d e s i g n for
learning
some principles for practice
Paul Kleiman
If,
as “architects” for education,
we want to become the change we want to be,
we need to return to the
basics of good design.
Pamela Loeffelman
I regard it as one of the most
responsible tasks of
a
to help
designer today
clear the chaos
we are living in.
Dieter Rams, General Manager, Braun
in Heisinger & Marcus (1993)
Design – for what?
Far from
Certainty
Edge of Chaos
CHAOS
Excitement, Anxiety,
Passion, Adventure,
Innovation, Originality,
Disorientation, Risk,
Creativity, Inspiration,
Flow, Play, Fun
Certainty
Adapted from Stacey 2000, Tosey 2002
Replication
Standardisation
Conformity
Assurance
Compliance
Order
Reliability
Predictability
Replication
Agreement
Far from Agreement
Design – for what?
Teacher Centred
Content Oriented
Student Centred
Learning Oriented
Theory
Practice
Education
Training
Art
Replication
Assessment for Learning
Process
Effort
Craft
Originality
Assessment for Audit
Product
Achievement
principles of design
Good design...
• is innovative
• is enhancing
• is aesthetic
• is logical - its form follows its function
• is unobtrusive
• is honest
• is enduring
• is sustainable
• is consistent right down to the details
• is minimal design
innovative
Innovators create, adopt,
adapt to meet needs of a
changing environment
Authentic innovation
or madcap scheme?
Environment
CHANGE
People
Systems
Context is all!
More? Different? Better?
‘Different' and 'new' is relatively easy.
Doing something that's genuinely better is very hard.
Jonathan Ive
enhancing
Function
continuous enhancement
Design
Product
User
Pleasure!
good design
product
function
product
bad design
“That which in itself has the highest use possesses the greatest beauty”
(Shaker principle)
aesthetic
• Integrity: does it ‘hang together’ and work as
a whole?
•
Framing, harmony, composition, elegance
•
Constructive alignment?
aesthetic
Constructive Alignment
(Biggs 1999)
aesthetic
Integrity: does it ‘hang together’
and work as a whole?
Framing, harmony, composition
Constructive alignment?
logical: form follows function
Form follows function
Structure follows strategy
The structure of the curriculum must
be designed entirely in terms of its
capacity to deliver a function, a strategy.
unobtrusive
Good design should never detract from
or impinge upon the user’s experience
honest
•
“it does exactly what it says on the tin”
• agree on and communicate your values
• honesty is a transactional process
enduring
• enduring is not the same as immutable.
• ‘designing-in’ flexibility
• retaining core characteristics + constant adaptation
sustainable
• Optimal use of resources (time, people, content)
• Minimal waste (time, energy, materials)
• Sensitive to the environment
• Successful adaptation to
a changing environment
consistent down to the details
It is often the small details that
ruin a potentially good design
“Writing a novel is akin to walking 1000 kilometres.
But the difference between great novel and a mediocre one
lies in the last metre.” (Solzhenitsyn)
minimal design
omit the un-important in order to
emphasise the important
simplicity, elegance, spare use of detail,
the use of quality materials, and a
concern with essential functionalism
remember the
barnacle !
the most
outstanding design
is that which is
perfectly appropriate
to what is trying to be
accomplished
Jay Cross
d e s i g n for
learning
some principles for practice
Design processes
Design processes
analysis
problem
solution
SOLUTION(S)
evaluation
synthesis
Negotiation between PROBLEM and SOLUTION.
Involves iterative process of:
ANALYSIS i.e. ordering, structuring and investigating and a ‘PROBLEM’.
SYNTHESIS i.e creating a response to the analysis in order to progress towards a
SOLUTION
EVALUATION i.e. appraisal of possible SOLUTIONS
innovation
ORIGINATION
INNOVATION
FORMULATION
REPLICATION
THE
C R E AT IV E
C O NT I N U U M
Based on Fennell, E., (1993) Categorising Creativity in Competence & Assessment No. 23, Oct. 1993, Employment Dept.
Threshold
Conceptions of Knowledge
Knowledge as
multiple & equal
Knowledge as
provisional
Conceptions of Learning
Acquiring
information
Memorising
strategically
Applying
knowledge
Reflecting
and
understanding
Seeing
things in
a different
way
Facilitating
understanding
Encouraging
conceptual
change
Conceptions of Teaching
Imparting
information
Transmitting
structured
knowledge
Directing
active
learning
Adapted from: Entwistle, N & Peterson, E. (2004) Conceptions of learning and knoweldge in
higher education. International Journal of Educational Research Volume 41(6):407-428
TRANSFORMATION
Knowledge
as ‘given’
Knowledge
Knowledge
used to reason used for selfamong
actualisation
alternatives
Design thinking
the human rule
the ambiguity rule
the re-design rule
the tangibility rule
Plattner, Hasso; Meinel, Christoph; Leifer, Larry J., eds. (2011). Design thinking: understand, improve, apply. Berlin; Heidelberg