The Show Must Go On
Remote Education Must Not Pretend To Be Something It Is Not
WEEKS 1 and 2 (June 1–14)
What lessons might we learn from the advent of past technologies? In 1929, in the Soviet Union, director Dzyga Vertov released the film Man With A Movie Camera. (This post is about remote learning and specifically studio education, but before I get into that, my hope is to provide some framing and context for how I am thinking about this problem. My sources of inspiration might differ from yours, but just go along with it.) This film was groundbreaking for many reasons: it lacks the traditional narrative structure of heroes and villains, instead operating purely through the power of perspective, capturing the everyday lives of a modern city (using shots filmed in Kiev, Moscow, and Odessa) the film made use of stop-motion animation, multiple exposures, and employed hidden cameras to capture candid moments from unsuspecting subjects. It was also one the earliest aggressive, unapologetic departures from a paradigm of using motion pictures as a means of recreating the stage play.
After completing my degree at CMU, a professor reached out to me about a research project to investigate potential strategies/tools/approaches for remote learning (in the context of COVID-19), and what it might mean for providing a design education. Working with a team of graduate students, and lead by Prof. Stacie Rohrbach, we intend to deliver our findings in time for the Fall 2020 semester. This is an entirely new approach. In the spring semester, we simply had no choice but to closedown the universities and switch to an online format. Many of the policy choices were made out of a triage mindset. This was, in every sense, an emergency. Faced with such a challenge, it is natural and intuitive to ask: how might we recreate studio-based education through remote learning? Answering this question is not easy, but there are countless opportunities to improve the current methods.
Over the last two weeks, I have conducted interviews with educators, staff, and students, to ask them about their experiences with remote learning, to better understand the problem from the perspectives of different stakeholders. This early exploration has generated dozens and dozens of insights, as I and several team members have compiled interview notes in Miro.
We have yet to map and sort this bountiful collection of data, nevertheless, patters have begun to present themselves. For educators, it is difficult to teach using traditional (i.e., in-person) methods. There are adjustments that have helped, but nothing to recreate the experience of being present in a classroom. Video conferencing throughout the day is exhausting. The social interactions that help students see things from different perspectives are entirely absent. Many methods of electronic communication are overly formal, or require advanced scheduling. Asynchronous methods of producing content have not been fully explored. And much, much more. Generally speaking, educators are concerned about being able to offer the high quality education that students are expecting. Likewise, many students are concerned about their ability to meet the high expectations of a top-tier institution. The quality of studio work has suffered, and without access to campus and facilities, there are serious limitations to what students can produce through independent study.
In The Third Teacher (2010, O’Donnell, et. al.) Ken Robinson said to
“look at your learning space through 21st century eyes: does it work for what we know about learning today, or just for what we knew about learning in the past?”
This question has been weighing on me since this process began. In the Spring semester, it made sense to attempt to “recreate” the experience of in-person education. Professors make a serious investment to develop their syllabus and plan a semester. These carefully crafted plans could not be replaced mid-semester. The only way to complete the semester was to continue as best we could. This way of thinking cannot continue in 2020–2021 academic year. Going forward, we must expand our thinking and see things with fresh eyes. We must not think about remote learning as a way to synthesize something else, and instead embrace remote learning for what it is. Man With A Movie Camera did not answer the question of how we might film the stage, instead it thought about what a camera could capture.
Next steps: we have collected a lot of information from interviews. I believe that mapping these observations will help us to see the landscape of our problem and to understand the primary thinking of key stakeholders. As a thought exercise, I will attempt to interpret this information as though campus does not exist — for now at least, it does not. What if the whole education system did not exist, and learning through remote tools was the norm? For now, it is. The coming semester need not be a repeat of the past. This is something new, and there lies beneath the surface untold potential for doing things differently. This might include leveraging platforms that are not officially sanctioned by the university, as these spaces are just as valid as an off-campus cafe or bar. Nostalgia is not an obstacle if we do not make it one. We must think about learning and not the stage.
WEEK 3 (June 14–21)
Mapping of stakeholders and interview insights has continued, but I have been pulled away to work on another project with Dezudio and Brooklyn LAB Charter Schools. This week has been a non-stop design charrette between multiple team and a handful of non-profits. We’re pushing to have our first draft complete in time for a press release, and I should be back soon to continue working on this project.
