IDCM MA Multimedia Communications 2 – more Design Thinking, Open(ish) Space Learning & Teaching Grid

Follow-up to A tentative move towards technology enhanced Open Space Learning in the Teaching Grid from Inspires Learning - Robert O'Toole

A brief report on the second of my Multimedia Communications workshops for the International Design and Communication Managament MA.

We began with the 15 students (1 off ill) gathering at one end of the Experimental Teaching Space, for an informal talk about the previous week's session, and the "design challenge" to be completed in 9 weeks:

• Each student is to create their own personal online e-portfolio, using the rich features of the Warwick web publishing and content management tool (Sitebuilder) - many of these features were demonstrated using the Virtual R&D Space set up in the course web site.
  
• The e-portfolio needs to communicate, promote, explain each student's unique and individual value to potential employers, partners and clients.
  

I then reiterated messages about the "design thinking" approach of Tim Brown and Tom Kelley (IDEO), explaining how "inspiration" activities and "ideation" activities can build to successful and valuable "implementation" through an iterative process. I said that during the workshop we would go through two such iterations, building a message (in small teams) about each of the students.

Design Thinking

I then played the section of Tim Brown's Innovation Through Design Thinking lecture (from iTunesU, recorded at MIT) introducing the three "spaces" (inspiration, ideation and innovation), linking this to the Virtual R&D Space. This was followed by the section dealing with "Inspiration" - which is very inspirational! I used this video again later in the session, and will return to it later in the series of workshops (an effective way of using a video by an expert to glue together a set of varied activities).

Forming Teams for a Design Task Using the Ten Faces of Innovation

The next phase of the workshop involved working in small design teams. The task for each team was to create a simple narrative presenting the members of the team, specifically stating:

• Five great things about each person.
• One thing that inspires each person.
  

I drew upon Kelley's Ten Faces of Innovation to guide the creation of the teams (inititally I had aimed for 4 teams, but the student preferred 3 teams of 5). In the previous week's session, each of the students had chosen one of the "Ten Faces" with which they most closely identify. This gave us 3 "directors". I asked the "directors" to lead the groups, and to choose 4 other students. The other students held up a print out representing their chosen "face". The smart solution, for the directors, would have been to choose the blend of the 10 faces that they thought would create a good team. The students seemed a little reluctant - not used to such approaches (but I persisted, as smart team-formation is a key skill in the subject domain). I got them up on their feet and moving around, which seemed to free-up their attitudes a little. The teams that formed did seem to be mixed and well thought out (even though they had very little time in which to choose). When I do this exercise again, I will think of a better approach to this "speed dating" objective.

Teams working in the Teaching Grid Experimental Teaching Space

First Iteration

Once that the students were in teams, they moved to three areas set out by the Teaching Grid Advisors. Each area had tables, chairs, a laptop and a screen (Smartboard or projector). We spent about 30 minutes on this task. I refrained from getting too involved, only occasionally reminding the students of the task, and of the suggested approaches: how each of the "10 faces" might work to encourage discourse and creativity (especially the "experimenters" and "cross-pollinators". After a while I introduced some ideas about how an "anthropologist" type might try to get participants to talk more freely. Although progress was a little slow (I sensed a little awkwardness), I think that ideas about the "investigative" "discovery" process required for design inspiration started to become clearer. After 20 minutes the students had started to create "prototype" narratives to test out with each other, however, I realised that the importance of the "prototype-test-prototype-test..." process needed to be emphasised more strongly.

More Design Thinking

The second iteration of the process was intended to move towards having a more formally documented "story", resulting in a team presentation performance that would demonstrate the value of the process and a software tool that supports it.

Before we moved into this, I played another section of the Innovation Through Design Thinking lecture, focussing upon "ideation" - I emphasised Brown's statements about "ideation" being "building to think", meaning the creation of testable prototypes (physical, and in the form of stories, short films etc). The flexible nature of the Teaching Grid Experimental Teaching Space, helped us to move easily between focus on a single screen and team work. Using a video lecture in this way worked brilliantly, and made me consider how lecture videos could be useful in seminars for all subjects.

