Shape UP!

Project Plan (Draft 2)

Action Apps Group, Project: Shape UP!

Project Plan (Draft 2)

Farheen Khan, Alaa K. Al-Makhzoomy, Jack Baum

Wayne State University

Authors Note: This project is developed in fulfilment of the requirements of the course IT7220:
Multimedia for Instruction, in the Spring/Summer 2015 semester, in the Instructional Technology program at
Wayne State University.

Shape UP! Project Plan (Draft 2)

mLearning App (ShapeUP!) Draft 2

One or two sentence/phrase
description:

ShapeUp! is a simple, non-threatening app that users can use to learn and practice
both plain and solid geometry on-the-go. The goal is to make both a fun and practical
app for people who want to learn, practice and have some fun with the subject
matter.

Official Title Ideas:

ShapeUp! is the name that stuck as a zippy name for the geometry app so that
people will remember it and see it as the fun and non-threatening learning app that
was intended.

Secondary Category:

Go Learn is the title of the primary feature of the app. This is the educational
category of the app. More attention was devoted here than elsewhere. The other
categories of check your understanding (Quiz) and Games are self-evident. Another
secondary category is Go Figure. This latter feature is a utility that has an algorithm
calculate the parameters of a selected shape, as in area measurements of a wall in
order to determine how many gallons of paint to purchase for coverage.

Project goal/ learning gaps:

We seek to teach an aspect of mathematics to people who may be inhibited by the

subject or not perceive the value of the subject. We also hope to motivate people to
pursue more education on the subject of mathematics and also give people the
opportunity to learn in manage-able chunks for the content.

Target Audience

Our target audience is primarily young students of upper elementary through high
school age.

What type of technology and

infrastructure can be expected?

This app considers the mobile phone application in an iOS environment because of
its simplicity of design. We are also looking for a responsive design that can be
attractively represented on various devices.
We expect that this app will be primarily used on smartphones with a rechargeable
internal battery and low power demand for the app. This may also call for an
internet browser for linking to websites and other resources. Games might possibly
link up to social media.

Possible guarantees for

sustainability

Given the large amount of geometry apps already available through the App Store,
we are designing this app as a class project for download from the App Store. Rather
than turning the work over to professional developers, we expect to keep our costs
low by doing all of the design work ourselves and as much of the development work
as possible. We may sell minimal advertising only to provide for the app itself.

Who are ALL the stakeholders

that might influence the
project?

Stakeholders include the student users, educators who wish to use the app, and
possible sponsors.

Device Aspect

ShapeUp! is designed for iOS platform and will be primarily suitable for the iPad and
iPad mini devices. However, ShapeUp! is also ideally suited for the iPhone, as it also
incorporates the phone technology for communication and portability that a tablet
may not offer, especially as a pocket device.. Once downloaded on the device, users
can work offline except, for sharing and working on external links.

Shape UP! Project Plan (Draft 2)

Learner Aspect

ShapeUp! is an educational geometry app which will provide elements of plane and
solid geometry shapes with an interesting learning approach.

Social Aspect

ShapeUp! Quiz feature will allow users to email or share score with their teachers
and friends. The quiz feature also offers direct feedback to the user in either a
positive reinforcement indicator or feedback suggesting the user try again in case of
inputting an incorrect answer.

Device Usability

ShapeUp! is designed for flexible usability in device screen sizes , fonts that scale for
easier reading and easy to touch elements that are kept well-spaced from other
touch elements.

Social Technology

Probably the most practical way to apply social technology is for the learner to share
discoveries and games with other players and other learners. This would typically be
done through texting photo examples, answers and challenges with games and
simple questions and answers regarding the features of the app.

Interaction Learning
Intersection

ShapeUp! home screen functions will provide the users with a source of information,
providing simple answers to practical questions, providing a source of entertainment
and a check for concept understanding.

Mobile Learning Process

ShapeUp! is a true mobile application for people on the go, who either want the
answers now or want an activity to use while doing something else.

Information Access and

Selection

We have tried to make user interface simple and intuitive. Major categories are
divided into four different options, which can be selected right from the home
screen. There are language selection and audio on/off options which can also be
selected from the home screen.

What purpose will this app serve as part of other instruction?

The app provides discreet functions to grade school children seeking to learn and have fun with geometry to
adults seeking simple answers to practical and simple math problems that are rooted in geometry. This app can even be
used to augment classroom instruction for a geometry class. For example, the teacher might give the class the following
assignment for homework: using the camera of your iPhone, upload pictures of 3 objects you see either at home or
elsewhere as examples of the cone shape and how it is used. Upload the pictures to the class website (etc).
At what point in the instruction will the app could be incorporated?
ShapeUp! can easily be incorporated from the introductory lessons to advanced level of geometry in classroom
instructions. The application is built on introductory information of plane objects to advanced information of solid
objects, which can be incorporated in different grade level lesson plans by providing students with real world scenarios
that engage them in the application of concepts. The lessons will be technology based, so they can be used in the
classroom, or completed and shared from home. No special tech expertise is needed for the teachers to access the
activities and use them with students.
What are the instructional design limitations or possible challenges of this app in terms of its incorporation into the
instruction?

