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/

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Genesis Learning 15/5 041708

Showcase is one week away and we have LOTS of work to do. We will get it done, of course, but there is plenty of work to go around!

In the last week, we have conducted two phases of the alpha test. On April 10, several EDIT 6200 students reviewed the module for technology and formatting. On April 14, five camp directors reviewed for content. Feedback from both sessions was good, and consistent. The primary concerns are with ease of navigation and the fact that the content is quite text heavy. We are working on the former, but cannot do a lot with the latter as we are working with the client’s content. We are trying to find ways to break up the text and make it a bit more interesting to look at.

Roman has redesigned all our CSS. We were using a table layout and that was causing some problems. The new one is more crisp and professional looking and is also much easier to use. He is to be commended for taking on such a big task at this point in the project!

We are working hard and fast to complete all content by tonight’s meeting. That will give us a few days for tweaking and polishing before the beta on Monday evening. Roman continues to work on the site itself, keeping everything in working order. He has also completed a template we can use when we create new pages for a unit. Donna, Radcliffe and Melinda are working on examples and guided practice exercises. I am editing the self-tests to provide feedback beyond “correct” and “incorrect,” developing summaries and doing general editing work. Getting it all consistent is a lot harder than it works!

We have our beta test with Dr. Powell’s class on Monday, to be followed by a post-test and final revisions\ before Showcase on Thursday! At least a couple of us will probably work on the final polish after all our materials are due, but we will complete all the documentation and other requirements by April 28.

Posted by Myra Blackmon at 10:47 AM

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