All 34 entries tagged Inspiration

Design thinking and Margaret Archer's model of social agency

Design thinking is a set of methods used by designers to assist in addressing complex social problems. Reading Margaret Archer's recent book on social agency and reflexivity provides a better understanding of how design thinking might be a powerful, effective, designerly approach to personal development and social change.

What differentiates design thinking from traditional product design? Social agency through (collective) reflexivity. Product design works at a more mechanistic level, assuming the starting point of a user with specific needs and capabilities, to deliver a product with appropriate affordances and constraints. On the other hand, design thinking accepts that users (now participants in design activity) bring to the process their own unique and independent dynamic of value and meaning formation. The important move is to realise that this "subjectivity" is paramount - in fact it is the well-spring of all that is valuable in human life. It's not to be dismissed as troublesome variation, but rather to be engaged with as a productive, value creating dynamic. Design thinking then adds to that a forum around which a diversity of individuals can negotiate social, technical, environmental, practical change through which they can collectively express or address their personal values and needs. The result should be new practices, new objects and environments to support those practices. These collective changes are the objects of design. But it's not simple, linear. Almost certainly the individuals are changed by the process.

In her book Making Our Way Through the World (2007), the sociologist Margaret Archer argues against a hydraulic deterministic model of social mobility. Archer proposes a three stage approach:

People form their own concerns (things that matter to them) in various ways. Archer argues that the individual internal conversation mediates the acquisition and transformation of concerns. In the three stage model, action on individual concerns is taken through projects that are formed and executed, but also subject to micro-political forces (for example, time available for a personal project might have to be negotiated with others). A successful project would result in a change in the life (practices) of the individual. The modus vivendi would in effect have been redesigned.

There are three obvious points at which this social agency might be disrupted or blocked:

• The individual may have difficulty in "defining and dovetailing" concerns - Archer's main aim of the book is to explore how variations in the reflexive internal conversation might effect this.
  
• The individual may struggle to translate concerns into projects - again variations in reflexive mode have an effect, along with social pressures and the available practices (there's a chicken-and-egg problem in there, without good practices, projects will never get formed effectively).
  
• Projects may fail to establish sustained changed in practices.
  

Returning to design thinking, we can reconsider it's methods in the light of this three stage model. It provides us with methods that can help with the reflexive formation and transformation of concerns (although it needs to be informed by Archer's work on individual variation in modes of reflexivity). It provides methods that assist with the translation of concerns into projects. It is particularly good at dealing with the micro-political issues that might disrupt or block projects. Given that the aim is to design and form better practices, design thinking provides practices that can boot-strap the three stage process that leads to the design and implementation of new practices. It is, in this way, a method for enabling emergent, non-linear, designerly social action for complex dynamic social intelligences.

Robert O'Toole : 19 Apr 2011 07:36 |  Tags: Inspiration |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Positive benefits of teaching film making skills to student advisors (cross faculty)

Last night I did an introductory film making session for a group of (about a dozen) student advisors from the Learning Grid at Warwick. The Grid Advisors are all current students (with the exception of a specialist communications advisor). They work shifts in the Learning Grid, an open-access technology enhanced library and collaborative learning space for students¹. They are all technologically capable, but also have training and experience in supporting the academic work of other students (the main purpose of the team). As part of the recruitment process, each student made a short film using a variety of tools and techniques. They already have strong technical skills, the aim of the session was to hone and extend their creativity. The eventual output will be a series of films (created in groups of two or three), demonstrating the work of the advisors (in a creative and interesting way), to be shown at a showcasing event in March.

I had four objectives for the session:

1. Convincing the students that there is sufficient support and facilities available to complete their film project (they will be able to use the cameras that are available from the IATL Media Suite).

2. Show them how they can (and must) analyse the feasibility of a proposed film. I played a series of films from the Media Suite show reel, demonstrating a variety of techniques and film making tricks. The complexity, required skills and required amount of work for each was explained. I also made them aware of the skill of spotting the small details that can make a big difference - for example, techniques that can alleviate or avoid the problem of getting good quality sound.

