Invitation to Hackathon - Kansas City Gigabit Education Project

[Michael Henry]

I would like to invite you to join our "Hacking the Digital City" event, sponsored by Mozilla Foundation, Kauffman Foundation and MARC.  (Press Release) The event is a 54-hour programming collaboration, focused on several problems, related to the Google Fiber network in Kansas City.  It will begin this Friday, March 22 and culminate in several demonstration projects on Sunday, March 24.  

As you may know, MOOCs - Massive Online Open Courses - have traditionally included video lectures from celebrated faculty, and some self-paced quizzes.   One concern with this approach is the lack of peer-to-peer interaction, and formative assessment.  Out of our discussions, we have identified design principles to help increase interaction, social learning and project-based learning.

Our discussions regarding MOOC demonstrations for Google Fiber in Kansas City has evolved to the point that we are building a new learning environment, based on the Google Docs / Media / Apps.  The strategic difference between this approach and Moodle/Coursera/etc, is that all backend processing will stay within the gigabit environment.  We will begin coding for this project during the event this coming weekend.  Several university students will join our education team, to explore specific coding problems related to a dynamic online learning environment.  We are looking for additional programming support from interested programmers.  

Although this is currently a community project, the intention is to provide an open learning environment, with a path to academic credit through educational institutions.

I have included some of the specifications for the project below.   

Please feel free to share your comments and suggestions.  

Michael

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Project source applications:

•GOOGLE – COURSE BUILDER

    –Code:  https://code.google.com/p/course-builder/ 

    -Installation: Courses are Google Applications 

    Wiki: https://code.google.com/p/course-builder/wiki/CourseBuilderChecklist?tm=6

•CODE FOR AMERICA – CLASS TALK

    –Code: https://github.com/codeforamerica/classtalk 

•MOZILLA – OPEN BADGES PROJECT

    –Code: https://github.com/mozilla/openbadges (Completion Badge)

    –Review ADL – Next Generation SCORM “Experience API”

• http://tincan.adlnet.gov

• http://tincanapi.wikispaces.com/

• https://github.com/adlnet

• http://tincanapi.com/generating-statements/

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Project Goal:  A rich online learning environment using next-generation Gigabit network technology to improve student engagement and social learning opportunities.

Hackathon Problem:  Create connections between social learning environments and the Gigabit Education platform.

• Example Button to connect with others with similar learning abilities.  "Find a Mentor" or "Find a Learning Coach" or "Find a Learning Partner." 

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Hackathon Objectives:

Learning Platform

• A-1  Install Google Course Builder on http://www.google.com/a/kcdigitaldrive-ed.org

• A-2  Install ClassTalk in Course Builder

• A-3  Deploy and Test basic environment

Design and Process

• B-1  Develop Logon and Enrollment Procedure schematic

• B-2  Look and Feel - Environment Graphical Experience proposal

• B-3  Deploy and Test Design

Tracking and Achievement Path

• C-1  Establish LRS connections to Learning Environment

• C-2  Integrate xAPI triggers

• C-3  Deploy and Test Design
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