hasn't been made (to my knowledge)."
The faculty that met in Ithaca felt that it would be good to have all the students experience and comment on each others ideas.
What MaryBeth said.
They're coming up with things and they are not aware of what's already out there. The improvement I see this week is that they are more aware now that they *don't* know things. And knowing you don't know is progress.
(I hope that makes sense!)
Darcy, that's why they haven't decided yet. They are waiting to see what the other teams are considering and are going to make a final decision once they have gathered all the information.
I agree with all of you that more research is always a good idea. This is the "lit review" stage of the process and we all know there is always more literature to review on any topic.
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