Students intending to work in professional design fields (e.g. architecture, educational design, engineering, product design) require a rich understanding of the multifaceted, team-based design processes they are most likely to encounter in their professions. The RICH (Relevance, Inquiry and Challenge in Higher-Ed) learning approach addresses this need by leveraging inquiry-based learning pedagogy, combined with easy to use learning tools to document and present project progress as well as provide timely feedback, transparency and opportunities for reflection. Through this process, students learn to integrate contrasting (and sometimes contradictory) examples as well as gain an appreciation for designing, implementing and evaluating ideas in varied real world contexts. / / STRUCTURE OF SESSION: In this 90 minute workshop, I will provide an overview of the RICH Learning approach including its guiding principles, the research that supports these principles and the learning theories from which this framework is derived. I will then share the basic structure of a semester long course that includes a series of cyclical and repeating technology-enhanced activities. Participants in the workshop will simulate the student and instructor role in a compressed version of one cycle of activities. Finally, I will share examples of culminating projects, the technology platform that supports this approach (I used Google sites, but other platforms are easily substituted) and student reactions to this approach.and long term outcome data are currently in progress and may be ready to share by the time of the ELD conference. / / OUTCOMES: / Audience will… / / 1. Understand the cognitive challenges students face in learning complex design processes within an academic context / / 2. Understand the typical challenges educators face when teaching for this type of learning within an academic context / a. Recap some of the inherent tensions in teaching in a decontextualized environment that is quite different from where these processes will actually be used (e.g. the well-known issues of transference, goal orientedness, qualifications of the instructor, etc) / b. Briefly examine typical methods of teaching and challenges associated with these methods (e.g. that courses are either too simple and decontextualized and leave students with an overly simplistic mental model (or ‘script’), or they are too unstructured, using project or studio based learning as a way to apply models in real world context, but failing to adequately impart an appreciation of the ways these processes should be adapted depending on the goals of the project). / / 3. Become acquainted with the guiding principles behind the RICH learning approach, the research that supports this approach, how the approach may be adapted, common pitfalls and tips to prevent them, role of the instructor, technology, etc. / / 4. Know where to go for more information on this approach, including exemplars and further research / /Other Comments:
Keywords: collaboration, flipped pedagogy, problem-based learning,
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