My thoughts, questions, and concerns after reading : Crichton, S. & Carter, D. (2017). Taking Making into Classrooms Toolkit. Open School/ITA.
SECTION 2: MAKING THE CONNECTION: DESIGNING, MAKING, AND A NEW CULTURE OF LEARNING
- It was promising to read that on a global, national, government and non-government level, ALL parties agree that learning needs to be more engaging, experiential, and authentic.
- This toolkit was very specific to teaching children in a classroom setting. Although I do not discredit the content for the workplace or dismiss the fact that that it may also be transferable to adults, I do think tapping in to that exploratory way of learning would yield far better results when starting at a young age.
- Further to that note, how can minds that have been programmed in a static way of learning be molded or changed in adulthood? Is it really worth trying to “retrain the brain” to the think?
- The point that discussed turning everybody into knowledge workers was interesting because throughout all of these readings, that thought has been the biggest question I’ve had, how does all of this emotional, collaborative, cultural probing etc. really matter for tactical mindless work? It seems like that’s the point, for innovation to occur, people need to see and think beyond their task. No difference between white and blue collared workers.
- Design thinking encourages learning by doing, I completely agree with this when referring to tactile skill development, but how do you learn by doing when you are faced with digital methods of learning? Does it mean having students sit in front of a computer to build things or will there always be a need to get your hands dirty in the design phase?
- By fostering play, how does this work in a corporate culture that is moving towards data driven EVERYTHING?
- The biggest takeaway from this chapter was the concept of creating a passion for learning instead of a hunger for approval. This concept triggers a thought for me in my own workplace. Training has always been a “get it done and over with” kind of approach, with employees looking for a “pass” on their saturation reports so they can put it behind them. If we as an organization could explore what it means to encourage a passion for learning, this could shift the mindset and inspire a more empathetic approach in our course designs with the goal of creating enhanced enjoyment of our training programs.
SECTION 3: DESIGN CHALLENGES: PROMPTS FOR LEARNING AND HARD FUN
- This helped to really explain the rationale behind the activities/assignment and brought clarity to why we are doing this and to “trust the process”.
- This has prompted me to incorporate the term “Hard Fun” in my vocabulary as well. I like the way it quickly sums up how to incorporate learning with fun. It brings further understanding to why for leaners, it’s not worth thinking about unless there is a challenge or incentive or a problem worth solving.
SECTION 6: WHY WE NEED OUR STUDENTS TO BE DESIGN THINKERS
- Education is essential to remaining competitive in the modern world.
- With technology advancing faster than ever before, the workplace demographics are changing. Some workers are too young to retire but too old to easily go back to school. If we know this of the current situation, is it really worth trying to retrain this specific demographic? Is it easier to use them as a lesson learned and try to develop systems to avoid this happening for future generations?
- Something that stood out for me was from the list of traits of a design thinker by Tim Brown. He states that optimism (among other traits) is essential for design thinkers. This is interesting as I often feel like it’s easy to be pessimistic when you don’t understand something, or things are moving and changing too fast. The idea of focusing on the potential solution or viewing problems with an optimistic outlook seems obvious but not always practiced in the workplace.
- Lastly, it seems like the movement is more towards that of a web or process of inquiry, to encourage learners to be curious and ask questions in a way that provokes more conversation and further opportunities to ask question. I wonder if this will trigger the end of linear learning.
Crichton, S. & Carter, D. (2017). Taking Making into Classrooms Toolkit. Open School/ITA.