Possible Interventions
Examining stakeholders, tools, and approaches
WEEK 4 (June 22–28)
I began this week by reading Chapters three and seven of Design for how People Learn. In chapter three, Dirksen provides a helpful framework for different categories of learning gaps (i.e., skills, knowledge, motivation, communication, environment). The descriptions served as a useful heuristic for sorting interviewee insights. Chapter three was also a much-needed refresher. For the last two weeks, most of my focus was diverted to another project and I felt it was important to review the most relevant material.
Why do we even care about so many different learning gaps? I think there is some impulse to mostly blame environment and narrowly focus on that aspect. Indeed, that learning gap cluster is disproportionately large next to its counterparts, which is what you might expect, given that we are essentially trying to figure out how to have classes without classrooms, and studio courses without a studio. It is not much of a surprise to find that environment is a dominant factor.
The primary reason we are examining other learning gaps is to help break down this very large problem (remote learning during a pandemic) into smaller and more manageable parts. Dirksen describes this approach as one that is useful for problems that are too big to be precise, by analogy of telling someone to “Meet me in Africa.” It’s a clear direction, but lacks enough detail for specific actions.
In chapter seven, Dirksen describes the learning process for developing skills. I chose this particular chapter for two reasons: first, I noticed that while mapping our interview insights into categories of learning gaps, the skills gap clusters were the least populated.
I’ve always had an affinity for outliers, and wanted to reexamine this category, to better understand why so few insights map onto it. The second reason is that I wanted to interrogate the possibility of overlap. While reading chapter three, I noticed that in one of the examples used to demonstrate the relationship between gaps, goals, and possible solutions included an instance where multiple gaps were consolidated.
Much of what we study in the School of Design revolves around theories and fundamentals. A sizable portion of the deliverable work is project-oriented and requires students to apply theory through synthesis and in some cases through making or prototyping. Skills tend to be acquired through practice. Then, through peer and instructor feedback, further refinement helps to direct those skills toward high proficiency. This process has certainly been disrupted during our transition to remote learning, but most of our insights point toward other root causes.
One possible explanation for the sparsity is that CMU already maintains a high standard of rigorous academics. Students and instructors are likely to already possess the skills necessary to overcome changes in learning format, provided that other gaps are properly addressed. It is possible that were we to conduct interviews with other institutions, we might find additional insights that fit within this category.
Working with Amrita, we managed to find a wealth of useful information about this problem, and I am excited to see where we might take some of these findings. Most of my refinement and insight sorting focused on communication gaps (instructor insights) and knowledge gaps (student insights), so I will do my best to provide additional details about these areas.
COMMUNICATION GAPS (Instructor interview insights)
This cluster contains five subcategories:
- Space and time
- Establishing trust
- Student and teacher roles
- Social cohesion
- “lost in translation”
SPACE AND TIME
This cluster addresses communication gaps related to synthesizing metaphorical space for meaningful interaction and how scheduling can be leveraged to improve communication between instructors, students, and peers. Many of these insights relate to environment, and the absence of physical transition between sessions.
Framing questions:
- How might we facilitate informal student/teacher interaction?
- How might we better use technology to communicate?
Possible interventions (from insights on green post-its) include:
- Exploring other digital platforms to facilitate interaction
- Scheduling time for less formal interaction
- Small group collaboration
- Dedicated peer-review time
As mentioned earlier, chapter three (Dirksen) shows that some problems represent multiple gaps for learners. In this case, we can see how communication and environment have significant overlap. Interventions in this subcategory are also likely to overlap as a result and deserve further exploration.
ESTABLISHING TRUST
This cluster addresses communication gaps related to building/establishing trust and mutual communication.
Framing questions:
- How might we encourage transparency and invite candid conversation?
- How might we support/improve sharing and collaboration?
Possible interventions (from insights on green post-its) include:
- Developing a community of mutual support
- Allotting time for candid conversation and sharing between groups
STUDENT AND TEACHER ROLES
This cluster addresses communication gaps related to an intersection of student roles and faculty needs. Instructors have indicated a desire to record higher quality demonstrations and other content. Students have expressed confusion and low fidelity experiences on webcam. Instructors have also expressed a desire to have more informal communication with students and improved collaboration.
Framing questions:
- How might we facilitate informal student/teacher interaction?
- How might we support/improve faculty-generated content?
