Instructional Model
Zoe is a hands-on learning tool helping students become master practitioners.
Fuelled with a learn-by-doing mindset, our methodology is inspired by flipped classroom models, iterative game design methods, and project-based learning.
Foster communication, collaboration and problem solving skills while developing the students' ability to become creators in a digital world!
Students as Creators
With Zoe, students will go through the Knowledge Dimension and the Cognitive Process Dimension while creating an interactive experience for their audience.
This way, students convey a deep understanding of the topic through the game/story they design while gaining key 21st Century skills.
Project-based learning allows students to hypothesize, explore, and develop opportunities to change or overcome barriers that affect their ‘real-world.’ We ask our students to think critically and explore solving the driving question.The PBL in STEAM framework
Bloom’s Taxonomy:
The Knowledge & Cognitive Processing Dimensions
Methodology
According to research, student engagement levels is dropping significantly due to the lack of motivation and self-efficacy. Source
By pushing students to learn by becoming creators within their own learning process, they are boosting self-confidence in their own abilities. There is nothing more rewarding than creating your own interactive experience and share it with the world!
Phase 1
EngageKey Activities
- Topic Research
- Team-work and peer-review
Key Learnings
- Communication
- Digital Citizenship
- Critical Thinking
How to Plan your Lesson
Set Learning Objectives
What are the main goals and takeaways you want your students to gain after completing this activity?
Defining clear learning objectives will help you understand where to best implement Zoe into your curriculum.
Check out the resources below to help you craft your Zoe lesson.
Identify Resources and Plan Activity
You can integrate Zoe into any lesson plan regardless of the timeframe or available resources.
It can be a rapid experiment, or it can be a final project for your class; it can be a group project or an individual one. You can easily teach Zoe from home, in the classroom or anywhere in between!
Phase 1
Engage
1.1
Introduce the activity and ZoeWhen introducing Zoe along with the class topic to students, take some time to show previous student work and give them an overview of what the creation process of their game/story will look like.
You can also invite an expert to speak about the topic of your class to make it more exciting if you have the time!
Interaction Poster
Projects made with Zoe
You can use Zoe with any type of topic from Biology, Math, to Art, History or Social Impact. The only limit is your imagination!
1.2
Communicate goals & challengesWhile Zoe will bring a lot of excitement to the classroom, we recognize some students might have doubts about the complexity of creating their own interactive experience and/or the use of immersive technologies.
Luckily Zoe is easy-to-us for all skill levels and your students will build their confidence as they start creating.
With that in mind, make sure to communicate your expectations clearly. Set aside some time in the lesson plan to understand student’s prior knowledge, accessibility, and to make them comfortable.
In Social Studies, asking students to work on one of the United Nation SDGs is a great way to engage.
1.3
Deep DiveCome up with a list of topics that students can choose from, or have them come up with their own. The goal is to deep dive into the subject and start researching. Set aside some time for students to do some research on the topic, brainstorm, and synthesize what they learned.
Outcome: a (few) topic(s) of interest to research
Tools: If working remotely you can use Mural or Canvas for them to work on their concepts
1.4
Explore ZoeAllocate some free time for students to explore Zoe. Let them play around with the software and try the demo scenes and have them go through the in-app tutorials on their own.
Tutorials
Documentation
Tip: We recommend a maximum of 20 minutes at a time inside a headset with breaks in between sessions.
1.5
Present IdeasOrganize a session where the students present their ideas. At this point, they should choose the topic they want to focus on and have a global idea of what they want to tell. They don’t need to know precisely what their experience is, but have a sense of the topic and their point of view on it. In the next step, students will start concretizing their ideas into a deliverable.
Outcome: presentation of facts about the topic or point of view chosen with images, links or videos to support their choice.
Phase 2
Create
2.1
Defining their conceptAfter narrowing down the topics, students must decide on the experience they want to build: a story, a game, a step-by-step guide to explain a process,... They must identify who their user is, what is his/her goal and how it can be achieved. We provide a user experience poster they can use to answer these important questions.
Ask each team to fill up their experience poster.
User Experience Poster
2.2
Listing AssetsIt’s important for each team to make a list of all the assets their experience will require. These include 3D models, images, audio. This list should be as exhaustive as possible. Organizing the assets into categories – by order of importance for ex. Which are the most important assets, the ones required for the experience to work? Which are background elements? Sorting assets out early on can greatly benefit work assignment later.
In parallel, we recommend they take some time to search for assets in our local library or directly on the Sketchfab website.
Once defined, the list of assets is added to the user experience poster.
2.3
StoryboardingStudents need to be able to explain to others how their experience will play. To help them with that, let them create a storyboard. Here, the objective is not to create a work of art but to quickly visualize their experience in a sequence (or multiple sequences, if non-linear).
Storyboarding is not limited to sketching (even if it’s one of the fastest methods) but can also be achieved with a photo montage by using objects, clay, action figures, and directly in VR as well.
2.4
Concept PresentationsNow that each team knows exactly what they need to create their experience, it’s a great time for a group presentation to other students.
If you are doing this remotely, recording a video call session where each team presents their concept is a great way to engage your students and provide you with a deliverable.
2.5
Assign rolesIf your students are working in teams, ask each of them to define their role and responsibilities. Who will be in charge of managing the 3D models? Recording the audio? Creating the interactions? Create a plan on how they are going to achieve their goals. Encouraging them to switch roles or assigning one they’re not necessarily the best at can push them to improve, collaborate more effectively and learn new skills.
2.6
Creating & finding 3D modelsStudents should refer to the list of assets in their experience poster. Let them research assets that are already available inside Zoe to make a first selection and if your class allows it, they can also sign up and access the Sketchfab online library.
Make sure to send them this Sketchfab guides for restrictions around which assets are available inside Zoe. It's also a great way for them to upload their own 3D models.
Using Sketchfab with Zoe
2.7
Build the prototype in ZoeThere are many ways to build a prototype in Zoe, but we suggest following these steps:
- Set up the scene
- Place assets in the scene and setting them up by adjusting sizes and directions
- Create interactions for the different objects in the scene using actions and conditions
- Test play the experience throughout the process
During this phase, you can have the students switch roles from storyboarding, sketching to implementing by setting limited time for each activity.
2.8
Test & Peer reviewAfter implementing the first batch of elements and interactions, students need to conduct testing and keep iterating. This activity can be done as many times as necessary.
For the first iteration, we suggest that testing is done internally within the group or by the student himself/herself. When the product reaches further stages in development, you can have the groups give feedback to each other. The goal is to gather feedback to improve the user experience.
Phase 3
Showcase
3.1
Project PresentationThe project presentation is an opportunity for students to reflect on their progress while listening and learning from others. It is recommended for each team to record a final video of their experience, explaining its concept and showing how it works, along with their design process. You can invite the whole classroom and external stakeholders (such as other teachers, school administrators, parents, etc.) to playtest the experience by sharing the Zoe projects or share the video recordings.
An at-home internship - in partnership with Bayha Group - was organized during summer 2021. Each team’s project was then presented by their creators.
3.2
Feedback & Wrap-UpAsk each student to give feedback and critique others after the presentation. This exercise will help them engage and utilize their expertise to provide feedback. Another great way to engage your students is by asking them to explain how they created their experience through a video tutorial.
Optional Output: Video Tutorials