It's been a wild ride, and I'm glad we went out with matching outfits.
The day of the PoL was quite busy, assembling the final bits to the final controller (an exact copy of the original white one, but with black foam and red buttons so it goes faster). To get us through, Su brought us a mountain of McDonalds (pictured).
It seems the highlight of the project for people was the submarine. Especially after Rohan's impressing performance of Mary Had a Little Lamb in our on stage presentation (skip to 38:00 to watch our presentation on the FB live stream!)
Our table was right near the door, so we were able to greet people as they entered with a table of several computers, a few with our MIDI controllers connected to DAWs, our website and an iBook open on an iPad ready for people to explore.
The feedback we received was quite positive, with people initially confused at the project, by the end of the explanation and testing out the submarine for themselves, we were congratulated on our hard work and the end result. For me, highlights include teachers talking about how they could adapt it for their schools, people taking note of the link to the website for further investigation, and discussing PBL, the maker movement and education more generally with interesting people.
I learnt many things throughout this project:
1. How electricity and computers work, basics of coding and logic (this has actually enhanced my appreciation for technology in general).
2. The maker movement and PBL work. This entire project has given me more confidence in these pedagogies.
3. How to communicate and present an idea. I feel that one of the biggest achievements in this project for me was starting off with an idea in my head (one where the impossibility of it was questioned a few times, and where the idea evolved) and being able to pull a team together to bring it to life. The team we had for this project was incredible, and I feel that there is still more potential for this project (e.g. extending into primary schools), but we can come back to that another time!
The PoL definitely showcased the amazing cohort we have, with each project demonstrating the wide variety of interests and expertise, and more importantly, the hard work we are all willing to put in. Go team!