Eduserv Digital Identities Workshop

Planet / Eduserv Digital Identities, Jan 09

Planet: bringing learning design knowledge to the forefront

Yishay MorEduserv Digital Identities Workshop, London, Oct. 2008

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/


Note I: Acceleration

Son, this was my dad's mobile. I want you to have it.

The world is changing. Fast. Faster. Teachers are learners. Students are researchers. We are all designers of

our and our peer's learning.



Note II: The design divide

the gap between those who have the expertise to develop high-quality tools and resources and those who don’t (Mor & Winters, 2008*)

Low cost, mobile, connected devices create a potential of a level playing field – but also an illusion of one.

The critical obstacle to development is not lack of means of production, but lack of knowledge how to use them.

* http://telearn.noe-kaleidoscope.org/open-archive/browse?resource=223

http://telearn.noe-kaleidoscope.org/open-archive/browse?resource=223



Note III: The void

The Prophetswill tell you what should be done

The Explorerswill tell you what they did

Current discussion of learning and technology alternates between the abstract theoretical and the anecdotal.In between there is a shortage of design-level discourse.

?



Where am I? What do I do now?

You're in a hot air balloon You should find where you want to go

and land there.

Did I tell about the time I crossed the

Himalayas in a Zeppelin?



Wanted: a design science of learning

A science of design has - A value dimension A functional axis of decomposition Attention to representation

(Mor & Winters, 2007)

Herbert Simon (1969): we need a scientific study of the man-made. At its core, the science of design. “everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into desired ones”



The Design Knowledge Problem

Expert := one who solves problems in a

particular domain

Expert := has domain design knowledge

Experts do,Consultants talk

Experts talk in jargon

But..



Learners?

Anyone seen a common language?

DesignKnowledge

in TEL

Developers

Policy makers

Teachers

Researchers



Solution: sharing stories

Stories (narratives) are a fundamental form of generating / sharing knowledge. (Bruner)

Thick descriptions of problems & solutions. Everyone likes a good story.

http://www.slideshare.net/yish/case-study-how-to-presentation






Narrative (i.e. stories)

Something happened to someone under some circumstances *

it* and there's a reason for me to tell you about it.

William Hogarth, a rake's progress



Narratives – where do they come from, Where do they go?



The “good” case: There and back again

Context

Challenge

SuccessReflection



Tell me a story Situation

Set the scene (I wasn't there)

Task What problem where you trying to solve?

Actions What did you do?

Results What happened?

Reflections



A few tips

I wasn’t there Stick to the story Tell it like it was …and then tell what you learnt



I wasn’t there

Don’t assume that I am familiar with your context. What you take for granted, for me is a new world. Take your time to set the scene: who, where, when.

3 May. Bistritz.--Left Munich at 8:35 P.M., on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an hour late. Buda-Pesth seems a wonderful place, from the glimpse which I got of it from the train and the little I could walk through the streets. I feared to go very far from the station, as we had arrived late and would start as near the correct time as possible.

In the war of Troy, the Greeks having sacked some of the neighbouring towns, and taken from thence two beautiful captives, Chryseis and Briseis, allotted the first to Agamemnon, and the last to Achilles. Chryses, the father of Chryseis, and priest of Apollo, comes to the Grecian camp to ransom her; with which the action of the poem opens, in the tenth year of the siege.

There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mrs. Reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further out-door exercise was now out of the question.

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice 'without pictures or conversation?'

Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed. A yellow dressinggown, ungirdled, was sustained gently behind him on the mild morning air. He held the bowl aloft and intoned: Introibo ad altare Dei.



Stick to the story

Actually, it is half the art of storytelling to keep a story free from explanation as one reproduces it. [...] The most extraordinary things, marvelous things, are related with the greatest accuracy, but the psychological connection of the events is not forced on the reader. It is left up to him to interpret things the way he understands them, and thus the narrative achieves amplitude that information lacks.

Walter Benjamin (The storyteller, in Illuminations, p. 86)



Tell it like it was

You don’t know

• Would have happened..

• Could have happened..

• Should have happened..

• Will Happen…

You DO know, and only YOU know

What happened



…and then tell what you learnt

This is your story, and what you learned is part of it.

After you’re reported on the context, the events and the consequences – report on your learning experience.

In the midst of the word he was trying to say,In the midst of his laughter and glee,

He had softly and suddenly vanished away –

For the Snark was a Boojum, you see.



What do you see?

After a case story is presented, ask the audience to identify the primary points from their perspective.

