Final Blog Post

Overall, I feel that this project was very difficult to complete in that our organization and time management skills were lacking dramatically. The first of the major problems that we faced in our project was implementing our project in that we had to get our homeroom teachers to somehow report back to us the amount of students watching Puka Mai Ka La. What we learned from this is to start our project early because the approval process to email the project survey out to all the teachers takes a very long time. Additionally, this put us behind schedule and our plan and schedule was affected immensely. I feel that this project taught me a lot about Puka Mai Ka La too, which is pretty much that it isn’t even watched by majority of the teachers around school. I believe that we did benefit Kamehameha as a whole because we answered our initial question, “How many people are watching Puka Mai Ka La?” We can use our data that we collected to improve the ratings and the amount of viewers watch Puka Mai Ka La so that hopefully more students will start watching the show and getting the valuable news that Puka Mai Ka La broadcasts.

FINAL BLOG POST

My Overall Thoughts on the project was that this was a really different curricular for the end of the year. I actually really enjoyed it even though it was stressful, I felt like it really got me thinking and doing work and learning more real life problem solving that I wouldn't usually get in a regular classroom environment. This project was different and I really enjoyed it overall to have to adapt to different situations and take responsibility not only for me but for my other group members.
Things that went well was the overall project, i feel that not only was our group successful in getting our question answered and getting data and using it, but that other groups actually impacted the school. I think thats what was the best part about this project is that we actually did something that contributed to the school and something that was totally real. Now for things that didnt go quite as planned for instance was the administration...... But that can't be helped! Also the difference between a realistic situation and a idealistic solution for our case that we had to deal with. Though throughout the project I learned a lot, in the sense of having to take real problems and real situation in the world and dealing with them. You couldnt just go ask and wait around for the problem to fix itself, I had to go and physically fix what needed to be fixed myself and learn to problem solve whether it be a computer issue or a people issue. I had to learn to fix it and deal with it. To make this a better activity I might give the students the 3rd quarter or so to start really looking for a problem they are passionate about, we had time but sometimes the best problems just come to you when you least expect it and I feel that might just make them a little bit more prepared or have no effect at all, but i have no clue hahahahha. Did i think i was doing science? Yes. End of story. no, but I really feel like I was since I have always been taught that science isn't just a matter of equations and theories but problem solving and implementing your work and we might not have been doing experiments everyday but we were sure doing science.

Final Blog Post

Out project was overall all right, it wasn't a huge success but it did end successfully. When we began our project with the Nielson idea and building the little black box, we discovered that it was harder to do with the little research we could find on it. Then when we began to create the survey, we found another dillemma with sending a mass e-mail to the teachers requiring approval. The approval took too long and we didn't have time to waste so after about a week of waiting for approval, we decided to walk around the campus and physically hand out the survey to teachers. This is where the good things began to happen. By manually passing out the surveys, the teachers wanted to do the survey for us more than they would have been willing to do it over e-mail. This way made it personal and showed the teachers that we really wanted their feedback and that it was for a good cause. With the teachers willing to do the survey for us, our results were very accurate and the percent of teachers not encouraging their classrooms to watch Puka Mai Ka La were astoundingly low. So as I conclude on the our Final, I'd like to say thanks to Mr. Blake for helping us realize that helping Kamehameha and improving anything in general is harder than we think. We complain about things and think of ideas that we think simple all the time however as we have just learned, the actual modeling and formation of the idea and the action of actually doing it is way harder than we all think it is and so now before we complain, we should think if we would realistically be able to solve and fix the problem.

DATA

When we collected data our results were surprising, we discovered that barely anyone watched Puka Mai Ka La. The surveys showed that a very minimum of people actually turn the channel on to watch it and on top of that barely people in the room pay attention and watch it when it is on. For instance more than 50% of homerooms didn't even turn on the TV. Also we learned that our laptops have become a very large distraction during homerooms and we acquired this information from the survey learning that whether or not Puka Mai Ka La is o nor not, majority of the students are on the laptops.