3. I introduced the basic technique of storyboarding in Powerpoint (or Keynote). I recommended that they construct their film as a storyboard built from a series of slides, with each slide representing a sequence (or sometimes with more granularity a shot) in the movie. The slides might initially contain lots of text information, outling what the scene will achieve. The text then gets progressively replaced by or shifted into scripts and images. This can be used as a lo-fi prototype² for the film. Scripts can be written and rehearsed using the slideshow. The movie can be analysed for sound construction, creative effect and feasibility, and turned into a workable project (for example with a schedule). I recommended that they try to get on location, take representative still images, and add them to the slides in the storyboard. From having a good storyboard in Powerpoint, they could export this into iMovie or Screenflow and start replacing slides with editied footage and voice overs (they may even wish to keep some of the slides).

4. Finally, after a short break, we did a pitching and catching session. I began by (rather dramatically) pitching my own idea:

Warwick University, March 2011.
Desperate students with no one to turn to, no hope of salvation, no
way in which they can get their essays written.
They drink coffee, they read Facebook, they break down in tears.
Who can help? Enter the Grid Advisor sent from heaven (special effect
with grid advisor as angelic descending stairs).
Series of shots showing angel grid advisor helping students.
Shot of happy students handing in essays.

I then asked the students to for into small groups and come up with their own pitches. The framing of this task is essential. Following the findings of Kimberley Elsbach in her classic HBR article "How to Pitch a Brilliant Idea"³, I always advise pitchers to engage the catchers as collaborators in the creative process, to appear competent and with a strong idea and artistic vision, to give a well thought-out and understandable presentation, but also to welcome and value contributions from the audience (a combination of the best aspects of what Elsbach calls the "artist, showrunner and neophyte" stereotypes). The pitching session worked well, with the whole group supporting and contributing to each pitch after it was presented, but also suggesting issues that need to be thought through and problems to be solved. We finished with a feeling that some good movies will be produced.

This is all good fun, and perhaps developed the social-professional bonds within the Grid Advisor team further, but I also think it provides some very significant benefits to the capabilities of the advisors (as advisors and as students). The film making discipline (as described above, as well as further elements) provides an excellent and reliable framework in which we can manage risky, challenging and relatively unpredictable activities.⁴ Both storyboarding and pitching provide effective means for generating ideas, testing them, and reflecting upon the process. For example, during the presentation of the pitches (itself a highly entertaining activity), at several points participants questioned the seriousness and appropriateness of their responses to the brief. This was a matter of contention to which the whole group achieved a delicate consensus. The storyboards will go on to provide a tangible and testable point of reference in many ways (including the reality checks of feasibility, progress and individual commitment). This kind of tangible object for collaboration, contention and reflection is, I believe, the most valuable use to which we can put a learning technology.

In this particular case, there is a second level of benefit. Each of these students will advise many other students during their work at the Learning Grid. They will be able to cascade these skills and approaches. At two points during the session, I paused to encourage the advisors to reflect upon how these film making techniques may be of use in different creative activities, such as essay writing and seminar presentations. I referenced work that I have done with Nicoleta Cinpoes of Worcester University, using similar techniques to help English Department undergraduates to write and improve presentations (using a similar iterative Powerpoint storyboarding technique, but with the aim of creating a Powerpoint presentation). Hopefully, we will start to see these ideas spreading.

I will report further on the progress of the movie makers.

_____________________

¹For a good overview of the Learning Grid approach to collaboration, see: Conaghan and Watts, "5 Steps to Great Collaboration", Knowledge Centre web site, http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/alumni/knowledge/themes/01/collaboration/ [accessed 16/01/2011]

²Kelley, David "Prototyping is the Shorthand of Design" in Design Management Journal, Vol 12, No. 3, Summer 2001.

³Elsbach, Kimberley "How to Pitch a Brilliant Idea" in Harvard Business Review, October 2003.

⁴Morley, E & Silver, A "A Film Director's Approach to Managing Creativity" in Harvard Business Review, March 1977.

Robert O'Toole : 16 Feb 2011 10:08 |  Tags: Inspiration |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Two aspects of a great HE student experience

I’ve seen some truly great teaching in the last week! In my role as E-learning Advisor and National Teaching Fellow I get to see great teaching at Warwick every week. But the Open-space Learning session that I helped with this week was particularly special. It reminded me of my time as a philosophy undergraduate here (1991-1994): three hours of inspiring, challenging, intellectual and emotional intensity, which I’m sure for some of the students will be a life-changing experience. It reminded me of how great teaching starts with inspirational experiences of this kind (the first of the two key aspects of a great HE student experience). And it made me question how well we are catering for the other key aspect of great HE.

