Our received back our Criterion H today, with our teacher's comments. It was explained that this Criterion needed to explicitly state how the technology would solve the problem. In fact, "How it Solves the Problem" would be a subsection under each technology. I made the necessary edits with this in mind, shown below:
H Analysis and Feasibility Study
Two possible IT solutions are a website or a booklet.
Website:
This website could act as an effective reference tool. Students could visit the site, and find all of the information they need for a certain event. It could be organized by meets, on a main page, with each topic filed under the meet it would be pertinent to. It could have links, so that students could navigate between pages, and go back to the table of contents when necessary. In addition, it could display other information which, although not directly related to the topics, could still be helpful. If, on the website, the days of meets were posted, students could easily access that information as well. It could also be password protected, so that it could be used specifically by the group it was intended for.
Advantages:
It would be easily accessible at the students’ convenience.
There would be no cost involved in visiting the website, as long as the student had internet access; the end-user I am targeting is at least able to access the internet at school, if not at home.
It would be more aesthetically pleasing than a booklet, for I could use things like background color.
The site could be updated if necessary, to clarify on issues or include further information.
Navigation would be simple, and require only a few clicks of a mouse.
There would not really be a limit on the amount of information that could be posted. I could, for example, type out questions used on previous tests as I wanted without using too much space on the web.
Pictures and scanned work could be posted.
It saves paper.
Disadvantages:
There could be times when a student could not access the internet, at which point the site would be useless
For example, there is time for students to study while at the competition, but before the events start, yet there are no computers available for use.
Students might end up simply printing parts of the webpage off, so that they could study on the go.
Teachers would have to make sure all of the math students knew the website’s address.
How it Solves the Problem:
Math students would be able to, whenever they were in need of information on the current math event, could log into this website and find what they need. All the properties they need will be contained within the one website. This will allow them to cut down the time they spend looking for these hard to find properties, and help them do better, overall, when presented with similar properties at math meets.
Booklet:
This would also have all of the necessary information, and would be organized based on meets and events. It would allow students to find all of the formulas and vocabulary needed, and could even make use of an index.
Advantages:
Could be more portable than a website, and taken where needed.
An index could be added, for easy navigation.
Students or teachers could write in the book
Disadvantages:
It would also use a large amount of paper, which is not necessarily environmentally friendly.
It would be expensive to print.
Due to the cost of printing, it might be necessary for there to be only a “classroom copy.” If this were to happen, students could only access it when the teacher was inside their classroom.
Even if it was given to students, it would be difficult for them to carry around.
It could not be edited or added to when published.
How it Solves the Problem:
Students could, whenever unsure of what a formula or property is, could simply flip open this booklet and find the missing information. Furthermore, it could help them study for whatever events they were in, since all of the information would be in one place. This too would make it much simpler to prepare for the meets, and would help improve student scores.
Feasibility Comparison
One important thing to consider is the cost of the project. I am unsure as to whether or not the school would provide the funding needed to print large quantities of booklets, as they have not yet addressed our request for money to purchase t-shirts for new members. In this respect, it would be preferable to choose the lower-cost option.
In addition, it is important to address my skill level in the production of these two technologies. While I have some experience in creating web pages, and have taken an art class (and therefore know some basic, aesthetic things which could be useful in web design), I would be unsure of how to start forming a booklet. I don’t even know what kind of programs would be useful, and would have to spend time figuring that out.
With all of this in mind, I have decided to go with the web page.