I then demonstrated a software application that I find to be invaluable at this stage of the design process: Mindjet Mindmanager (an intuitive and powerful mind/concept mapping tool). I demonstrated how I use this in real design work with clients to rapidly map out a domain, and to create prototype stories and arguments that can be presented and tested (I used a map that I recently used on a design task for an online learning project). I demonstrated the basics of how to create and (re)organise a map, and then set the student teams off with the task of turning information gathered in the first phase into concept maps (illustrated with links and images), and then a prototype presentation based on their maps.

Second Iteration

At this point progress accelerated dramatically. It became clear that having a physical product as the object of the team's efforts gave them the structure and direction that they lacked in the previous exercise. The distinct "10 faces" roles also seemed to become more apparent. These effects might have happened without the use of the software, however, in my experience, it's intuitive and expressive power does have a transformative effect upon groups. Being able to think together in such a visual and easily editable format helps people to be more exploratory and imaginative. It should also be said that the students seemed to really enjoy using Mindmanager, as can be seen in the maps and presentations that they created.

That Mindmanager encourages collective design thinking is apparent in this example:

Click to enlarge

I was particularly impressed with the selection of a theme that runs across each member of the team as documented on the map. We only had a short time at the end of the session, so I asked this group to present. The result was excellent. They had, in a very short time, created an engaging presentation, improvised by having the map on the screen in front of them. I recommend this approach as a means for quickly creating a team presentation on any topic. The technique of using visual metaphors (in this case a range of different cars), gave additional cues that eased their way through the information as they presented (and probably also as they discovered the information).

We applauded the presentation, and a few of the other students commented on aspects that they liked. I suggested that creating a set of e-portfolio pages all based on a theme might be an idea to investigate.

The session worked very well, and the students ended with an appreciable "buzz".

Design thinking, getting students on their feets and active, Mindmanager - all proven to work well!

Robert O'Toole : 19 Oct 2009 18:37 |  Tags: Implementation Learning Spaces Lesson Observations Open Space Learning |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Students’ experiences of creativity, Martin Oliver et al

Follow-up to Creativity and curricula in higher education: academics’ perspectives, Margaret Edwards et al from Inspires Learning - Robert O'Toole

A report on research carried out by Martin Oliver, Bharat Shah, Chris McGoldrick and Margaret Edwards, based upon interviews with 25 students from a wide range of disciplines at UCL and LJMU. This investigation of student views accompanies a chapter on those of academics³.

Again the results are rich, deep and wide ranging. I have selected points most relevant to my own research (my notes in square brackets or bold).

Notes

Defining creativity

“Rather than giving one coherent, integrated account, they typically drew on a number of different discourses, often presenting contrasting or even inconsistent positions at different points in the interviews.” p.44

[People most usually define creativity by emphasising its supposed antithesis - rigidity, dogma, lack of spontaneity; or by referring to complete works that are deemed to be ‘creative’ - typically artistic acts or acts of perceived genius.]

Students lack time and energy for creativity

“Other comments were concerned with things students felt helped with creativity. These included physical exercise (as a way of reducing stress), being with creative people and reading or watching something inspiring. Some students suggested that study pressure was squeezing activities such as these out, either because it took up too much time or left students feeling tired.” p.48

“As one student summarised: ‘you need time and space in your mind to be creative and if your mind is full of studying and this and that and the other then there’s no space for it’.” p.51 [Note the opposition between creativity and studying. Also creativity time is referred to as being spatial - often people spatialise time when it is under threat and needs to be protected.]

