Jodie’s Design Challenge Journey (Assessment part A)

Wow, what a ride it has been. At the beginning of this assignment I found myself lost and very afraid that I wouldn't be able to complete it. I had nightmares of my lack of technology skills ending my dream of becoming a teacher. Four weeks later and how my feelings toward design challenges has changed.

Whilst working through the four steps of the design cycle, I have found myself being creative with design and using various technological devices and programs. Technology I would have never believed I could use, let alone use well. From this journey I have taken away many ideas and lessons that I will implement in my own classroom.

I have learnt that design challenges are a creative way of teaching design technologies. Children are given the chance to identify needs in their own world and create imaginative solutions. I feel that I will use the design cycle in the classroom as it easily shows students the four steps and what is entailed in each step. I also personally like the design cycle as it supports students in understanding that it’s acceptable to make mistakes and have to go back and forth between areas of the design cycle to create the most appropriate solution or product. I will use design challenges in my design technologies strand because it encourages students to ‘think outside the box’, a skill I feel is needed for modern learners.

When stepping through each area of the design cycle I found my thinking changed and became more creative and technical. I also found that with each stage the work load become less. I put both these observations down to the previous amounts of work done in each prior stage. For example creating the prototype was quite easy as I had done all the previous planning which had stemmed from the investigation stage. When completing each step of the design cycle I felt a great sense of accomplishment and I feel this would be very beneficial for students.

When completing the design challenge I found myself acknowledging two personal weaknesses. The first being using the different technologies such as the blog and wiki. I had never had any previous experience with these sites and at first the idea of navigating them seemed very daunting. Though throughout the process and with guidance from Heather and my peers, I found myself using them quiet efficiently. I have really enjoyed using both the wiki and blog and can see myself using them with my students. For younger grades possibly in group learning situations and for older students as personal journals for their learning experiences.

The second weakness I had to address was my sometimes limited ability to partake in innovative thinking. I’m not the most creative person and at times I felt myself pushed to ‘think outside of the box’. I found researching products that already existed really helped with getting the mind going. I can also see how this would challenge some students and that if I was doing a design challenge in class that some students may need a little bit extra motivation or ideation stimulus.

Whilst completing the design challenge I found clear links to Lewis’s (see blog post re: summarising key ideas) reading on creativity (2008). I understand how design challenges can foster this in children. From fact  the challenges may be determined by criteria; however the outcome or solutions can be very varied and creative.

I understand fully why participating first hand in a design challenge will help when teaching our students the design technologies strand. I as a teacher was able to experience and work with the design process and cycle first hand, giving me an idea at what my students will go through when they complete their own challenges. I can know also understand the benefits and challenges that my students may experience as I have experience my own personal journey.

The peer feedback process was both challenging and rewarding. I was really lucky to work with some very accomplished ladies who had brilliant ideas and presented this ideas professionally using the wiki. I enjoyed reading everyone’s ideas, and felt that by working alongside these ladies helped my own journey as well. I did find it hard to be critical in this feedback process as my teammates work was at a very high standard. I felt that my own feedback I received made me alter a few elements of the challenge. I found the use of the wiki supported the feedback process as it may it easy to access my team mate’s work.

Overall I have thoroughly enjoyed the design cycle journey and have already began to mind-map ideas that I may hopefully put into place for my own students to support the design technology curriculum.

Reflections on Online Mind Mapping

I found the use of online mind mapping tools very helpful and easy to use. I had previous experience with Bubble.us, so I decided to experiment with Mindome this time around to create some visual mind maps for both my wiki and blog. I found this site very easy to log in, open and use. My computer obviously supported all its needs as I didn't receive any of those terrible alert messages that I usually get. The tool was quick and easy to use and produced a visually appealing mind map. I feel teachers and students alike could use this online tool to produce well thought out plans and maps for design challenges. I feel that using a tool like this allows students to get down all there main ideas and opinions, with out fussing around with making it legible and visually appealing as the program takes care of these aspects for students.  

Summarising key ideas

After completing the readings from week 2 and 3, I have gained a better understanding of the pedagogies needed to teach the technologies strands to students. These reading were also very insightful in explaining why it is important to teach these subjects well. The following information is some points from the three readings that I found very interesting:

-         - There are both strengths and weaknesses to the current set up of the technologies curriculum. I found it extremely interesting that according professionals the technologies greatest weakness is teacher learning and lack of professional development for teachers. I could sympathise with this idea as at times I feel like I’ll never know enough about the subject to be able to keep up with the very tech savvy children of today.  

-      -    Another area that I found interesting was when the technologies and creativity were discussed as a partnership. When I first thought of technologies as a subject I have to admit that ‘creativity’ was probably not the first word that came to mind. Though now having worked through a design challenge I can see very much where creativity plays a part in these subjects. It allows children a very similar channel of problem solving and designing that can also be seen in the arts subjects. There is freedom that allows children to create ideas and solutions out of this current world that can project them into the future.

Having been exposed to these kinds of ideas, as a teacher I will strive to keep my own professional learning up to date and current with new developments in technology to help pass on and teach my students. I will also be mindful of creating design challenges and experiences that foster creativity. 

Using Design Challenges in the Classroom 

So far completing the design challenge has been both interesting and at times confusing. I have rather enjoyed using the wiki page as it looks so professional having all the information and steps of the design challenge collated together. It is time consuming uploading everything to the site, however once it’s on I feel a great sense of satisfaction at seeing each step completed. I could see how this sense of accomplishment would be beneficial for students.

 I also like the wiki as it provides students with a permanent collection of work that they can keep and refer back to throughout their education. The main confusing element so far of the design challenge has been to understand which elements of the design challenge I prepare as the teacher and which elements I complete as the student, however Heather has been very good at helping to work this out. This would not be an issue though when teaching students how to complete a design challenge as it would be clearly defined what they had to complete.

I have really enjoyed ‘thinking out the box’ with this task; I have to consider elements of the design cycle that I wouldn't normally come across in my everyday life and work. I have found myself looking at various elements of life in a different way because of what I learnt from this subject. I can see how using design challenges would be beneficial to students as they get to experience that content of digital technologies and design first hand, instead of just learning them via the text and talk method.

The peer feedback aspect of this design challenge has been rather helpful. It is great to know what others think of my design challenge; and it’s also interesting to find out how they personally interpret the challenge. From the feedback I received I was able to tweak my challenge here and there to add more information into the wiki. Using the wiki made this feedback process easy, as you can just access everyone’s challenges very easily to give feedback.   I think I would consider teaching using this wiki method to complete a design challenge in a class room setting as so far I have found no real downsides to it.