Getting Focused - First Design Board

Focus Board - Virtual Study Tour

Brad Griffith - October 10, 2016

I currently have a project underway to develop what will amount to a "Virtual Study Tour" experience for students at my university.  This is a unique project in that it combines my current role of strategic planning and program development with my former emphasis in international experiences for students. 

When I first looked at the blank focus board and considered this project, I first found it to be a bit daunting because I was trying to go from the top to the bottom of the sheet.  I had this idea in my head, but now I had to put it down in somewhat definitive terms.  Once I started skipping around to different areas that I could easily define and fill, I found that the problem I was trying to solve became clear and how I wanted students to accomplish something in this environment became easier to distinguish. 

In my case, I found the notes column to be useful for recording all of the supporting actions or missing pieces that needed to be taken account of as I move forward with developing this learning environment.  Understanding LEM and being aware of the various LEML building blocks also caused me to think about this project more dynamically and search for opportunities to incorporate these elements that I may not have considered otherwise.