Creative teaching

“Examples of techniques included role playing (by the teacher, not the students), debates and creating posters that were then presented to the class or displayed in a public place.” p.49

“Some conventional forms of teaching were also felt to support creativity. These were inevitably dialogic, and focussed on opportunities for discussion that addressed students’ current understanding or beliefs.” p.50 [Conversational framework]

Academia perceived to be in opposition to creativity

“In many students’ comments there was a sense of frustration at a perceived conflict between being creative and being ‘academic’. Many of the students experienced academic values as being controlling, conformist and inflexible, more concerned with producing ‘clones’ than supporting new ideas. These students framed their experience in terms of rote learning, spoon feeding and regurgitation.” p.54

“…students identified many things that limited or inhibited creativity. As before, some of these point to a perceived contrast between creativity and acceptable academic work.” p.50

“Some comments were simple suggestions for teaching techniques that could be used to provide a contrast to current teaching. (Such contrasts typically portrayed current teaching  as transmissive and dull; however, in context, it seems likely that this is a rhetorical description rather than a judgement about their courses.)” p.49

“Students on vocational courses pointed to work placements, often as an explicit contrast to their academic study. They identified the people they encountered and the problems that arose in that situation as requiring the new solutions to be created, or existing ones to be adapted; it was also suggested that personal style could be expressed in such situations in a way that was not always possible within the formal educational component of the course.” p.50

[Perhaps questioning the relevance of academic work and modes of assessment]

“There’s an infinite amount of possibilities, it’s really, really daunting. […], I’ll do whatever I want and it might be something completely different, which is incredibly satisfying but it’s terrifying as well.” p.49

[Some students might actually need creativity to be controlled and bounded by a discipline, as they might feel to challenged by risk and unpredictability]

Academia perceived as allowing bounded creativity

“It is important to point out that not all students were dissatisfied with their experience of academia. Indeed some came to appreciate the creative endeavour of academic work, even if they tempered this with the suggestion that is was somehow not for them…” p.55

Assessment styles opposed to creativity - essays, exams - but essays seen as more creative

[exams] “It’s also about spontaneity isn’t it? So you can be creative and you’ve spent a month revising and your head is full of crap.” p.54

Creative study

“…even within ‘uncreative’ disciplines, some students admitted they found ways to be creative, such as developing short-cuts or quicker approaches that helped them in their work.” p.55 [students use creative techniques to subvert academia]

“Just as students described creativity in their teachers’ practices, they also discussed their own. They deemed this to be particularly important, since they felt it was learning, not teaching, that was central to their academic success; bad teaching might not inspire, but it did not prevent learning.” p.51

Specific techniques identified

“making links across different contexts” p.51 [cross-pollinating]

“interpreting texts” p.52

“case studies”, “videos”, ‘the Internet” p.52

LEARNING SPACE

“The environment in which study took place was felt to be important. Several students stressed the importance of comfort (‘a big, comfortable chair or something’), and many identified ‘distractions’ such as music, exercise or a window to look out of as being important….However, other participants spoke of exactly the same distractions in negative ways; the key to this was in whether the student had the choice to distract themselves in such ways.” p.52 [Do students understand how different spaces are used in different ways?]

Conclusions

“…there seemed to be a desire for spaces within the course that were open to risk-taking, free from the need to justify decisions and where failure was an opportunity for learning rather than a problem.” p.57

[That students see creativity as being an important part of how they achieve (or survive), regardless of whether it is sanctioned or not, or whether it is used for legitimate or subversive purposes, it is important].

_________________

¹ Developing Creativity in Higher Education: An Imaginative Curriculum, Norman Jackson, Martin Oliver, Malcolm Shaw and James Wisdom, Routledge 2006
² Students’ experiences of creativity, Martin Oliver, Bharat Shah, Chris McGoldrick and Margaret Edwards, in Jackson et al 2006.
³ Creativity and curricula in higher education: academics’ perspectives, Margaret Edwards, Chris McGoldrick and Martin Oliver, in Jackson et al 2006, p.60-73

Robert O'Toole : 17 Oct 2009 20:34 |  Tags: Academic Book Chapter Creative Spaces Creativity Inspiration |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Innovation Through Design Thinking, Tim Brown of IDEO (iTunesU podcast)

Here are some notes on a talk by Tim Brown (CEO of design company IDEO), given to the MIT Sloan Business School. You can watch a video of the talk on iTunes. It's an excellent and well presented talk, packed with useful ideas relevant to all kinds of work (explicitly or implicitly creative and innovative). I have selected points that are particularly relevant to my development projects, teaching and research on creativity, space and teaching and design.