Shape UP! Project Plan (Draft 2)

The main limitation is its operating system. This app is limited to iOS platform and is designed for iPad and iPad
mini. It might be a challenge for the teachers if the instruction is based on BYOD.
Where among Blooms revised taxonomies does your app fit?
We believe ShapeUp! will fit in EVALUATING level in Blooms Revised Taxonomy because user will be evaluating
and justifying a course of action by checking, hypothesizing, experimenting, and judging while using different features of
the app.
Which steps will you take to ensure you will reach your mLearning goal (at minimum, this should be to design an
effective app that is capable of directly affecting learner behavior)?
Contacting local math organizations, especially elementary and high school geometry teachers, contacting local
school superintendents of instruction and staff development for advice and also references to specific teachers in local
districts to talk with for ideas and suggestions and promotions, in addition, their recommendations for students to speak
with for suggestions and ideas, Wayne State education faculty members for survey development assistance to survey
both teachers and most especially students as sample subjects. One additional source of contact is to set up a booth at
the NEA national conference and also the MEARA for a booth; same for AFT and MFT or DFT (union organizations) to
contact teacher organizations and also publicity.
Funding can come from solicitation from these above-mentioned groups. Another source of funding is crowd
sourcing. Grant solicitation to local PTA/PTO organization can also be useful. Textbook companies may also be willing to
play a part, especially if the app can be linked to their texts.
Complete the timeline for developing your project.

Task #

Task

Predecessor Start Date

Finish Date

Identify the problem

None

May 25th

May 26th

Identify stakeholders

None

May 25th

May 26th

Identify what OS and device should this app run on

None

May 25th

May 26th

Find inspiration

1, 2, & 3

May 25th

May 26th

Design app content

1, 2, 3, & 4

June 6

June 8th

Find appropriate or example graphics.

1, 2, 3, & 4

June 1

June 8th

Submit Initial Brainstorming document

5&6

June 1

June 2

Complete and submit wireframe for feedback

(Submitted Bb Discussion 4 post)

June 10th

June 12th

Design app structure and process flow (concept map)

June 14th

June 16th

10

Develop Prototype (using FluidUI)

7, 8, & 9

June 14th

June 23rd

11

Complete and submit draft 1

9 & 10

June 14th

June 16th

12

Complete and submit draft 2 with timeline

10 & 11

June 22nd

June 23rd

Shape UP! Project Plan (Draft 2)

13

Build Google Site or Weebly Site to showcase my work

10 & 12

June 24th

June 30th

14

Finalize project for grading

10, 12, & 13

June 29th

June 30th

Provide a broader description of the project.

Whats your inspiration for this project?
Many children, especially American children, have an aversion to mathematics. However, it has been shown that
learners, despite the subject area, tend to perform better in their area of personal interest than subjects that do not
interest them. Western educational systems have traditionally, including today, stress the importance of a grounding in
mathematics for everyone as part of both our continuing education and functioning in normal society. That means
incorporating mathematics in our everyday lives: budgeting, shopping, price comparisons, financial planning and money
management, even space planning and management (geometry).
Geometry was chosen as a focus because of its simple visual nature in expression of the concepts. We also
found that we could more easily edit the possibly endless discussion of mathematics by focusing on just the shapes we
chose and parameters relating to them, such as area and circumference or perimeter.
We have learned in our coursework to design learner-centered courseware. Many researchers have covered
this issue, including extensive discussions by R.C. Clark and R.E. Mayer in their book, E-Learning and the Science of
Instruction. Some of us older students have experienced teacher-centered instruction, where all the attention was
centered on the teacher, and students were lectured to and had to learn mathematical formulas. Many of us left the
class wondering, what does this have to do with me? or simply concluding that the lesson had no relevance to our
personal life because the teacher did not cause us to make personal connections between our lives and the subject
matter.
Our geometry app is meant to overcome this relevance problem by connecting fun and games with both
geometry information and real life problem solving to motivate learners to actually learn more and practice what they
learned. Working with colorful shapes can be fun for people and enhance their learning.
Initial prompting of ideas for this app developed from some struggling personal experience on the subject and
some thinking on practical methodology to overcome learning frustration and challenges. A survey of existing apps in
Apples App Store helped confirm the hunch and offered additional ideas and prompting to move the concept forward.
We gained further inspiration and ideas from web searches for teaching geometry concepts by reviewing math teaching
websites. One of our best single sources proved to be: http://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/
This proved especially useful because our members are visually oriented. Also, this website invites students and
teachers to use the resource, even providing a citation utility.