What is the key message you take from this story?



The three hats

Work in small groups One tells a story, second writes it down, third

presents it.



highlight concepts

Hazard: Hazard: needs definition

Asset: Asset: Key common concept



map them



But..

Narratives are not enough: The Aha! Factor

How do we identify the key design element in a story?

The fantasy factor How do we know its true?

The (cognitive) load factor The world is changing too fast for us to take in all

the good stories.



Design patterns

[describe] a problem which occurs over and over again in our environment, and then describes the core of the solution to that problem, in such a way that you can use this solution a million times over, without ever doing it the same way twice(Alexander et al., 1977)

C o n t e x t

Problem Solution



ProblemKeep the rain out

ContextCold, wet, poor.

Method of solutionThatched roof

RelatedTimber frame, Slanted roof,Chimney



example: activity nodes

Design problemCommunity facilities scattered individually through the city do nothing for the life of the city.

Design solutionCreate nodes of activity throughout the community, spread about 300 yards apart.

http://www.uni-weimar.de/architektur/InfAR/lehre/Entwurf/Patterns/030/ca_030.html



The long way from cases to patterns

The bull can't see his horns. Practitioners are often too close to their story, the

key element of success seems obvious to them. “Oh, that's common sense”

there's nothing common about common sense. The “make something useful” pattern (aka “like,

duh?”) Avoid stating the obvious*

(yes, this is an example)



Some questions to ask a case..

What are you about? What are you an example of?

What was successful? What made it successful? What in the context was necessary for it to be successful? When might it not work? Do we have any other examples of this?



I see a pattern!

Name it (and rename later) Write it in 30 words - NOW! Fry it Sing it Draw it

C o n t e x tProblem Solution



Some questions to ask a pattern

What's your problem? What would we do without you? (why do we

need you) How are you different from X? What are your boundaries? (when are you not

relevant) Walk me through the steps



Huston. We have a problem

C o n t e x tProblem

Solution

If there isn't a problem, there's no need to design. Problems are your friends! A good problem description is half the solution.

But, describing a problem is a problem

Colliding forces:we want A, but need to satisfy B

Elimination:Where would we be without this?

Exclusion:What does this solve that a cheaperalternative couldn't



It depends (on the ...)


Too broad: applicable everywhere, but hard to apply Too narrow: immediate to apply but rare application

Feature deletion:Start from a storycontext, delete non-essential detail Boundaries:

Note where this pattern doesn't apply

Fusing:Find two examples,note common features




[describe] a problem which occurs over and over again in our environment, and then describes the core of the solution to that problem, in such a way that you can use this solution a million times over, without ever doing it the same way twice

(Alexander et al., 1977)



Back to stories: rule of three (revised*)

Find two more examples of this pattern Find one “near-miss”: similar story that doesn't

match Interrogate the stories, adjust the pattern. Link

* http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?RuleOfThree

http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?RuleOfThree



..and back to the pattern

Link to related patterns Refine distinctions & refactor if needed

Draw clear lines between this and other patterns. Identify part-of / instance-of relations If needed, split into sub-patterns, add super-

patterns, or merge redundant patterns. Revisit the name & summary Present for review



Repeat.

http://xkcd.com/289/



Coming up..



Mark Kramer: Reflections of a Nomadic Learner in the Age of Ubiquitous Communication, Jan. 9 @LKL

Ubiquitous communication and mixed-reality computingscenarios are becoming commonplace and are influencing in the way in which individuals communicate and relate with others and their surroundings. This talk will present reflections of a nomadic learner who is examining how existing and emerging information & communications technologies and services are redefining formal andinformal learning scenarios. The expected result of this talk will be to ultimately inspire those in attendance to gain a clearer perspective on how we are shaping the future of learning.



Deadline: December 23rd 2008

[email protected]

http://www.iwm-kmrc.de/workshops/e-learning-patterns/

mailto:[email protected]



Review on formative e-Assessment Paper on the CoMo case study Symposium on pattern methodologies

http://www.cal-conference.elsevier.com/



July 8-12, 2009, Irsee Monastery, Bavaria

Deadline: February 14, 2009

http://www.hillside.net/europlop/

http://flickr.com/photos/ademaraguiar/



Thank you

The pattern language network project:http://patternlanguagenetwork.org

Yishay Mor

http://www.lkl.ac.uk/people/mor.html

[email protected]

This presentation

http://patternlanguagenetwork.org/


Eduserv Digital Identities Workshop

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