Design Thinking

I have been anticipating learning about design thinking at The Mind Lab since the course began. I just love seeing kids bring their ideas to life in the real world, making things with their hands!

Design thinking gives us a method to confidently solve problems, rather than the horrible feeling of waiting for an idea to appear out of thin air! It gives people confidence that they have a process to fall back on. I believe that divergent creative skills are lacking in school today's schools, but are an essential 21st century skills.  Not having a framework to help us come up with great ideas and actually make them happen, is why it is so hard to innovate. I know I lack a strategy when it come to innovating.

This evening at The Mind Lab we experienced "design thinking" as we worked through the Kite Model to empathise, define, ideate, prototype, test and reflect. 

The person behind the kite is a human - design thinking is social, is all about human needs - we are designing for people! 

Here is what we did at each stage of our design thinking journey:

Empathise

We interviewed our customer, asking questions and recording their answers... we were then asked to dig deeper and ask, WHY? (at least 5 times to get to the emotive truth of the problem - how the person really felt). We had to observe what our customer said and didn't say, and feel what it was like to stand in their shoes. 

Define

We record our observations about the problems and define one specific problem. 

Ideate 

The first ideas that come to our minds are often not new. We had to sketch (NOT WRITE) at least 9 ideas. We then shared our ideas with our customer asking for feedback using the statements, "I like..." and "I wonder...". We then went on to ideate further (don't be satisfied straight away) to create another new idea. 

Prototype 

Thinking with our hands. The aim of prototyping is to drive the idea forward in our minds, to test it out, communicate with our customer in a way that is cheap and takes little time and effort. 

Reflect

We thought about the risks we took, how we listened to our customer and if thought about what change we would make next.  found innovation really makes you think... and then think again and again!

And most importantly (I think) is it isn't all about the product, as design thinking is iterative... meaning it loops around and around as we reflect and learn more how the problem we are wanting to solve and how it could be fixed. 

I think that the Design Thinking model will be a great structure to my innovation from Digital #1. The Design Thinking model fits within the digital curriculum as it requires kids to solve problems  (using computational thinking) and the kids switch roles from being consumers of technology to producers.

I wonder how the social and collaborative aspects could create a space of language in a abundance in an authentic way, as the kids listen, empathise, give and receive feedback and communicate (by talking, sketching, using their hands and writing).

Bringing our inquiry topic to life using augmented reality!

In room 3 (a year 2/3 class), we learnt that we live in a country called New Zealand, a city called Auckland and a suburb called Glen Innes! 

I used digital technology to engage the students by using Google Earth and the augmented reality app, Quiver. We looked at Google Earth as a class, found New Zealand, then Auckland and then Glen Innes. 

Next, we designed our planes (remembering not to colour in the backgrounds so that the camera could easily see our designs and make them into real aeroplanes). 

The kids worked out the easiest way to use the app was to put your plane design on the floor and relax on a chair! 

The kids first flew their plane to Auckland and then began exploring the rest of the country. At each destination the kids could look at photographs of iconic places. For example, in Auckland we found pictures of the harbour bridge, sky tower and the water front. 

The quote of they day from one of the kids was,

"Um Mrs Kirby, I think it is time to stop playing and start learning now!"

Distributed Leadership

Distributed Leadership

Effective leadership in digital and collaborative environments expects teachers to have a large skill set beyond just techniques and lessons, especially when the learning happens online. The integration of digital and collaborative practices in the classroom requires teachers to have an understanding of how to lead learning online. The teacher still plays an important role in leading the learning environment and even when conducting activities that are led by the students, like online discussions, active direction by the teacher is needed. 

Distributed leadership requires all teachers to take responsibility for the leadership, if they are in a formal leadership role or not. It involves both the staff and students taking on leadership within the school. It is very closely linked to collaboration, in that distributed leadership builds interdependence. Distributed leadership in schools looks like teachers genuinely collaborating, formal leaders giving people more roles and responsibility in their areas of expertise and formal leaders providing the invitation (safe culture) for informal leaders to come forward.

"...leadership involves mortals aswel as heroes. It involves the many and not just the few. It is about leadership practice, not simply roles and positions. And leadership practice is about interactions, not just the actions of heroes." (p. 18)

Jones, S. (n.d.). Distributed Leadership. Retrieved April 15, 2016, from http://www.distributedleadership.com.au/

Learning the places of New Zealand using augmented reality!