Possible interventions (from insights on green post-its) include:
- Hiring/Assigning more students to work as dedicated TAs (this could be a paid position or taken as an elective for credit)
- Hiring/Assigning students to work as a film crew (this could be a paid position or taken as an elective for credit)
Proposing these interventions this early in the process might be premature, but I am choosing to include them now as a helpful framing for future discussions about interventions. In both instances, there is potential for mutual benefit to both students and teachers.
SOCIAL COHESION, MEANS AND APPROACHES OF COMMUNICATION
There are many obstacles to communicating while also observing social distancing. This can have a chilling effect on critique and in-class discussion. Additionally, poor communication impedes the formation of durable cohort relationships, which are an essential part of the college experience.
This cluster addresses communication gaps related to long and short-term bonding and obstacles to interacting in ways that are personally meaningful.
Framing questions:
- How might we foster social interactions to aid academic and personal growth?
- How might we facilitate meaningful peer-to-peer/faculty interaction?
Possible interventions (from insights on green post-its) include:
- Scheduling dedicated time for peer reviews
- Faculty embracing synchronous, text-based forms of communication that do not require body language or facial expressions
Knowing what instructors want/need to communicate can help to inform the decision behind choosing an appropriate channel of communication. Providing some guidance can drastically reduce the cognitive load behind making that selection. By and through encouraging appropriate channels, we can also help foster the impromptu communications that help to build community and a sense of belonging among peers.
LOST IN TRANSLATION
This cluster addresses communication gaps related to the limitations of the videoconference format.
Framing questions:
- How might we provide students with the benefits of lecture?
- How might we facilitate the interactions that are beneficial to studio work?
Possible interventions (from insights on green post-its) include:
- Seek alternative platforms to facilitate lectures and studio work (what format besides video conference?)
This subcategory leads to more questions than answers. Some forms of communication are better suited for conveying specific types of information, but no method alone can meet all communication needs. Finding other methods of communication might be appropriate to address this particular gap.
Before I describe the insights for the next learning gap (knowledge gaps identified from student interview insights) I want to take a moment to return to Design for how People Learn. In chapter three Dirksen points out that there are times when a real-world task to demonstrate knowledge might not be feasible or practical and that “doing backflips” to meet some learning goals is evidence that further unpacking might be needed. I think that might be true for this category, as some of the interventions still come across as too general to be actionable (“Meet me in Africa”). I think that as we continue to explore tools and approaches, we might also notice opportunities for specific interventions to address knowledge gaps, and this ought to be something we keep in mind as we assess different platforms and their affordances.
KNOWLEDGE GAPS (Student interview insights)
This cluster contains four subcategories:
- Tools, approaches, and platform (includes working in project teams)
- Roles and expectations
- Health and Safety
- Support and Resources
TOOLS, APPROACHES, AND PLATFORMS
This cluster addresses knowledge gaps related to use of digital platforms. Interviewees indicated that there were many obstacles to gaining knowledge.
Framing questions:
- How might we ensure that students and instructors know which platforms are appropriate for the desired interaction?
- How might knowledge of platforms improve interaction for common activities (e.g., studio critique, lecture)?
Possible interventions include:
- Leveraging webcams to share demonstrations
- Community and small group sharing events
- Sharing medium posts
- Scheduling critique
- Encourage students to be visible on camera
ROLES AND EXPECTATIONS
This cluster addresses knowledge gaps related to roles and expectations. Interviewees indicated that there were instances of not knowing or clearly understanding what was expected of them or others.
Framing question:
- How might we ensure that students know what they are supposed to learn and how to learn it well?
Possible interventions include:
- How might students better connect to information about their roles and responsibilities?
HEALTH AND SAFETY
This cluster addresses knowledge gaps related to health and safety.
Framing question:
- How might we ensure that students know how to conduct their daily activities in a safe manner?
- How might knowledge serve students with financial hardship?
I do not have any interventions for this subcategory, as I believe that these concerns are beyond the scope of our research. Nevertheless, these insights are necessary, as health and safety are now much larger factors in an academic setting (and everywhere else, for that matter).
SUPPORT AND RESOURCES
This cluster addresses knowledge gaps related to resources and support. Interviewees indicated confusion and or ignorance of information that disrupted (or may disrupt) the learning process.
Framing questions:
- How might we ensure that students know of resources that will support their learning?
- How might students find other channels, approaches, or resources of knowledge to improve learning?