Progress!

Today we got lots of work done. We started to really crank things out and get going with the survey and the collection of data. Since we didn't get approval from the Akahi Student Center yet for the email to get sent out to all the homeroom teachers, we went door to door and handed out the survey for teachers to take. We got about 11 teachers to take it and a lot of them didnt even turn on Puka Mai Ka La today! This data is good though since we now know a lot of homerooms dont even turn it on, so that could be the first step is to try and get more homerooms interested in the show and see what we can do to get the number of viewers up.

http://expoexpertinc.com/blog/?tag=surveys

Catching Up #3

Tomorrow after we collect the data then we will be starting our final report and our Kenote/Powerpoint. Our powerpoint will include graphs to show the data and we won't add all that flashy stuff but instead only the necessary the information and we will verbally explain in detail all of our information during our presentation.  We hope to finish the powerpoint by the end of this week along with the draft. The draft is due May 18 and the final is due the 23rd so to make sure we're on top of things we will be doing it on Google docs.

Catching up #2

After the surveys go out this week, we will be able to collect data that will help the video productions class. Our next goal is to somehow make it possible for the e-mail to be sent automatically after we get approval and hopefully this physically delivering the message is only temporary. If it is not temporary then the video productions class won't be able to retrieve any more data after the project ends so they won't be able to tell if the ratings go up or down, if the e-mail gets approve then after the project they'll be able to send it out daily or at least weekly. The mass e-mail containing the survey is a convenient tool for the video productions class so we hope that it will get approve by the end of the week. 

 Here is an example of what the survey looks like, it is very short. 

   

Catching Up #1

So today we went in to see if we could get approval for the mass e-mail and still we couldn't so we decided to talk to Mr. Blake and he said if we could go around and hand deliver them so we're going to do that. Austin and Kaitlyn had hand delivered some today and tomorrow one of them will deliver it doing 5th period and the other will pick it up from the teachers during 1st. Below is a link to the survey if any of you would like to look at it. It is short and sweet because we figure that the shorter it is then the easier it would be for the teachers to finish and no one likes to take 10 minutes doing a survey so this one should only take a minute or two max.

http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22CCEBVFXDL/

Finishing touches

So right now we're waiting for approval from administration to send out the e-mail. We sent it in to them last week and have been checking on it everyday since but they haven't gotten around to giving us approval yet. Tomorrow in class hopefully they'll approve it or maybe we'll decide to just walk around and physically hand it out to classes in the following day. Tomorrow we will also show Mr. Blake the prototype of our design since it was finished last week but we didn't have it in class to show it for credit.

Getting there!

So, today in class we have everything working out slowly. I went down to the Akahi Student center to get the email approved since it is going out to all of the homeroom teachers. So over the weekend the email will be getting approved to send out and hopefully all the homeroom teachers will take the survey so we can input our data and start making our graphs of the data. The sooner we can do this all, the more surveys we can take to see a progression of the results over time. We really need to get going on this and by monday hopefully we will be able to get ahead on this project! If we don't get this approved by monday then we plan to physically go to homerooms and ask the teacher to fill out the survey so we can get our data.

http://www.123rf.com/photo_6818796_paid-stamp-on-paper-documents-digital-illustration.html

Implementing our project

This week we have made headway into our project. Right now I am trying to get a email approved to send out to all homeroom teachers. in the email there is a link to a survey that we asked teachers to fill out regarding the views of Puka Mai Ka La. We are now undergoing to get the survey out and for teachers to take it. With the data we plan to organize it then see what the results are. As we get those results in, I predict that we will need to figure out a way to improve the results and number of viewers in for the show. We will then send out the survey again and hopefully see improvement. This will all be done in the next week!

