Project Abstract

The Business & Finance unit of the Basic Camp Director’s Course (BCDC) has, until now, been delivered exclusively in a week-long training conference. The course is offered four times per year, but there is always a waiting list for sessions. Because the logistics and expense of a week-long training session are increasingly challenging, Dr. Gwynn Powell , a member of the ACA National Board of Directors, has asked to create an online version of the unit.

We will develop this module as a prototype that the ACA can then use to develop similar online versions of the other 13 units in the training session.

Client Profile

The client for our project is The American Camp Association as represented by Dr. Gwynn Powell and Kat Shreve. Dr. Powell is an Associate Professor in the Recreation and Leisure Studies Department in the College of Education at The University of Georgia. She is also a volunteer for the American Camp Association, specializing in curriculum development and research application. She will serve as the liaison between Genesis Learning and the American Camp Association. Ms. Shreve is an ACA national staff member with nationwide responsibility for training. She will provide content and ongoing input to help us design this unit in a way that will be most practical for the organization.

The ACA Web site describes the organization as follows:
“The American Camp Association (formerly known as the American Camping Association) is a community of camp professionals who, for nearly 100 years, have joined together to share our knowledge and experience and to ensure the quality of camp programs. Because of our diverse 7,000 plus membership and exceptional programs, children and adults have the opportunity to learn powerful lessons in community, character-building, skill development, and healthy living — lessons that can be learned nowhere else.
“As a leading authority in child development, the ACA works to preserve, promote, and improve the camp experience. Our association is committed to helping our members and all camps provide:

• Camp communities committed to a safe, nurturing environment
• Caring, competent adult role models
• Healthy, developmentally-appropriate experiences
• Service to the community and the natural world
• Opportunities for leadership and personal growth
• Discovery, experiential education, and learning opportunities
• Excellence and continuous self-improvement “
(http://www.acacamps.org/about/profile.php)

Adapted with permission from http://www.nov8tivedesigns.com/

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Genesis Learning 15/5 031908

We are deep into development now. We are learning that some work we cannot accomplish effectively in an online meeting as in f2f, so I will try to build future agendas for online and f2f meetings with that in mind.

We met f2f instead of online Monday evening. This was partly to make up for time we lost with spring break, but mostly so we could work through our storyboards together. We seem to do best with these kinds of “big picture” pieces when we can put the work on a screen and easily make changes while everyone can watch and participate. And if we need to, we can get up, point to things and sketch ideas out on the white board at the same time. These kinds of sessions have been our most productive. Then we each take a portion to polish it up. It makes our work more consistent, too.

We have incorporated our storyboards and flow chart into the same document, though we may need a simple “master” flow chart for the entire unit. We are writing pre-and post-test questions. We plan to administer the pre-test to Dr. Powell’s class soon, possibly next week. We’ll also use this as the post-test for our summative evaluation. It is a fairly simple thing to do in WebCT using Respondus, with which Melinda and I both have experience.

The other thing we did Monday night was to review our original work plan. In advance of the meeting, I made two lists: one of tasks we should have completed by now and one of the items we should complete in the next week. It was sobering. But we worked through and sorted it out and I think we are on track now to get it all done.

Our client is coming to our meeting tomorrow (March 20) to run through the storyboards and help us plan for SME review. We have also invited our 6200 consultants, especially those who want to do graphics or animation, to this meeting. Seeing the storyboards and being there for the discussion should make their work a bit easier.

We’re on the countdown to dress rehearsal in three weeks, while two of us are also frantically working to finish up our portfolios and prep for our Studio comps! We are all VERY busy!

Posted by Myra Blackmon at 8:47 PM

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