workspace on the run

Why design?

• Design projects engage students as active participants, giving
  them a greater sense of control and responsibility for the
  learning process;
• Design projects encourage creative problem-solving;
• Design projects are often interdisciplinary, bringing together
  ideas from art, technology, math, and sciences;
• Design projects help students learn to put themselves in the
  minds of others, since they need to consider how others will
  use the things they create;
• Design projects provide opportunities for reflection and
  collaboration;
• Design projects set up a positive-feedback loop of learning:
  when students design things, they get new ideas, leading them
  to design new things, from which they get even more ideas,
  leading them to design yet more things, and so on.

Constructivism and Constructionism

Learning-by-designing approach … is often seen as being driven by two theories/approaches …

The constructivist theory of learning, developed by Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, views learning as a very active process in which people continually construct new knowledge from their experiences in the world. According to this theory, people don’t get ideas, they make them. Constructivist theory is the underpinning for many educational reform initiatives.

The constructionist approach to education, developed by MIT professor Seymour Papert, is based on two types of construction: it argues that people construct new knowledge especially well when they are engaged in constructing things in the world.
They might be constructing sand castles, LEGO machines, or computer programs. What’s important is that they are actively engaged in creating something meaningful to themselves or others around them.

Six elements of effective e-learning design

1. Activity - tasks for students to undertake that provide an experience likely to lead them to the desired new understanding.
2. Scenario - reason or motivation to undertake an educational activity if the learning is to be memorable and considered valuable.
3. Feedback - provision for feedback that amplifies the learning from the experience, and enables students to increase their level of skill and knowledge.
4. Delivery - educational design relies on appropriate delivery to reach its full potential (there is often a design tension between the practicalities of electronic production or delivery on the one hand (such as data transfer rates, file size, security, and cost) and the requirements of the learning activities on the other (for example, timely interaction, rich media content, and a desire for social communication and communal distribution).
5. Context - contextual considerations include the institutional objectives of the e-learning program, the role and skills of any instructor, longevity of the resources, and cultural sensitivities. The connection between context and delivery methods is highlighted by Silverman and Casazza (2000), who note that “different systems of communication seem to be at the heart of many of the cultural and ethnic differences that affect the learning environment” (p. 42).
6. Impact - can be assessed from a number of perspectives, including the way that it will affect the learner, the ramifications that it will have for the learning (and broader) community into which it will be implemented, and the environmental influence of its development and use.

Brown, A., R. and Voltz, D., B. 2005. Elements of Effective e-Learning Design. IRRODL.
Available online http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/217/300

Also noted in the text - Silverman, S. L., and Casazza, M. E. (2000). Learning and Development: Making connections to enhance teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Teach less, learn more

TLLM - a call to action, adopted by the Singapore Ministry of Education: 

• It aims to touch the hearts and engage the minds of our learners, to prepare them for life. It reaches into the core of education - why we teach, what we teach and how we teach.
• It is about shifting the focus from “quantity” to “quality” in education. “More quality” in terms of classroom interaction, opportunities for expression, the learning of life-long skills and the building of character through innovative and effective teaching approaches and strategies.
• “Less quantity” in terms of rote-learning, repetitive tests, and following prescribed answers and set formulae. Teachers, school leaders and MOE all have important roles to play to make Teach Less, Learn More happen

World Economic Forum reports

The Global Information Technology Report: presents a detailed assessment of technology and competitiveness for 138 economies. Co-authored with Irene Mia and published by the World Economic Forum, the report and datasets are available at: http://www.weforum.org/issues/global-information-technology

The Global Internet Values Report: A study on issues related to online privacy, trust, security and freedom of expression based on a survey of over 5400 individuals from 14 countries. Conducted in collaboration with Oxford Internet Institute, Comscore and the World Economic Forum, the report can be downloaded from: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GITR_TheNewInternetWorld_Report_2011.pdf