Almost Complete

So today we talked to the student center about having a list of homeroom teachers that we could send our e-mail too. We also asked how we go about putting our link in the daily bulletin to remind teachers to do the survey. I started the detailed design today, which is really late but now that we actually know exactly what to do and what we're doing then we should be good and now I can actually write about it and not fluff the entire thing. Also since we will start e-mailing the surveys to the teachers tomorrow, our data (taken everyday) should be very good by Friday.


To the right is a picture of Austin doing work on the computer. He's doing the final touches to the survey.

Almost there...

So today we finalized the idea with Mr. Blake to send out a survey to all the homeroom teachers and if they  don't respond then as a team we decided to walk around physically and pass out the surveys. The surveys consist of about four questions asking like how many students are watching, what's they're favorite part, and so on. The idea is for this survey to be sent out weekly to all the homerooms from one main computer source and with this feedback the video productions people can see if their ratings went up or down from the week prior. So today the survey was finished and tomorrow we have to go ask the Student Center if we can put it in the bulletin as well as ask for a list with all of the homeroom teachers e-mail addresses.

Continuation with no photo but that's all right

So today we finalized the basics for our program. What it will do is that after every time the daily announcement is shown, it will immediately send an e-mail that the teacher will have to confirm how many students were watching the show and a comment or two. This way if the teacher lies he/she will have to provide some type of verification to prove that he/she did make the homeroom watch the newscast. This will also help the video productions crew improve the quality because now they can receive immediate feedback on the day's show positives and negatives. So overall our program will be similar to a survey that would be sent out automatically to each teacher immediately after the show's closure.

Work in Progress

As the weekend as come we have made progress on our detailed design. Knowing and having a plan has helped us now get past this speed bump and move forward in our project. We now have to make sure we know how to get this program up and running. So, now we have to use Austin's knowledge and start to research the codes we need to make to help us get our project going. As this week is coming up we have to start to really make some serious damage and get our program going. This is a critical week but I believe we are perfectly capable of doing this.

Following Thru

Today we talked to Mr. Blake about our idea and how it could be related to physics. Well it's a little bit of a stretch but it does relate, also since it'll be a computer program instead of an actual box, we'll be saving materials, which saves Pauahi money and helps the environment. We decided that the program would be connected to one main computer and what it would do is that it would connect to the televisions on campus and it will then check to see if the televisions are tuning in to Puka Mai Ka La. This is also good because since every TV will have its own address, if a TV is absent then the program will detect precisely which TV isn't tuning in and then the video productions teacher can talk to the teacher assigned to that television and slowly by slowly every homeroom will be tuned into Puka Mai Ka La. : )

New Idea Possibly

Today we thought of a new idea since we couldn't figure out how to build this little black box. So instead we thought of a way to create a computer program that would do this instead. A group member of ours is in AP Computer Science so we are going to talk to his teacher about creating a program that counts the TVs tuning it tomorrow or within the next couple of days. This idea seems more realistic than our last because creating a computer program is something we already know how to do and with a science teacher helping us we should find a way to create this.

Dilemma

So today we had the largest problem, how to build this black box. We tried to do research on the internet but the only thing that was a little helpful was that it was a part of the Nielsen company and it was a little black box installed next to the television sets to keep count of what was being shown. We also e-mailed the KHON 2 News people hoping that they had some ideas to help us but we haven't heard back from them yet. So right now we have a solution but its not realistic in the literally making of it.

Here's a link that brought us the closest:
http://www.howstuffworks.com/question433.htm

Blog Journal

As we ended the weekend our group started to really think about serious solutions that could be possible for this great feat. We are working diligently on a design to help with the Puka Mai Ka La broadcasting issue. We have gone over many times about the Nielson Company, but that is not really the solution we were looking for. We were looking more for something that could transmit a signal or something to the broadcasting station to determine how many tv's are live and watching at that time. Maybe we have to invent something or maybe there is something out there in the world that is similar and that we can add to and evolve. But we are in the process at the time of figuring it all out. 

Journal 5

Our proposal was successful in all aspects except our solution is not solid. We have a good idea, a good problem to solve, but no solution. We started to look up systems and ways to have a signal or some way of communicating the number of televisions tuned into Puka mai kala. There is a program sort of thing called The Nielsen Company. But that is more of measurement company. We need to figure out something that we can create that might omit a signal or tally of some sort to the Video Studio that gives them a number of how many tv's on campus are tuned in and how to maybe make more people watch the live feed. We are doing research, but we need to find a solution fast since deadlines are coming up and we need to give Mr. Blake a list of materials we will need. We have such a good project that could really help the Puka Mai kala staff but we just need a GOOD solution! so any ideas post!

Journal #4

So today in class we narrowed down our options to do our projects on and its between the electrical wiring for video productions and Mrs. Martin's daily school maintenance problems. The wiring for the TV broadcast during homeroom would be the best in relation to physics because wiring is pretty much physics but we haven't found a possible solution for it yet. Also with Mrs. Martin's problems there hasn't been an idea for a solution. However since we conducted the interviews we had a lot of work done and got far then where we were before and now instead of thinking of ways to reconstruct the architecture of this place we now have small possible problems that we just have to find solutions for.

Interviews Day 3

Today we interviewed several teachers and faculty members with one goal, to find out what there problems are. Surprisingly, we received very good input from most of our interviewees.

The first person we interviewed was Mr. Mosher. Some of the problems that concerned him was the old wiring in the building contributing to poor broadcast connections sometimes. He was also concerned with the actual amount of students even watching the broadcast because there is no way they know. Students may be doing other things and homeroom teachers might not even turn on the television.

The second person we interviews was Kumu Kawika from the SPC. The problem that concerned him was the floor plan and amount of space given in SPC. He believes that the office area that the students work in shouldn't be cut off from everyone else and more open. Also if the office was moved to the corner of the room instead of the middle, it would add much more space to the room.

After that we decided to visit the PRC and ask them if they had any problems that we could find a possible solution to. Some of issues they suggested were laptop care, specifically the unexcused laptop screen cracking, PRC advertisement, and better use of all the space they have in the PRC.

We also decided to interview Mrs. Martin who we thought could provide us with many problems around the school given her position on campus.  Some of the problems that concerned her around campus were most maintenance problems around campus such as the poor PA system, various leaks around campus, and broken doors/windows. In addition, parking also seemed like a very big problem that mostly everyone is facing.

We also did some supplementary student interviews, specially from the athletes. One of the problems they offered were parking problems during athletic events.

Journal Day 2

We are still continuing to think of ideas and solutions. We have scheduled our interviews and hope to gain more knowledge on problems we face at our school. As of right now, all we have are problems that may be a little too big to solve given our time period. Although we haven't come up with a solvable problem yet, I still feel that we have made exceptional progress. We are improving the world one step at a time.

The image was found on: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLRW2jk_8qy1YkkXx-cAikmreGYTsXDhaAdK1vJaWvdFGrF_bAOWBo3GK0PpiTeAVaCFH7pHBO-ET_kKjVSo7-vlFsYSDIpwnm-Jb9tgKHUG4a-YJy4EhsZHm__j0T7CqR7cLUlqRYnNo/s1600/earth.gif

Journal Day 1

Today we started to brainstorm ideas of issues around the campus. We realized that we were looking at the obvious problems that were broad and too big to really take hold of and fix. So, we started to throw around names of people we can interview to get some ideas from. For instance someone in midkiff could have an issue that needs to be addressed and we just have to find those problems. We plan to interview at least 2 or 3 faculty and staff and see what they think are issues around this campus.

Our Issues

Here is the link to our issues:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xQP2DuPiRtY6VbUeRb0jHcq9OT3hXRAe0d-9Fl9DIVg/edit?hl=en&authkey=CJbDnuAP&pli=1#