# Create a meaningful setup
Description: Why should your peers even care about what you want to teach them? in this challenge we will create a meaningful setup that presents a reason for learners to acquire the skills you came up with when you were making your mind map. By the end of this challenge you will create a "pitch" for your idea that explains "What is the problem your learners are trying to solve? what is the setup that motivates them to do so?"
Gear: paper or index cards (if you are fancy), sense of humor, what you made in the last challenge. Also for this challenge you will need a partner in crime. Ask a friend to help you or pair up with another peer from p2pu.
Time: 1.5 hour
## Task 1 - Pair up
Ask a friend to help you or pair up with another peer from p2pu.
This challenge is best completed with a partner in crime. Just ask a friend to help you or pair up with another peer who is taking the same p2pu challenge. You can see all the peers who are taking the challenge under the task list.
## Task 2- PLAYstorm!
Brainstorm ideas for challenges by playing a word-matching game with your peers.
Start by taking a look at your mind map from the previous challenge. If you are working in a team then decide on one mind map to start with. You can always go back and playstorm again with someone else's mind map. Pick the "challenging question" you came up and if you haven't done that already write it down on a piece of paper or an index card.
To begin "playstorming" choose one word from each of the two lists below and write them on one index card each. Words from the first list are called "mechanics" and words from the second list are called "goals". A "mechanic" always describes the action that takes place during the challenge. A "mechanic" answers the question; "what are the learners "doing" while they are taking your challenge?" The words under the list that says "goal" describes the end product that your learners will in your challenge. A "goal" answers the question; "what are the learners making in the challenge?"
Mechanics
hacking
crafting
tinkering
exploring
debating
battling
showing
(add your own here)
Goals
video tutorial
song
mockumentary
drawing
photo
game
robots
recipe
(add your own here)
Now that you have chosen a word from each list, you should spend no more than 10 minutes working together to combine them into an idea for a challenge. Think of a situation that makes it meaningful and fun for your learners to learn whatever it is that you want to teach them. Consider how the "mechanic" and the "goal" connect to your challenges' "challenging question" and learning map.
Complete this task by coming up with as many one sentence ideas that combine a "big picture" with a "mechanic" and a "goal". You can use this sentence as a guide;
In my awesome challenge my peers will understand _______(challenging question) by _________(mechanic) to make _________(goal)
Here is an example.
In my awesome challenge my peers will answer the question " how do i make the ultimate chocolate chip cookies?" by "battling" against all evil ingredients to make the ultimate cookie "recipe."
If you have ideas for new mechanics and goals go ahead and add them to the mix or make a suggestion here [link to google form?]. Don't forget to post your one sentences to the discussion walls and comment on other people's posts.
## Task 3 -Set it up
Create a real or fictional set-up for your challenge that gives a reason to your peers to learn whatever it is that you want to teach them.
Congratulations on coming up with so many ideas for challenges! You and your partner can now pick one idea and flesh out what we call a "setup" for your challenge.
A "setup" should describe a real or fictional need that gives a reason to your peers to learn what you want them to learn by the end of your challenge. They should clearly see the benefit of what they will be "doing and making" during your challenge.
The setup can be tied to personal motivations such as creating your own portfolio site to find a job, or social motivations such as winning a community-wide competition or even a fun factor such as a compelling story that draws you into having a reason to solve the challenge.
To complete this task you should write a short paragraph that illustrates a setup for your challenge. Here is an example;
In the land of chocolate chip cookies chocolate was not the finest, milk was not always fresh. One day a half-baked cookie decided to step up and save the day. His mission was to bring back the era of ultimate chocolate chip cookies; crisp on the outside yet soft and chewy in the inside. Alone in his mission he fought against all evil ingredients. But time has come for him to get some help; in this challenge you will help us to bring back the ultimate chocolate chip cookie by creating your own recipe. And eating a lot of home- made cookies!
Complete this challenge by sharing it with your peers on the discussion wall and comment on other people's posts.