05:20 – The lecture starts, after 5 minutes of introductions.

07:15 – We believe that companies which view design as just making things cool or pretty are missing the point. [Design is an essential element in innovation, process design and service design]

08:16 - Six Sigma and Design Thinking – Recommends a Business Week interview with Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE: Bringing Innovation to the Home of Six Sigma - but implies that the two approaches sit uncomfortably together.

08:32 - For many companies design thinking is the way that they create their future.

12:05 – It is an approach to innovation.

14:16 – [Involves] People (desirability); Business (viability); Technology (feasibility).

14:59 - Three important phases (inspiration, ideation, implementation).

16:48 - Insights are the fuel for innovation

17:12 - Design thinkers use the world as a source of inspiration not just validation

18:27 - It starts with empathy

21:28 - Analogous situations

22:50 - Insights come from extreme users

23:56 – We’re not trying to get statistical data about what the world thinks, we’re simply trying to get new ideas, we’ll evaluate those ideas later, we just want a source of inspiration.

24:40 – Building to think (prototyping)
The real kind of notion here is that we’re kind of used to building things to show people what we have done, so we’re used to the notion that we might build a model a prototype, whether it’s a physical thing or not, to show people that we’ve achieved something, and to get their permission their authorisation to move forwards, the idea that you’ll build a prototype to take to a milestone meeting to show the boss so that he will give you more money to keep going. But that’s not what we are talking about here. We’re talking about building things to learn about your ideas.

25:39 Learn by prototyping, and that means prototyping quickly and inexpensively. You want to do a lot of prototyping.

27:34 – Prototypes don’t have to be physical but they must be tangible. … They must allow you to build a picture and come to a sense of what you have learned.

27:52 – There are all kinds of prototyping techniques that are very useful, based around film making, based around improv, we act our ideas out.

33:00 - There are different kinds of prototypes and different kinds of prototypes exist at different parts of the design process (inspire, ideate, implement).

35:15 – In our experience, many good ideas fail to make it out to market, not because they aren’t good ideas, but because they couldn’t make it through the corporation, they couldn’t navigate through the system … one mechanism for beginning to deal with that … is storytelling, and the more powerfully you can construct a story around the ideas you have, the better you can communicate those ideas to your colleagues, to partners, to stakeholders, the more likely that idea is to survive through the process, and so the use of storytelling, the use of movie making, the use of building experiences that are about those ideas themselves, the more you can do that the more you will succeed in getting your ideas out there. [Nike] The design team started making ads of their ideas before they showed them to anybody.
Stories help provide the framework for creating ideas.

38:05 – The story can be tangible and experiential.

39:38 – Design cultures, innovation cultures, if there’s one thing that they do, if they do nothing else, they are really good at being inspired and being inspiring, they get people to think about things in different kinds of ways.

39:52 – One of the things to look out for is how inspired are people by what’s going on out in the world? How connected are you to the outside world to the big ideas that are emerging?

43:40 – Being inspired about where you get your ideas. Space has a huge impact on one’s ability to innovate, not just how cool is it, how fun is it, but how is it laid out? What are you actually using space for? We have relatively small amounts of space at IDEO dedicated to individuals, but we have lots and lots of space dedicated to project rooms, and the reason we have lots of space dedicated to projects rooms is that when you are trying to synthesise large amounts of information in projects you need to do that visually, you need to have it up around you, you need to be able to plaster the walls with things.

52:14 – We have a team on our campus whose only job is to create project rooms for people, take them away again, and make new ones [they also record what has happened in them]. Typically a project room might be in existence for a couple of months.

Robert O'Toole : 16 Oct 2009 12:05 |  Tags: Design Methods Design Thinking Inspiration Multimediacomms Podcast Professional |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem