Comments on: Education, forcing functions and understanding http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2007/01/21/education-forcing-functions-and-understanding/ How do people use products, systems and environments? How can designers influence interaction? How can we design for sustainable behaviour? Sat, 22 Nov 2008 22:00:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: More educational architectures of control: museums at fulminate // Architectures of Control http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2007/01/21/education-forcing-functions-and-understanding/#comment-33751 More educational architectures of control: museums at fulminate // Architectures of Control Mon, 29 Jan 2007 23:20:41 +0000 http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2007/01/21/education-forcing-functions-and-understanding/#comment-33751 [...] Relating back to my recent look at forcing functions in textbooks, Frankie makes the point that: The problem is, of course, that it’s not that difficult to ignore the education and just focus on the game… it’s pretty impossible for software to actually evaluate educational ‘understanding’, and so attempting to force can be somewhat disingenuous. [...] [...] Relating back to my recent look at forcing functions in textbooks, Frankie makes the point that: The problem is, of course, that it’s not that difficult to ignore the education and just focus on the game… it’s pretty impossible for software to actually evaluate educational ‘understanding’, and so attempting to force can be somewhat disingenuous. [...]

]]> By: Frankie Roberto http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2007/01/21/education-forcing-functions-and-understanding/#comment-31520 Frankie Roberto Mon, 22 Jan 2007 23:21:39 +0000 http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2007/01/21/education-forcing-functions-and-understanding/#comment-31520 Hi Dan, A fascinating post - which I've commented on over on my blog at http://www.frankieroberto.com/weblog/729.xhtml. I'm really interested in 'Architectures of control' within a museum (or other visitor attraction) context. Would like to hear any thoughts you have on this. Cheers, Frankie Roberto Hi Dan,

A fascinating post - which I’ve commented on over on my blog at http://www.frankieroberto.com/weblog/729.xhtml.

I’m really interested in ‘Architectures of control’ within a museum (or other visitor attraction) context. Would like to hear any thoughts you have on this.

Cheers,

Frankie Roberto

]]> By: Mr. Person http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2007/01/21/education-forcing-functions-and-understanding/#comment-31476 Mr. Person Mon, 22 Jan 2007 16:31:41 +0000 http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2007/01/21/education-forcing-functions-and-understanding/#comment-31476 Dan, Thank you for taking up my question. A lot of good things here to think about. I'll post a follow-up in the near future. Dan,

Thank you for taking up my question. A lot of good things here to think about. I’ll post a follow-up in the near future.

]]> By: Ewan McIntosh http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2007/01/21/education-forcing-functions-and-understanding/#comment-31403 Ewan McIntosh Sun, 21 Jan 2007 21:58:19 +0000 http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2007/01/21/education-forcing-functions-and-understanding/#comment-31403 Here's another example of that Flickr way of explaining concepts, one I made up with some of my readers for a training event: http://flickr.com/photos/learningandteachingscotland/241343007/ Design and education have huge amounts in common, since we're all trying to make things seem simpler or make things easier to understand in one bite at a time (now I'm out of my depth in terms of design... ;-) Here’s another example of that Flickr way of explaining concepts, one I made up with some of my readers for a training event:

http://flickr.com/photos/learningandteachingscotland/241343007/

Design and education have huge amounts in common, since we’re all trying to make things seem simpler or make things easier to understand in one bite at a time (now I’m out of my depth in terms of design… ;-)

]]> By: Dan http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2007/01/21/education-forcing-functions-and-understanding/#comment-31343 Dan Sun, 21 Jan 2007 09:36:21 +0000 http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2007/01/21/education-forcing-functions-and-understanding/#comment-31343 Thanks Ewan - some very interesting points. Just looking at some of those Scribe Posts Hall of Fame examples reminds me of how good it felt as a kid to realise that I <em>understood</em> some new principle for the first time, and how much we have to thank good teachers for. I'm aware that I'm wading in a bit deep by commenting on educational stuff, with no experience in this area, and glad that you found it worthwhile! The point about getting students to explain a concept to each other must be a very powerful one. I know I always found that by far the best way to revise: get someone to ask you to explain something you should know, perhaps from a different angle to normal, and then do the same for him/her. The challenge of explaining something to someone seems to make you confront and rationalise your own understanding, and you end up with a clearer take on it yourself. P.S. That Flickr set seems to be set to 'private' at present Thanks Ewan - some very interesting points. Just looking at some of those Scribe Posts Hall of Fame examples reminds me of how good it felt as a kid to realise that I understood some new principle for the first time, and how much we have to thank good teachers for.

I’m aware that I’m wading in a bit deep by commenting on educational stuff, with no experience in this area, and glad that you found it worthwhile!

The point about getting students to explain a concept to each other must be a very powerful one. I know I always found that by far the best way to revise: get someone to ask you to explain something you should know, perhaps from a different angle to normal, and then do the same for him/her. The challenge of explaining something to someone seems to make you confront and rationalise your own understanding, and you end up with a clearer take on it yourself.

P.S. That Flickr set seems to be set to ‘private’ at present

]]> By: Ewan McIntosh http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2007/01/21/education-forcing-functions-and-understanding/#comment-31342 Ewan McIntosh Sun, 21 Jan 2007 09:13:51 +0000 http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2007/01/21/education-forcing-functions-and-understanding/#comment-31342 Hi there, I really enjoy your blog and it's great to see some thought put into educational 'architecture'. There are a lot of commercial apps which do build in the kind of architecture you refer to earlier on in the post. However, for maths one of the best ways to see how much kids are understanding and not just *what* they know. Take a look at the learning logs here: http://thescribepost.pbwiki.com/HallOfFame and mentioned here: http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2006/11/blogs_add_the_v.html As long as students have to explain to each other why x=y there is a peer assessment process that confirms whether the answer is right or wrong but also if the explanation is right or wrong. In subjects where the answer might one out of a hundred variations the use of the blog as an assessment tool is clear. But you can also use things like Flickr: http://flickr.com/photos/ha112/sets/129006/ or podcasts, to get some audio assessment done (great for Modern Languages). Part of learning is allowing the mistakes to happen so that the learner can learn from this. Doing this in a public forum such as a piece of social media means that everyone can benefit from the mistakes of others - economies of scale, if you like, in errors. Sorry for the ramble. Hope it makes sense. Hi there,
I really enjoy your blog and it’s great to see some thought put into educational ‘architecture’. There are a lot of commercial apps which do build in the kind of architecture you refer to earlier on in the post. However, for maths one of the best ways to see how much kids are understanding and not just *what* they know. Take a look at the learning logs here:

http://thescribepost.pbwiki.com/HallOfFame

and mentioned here:

http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2006/11/blogs_add_the_v.html

As long as students have to explain to each other why x=y there is a peer assessment process that confirms whether the answer is right or wrong but also if the explanation is right or wrong.

In subjects where the answer might one out of a hundred variations the use of the blog as an assessment tool is clear. But you can also use things like Flickr:

http://flickr.com/photos/ha112/sets/129006/

or podcasts, to get some audio assessment done (great for Modern Languages).

Part of learning is allowing the mistakes to happen so that the learner can learn from this. Doing this in a public forum such as a piece of social media means that everyone can benefit from the mistakes of others - economies of scale, if you like, in errors.

Sorry for the ramble. Hope it makes sense.

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