## Task 4 -Create a pitch!
Create a pitch for your challenge and share with your peers
Use what you came up with above to create a pitch for your idea. You can write your pitch into a paragraph, make a poster, a song or even a video. Be creative with it and remember that it needs to hook people into taking your challenge and clearly explain why they should take this challenge as well as what they will be doing and making during the challenge. A rule of thump is to ask yourself after looking at your pitch; "would I want to take this challenge if it wasn't mine?"
In the meantime here are some tips to help you out.
Tip # 1: Make sure that your pitch creates concrete expectations for the outcomes of the challenge. Your objectives should be simple to understand yet challenging to accomplish, in order for the learners to be motivated enough to go through it.
Tip # 2: You might want to include explicit “after this challenge” language (aka “The Payoff” or “Victory”) that describes skill and knowledge gain in non-technical terms. For example you can say something like “you will be able to …” “build simple web pages”, “integrate video into a page’ , “learn how to work with others”, “become a mentor.”
Tip # 3: Keep your pitch SHORT & SWEET
## Task 5- Give feedback to your peers
Check out your peers posts and give them suggestions
You can't consider this challenge finished until you have left comments on some of your peers posts. (i will add guiding questions)
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Community Feedback
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Send it out to many people.
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Rewording suggestions from Laura - Really small rewords, but I didn't want to delete anything! added them
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## Task 1 - Pair up
Ask a friend to help you or pair up with another peer from p2pu.
This challenge is best completed with a partner in crime. Just ask a friend to help you or pair up with another peer who is taking the same p2pu challenge. You can see all the peers who are taking the challenge under the task list. If you want to live chat you can use the ....{add here} feature.
## Task 2- PLAYstorm!
Brainstorm ideas for a setup for your challenge by playing a word-matching game with your peers.
Start by taking a look at your learning map from the previous challenge. If you are working in a team then decide on one learning map to start with. You can always go back and playstorm again with someone else's learning map. Pick the "big picture" and write down a sentence that describes it, preferably on an index card.
To begin "playstorming" use the "big picture" index card you just wrote and choose one word from each of the two lists below and write them on one index card each. Words from the first list are called "mechanics" and words from the second list are called "goals". A "mechanic" always describes the action that takes place during the challenge, it answers the question; what are the learners "doing" while they are taking your challenge. The "goal" describes the end product that your learners will make at the end of the challenge, it answers the question; what are the learners making in the challenge?.
Mechanics
hacking
crafting
tinkering
exploring
debating
battling
showing
Goals
video tutorial
song
mockumentary
drawing
photo
game
robots
recipe
Now that you have chosen a word from each list, you should spend no more than 10 minutes working together to combine them into an idea for a challenge. Think of a situation that makes it meaningful and fun for your learners to learn whatever it is that you want to teach them. Consider how the "mechanic" and the "goal" connect to your challenges' big picture" and learning map.
Complete this task by coming up with as many one sentence ideas that combine a "big picture" with a "mechanic" and a "goal". You can use this sentence as a guide;
In my awesome challenge learners will understand _______(big picture) by _________(mechanic) to make _________(goal)
If you have ideas for new mechanics and artifacts go ahead and add them to the mix. Don't forget to post your one sentences to the discussion walls and comment on other people's posts.
## Task 3 -Set it up
Congratulations on coming up with so many ideas for challenges. You and your partner can now pick one idea and craft a nice simple setup for it.
The starting point should be the sentence that you created above. Think of a setup for your challenge. It should describe a real or fictional need for the learners to master the skills required to complete the challenge. It can be tied to personal motivations such as creating your own portfolio site to find a job, or social motivations such as leveling up, winning a community-wide competition or even a fun factor such as a compelling story that draws you into having a reason to solve the challenge. The setup helps learners see the benefit in taking the challenge.
Complete this challenge by sharing it with your peers on the discussion wall and comment on other people's posts.
## Task 4 - Give feedback to your peers
You can't consider this challenge finished until you have left comments on some of your peers posts.