New Media is the A-Team

I know I should not do this but I must brag. I loved doing my homework this week and I had no problem spending as much time as I did on the Scratch project. Scratch is recommended for students at least 8 years old. I would not normally note the age consideration except for the fact that I was really frustrated that an 8-year old was doing incredible work and all I could make was my cat move 10 steps. I tried to take a systemic approach at creating a music video at first. I would add sprites and attempt to make them do something cute. There was so much fail that I am not sure how to even address it.

More after the cut!



I must admit that using Scratch was a bit easier after a few glasses of wine. Rather than make something complicated and frustrating myself with the logic, I just played. While I was playing, I remembered part of my reading assignments from this week. Basically...

Bricoleur = 

The A-Team would not always have the solution but at the end of the show, everything worked out. While I did not construct a tank out of toilet paper tubes, duct tape, and bust through the warehouse to kill all of the bad guys, I did look at my project, tweaked it a bit, and then started to work on the problem again from a different angle. I checked out the other creator projects (yes, the 8 year olds!) and  read through a few tutorials available on the site. I finally felt satisfied with the project and felt that it was something I could be proud of. (Clicky the red button to stop the music)


Click here if you cannot see it!

What did I actually learn?

1. I enjoyed failing at Scratch. Every time I failed, I was still interested enough to try and figure out why it went wrong and what I could do to fix it. I loved designing, creating, and inventing.
   
2.  Projects need to be engaging. I think part of the reason one of my current projects bombed recently was due to the fact I was unable to keep the students interested in the task for a long period of time. It does not matter if it was a design flaw, programming, or narrative issue...it just means that I need to find a way to make it interesting for the students. 
3. The community really makes this project. If I was just designing for myself, I would not have put as much effort in it. I know that is a terrible reflection about myself. The only way I could justify it is that there would always be a reason that I could not have spent more time on the project (orchestra, work, school, etc.)

All in all, it was a good day of play =)