Possible interventions include:
- Mounted cameras for more professional content
- Recorded class sessions for later review and asynchronous learning
- Relating content from different classes
- More transparency regarding school plans/response to COVID-19
NEXT STEPS
This week I also explored different tools for collaborating, communicating, and making non-physical objects through 3D Design (CAD) and rendering engines. While this dataset has gotten fairly well populated (huge shoutout to Anna for putting so much detailed information together on Google Sheets). I believe that sorting and mapping insights about these tools onto our stakeholder map and learning gap clusters will yield some interesting results and drive further refinement of ideas for interventions.
A-Hunting We Will Go
Notes on process
WEEK 5 (June 29– July 04)
I want to preface this post with an explanation. While reading this post, expect there to be irregularities and typos. Despite my best efforts, I am typing this entirely with my thumbs on an iPhone. It’s the only reliable platform I can use to post to Medium at the moment. Additionally, this post is about process. I am going to summarize what I have been doing this week, but the main focus is about how I did this and why.
This weekend, I have reconnected with some folks who knew me years before I began studying and thinking about design. This has led to some very fundamental questions about what it is (exactly) that I am doing. This week, I have been hunting. The stakeholder map has been my territory to prowl and to pounce as valuable insights hold still, attempting to blend into their surroundings.
Reading chapter three of Design for how People Learn, Dirksen posits that before you can design a learning experience, you must first know what problem you are trying to solve. There is an impulse to jump from directly from problem to solution. This direct approach is flawed, because the framing is narrowly focused on seeking solutions without regard for the preferred state. It is an exercise in negation.
To better understand the insights from our student and faculty interviews, we began to assemble our insights into a Google Sheet; we then began sorting insights into columns assigned to represent three key elements: the existing state, the preferred state, and ideas for bridging the gaps. Although we had already sorted and clustered post-its to categories of learning gaps, we did not yet have a structured way of linking our interview insights under this framework, and Google Sheets was a logical place to migrate from our Miro board.
In practice, this process began to feel like a mixture of hunting and playing with Lego blocks. The “hunting” aspect involved identifying insights that would fit within those three categories. The Lego aspect involved trying to find a way to fit these insights together after sorting them.
Some of the challenges I identified during this process: while there are certainly patterns that support certain placements to align insights as potential ways to bridge gaps, the general ambiguity of interview insights makes an already fuzzy process feel somewhat uncertain. Further refinement and reflection of ideas is likely warranted, and I wonder if follow-up interviews would be valuable or necessary.
There tended to be a vague quality to many of the responses we received to questions concerning hopes and aspirations, and I wonder if some of this might stem from the open-ended nature of the interview questions and interview format. I wonder if we might have found out more if I had pushed for further specificity with some of the responses I recorded from interviews.
Despite these challenges, the insights and their alignment with potential ideas for bridging learning gaps are compelling. We can clearly identify some trends in the thinking from students and faculty:
- Stakeholders desire more support than what was offered in the spring semester
- Stakeholders desire standardization of modes for communicating while working remotely
- Environmental and Communication gaps are significant and will require parity in measures as response
- Scheduling is both a major point of leverage, and also an area that lacks clarity for both faculty and staff
Next Steps: we may want to expand our search for potential ideas by including more synthesis of ideas, as well as including insights from mismatched primary learning gap categories (e.g., Environmental, Skills, Knowledge, etc.)
Reflections from the 5th of July meeting
Notes on next steps
I have reviewed the meeting materials (the recording and notes were very helpful; thanks, Stacie!) and have some reflections to share. This does not compensate for being absent from the meeting, but rather it is an effort to communicate the ideas I would (likely/probably?) have shared if I were present. Some of these ideas might already be irrelevant as team members continue working on different components of the project, but maybe this will still serve as a useful reference.
Learning Gaps and Tools:
Anna assembled a map in Miro, and as I understand it, the color/category relationships are:
- Blue Post-Its = key insights from interviews (copied from Stakeholder Mapping)
- Yellow Post-its = tools to bridge the gaps (generalized/abstracted to high-level functions)
Michelle has agreed to help develop this map. Stacie recommends that we replace the text from the blue post-its with the identified learning gaps/challenges and then proceed to remap, but there is also concern that this might involve some degree of “busy-work.”
