From our brainstorming process came six main concepts. We developed a scenario for each of these, which we used to illustrate the idea. These scenarios were presented to our clients in the Spring semester, and used to launch a discussion about our future direction. The direction we decided on together was from the On-Demand Media scenario. This and the other scenarios are laid out below.

This idea allows the instructor to centralize all her artifacts into a repository that is well-indexed to aid retrieval, and empowers her to easily “conjure” a variety of media for presentation. While the instructor should always be the center of attention, this idea allows instructors to supplement teaching with on-demand content engaging to students. With this solution, a variety of observed breakdowns are addressed, including the need to “Make It Big,” difficulty handling and presenting physical artifacts, and attention issues where a group of students need a central stimulus on which to fixate.

With a software solution delivered through a PC and large display, we need not be limited by static content. Users can leverage truly interactive content built right into the material they present. For instance, an interactive pH slider that dynamically shows basic or acidic items as the user drags a sliding bar, is a scenario we presented to our client.

This idea is analogous to modern international flights that have a display showing passengers the current geographical location of the plane. Leveraging GIS software, this idea could be used to provide context for students during stations. If an instructor is speaking about the Monongahela River, for example, students can instantly see a bird’s eye view of the boat and the surrounding river and topographical context.

Many artifacts currently used in stations involve maps and geographical/topological information. The map room aims to bring this data to life via a projected map on a large flat surface. The idea is that students could gather around the surface and interact with a large map projected from above or below – this solution solves several artifact and physical breakdowns observed during research.

This idea aims to bring students out of their own “little world” when they look into a microscope, isolating themselves from the group. By mandating that students work in pairs, the need to look into a microscope is eliminated as each student-pair looks at a display hooked up to their microscope. Additionally, students will now be able to easily share their findings with neighbors. “Critical” findings can easily be broadcast on a large instructor-controlled display to instantly display what any particular student currently sees.

This idea speaks to the post-boat experience where students need something to “take away” from the voyage experience. The idea also addresses the opportunity to personalize a student’s experience on-boat. The scenario here was that a student, "Johnny", could connect to a central website containing data he collected, and view individual findings attributed to him. By emotely being able to access the information, Johnny's group could share its findings with family or classmates at school