Natcom 3 - Understanding Project Models

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The models for telecommunications curriculum projects and online activity described here are necessarily complex. The interconnectedness between parts of a project design complicate descriptions. Readers will need to be able to develop links between ideas and connect components of these models into their personal interpretive framework. The writers here have developed several representations of ideas and project models, expecting that readers will be able to craft their own interpretations from these representations.

In an accompanying document, Strategies to Design and Analyse Projects , readers were asked to consider that telecommunications curriculum project designs may contain four elements to their design.: Curriculum design elements, including pedagogical approaches inherent in the idea, the theories of learning, the curriculum interpretation which is embedded in the project idea and interpretation of teacher and student needs being addressed in the project.; Project structure, identifying answers to questions like: what do project managers do, what do sub-project managers do, what do teachers do, what to students do, what do online experts do and what order of activities occurs for all parties?; Tools and Strategies, accounting for the management needs in the project; that is the tricks, tips, procedures and tools that aid publication and promotion, registration, participation, collation of samples, development of online content etc.; Housekeeping tasks, identifying the housekeeping needed to help participants, sub-project managers, the project coordinators and other stakeholders participate in the project.

This schema for telecommunications curriculum project design identifies a number of stakeholders, each of whom will have a different view of a project and different activities to do while a project is being implemented and designed.

The main stakeholder groups are: Students; Teachers; Project management team.

Other stakeholders would include: Online guests; Sponsors or owners of the curriculum project; Technical support staff; People who will undertake professional development about this project with their professional communities.

Although we are playing the roles of telecommunications curriculum project designers and managers in this suite of papers, we need to take into account the activities of these stakeholder groups. The following diagrammatic representation attempts to connect the above structure to the roles of the key stakeholder groups in a project design. All curriculum project models have three types of components: activity and online content for students, activity and online content for teachers and the management tasks which ensures implementation supports the teachers and students involved in the project. This representation of projects underpins the descriptions of project models.

A components representation of
a telecommunications curriculum project

In the above model, there is obvious connectedness between the activities of teachers, activities of students and the activities of the project management team. A linear description of a project would emphasise that connectedness and provide a time line for when organisational infrastructure is put into place. Each group of stakeholders may not be aware of the activities and infrastructure which supports the various roles. Project managers though have to design and support each part of the project design and consider how all the components integrate to form a project management system.

Not all projects will contain structures which are easily identifiable in the model used here. Indeed, some projects may not contain some of the components and others will contain elements not represented in this model.

The following example may help readers identify the components of the model and apply their knowledge to other project models.

Project Atmosphere Australia

Hosted by Sel Kerans, Bribie Island State School in conjunction with oz-TeacherNet, Aussie SchoolHouse and supported by a large number of groups.

This project contains a myriad of activities and supporting ideas but the core activity is about students engaging in weather forecasting within an expert community of meteorologists and students.

Students structures

Core Online idea	Students participate in learning about weather forecasting by using online resources and linking to experts in forecasting. Students predict the weather of partner schools in different parts of Australia and share ideas about their preparation and predictions.

Core curriculum idea	Students will engage in higher order thinking if they aim at the predicting and evaluating end of the cognitive scale. The curriculum objectives in all KLA's usually focus on using an understanding of weather concepts to make decisions in agriculture, science, business and leisure. The technology of weather forecasting, high-level mathematical modelling, sophisticated technological processes are embedded into what students do. Explaining decisions, weather myths and legends and forecasting processes integrates literacy objectives into this curriculum activity.

Curriculum processes	This project involves group work, team skills, project-based work, communication and decision making. Teachers in this project use the curriculum processes from their KLA when designing units of work or activities around Project Atmosphere Australia. Teachers can apply the scientific processes, geography techniques, data manipulation methods, specific curriculum problem solving methods or mimic processes from industry.

Online content students engage in	The site contains previous student project work, links to major weather projects and weather site and includes scientific and community information.

Online experts	Metrologists and forecasters from the Bureau of Meteorology Training Centre are online to help students understand weather and undertake forecasting.

Peer community	Students can exchange ideas through a number a students' lists as well as undertake email-based conversations with their partner schools.

Online content Students' build	Students materials are added to the site and links to schools who have built materials and projects to share are available.

Teachers' components

Core activity idea	Teachers help students understand weather by using the activities on the PAA site plus their teacher-designed activities. With concept knowledge in place, teachers seek partner schools to exchange weather knowledge and conduct forecasting experiments.

Procedures	Teachers register of a teachers list and share ideas about how they might engage their students in the project. Teachers seek partner schools and then work with that teacher to design the procedures. A number of schools participate in forecasting simultaneously thus taking advantage of online guests, professional development events and web-based publishing about the projects. A debrief includes encouraging teachers to add activities and student's projects to the site.

Professional community or professional development activity	Teachers have an email community which serves as a register of participants as well as a place to seek help, share ideas and conduct professional development events. Occasionally online professional development events are hosted on this list.

Numeracy companion	This concept was not developed when Project Atmosphere Australia was built but it would be a useful structure.

Literacy walk	This concept was not developed when Project Atmosphere Australia was built but it would be a useful structure.

Online content	Online content for teachers includes links to professional sites by the forecasting industry. This collection has been added to gradually as the project has evolved and been available to Australian teachers.

Online experts	Bureau of Meteorology Training Centre trainers are available to help teachers teach forecasting.

Peer community	The peer community on this project is hosted by an email list and contains industry experts and teachers. Teacher's work is also showcased in events and through the site.

Project Managers components

Technical tools	Web space has been provided by Aussie SchoolHouse which has file upload facilities, data-base driven web site capacity, chat facilities and forums which are occasionally swung into action in activities in PAA. Lists are offered by oz-TeacherNet. These lists are maintained by the project manager.

Management tools	The project manager constructs much of the web site and conducts many events without many tools. This is an area for development. The teachers email list is an important management tool to match schools, send notices of events, seek resources and help people seek their own help.

Human resources	The project manager puts hundreds of hours into the project but was provided with 6 months reprieve from school during a large development phase by oz-TeacherNet. The coordinator now receives funding for some teacher-release time each year by negotiation. The project was originally funded by Telstra Learn IT. Volunteers promote and host the project in their schools.

Development of the model	This project has a feedback loop which provides additional resources and ideas. These ideas are added to the web site as they become available. The coordinator undertakes professional development at the Bureau of Meteorology Training Centre each year and is part of the RITE project teams.

Conclusion

When considering the descriptions of telecommunications curriculum project models in this suite of documents, readers may need this diagram and example to help organise ideas and understand the terminology and processes in telecommunications curriculum project design. Different stakeholders hold different views of projects. A project manager's view encompasses the holistic view of the project and deals with issues others may not see.

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