Leveraging Knowledge Structures for Reflective Practice

1. Using knowledge structures toenhance reflective practiceLou McGill, University of StrathclydeAllison Littlejohn, University of Dundee

2. Project team JISC/NSF Project 2003-2008 • Stanford University - Centre for Design Research • University of Strathclyde • Department of Design, Manufacture and Engineering Management • Centre for Academic Practice • Centre for Digital Library Research • Learning Services

3. Project vision To enhance student learning opportunities by enabling them to participate in global team based designengineering projects that give them work experience within multi-cultural contexts. Make this possible through a range of informationandcommunication technologies.

4. What is design engineering? • What characterizes project based design learning? • hands on learn by doing • extreme constructivism • What are the defining attributes? • open-ended scenarios demanding creativity • no pre-defined information requirements • no right answer • How does one approach these scenarios? • find, create, and reuse information • using the widest possible range of resources • not just engineering

5. What is informal design knowledge? • Informal knowledge is found in casual design documents (notes, sketches, photos, email, blogs, draft documents) • Informal knowledge is created during design activity and reflection. • Authorship is often ambiguous. • Difficult to capture, share and re-use • How do we support students to do this? FORMAL INFORMAL

6. LauLima Learning Environment (LLE) a workspace environment: point of need LauLima Digital Library (LDL) longer term; reuse by staff and students ICT infrastructure INFORMAL & DYNAMIC FORMAL & MORE PERMANENT Storing and sharing content Group Collaboration/ Team Communication Cross team activities Workflow Management (Process) Manipulation of Information Capturing tacit dimension Knowledge Structuring Retrieval of resources Reuse of student-generated resources, design concepts and learning processes Quality Metadata and standards Granularity

7. Some Learning & Teaching issues

8. Classroom exampleIce crusher project • 3rd year project to develop a proof-of-concept model of a domestic ice crushing machine • Collaborative team-based project • Combination of face-to-face and online activities • Reflective learning/Problem-based learning • To understand the importance of reflective practice, information and knowledge construction to the design process Learning literacies • Tool literacy – shared workspaces, wiki environment • Digital literacy – creating content • Information literacy – sourcing, organising content • Critical literacy – evaluating content • Communication and Team literacies – collaborative design

9. Ice crusher project Format • Week 1 – Introduction • Week 2 - Searching, storing & organizing information • Week 3 - Exploring & selecting concepts • Weeks 4 & 5 - Developing & testing concept • Week 6 – Demonstration of final concept and presentation of content on LauLima Assessment • a series of reflective project logs • final presentations using team wiki pages • demonstration of proof-of-concept models

10. Concept mapping • Teams were asked to develop a concept map and then asked to reflect on how far it helped them to: • Understand connections and relationships between concepts – mapping the design problem • Break down the problem into manageable chunks and assign team roles • Identifying search terms - broader, narrower, related, synonyms, acronyms, alternative spellings, etc. • Organise their information within file folders • Uploading files – applying indexing terms • In reflective logs students also identified this activity as an effective ice breaker for the teams

15. Student reflection • Team reflection • on how the concept mapping activity supported their understanding of the design problem, the development of a search strategy, allocation of roles and organising their content (see printed sheet) • on concept generation and evaluation • on concept model and the design process • Consensus of experience and understanding – engage with questions at a team level • Provided tutors with an ongoing record of team understanding and approaches (in conjunction with other content)

23. Issues • Impact on Learning – Which learning? • Impact of concept mapping exercise and reflection on final design • Impact on their learning – information literacy, organisation, team working, communication • Some other issues • Re-use – granularity issue, de-personalisation, rights ownership • Team reflection vs. individual reflection • Role of tutors – training they need to be facilitators in an electronic environment • Linking to formal e-portfolios

24. Activity/Discussion • In pairs • Try to identify a learning activity or learning project which may benefit from this type of approach (ie concept mapping/reflective logs). • What impact is this likely to have on the outcome of individual learning objectives? (ie will it help students produce a better output, improve their learning literacies or both?) • Who would support this learning – do other people need to get involved (librarians, IT staff, educational developers, learning technologists)?