Upload
kory-sherman
View
218
Download
0
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
ALT-Spring 31 March 2005
Using knowledge structures toenhance reflective practice
Lou McGill, University of StrathclydeAllison Littlejohn, University of Dundee
ALT-Spring 31 March 2005
Project team
JISC/NSF Project 2003-2008
Stanford University - Centre for Design Research
University of Strathclyde Department of Design, Manufacture and Engineering
Management Centre for Academic Practice Centre for Digital Library Research Learning Services
ALT-Spring 31 March 2005
Project vision
To enhance student learning opportunities by enabling them to participate in global team based design engineering projects that give them work experience within multi-cultural contexts.
Make this possible through a range of information and communication technologies.
ALT-Spring 31 March 2005
What is design engineering?
What characterizes project based design learning?hands on learn by doingextreme constructivism
What are the defining attributes?open-ended scenarios demanding creativityno pre-defined information requirementsno right answer
How does one approach these scenarios?find, create, and reuse informationusing the widest possible range of resources not just engineering
ALT-Spring 31 March 2005
What is informal design knowledge?
Informal knowledge is found in casual design documents (notes, sketches, photos, email, blogs, draft documents)
Informal knowledge is created during design activity and reflection.
Authorship is often ambiguous.
Difficult to capture, share and re-use
How do we support students to do this?
Information
Knowledge
DesignProcess
FORMALINFORMAL
ALT-Spring 31 March 2005
LauLima Learning Environment (LLE) a workspace environment: point of need
LauLima Digital Library (LDL) longer term; reuse by staff and students
INFORMAL & DYNAMIC FORMAL & MORE PERMANENT
ICT infrastructure
Storing and sharing contentGroup Collaboration/ Team
CommunicationCross team activities
Workflow Management (Process)Manipulation of InformationCapturing tacit dimension
Knowledge Structuring
Retrieval of resourcesReuse of student-generated resources,
design concepts and learning processes
QualityMetadata and standards
Granularity
ALT-Spring 31 March 2005
Classroom exampleIce crusher project
3rd year project to develop a proof-of-concept model of a domestic ice crushing machine
Collaborative team-based project Combination of face-to-face and online activities Reflective learning/Problem-based learning To understand the importance of reflective practice,
information and knowledge construction to the design process
Learning literacies Tool literacy – shared workspaces, wiki environment Digital literacy – creating content Information literacy – sourcing, organising content Critical literacy – evaluating content Communication and Team literacies – collaborative design
ALT-Spring 31 March 2005
Ice crusher project
Format Week 1 – Introduction Week 2 - Searching, storing & organizing information Week 3 - Exploring & selecting concepts Weeks 4 & 5 - Developing & testing concept Week 6 – Demonstration of final concept and
presentation of content on LauLima
Assessment a series of reflective project logs final presentations using team wiki pages demonstration of proof-of-concept models
ALT-Spring 31 March 2005
Concept mapping
Teams were asked to develop a concept map and then asked to reflect on how far it helped them to: Understand connections and relationships between
concepts – mapping the design problem Break down the problem into manageable chunks and
assign team roles Identifying search terms - broader, narrower, related,
synonyms, acronyms, alternative spellings, etc. Organise their information within file folders Uploading files – applying indexing terms
In reflective logs students also identified this activity as an effective ice breaker for the teams
ALT-Spring 31 March 2005
Student reflection
Team reflection on how the concept mapping activity supported their
understanding of the design problem, the development of a search strategy, allocation of roles and organising their content (see printed sheet)
on concept generation and evaluation on concept model and the design process
Consensus of experience and understanding – engage with questions at a team level
Provided tutors with an ongoing record of team understanding and approaches (in conjunction with other content)
ALT-Spring 31 March 2005
Issues
Impact on Learning – Which learning? Impact of concept mapping exercise and reflection on
final design Impact on their learning – information literacy,
organisation, team working, communication
Some other issues Re-use – granularity issue, de-personalisation, rights
ownership Team reflection vs. individual reflection Role of tutors – training they need to be facilitators in an
electronic environment Linking to formal e-portfolios
ALT-Spring 31 March 2005
Activity/Discussion
In pairs
Try to identify a learning activity or learning project which may benefit from this type of approach (ie concept mapping/reflective logs).
What impact is this likely to have on the outcome of individual learning objectives? (ie will it help students produce a better output, improve their learning literacies or both?)
Who would support this learning – do other people need to get involved (librarians, IT staff, educational developers, learning technologists)?