Learning Gaps:
The spreadsheet does not yet have good population under the tools/approaches column. We need to combine Tools and Approaches mapping (from Anna) to this sheet to expand how we intend to bridge the identified learning gaps. The two ideas that Stacie switched were mine, and I can see why — their new placement is more relevant to the assigned categories.
Visual Guides:
We will be making an InDesign Document (template/resource) “Quickstart Guide” for tools. Dan Lockton has suggested creating a list of people who have experience with specific tools (i.e., software/platforms). We might also want to consider peer-support in a directory format, but there is a concern that this might be overwhelming for the “experts” getting inundated with tech support requests — yikes.
The Monday faculty meeting presentation did not include current documentation — in its current state, the data is still too raw, and not ready for general consumption. While there is an impressive and thorough assembly of our data, it is not productive to use it for presentation material. Primarily this is due to its lack of clarity. For our next steps we must pivot to outward bound communication (for faculty and students).
Further synthesis is necessary. We must also craft a narrative (some synopsis of our research process). Stacie has suggested that we divide up the components of our research process/workflow and develop a concise (i.e., one paragraph) description. Components to cover include:
- Steps taken (pulling from the research team Medium posts)
- Interviews
- Our approach to stakeholder mapping (I am happy to take on this paragraph, and whatever else is needed)
- Our assessment of tools and approaches
- Identifying the learning gaps
- Preferred states
- Ideas for bridging gaps
- Recommendations
Website creation notes:
- Made with Wordpress (good for co-developing)
If co-development and collaborating is a major consideration, we might want to consider leveraging the Wordpress Figma developer kit assets: https://make.wordpress.org/design/2018/11/19/figma-for-wordpress/ This would allow for more seamless integration between the site and Wordpress-native visual assets. Figma also supports exporting elements as CSS which is another benefit. I contacted the development team on slack and got read-only permissions. I can share this content with the rest of the team.
Another platform we might want to consider: https://elementor.com/pricing/
There is a free options available, and I think it would meet our needs. In terms of value, it provides for more robust editing and design than the default UI of Wordpress, while still maintaining the flexibility of using themes and editing CSS.
My contributions:
Here are some areas where I believe I can help move this project forward:
- Editing copy (You folks were spot on: I love writing and editing. Give me topics to distill or synthesize. I’m here for it, and would love to collaborate with anyone and everyone on this)
- Website development
I’m a novice when it comes to web development, but I am resourceful and can find existing solutions that are appropriate to our needs. I can also do some grunt work, and have been tinkering in this space since the days of 1990s geocities and raw html editing.
In terms of expanding our preferred state and possible ways to bridge the gaps, I have found a few articles inspiring (I also shared some of these links earlier in the week via Slack):
https://www.chronicle.com/article/5-Ways-to-Connect-With-Online/249077?cid=wcontentgrid_hp_9
“Oops Tokens”
- This is a great idea with a terrible name. Maybe we can call them something else? It makes sense for schools to address the abnormality of this environment with a formal system. When students need special consideration or exemptions, these tokens can be exchanged for an extension on projects/papers, or an opportunity to make corrections to an assignment for additional points/credit. Giving students these “tokens” will help to activate compassion without pressured disclosure. For environmental gaps, these tokens serve as a tool for mitigating the inevitable disruptions (from not just COVID-19, but also from civil unrest, and an unstable economy).
- I think that we can also create more community bonding and trust if instructors also make use of these tokens. It is highly likely that disruptions to instructors (including mental health considerations from the added stress and isolation) will cause unexpected challenges and interruptions. If instructors can also exchange these tokens with their students when more flexibility/patience/forgiveness is necessary, it will help instill a sense of mutual trust and understanding. I don’t need to state the obvious in terms of stakes, but unless we want people to suffer in silence, we absolutely must be more vulnerable with each other right now.
Leverage short videos
- This article also aligns with several insights from interviews: producing short video content (this is true for students but especially for instructors) is valuable and helps to reduce “zoom fatigue.”
- For Instructors, this means posting short video demos to emphasize specific skills or techniques. It also means producing short video clips to communicate feedback to individual students. This content can then be consumed asynchronously.
- Zoom sessions do not afford comfortable discussion among large groups. In the past, instructors may have opted to have their students write short reflections and comments in via canvas or excel to supplement this shortcoming. While there is value in writing down ideas, we might also consider having students record a short video response to a classmate and to then chain these video clips together into a linear discussion. The chain would help to maintain peer-accountability, while being flexible enough to adjust to student needs in a chaotic environment.
