I’m Jolanda Morkel, a senior lecturer in Architecture at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) and CPUT co-ordinator of the blended part time BTech programme in Architectural Technology presented in collaboration with OpenArchitecture. The programme optimises on-campus, office-based and online learning. I am passionate about using ICT to mediate learning, especially learning that is achieved through projects through enquiry and solving problems. I look foward to learning from my peers.

I am keen to meet you and happy to be one of the facilitators on this course. I live in Stellenbosch in the Western Cape of South Africa and teach in the Department of Architectual Technology at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Our campus is on the foreshore in Cape Town, so I have the best of both worlds: semi-rural winelands and bustling city life! Together with Daniela Gachago, I have run a number of digital storytelling projects at different academic levels and with different educational focii, in our department. We have done some interesting research on how digital storytelling can enhance learning and what other advantages it has for self-awareness, professional identity and unlocking indigenous knowledge, to name but a few. I look forward to seeing you in the forum here, the live online meetings and the facebook group.

Lawson (2005) suggests that design thinking enables negotiation between the problem and the solution spaces. In an iterative design process, you regularly revisit the problem and reframe it, so as you move closer to the solution, the problem crystalizes.

[Jolanda]

Design is problem finding, not just problem solving

Follow the link and read the short piece. Do you agree? Tell us what you think.

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by Jolanda.

Hi Jerome, I had a look at the templates you shared and wonder whether there is adequate room on the template to represent the learning activities and also to reflect on the learning and teaching. I am thinkng more and more that we really need to build a repository of learning designs in the African context and elsewhere to comment on and refer to. What do you think?

Jerome, the facebook uptake varies from student group to student group. I have not been able to figure out whether it is discipline/ profession related. Engineering students hate to use facebook for social learning, whereas architecture students love it. If there’s no real benefit, they won’t be interested. It works well for architecture students because graphic material that is important for their design development, is shared. My part time students love it because it creates a community of practice off campus.

I look forward to other views and experiences shared on this interesting topic!

Great idea, Jerome and Ruth. Just say how I can help.

Thanks Jerome, for sharing before you even saw my request 😉 I am keen to have a look and will chat soon!

Hi Jerome, I agree that the strength of Carpe Diem lies the team-based and collaborative focus. Your approach to keep referring back to the “advertorial” or mission statement is crucial, perhaps comparable to Gilly’s “blueprint” stage. Would you mind sharing your course development template with the group, or at least describe it in a bit more detail?

We plan to use Carpe Diem as a framework to guide a face to face learning design workshop in our undergraduate architecure programme, scheduled for 24 and 25 November!

Sorry, Jerome. We missed you. The recording should be available soon – watch this space and on facebook, and please continue discussing in the forums.

Kate, that’s really exciting. What about using the recording of today’s session to convince your team?

Gilly, could one say that, in addition to “assessment (is) carefully chosen against learning outcomes, not as a way of forcing ‘engagement”, the learning design wrt assesment also depends on the context, available technologies, the nature of the students etc.

Here is a first stab at a quick comparison between the 7Cs, Carpe Diem and the model (based on Lawson) that we use – see pdf attached.

I also rather like this simple graphic representation of an iterative design cycle: http://curtisbestdesign.wordpress.com/2012/06/04/how-to-design-a-logo/logo-design-process/

Attachments:

You must be logged in to view attached files.

Gilly, the design process that we model to our students, is an iterative process based on the model of Lawson (2005) https://www.uop.edu.jo/download/Research/members/%5BArchitecture_Ebook%5D_How_Designers_Think_-_The_Design_Process_Demystified.pdf:

INITIATION problem definition
PREPARATION gathering info, analysis
PROPOSAL MAKING concept, idea, framework
EVALUATION evaluating idea, proposal

and, if needed, starting all over…

I support the idea of writing a mission statement for the unit/ course/ module – imagining a graduate ‘in ten years time’. We refer to that stage as the “Design intent” (before formulating the concept). That probably fits with the “preparation” stage above (your “blueprint stage ?). Furthermore, my experience is that it is very important to conceptualise/ ideate before getting in to the detail – somewhere between your “blueprint” and “storybord” stages?

Your thoughts?