Assignment 2b: Design Thinking Project (Individual)

Design Principles:

1. Transparency: Assignments, objectives, and rubrics should be clearly and transparently communicated to adult students. Furthermore, transparency between the main college in Alberta and the college in BC needs to be improved. Currently, the EA instructors are often the last to know of any changes to the program courses including changes to assignments, rubrics or learning outcomes. I think it would also be important for our Moodle website to share all of the content instead of keeping parts of it hidden from students (Wassmer, n.d.). 
2. Radical Collaboration Across Programs (d.school, n.d.): Radical collaboration is a method of working that makes use of the participants’ interests, passions, and intrinsic drives while establishing cooperation in the voluntarily entered into agreements amongst peers (IT Revolution, 2022). Learning opportunities should be provided to promote collaboration and interdisciplinary thinking across the college’s many diploma programs (business, coding, education assistant, and web design). 
3. Support for English Language Learners: The college should provide extra support to English Language Learners (ELLs) by providing additional language instruction, such as ELL tutoring, or providing them with language support during regular instruction, such as visual aids or graphic organizers (Sam D & Rajan, 2013).
4. Varied Learning Methods: The Education Assistant (EA) Program and Universal Design for Learning (UDL): To provide an inclusive and accessible learning environment for all students, the college’s curriculum for education assistants could embrace the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles. UDL entails developing curricula and methods of instruction that provide a variety of platforms for representation, expression, and participation to meet the various needs of all students, including any students with disabilities (CAST, 2018). 
5. Varied Learning Methods: Microlearning in the EA Program: The Education Assistant program at the college should incorporate the principle of microlearning. Many of my students are easily distracted or not very interested in the material they need to learn. By providing students with bite-sized, focused learning opportunities that can be completed in a short amount of time students can better focus and by breaking down complex concepts into manageable chunks, it can also help to increase student engagement by providing them with opportunities to practice and apply what they have learned (Major & Calandrino, 2018).
6. Behaviour & Engagement: Vroom’s Theory of Expectancy in the EA Program: The Education Assistant program at the college may benefit from incorporating some of Vroom’s theory of Expectancy tenets or other strategies to promote student motivation and engagement in their learning. According to Vroom’s hypothesis, people are motivated to participate in an activity if they think their effort will result in better performance (Vroom’s expectancy theory, n.d.). This may be accomplished by matching the learning objectives with the interests and professional aspirations of the students or giving the students opportunity to recognize the value of what they are learning (Vroom’s expectancy theory, n.d.).
7. Technology Integration: Today’s post-secondary institutions must include technology and the college I work for is no different. It can help students engage in their learning by offering new methods to acquire, absorb, and apply knowledge (Delaney, 2011). Technology should assist and improve learning goals, not be utilized for its own sake (2011). While my students are well-versed in using smart phones, they still require much support to use laptops and associated applications, such as Google or Microsoft products.

The principles I have outlined are important and, I believe, would positively impact the experiences of the students and the instructors in the EA program and other programs at my college by providing a more inclusive and supportive learning environment. The need for additional support for English Language Learners (ELLs) and the need to provide an inclusive and accessible learning environment for all students through Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and microlearning are ideas generated by the Pecha Kucha (Design thinking process, n.d.) activity conducted in collaboration with Terry Kent.  While technology is already encouraged as all students come to school with laptops and smartphones, incorporating other technologies such as SMART Boards, Apple TVs and/or virtual reality equipment and software applications, like Kahoot or Written? Kitten! (Cahalane, n.d.) would enhance the student knowledge (Delaney, 2011). If I were able to follow these ideas and implement some of them gradually, I think it would be advantageous for both the instructors’ experiences and student learning.

(DALL·E, n.d.)

(a 3D render of a window, a book, a ladder, computers, smart phones, a heart and a light bulb)

The window represents transparency, the books represent learning, the tablet on the floor, technology, the light bulb collaboration of ideas, the heart, language learning and the ladder, achievement.

References

Cahalane, C. (n.d.). Great apps to help students with focus and motivation. AbilityNet. Retrieved December 26, 2022, from https://abilitynet.org.uk/news-blogs/great-apps-help-students-focus-and-motivation​​

CAST (2018). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2. Retrieved December 20, 2022, from http://udlguidelines.cast.org​

DALL·E. (n.d.). https://labs.openai.com/ 

Delaney, M. (2011, November 1). Training teachers to implement technology. EdTech Magazine. https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2011/11/training-teachers-integrate-technology ​​

Design thinking process. (n.d.). HPI Academy. https://hpi-academy.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Design_Thinking_Prozess_HPI_Academy_EN.svg 

d.school. (n.d.). D.mindsets. Design Principles. Retrieved January 14, 2023, from https://principles.design/examples/d-mindsets 

IT Revolution. (2022, February 22). The Four Imperatives of Radical Collaboration. https://itrevolution.com/articles/four-imperatives-of-radical-collaboration/ 

Major, A., & Calandrino, T. (2018, April). Beyond chunking: Microlearning secrets for effective online design. Gale Academic Onefile. Retrieved December 7, 2022, from https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA560418414&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=15474712&p=AONE&sw=w&userGroupName=anon%7E41e408a

Sam D, P., & Rajan, P. (2013). Using Graphic Organizers to Improve Reading Comprehension Skills for the Middle School ESL Students. English Language Teaching, 6(2). https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v6n2p155 

Vroom’s expectancy theory. (n.d.). University of Cambridge’s Institute for Manufacturing. Retrieved December 9, 2022, from https://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/research/dstools/vrooms-expectancy-theory/ 

Wassmer, S. (n.d.). The Ten Principles of Inclusive Web Design. Design Principles. https://principles.design/examples/the-ten-principles-of-inclusive-design