Accessibility and inclusion considerations:
I found this article somewhat alarming in the face of our current process, but I think we still have time to include the necessary considerations: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/mollyhensleyclancy/coronavirus-college-closures-trans-students
This article focuses on a specific set of circumstances (challenges for gender and sexual minority groups), but I think it also speaks broadly to the reality of this situation and how it might impact some students with greater severity.
I am concerned that with our current process we might create solutions that are needlessly generalized and overlook the needs of our most vulnerable community members. I am not really sure how to correctly address this, but fear that the results of our research might lead to circumstances where some students are left behind at crucial points in their already difficult academic journey. If anyone has thoughts or suggestions to address this, I am open to hear it.
Empathy-building (a fantastic interactive learning experience):
Cait Kirby (https://caitkirby.com) is a PhD candidate, science advocate, and educator. Their work came onto my radar when they released a pair of text-based games to help distill the range of difficulties and fears, for students and instructors in the COVID-19 environment. Click here to play: https://caitkirby.com/downloads/October1st2020.html
The website also includes some fantastic learning theory resources: https://caitkirby.com/resources.html
Next steps: I will draft synopsis for the different steps and components of our process and await feedback.
Update
Notes on efforts for week 6
(July 5–11)
This update will be a bit shorter than previous posts. Much of this week’s efforts have already been outlined in the July 5 meeting reflection post above. Some additional efforts of note: I captured images for our Tools/Approaches inventory, my focus was to capture relevant software features. These images came from a combination of official product pages, and YouTube tutorials. I also discovered some interesting use cases:
https://www.figma.com/community/file/829756731869897668
This interaction could help to familiarize students with the platform UI and features while also promoting social bonding. Michelle mentioned investigating Minecraft as a means of casual collaboration, and I am excited to see how we might apply these resources. The area where I see the most potential is with our incoming Freshmen. The social cohesion gaps in online learning is a concern generally, but is perhaps most deeply felt by those who lack previous in-person interaction with peers.
On Stacie’s recommendation, I also updated the Learning Gaps spreadsheet to include the ideas inspired by articles I previously shared with the research team via Slack. This process was intuitive, and I found opportunities in our existing categories; Environment and Motivation had some overlap, and I am curious about what others think of these potential interventions.
Website content
I took a crack at writing a second draft based on Stacie’s overview (Section 2a.) My edit is a bit longer and uses much of the same descriptive language. I did not include a count of the interviewees in my edit. From reading our interview notes, I counted 29 individuals. The draft cited a count of 20, but I am not sure if there is a qualifying reason. My draft:
2.a Overview of Interviews
To ensure that we collected a wide range of experiences, interviewees were selected to include the perspectives of instructors and students across our undergraduate, masters, doctoral programs. We asked participants a series of standardized questions to help identify what did and did not go well in the second half of the semester, and to inventory their fears, concerns, hopes, and aspirations for returning to school in the fall. We concluded interviews by asking participants what specific tools and approaches they leveraged or would like to try in the future.
3.a High-Level Discoveries
On a high-level, interviews revealed a general desire for more institutional support and standardized modes for communication. Environmental and communication gaps are significant, and scheduling is a major point of leverage but lacks clarity in a remote/online setting.
Next Steps: there are additional sections for our website that still need content. We have been advised to hold back on it for now, and I am interested to see what our approach will be. I also see opportunities for editing sections to prioritize specific information as some of our concepts and approaches become more firm.
Website content update
Notes on week 7 (12–18 July): synthesis for website material
I am very pleased to see the content for our website begin to take form. It has certainly been a journey. This week, Anna and I coordinated our efforts to translate our tools/approaches sheet into website-bound content. Early into our sorting process — migrating cell content to a new document — we noticed that the formatting of content varied quite a bit from one entry to the next.
Some entries were in an essay format, while others were a collection bullet points. This makes sense as we had multiple contributors on this section of the project, and our team pulled information from a variety of sources. To respond to this incongruence, we decided to simplify and standardize our categories, prioritizing information most relevant to students and instructors.
The goal of this is to help people find what they need at a glance, while still providing human language and syntax to the descriptions of useful tools and approaches. The essay formatted content is valuable because it affords human language and clarity. It does not however, present well when placed inside a table. We determined that tables populated with a standardized bullet point format would be more appropriate and beneficial to users. While a single summary statement could augment this information, we also recognized a need for further synthesis.