The session was designed and run by Annouchka Bayley (a Theatre Studies graduate research student). It was part of an interdisciplinary series investigating the role and practice of verbatim theatre. Sixteen students attended (voluntarily), with the CAPITAL Studio (large black OSL space) set up for video conferencing. Following a short introduction from Annouchka, we watched a film created by the Iranian journalist and film maker Haleh Anvari. This was followed by one of the best philosophical and cultural discussions I have heard – largely student led. I was in fact astounded by the intellectual quality and power of the dialogue. It reminded me of the many great events out of which my own Warwick degree was built.

In this instance, however, we could go even further, making it even more powerful and significant – especially considering the events taking place in Cairo. Our experience within the safe confines of the theatre studio was intensified and made more real by the live presence of Haleh herself, via a video conference link from Tehran (using Warwick’s excellent Cisco WebEx system). As we watched the film on the big screen, Haleh was with us. Each small group of students could see her responses live on a MacBook right in front of them. In return, Haleh could see the students respond.

And then the discussion: not just theoretical, but with a real live Iranian woman, academic, journalist, activist to answer our questions, to break or confirm our theories. Here the Open-space Learning inspired set-up of the space proved to be ideal. Using a theatre space, with a large empty area in the centre, invited the students to stand up, walk forwards (towards Haleh on the big screen and the video camera on the iMac) and ask a question. Thus introducing a physicality to the dialogue. It would, under different circumstances, be an ideal space in which the students could also perform in some theatrical way.

Here’s what one of the students said in reflection on the event:

“I’ve never done this before. It was mind-blowing. I cried throughout most of the film, because of the subject matter, but also the presence of the author, the real woman, in Iran. She was here, hearing us and seeing us, talking about her experience and our link, our now personal link. And because we were together, it was so moving, so much real, in a way in which we would never normally experience in teaching.” (Sita Thomas, 3rd Year English and Theatre)

And a few words recorded at the end...

That’s what constitutes great teaching. An outstanding immersion in theory and practice, demanding and making space for the students to respond with their own experiences and theories to connect with the personal and the global, with the present and the great vistas and dynamisms of culture and history. Looking back upon my own experience of such teaching, I now know that they have a lasting and deep impact. Not just immediately, but for many years beyond graduation.

Or at least that’s half the story.

As I said earlier, there are two vital aspects to great HE: a) inspirational events; b) complemented by supporting frameworks, technologies, spaces and institutions that allow the student to sustain and grow what they have taken from the event, to make something of their own from it. Traditionally (in non-scientific disciplines) they build essays. Increasingly, undergraduates undertake more substantive research projects. Almost as an aside, they may engage in organised cultural or political activities (for example through the Students’ Union). Rarely do we see them create anything that goes beyond the temporal and spatial bounds of their degree (for example, establishing an intellectual, cultural, social or economic enterprise). I argue that Warwick must go further in this second aspect, to match the outstanding events that occur. Annouchka’s project will see the students creating their own verbatim theatre and films. We must support a greater diversity in student “enterprise” (meant in the broad sense of creating and sustaining an intellectually, culturally or economically profitable activity). At the Institute for Advanced Learning and Teaching we provide learning spaces and an open-access Media Suite (with everything that the students need to make films). That will help with the necessary diversification. But we need to go further, we need to support students in going well beyond the academic degree, in taking what they experience at Warwick and creating new enterprises linked to Warwick once that they have graduated. The Knowledge Centre is one important initiative that has been taken – keeping the flow of inspirational experiences and support going for all of our alumni.

So, to conclude, great teaching is: inspirational experiences + great student support + student enterprise. We certainly have the former, and are extending and improving them all of the time. But we need to ensure that we don’t lose sight of the latter, and that we keep pushing on so as to establish Warwick as a hub for social, cultural and economic enterprises.

You can read more about my ideas at: http://www.inspireslearning.com/portfolio

And more about IATL at: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/iatl

Robert O'Toole : 13 Feb 2011 16:54 |  Tags: Inspiration |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem