Visual Communication Research 2019

This friday was the poster (visual reflection) moment. I had Lee as my 1-1 feedback person and I got some great feedback and encouragement from him to move forward with. Peer feedback:

Following up moments from the Xero grad night event ‘Xero Design - Wellington: Behind the Screens.’ Xero, 22 May 2019, Wellington, Event. 2 Awesome connections came out of this evening: I had a great chat with Peter Montgomery , the Creative Director at Xero, about my project. I sent a follow up message on LinkedIn that night, and have continued the conversation there. (He added his insights to the survey I'd made in week 4.) I also caught up with a previous mentor Kelcey Braine (Brand and Design Specialist at Creative HQ.) She got me in touch with a friend of hers who works as a design teacher in Wellington. Kelcey was kind enough to set up an email introduction and Laura and I have organised to have a coffee catch up Saturday the 8th June. 

Pettus, B. ’Justifying ART and Art Education.’ Create Art with Mrs. P! Blogger, 20 Mar. 2014. createartwithme.blogspot.com/2014/03/justifying-art-and-art-education.html Saw this poster pop up on my news feed today, really great summary of why creativity and arts is so important in education. And not just in the stereotypical visual arts classroom. My project is about creating teacher resources that help diversify class content. However when making a prototype it's probably a good idea for me to choose one class, or at least begin with one area from which to diversify. Eg, how can I bring creativity and other soft skills and learning styles into English?

Key Feedback ideas/points: Gamifying may just trivialise a very serious issue, be careful with the form of your prototypes. Chrome Toaster precedent Project based learning- giving real world application, understanding the  Really look into my idea of using students as part of the process- bringing them in and giving them autonomy and recognition. "School is the first step into the world."  -Samuel Pitcher. "Teaching something without students realising they're being taught."  -Ryan Walker. Perceptions about specific classes, eg 'gateway'.

Communication design can be used to improve student engagement by creating teacher resources that encourage a diverse and creative learning environment. (Secondary level) A recent NCEA review by the Ministry of Education has highlighted a number of issues, the need for greater teacher support among them. It’s well known (and researched) that teachers can make or break classroom atmospheres, yet many NZ teachers are overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated. So how can we expect teachers to create positive learning spaces under this immense workload and pressure?  The children of today, are the changemakers of tomorrow. But are New Zealand students being adequately prepared for the future?  Teachers aren’t being given the opportunity to teach to their full potential. They don’t have the time to pay attention to individual students differing needs, meaning that many students are slipping through cracks in the system, being forgotten and left behind with handicapp...

Key problems: Many students and teachers are feeling stressed and overwhelmed. Key aims: Improving student engagement through teacher/ student support. The theory: If teachers are better supported, they'll have more time and energy to spend on their students, therefore students will have a better classroom environment, which will lead to better student engagement and more effective learning overall. But how???... A manifesto for change. Outlining all my research, promoting my findings in a clear, succinct, and actionable way. Provide templates for change- taking the next step from just words. A template resource. (Eg using English/ maths and SHOW how to incorporate diversity into teaching.) Teachers are feeling overloaded, so what parts of their job could be made easier? How can we make the pedagogy process easier, faster, simpler, and more fair/ equal across schools and subjects. What to do when just designing an app/ poster/ website etc just doesn't feel right? ...

The feedback session from the 1-2-1 this Friday was awesome. I talked with Lee Jensen about how stuck I was feeling with the final 'outcome' and how the idea of an app or website just really wasn't inspiring me, and just doesn't feel right for me or this project. We talked about how my research has (despite my attempts to specify down) remained quite broad and focused on education as a system. Lee was able to validate my hunch that tackling this issue in it's broader sense is probably the most justified approach for this project. However going down this route will be difficult. I'll need to upskill and do a lot of research going deep into this topic. But this will allow me to explore what got me interested in education in the first place. I'll be able to study it as a system, challenging what education is, and why it's currently so restrictive. I could write a manifesto uprooting the traditional expectations of school- why we learn- where we learn...

Experience Mapping exercise from the 'understand' phase. This has helped get a clearer contextual understanding of where the pain points are for teachers in relation to their experiences dealing with unengaged students. (I've only done one from this phase as I've already done many of the audience persona exercises throughout my research so far.) Crazy Eight's rapid ideation exercise from the 'Sketch' phase. This was super interesting- although a little hard to get into at first- was great to have a bit of time pressure to brainstorm some visuals. Solution Sketch exercise from the 'Sketch' phase. Although usually not the case, in this crazy eight's exercise I've decided that my initial idea is the best for now, so I've taken that through to a more detailed solution sketch in preparation for prototyping.  Prototype Storyboard exercise from the 'Prototype' phase. This continued on from the previous sketch, and made ...

