Below are my annotations for Assessing d. learning by Goldman et al. (2012).
Introduction and background
Research question: “How can we understand what is learned in design thinking classes, and how might assessments contribute to that process in authentic and helpful ways?” (p.14)
From mindsets to mindshifts
Definition of mindshift: “active shifts that students are making …” and “re-synthesis and reorientation of their worldviews, routes, and propensities in problem-solving” (p. 15)
Consider fixed versus growth mindset
- Question: how is a growth mindset different from a mindshift?
- Answer: they are very similar; a mindshift is “the active process of developing a mindset” (p. 22)
Four key mindshifts:
- Human-centred – “focus on empathy for others” (p. 16); consider needs of other people, not your own needs
- Experimental – “everything may be considered a prototype” (p. 17); be prepared to evolve your ideas
- Collaborative – collaboration is needed for problem-solving
- Metacognitive – being aware of what stage you are in when in the design thinking process
Needs
- Students need subject matter knowledge and skill to innovate
- 21st century skills = cultural shift, what skills are needed to succeed today
- Current assessment methods are lacking; new assessment/metrics needed to measure 21st century skills — see Silva (2008) for details
Theoretical perspectives
This section talked about a number of theoretical perspectives but lacked structure and focus for me to make sense of them in any meaningful way. Three key points stood out:
- Design thinking = problem solving – this finally clicked for me
- “based in experiential and sociocognitive view of learning” (p.19)
- Constructionism (Papert) – people learn by creating tangible outputs of ideas
Research methods and analysis
This section described activities taken to iterate the assessment tool prototypes discussed in the next section. It would be worth revisiting if I were ever to create a similar research study, but otherwise could be skipped over.
Assessment tool prototypes
Four assessment tool prototypes were developed:
- The reflective assessment rubric – includes mindshifts listed above; three levels of expertise; related skills (interviewing, prototyping, synthesis, persistence, resilience, adaptability, risk-taking, brainstorming, bias toward action, storytelling, process vocabulary, collaboration); outcome: rubric is inappropriate for assessing mindshifts
- The windaboolah experiment task – performance based task; students were asked to participate in a design challenge, to design an ambiguous, made-up item with specific criteria; this allowed for assessment of human-centred mindshifts based on level of experience with design thinking
- The designing twenty-first century learning spaces task – reflection based task; assesses human-centred mindshifts; requires guidelines for scoring responses
- The assessment dashboard – visual online dashboard to document learning progress as it happens and over time, including relevant skills, process stages, portfolio of work
I’m not sure I would use any of these activities or assessment tool prototypes in my own work. They lack the rigor and practicality my clients would expect of an assessment tool.
Summary and discussion
The majority of the paper and therefore this section focused on human-centred mindshifts. I would have liked to learn more about the other mindshifts identified as well.
References
Goldman, S. et al. (2012). Assessing d.learning: Capturing the journey of becoming a design thinker. In H. Plattner, C. Meinel & L. Leifer (eds). Design thinking research: Understanding innovation. (pp. 13-33). Berlin: Springer.