Conole TechItUp Conference Kamloops

Designing in practice: aligning design creativity with practice Gráinne Conole, Open University, UK TechItUp Conference, Kamloops Kamloops University, 23/10/09 More info, slides and references: http://cloudworks.ac.uk/index.php/cloud/view/2559.html http://static.worldarchitecturenews.com/news_images/ 11190_3_JLB%20PREFERRED%20External %20Image%201000px%20wide.jpg

Improving the design process How can we design learning activities that make effective use of technology and that are pedagogical informed? How can we represent and share designs? What kind of help and support can we provide? Assessment Learning outcomes Tasks Aspects of design

Learning design: a definition

A methodology for enabling teachers/designers to make more informed decisions in how they go about designing, which is pedagogically informed and makes effective use of appropriate resources and technologies

Covers design of resource and individual learning activities up to whole curriculum level

Helps make the design process more explicit and shareable

Includes resource, tools and activities

What do we know about design?

How do teachers go about the design process ?

Where do they get ideas and inspiration from?

How do they represent their design process?

To what extent do they share their design ideas with others?

Where do they get help and advice ?

How do they evaluate the effectiveness of their designs?

Design strategies Design process creative, messy, iterative Sharing and reuse difficult, but valuable Serendipitous routes to support Every teacher does it differently Different aspects to design - focus and level of granularity No one perfect design tool or approach Different aspects – resources, tools, outcomes, support, etc.

Design creativity vs. design practice The vision… Open plan, with creative spaces, “quiet rooms”, hot desking areas, technology-enhanced, lots of social space The Jennie Lee Building, The Open University, UK

The OU Learning Design Initiative Representing pedagogy Guiding design Sharing ideas Empirical evidence base Andrew Brasher, Paul Clark, Simon Cross, Juliette Culver, Rebecca Galley & Paul Mundin

OULDI tools, resources, activities Design methods: schema & patterns Tools: Visualisation & guidance Events: Cloudworks: sharing & discussing

Design tools & methods Resources & examples Towards an OULDI Learning design toolbox

Facets of OULDI work

Evidence base: Understanding the design process

Collaboration: Structured events for fostering shared meaning and collaboration

Representation: Tools to support different forms of representation

Connection: Harnessing web 2.0 practices to foster debate and sharing

Reification: Abstraction and guidance through schema for thinking differently

Collaboration: events Design challenge Cloudfests & Design summits Blurring real & virtual Workshops

Representations

Seeing curriculum differently

Not content-focused

Alternatives to simple text-based descriptions

Different views to foreground different aspects

Recognising design at different levels – from activity to whole course

Visual – tables & diagrams, descriptive & metaphorical

CompendiumLD

Tool for visualisation designs

The method is an important as the tool

Will provide a demonstration

Hands-on exploration of the tool

CompendiumLD Core icon set Design icon set

A simple design Learning activity Output Learning outcome Resource Role End of activity Task Tool

Key features

Time allocation for tasks

In-situ help

Conditional branching

Design templates

Summary

Visual maps with icons + connections

Generic icon set + customised design icon set

Multiple layers , maps within maps

Drag and drop different file formats (images, videos etc.)

In-situ design help –customised google search and links to cloudworks

Aggregation of task times by roles

Design templates

Flexible export options from picture to interactive web page

Forms of representation

We have indentified six “views” for a course

Task swim line

Course map

Pedagogy profile

Cost effectiveness

Course performance

Design factors views

Uses

Representing an existing course

Comparing courses

As part of the design process

Describing the curriculum Cloudscape: http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloudscape/view/1907

Task swim line

Based on:

Roles – student, tutor, etc.

Tasks – read, discuss, etc.

Tools and resources

Outputs

Advantages

Makes design explicit

Maps out design

Sharable with others

Good at activity level

Pedagogy profile

Map of student tasks to time periods (weeks, semesters, etc)

Six types of student tasks + assessment

Each cell indicates the amount of time spent in that period on each type of task

Widget provides graphical view

Guidance & support Evidence & demonstration Information & experience Communication & interaction Thinking & reflection Course map

Gives an “at a glance view”

Five components to any course

Uses:

Represent a course

Compare

Design

Course map/At a glance representation Guidance and support “ Learning pathway” Course structure and timetable Course calendar, study guide, tutorials Information and experience “ Content and activities” Could include course materials, prior experience or student generated content Readings, DVDs, podcasts, lab or field work, placements Communication and interaction “ Dialogue” Social dimensions of the course, interaction with other students and tutors Course forum, email Thinking and reflection “ Meta-cognition” Internalisation and reflection on learning In-text questions, notebook, blog, e-portfolio, Evidence and demonstration “ Assessment” Diagnostic, formative and summative Multiple choice quizzes, TMAs, ECA

KE312 Working Together for Children 60pt course over 32 weeks 3 blocks/20 learning guides Whole weeks devoted to TMAs Consolidation week (week 22)

Practice related

Aligned to latest prof framework for mult-agency working

Rich case studies

Read – relate to practice – reflect – write

Course map example Mick Jones Evidence & demonstration 6 TMAs – submitted online (505 of overall score) 3hr examination (50% of overall score) Thinking & reflection Activities throughout learning guides (4-7 per guide) 5 website ‘interactives’ Journal space in MyStuff Core questions, thinking points and summaries in course books Communication & interaction Course-wide Café forum Tutor group forums with sub-forums for each block F2F tutorials near beginning, middle and end of course (some regional variation) Information & experience PDF resources Links to e-journal articles and other websites 3 co-published course books (21 chapters/ 960pp) DVD – videos of 3 practice settings + interviews (XXmin) Plus own experience and practice Guidance & support Study planner 20 Learning guides General assessment guidance TMA questions Course guide Study calendar Tutor support – 1:20; 21 contact hrs; band 7

Harnessing web 2.0 practices Teachers/design want examples , want to share/discuss ! Many repositories of good practice , but little impact Can we change practices through use of web 2.0 ideas? Blogging Facebook Twitter Slideshare Flckr Youtube Commenting Live commentary Tagging RSS feeds Embedding Following

Cloudworks: Social and collective

Vision & principles