“Springboard” for ITGS Projects

The idea for an ITGS Project can certainly come from literally anywhere. The starting point for the ITGS project is the “client”.

Just today I saw a “springboard” for an ITGS project. It is a “diamond in the rough”, but could be interesting idea for a project.  High-school students predict their future in the New York Times magazine section. Try it quick because New York Times websites become “invisible” unless you subscribe.

This website could certainly be the beginning of a similar project for the careers advisor or could be used to highlight the basketball team members (client: basketball coach),  the student actors in an up-coming school play (cient: director for the performance) or the students who are running for student council elections (client: student council advisor). The possibilities are unlimited!

Most times the project needs to take the true “Steve Jobs” approach –  the customer (client) may not know what they “need” until the idea is presented to them. That is how the iPad was developed. Customers had no idea that they needed “iPads”  because none existed.

I can name a number of projects over the years that fell into this category:

• video promotion made from the dress rehersal for a forthcoming theatre production (client: the drama teacher)
• database with facts and images of all of the awards that school has won (client: the director)
• cookbook for African recipes that have been handed down over generations by word of mouth (client: mother of the student)
• interactive learning website with audio response to teach the vocabulary from a particular German story (client: Primary School German teacher)

Where do these ideas for the ITGS project come from? School, home, and the world around – anywhere including the New York Times!