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Media Communications Learning Center -- Imagining the Future
Moanalua High School, 2001-2002

Overnighter 2--March 28-29, 2002
Overnighter Slideshow | Overnighter Prep | Chat 1 w/Dr. S | Chat 2 w/Dr. S | Tech-Resources | Reflections

14:00--Teams wave "Aloha" to Dr. Sadagic in NY at the end of our videoconference-chat!

ITF Teams again gathered to test their stamina--this time for 21 hours straight--in their second project marathon. Guest speakers, intense research, web site construction, project management and backwards mapping, and, of course, great food and fun, were on the agenda that ran from Thursday morning all the way into Friday.

Many thanks go out to: Ms. Janis Uehara, Art Teacher; Rittichai Tanomlek, Advanced Web Design student; Paul Stanley, Digital Musician and Teleschool Resource Teacher; Laurent Scallie, President, Atlantis Cyberspace; Dr. Amela Sadagic, Advanced Network Services; Gerald Saki, Tech Coordinator; Ms. Merle Harada, Food for Thought Extraordinaire and all the other coaches of MOHS ITF.

Cool Geeks met with their coaches, Mrs. Yamashiroya and Mrs. Shimamoto to plan out their project on media awareness and authenticity.

All the teams spent many sessions articulating and refining their project goals, assimilating all their research and attempting to find the best mix of tech and content for the ultimate learning system!

Specific tasks included: analyzing various uses of Virtual Reality and then conferencing with Dr. Sadagic about its applications in learning, clarifying project learning goals and then designing a culminating activity that would assess learner achievement of the goals in a meaningful way (what, no multiple choice test????)

To relieve the intensity, participants shaped Play-Doh, drew, and acted out various tech concepts in one of the day's energizers. Try sculpting "teleimmersion" in Play-Doh! They viewed the end of "The Truman show" to get them "out of the box" and "into the risk-filled, exciting world" of ITF and later (about 2 am to be exact) did a temperature check based on the movie to see where they all were, emotionally, in their project process. A few felt they were "out the door" and plunging ahead...most felt they were "halfway up the steps" to that door, and no one felt "unerwater and drowning."


Experts like Paul Stanley, digital musician, kept the students inspired as they worked to make their project proposals a reality. Paul shared some of the instruments of the digital music industry, as well as demonstrated how digital music is created and how various websites allow visitors to create music, alone or in collaboration, online!
The 21 hours were enriched by the visits of various guest presentsers.

Janis Uehara, MOHS art teacher, gave the teams feedback on their web design plans--art history for our Trail Mix, ancient civilizations group, art theory for our Food for Thought, interdisciplinary group, web design and interface for the Geek media-filters group

Paul Stanley, digital musician shared his digital instruments as well as web sites that allow for interactivity and creativity in music, online.

Laurent Scallie, President of Atlantis Cyberspace, a VR expert and truly inspirational presenter rounded out the array of expert resources. An entreprenuer who started programming video games when he was 13 and started his first business at 19, Mr. Scallie was a great model for the ITF process. He shared how he had come into the VR entertainment industry and found many weaknesses in the technology. He realized that his creative vision needed to be based on solid research and spent several years in intensive research into the different aspects of virtual reality hardware and software. As a result, he had much to share with the students about their own R & D process!