We developed a workflow to accomplish this task. We have a new template to capture key aspects, and have agreed to a format for the summary statement and table content. Here is an example of this new format:
SolidWorks
Summary
SolidWorks is a Windows-based 3D CAD program and a popular tool used by professional engineers and designers. The software features a modern UI and an expansive toolset for designing 3D assemblies and simulations for prototype validation. Generally regarded as an industry standard, it provides a responsive 3D environment and concept-to-fabrication workflow. This robust set of features comes with a premium price, however; a single commercial license costs $3,995 and includes an annual service fee. Student licenses are available with an annual fee of $99. Although SolidWorks is intended for use on a Windows-based PC, it is possible to run it on MacOS through virtualization, but this uses is not officially supported.
Reference Link
Features
•Collaboration
•Simulations
•Visualization
•Modern UI/UX
Primary Use
•2D/3D CAD
•Non-physical prototyping
•Design to fabrication workflow
Alternate use
None.
For instructors
•Teaching form, material, lighting and space
•Teaching fabrication methods
•Coursework with 3D objects as deliverables
For students
•Product design
•Industrial design
•Engineering
Limitations
•Not supported on Macs
•Parallels/virtualization software performs poorly
•Computationally demanding
Cost
•Educational licensing ($99/year)
•$3,995 commercial license
•$1,295 annual maintenance fee
Similar tools
•Rhino
•Fusion 360
•Inventor
•Sketchup
•Shapr3D
As you can see, this structure is fairly consistent, and combines both human language and specific information placed within simplified categories.
Next steps: we still need to apply this new format to other categories. I have only completed this process for the 3D tools section, Anna and I will continue working on this together. I have not yet developed any visual concepts for addressing learning gaps, and I still believe that this would be valuable. Depending on how much more time is needed to complete the Tools and Approaches section, I may be able to tackle that this week.
Smoky Fingers
Notes on my efforts for WEEK 8 (July 19–25)
The vast majority of my efforts this week have gone into my keyboard: hammering away at sentences and synthesizing blocks of written content. Writing about writing is a workplace hazard, but don’t worry, we’ll get through this together, and I promise to be concise…-ish! For context this reflects a continuation of last week’s efforts. Our research team has been working from a shared written outline, preparing content for the website: https://designingforhybridlearningexperiences.wordpress.com
Working with Anna to transfer content from our Tools and Approaches spreadsheet, we applied our new template to dozens of entries. Through this process, I still struggled with ambiguity related to how we should address both learner and instructor benefits. Anna and I reached consensus late into this process, and further review is necessary for section 4. Stacie provided several edits to the completed sections and I believe I have resolved most, but not all of them, and will address this when I make my second pass to unify the student/instructor language.
Some of these sections were fairly light on detailed specifics and required additional research and cited sources. This led me down a wonderful JSTOR rabbit hole and I found an interesting 2013 study from Addis Ababa University (AAU), describing student’s experience with modular/hybrid learning for postgraduate students. While this study did not specifically address studio-based learning or a design curriculum, it did suggest some advantages and potential drawbacks to online learning which strongly correlated with insights we obtained from our student and faculty interviews.
I also completed another revision to Section 3f — High Level Discoveries. The new draft is less concise, but I believe the additional context and description of research methods will be beneficial to users of the site:
After we gathered ideas and recommendations from our student and faculty interviews, and distilled these insights into virtual post-its, which we could then sort and categorize according to Ambrose and Dirksen models (i.e., research-based principles, and methods for bridging learning gaps). This process revealed a pattern indicating a general desire for more institutional support and standardized modes for communication. In particular, students and faculty stated desires for changes to course structure and policies — concerns and challenges often related closely to organizational matters and challenges with effective communication. Environmental and communication gaps were significant in the online/remote portion of the spring semester, and interviews revealed a need for more formalized structures to permit greater flexibility in scheduling and accommodations to COVID-19 related disruptions to learning. Addressing motivational gaps through social and community interventions could be especially beneficial to first-year students. Facilitating pro-social conditions for community building and individual growth is a difficult challenge for any institution, and online/remote learning complicates this task with additional constraints.
Next Steps: We will be meeting to discuss remaining tasks for this project (including those outlined above). I do not know what else to anticipate at this time.