There are definitely some overlaps between what I've found in my own primary research, and to what the Ministry of Education has identified as their key issues. So this brings me to ask, should I be focusing on the issues that might be slipping under the ministries priorities, or choosing what is clearly the most urgent problems validated by both myself and MoE? Overlaps:  Support beyond schooling, I.E life skills and workforce preparation. Structural change of curriculum. New, more diverse teaching resources. Support for teachers and students to change attitudes. Stopping abuse of the credit system, getting the purpose back to learning, not passing. Differences:  Focus on individual learning styles/ specific class teaching approaches. Subject prejudice (STEM) Propose idea of making credits achievable through different avenues, IE, you have to get x literacy, x numeracy, x arts, x life skills (could be problem solving, could be ) x physical ...

I've summarised key findings into what I believe needs to change in order to 'fix' the current education system in NZ: Societal and ministry attitudes towards 'higher education'. Societal attitudes to how we see different talents/ skills/ aptitudes. Student attitudes towards school. Education -> workforce navigation. How classes are divided (learning styles) Subject prejudice (STEM). Testing methods + purpose. Legislative change of curriculum. Recognition and support for teachers.

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Today I had a catch up coffee meeting with Phoebe, (a mentor I've had in the past outside of Uni.) It was great to run over where I'm at with someone who has a fresh perspective, and getting some new ideas and clarification for the direction I'll head in now. We went over the research map I'd made earlier with Mark, and discussed the potential and flaws within each area. It was great talking it through, as it drew to light the parts that needed further research and documentation. Phoebe reminded me to go back to the original problem, to refine and develop this in the context of my new research, and then use that to prioritise what to do from there. I need to choose a primary objective, and have secondary ones as well. I don't need to throw away everything else I've been researching, but focus in on one section to prioritise and 'go deep.' We also discussed the scale of my project. So far my research has been quite broad, and as such somewhat vague. ...

What does good education require? What are NCEA requirements? Talk about UDL What doesn't NCEA have that means it doesn't meet the requirements of good education- how can I design to fill/ bridge this gap? Example/ prototype? TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson:  “How to escape education’s Death Valley.”  

What are my next steps? Am I on track? Discussion notes: Cultivate confidence outside of school in order to cultivate inside schools. 70s 60s design change de Bono Design:  Dr. Edward  de Bono  is a Nobel Prize Nominee in Economics and world-renowned for his development and origination of the creative and constructive  design  thinking tools for parallel and creative thinking. The  de Bono  Group, LLC is a world leader in the delivery,  design  and effective results of  de Bono design  methods. What can we learn from creativity theory? Quantitative qualitative battle Motivation improvements from creativity? Research point.... Sternberg- book,  use to find key words 180 it- flip this project idea around? What would happen then? Look at creative theory, practice, technique art therapy  What are the education differences of people in the art system vs people outside? Example project map from Mark- I ne...

Summary of insights/ key quotes so far: Not all schools are bad- some use and adapt NCEA in ways that mitigate the issues I've pointed o ut in this project. Current school systems are created with the end goal of 'higher education'. "In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson." - TOM BODETT Technology has greatly influenced changes in education in the past 5 years- both good and bad. The current society of having 2 working pa rents has changed the way children are raised, more falls on schools. (What did parents do in the past that modern parents can't  do now- how can education systems support this.) Schools might build our bridge to the world, but it's time we redesign that bridge, so that those who fall off the sides, know how to swim. I am smashing/ breaking/ challenging..... Students don't engage the same anymore- gender gap/ tech influence. social movement, soc...

Summarising where I am so far, and how I got here. I started this project wanting to combine my interests with the physical arts/ crafts, and my interest of UX and Service Design, with a target audience of youth and how they 'play'. I felt this had meaning to me and would be a project I'd be passionate about due to the strong influence art, craft, and design had on my childhood as I grew up. I'd thought I could direct this towards a project that would help the youth of today's generation experience this same childhood I had. My initial 'solution' ideas were based more around how kids learn as well as how they play. These concepts were some sort of teaching/ educational resource- which might be used in schools, or a stand alone business/ parenting tool. Through research into these ideas, I started coming across issues of technology overuse, and how modernisation has started to overtake the 'old' hands-on methods of learning and teaching. There...