This week at The Mind Lab we we learnt about augmented reality. Augmented reality adds information to a view of the real world, think Pokemon Go! Unlike virtual reality headsets which block out the real world, augmented reality mixes the real world and the virtual world together. 

At The Mind Lab we experimented with the app 'Quiver' in our face to face session. A very limited number of resources are available on this app (both free and paid) but I was excited to see one that fitted with the learning of my kids this week. 

This term our school wide topic is Tourism.  In Room 2 (a year 1 class) I used the app Quiver to design our own aeroplanes and take a tour of New Zealand - with a focus on flying our planes to Auckland!

Here is a short video of one of the 'experts' teaching her group...

First the kids had to colour in their aeroplanes, before using the iPad to bring them to life. 

The kids were amazed to see their 2D drawings come to life in 3D - exactly has they had designed them! 

Very quickly some of the kids became experts at using Quiver, and taught their friends how to make it work and fly their planes to Auckland! 

The limitations I discovered were only having access to one iPad and not being about to zoom out on the map of New Zealand (on Quiver) - although the colouring sheet did have a full map of NZ (so we used this to help us locate different places). 

I'm keen to explore using augmented reality again in the classroom - as the kids found it so engaging! Many chose to spend their "golden time" flying their aeroplanes around New Zealand. 

Algorithms: Computers are good - and fast at following instructions!

In Room 10, a year 4 and 5 class, we learnt that computers are good - and fast at following instructions but they can't think for themselves. We learnt that the instructions a computer follows is called an algorithm. The kids discussed that they have imaginations, creatively and problem solving skills! 

We read the story "Hello Ruby" by Linda Liukas. The kids definitely related to the way Ruby is a bit cheeky when following her dads instructions. He asks her to get dressed, so she does... but doesn't take her pyjamas off first because he didn't ask her too. Or when she is asked to pick up her toys, she picks up all the toys but leaves the pencils on the ground because they are not really toys! 

We worked collaboratively to be "computer" following an algorithm. Each child had to think of their algorithm - some drew circles, lines, hearts, the first letter of their name. BUT whatever they chose they had to do the same thing, over and over again. 

After wards we discussed how long it might take for a computer to generate a similar piece of artwork, given the exact same instructions? The kids reckoned...not very long - that a computer could make millions of pictures in the same time they could make one. 

We ended the session with a play on Scratch, most kids hadn't come across Scratch before, and those who had rose to the challenge of being "coding experts". The kids created an algorithm to make the Sprite draw a line on the stage. Some went above and beyond... creating codes to make the Sprite draw circles and triangles! And of course the annoying "MEOW!!" sound effect! 

Next time, I'd like  the kids to create their 'algorithm pictures' with larger pieces of paper and I'd encourage the kids to connect their algorithms... for example three kids following these three different instructions... draw a circle, draw star in the middle of every circle, draw a line to connect all the circles....

Disruptive Technologies

Disruptive Technologies 

Disruptive technologies.... underperform against existing technology BUT are adopted by fringe costumers who value different things. For example, Google Drive has less features than Word BUT it can share (allowing users to collaborate), is accessible everywhere and save automatically which Word cannot do!

Mixed reality, which includes augmented reality (think Pokemon Go) and virtual reality are currently disrupting a lot of industries! 

Virtual reality is still very expensive... making it difficult to access in a decile one school.  Google makes the cheapest VR headset, costing about $2 on Ali-express BUT it does require access to a smartphone. 

After a quick google and discussion with others at The Mind Lab here are some way get some of the benefits of virtual reality without access to VR headsets:

Google Story Spheres

Story Sphere are 360 degree images with audio embedded within the scene, easily creating an interactive experience.  Here is a story sphere that shows the world from an ant's perspective.

Story Sphere: An Ant's Perspective

Google Expeditions

Google expeditions can be used in 'full screen mode' allowing kids to go on an expedition on their iPads without the use of a VR headset.

Yesterday our junior school visited the Brickman, Lego Wonders of the World at the Auckland museum. How incredible would it be for the kids to extend their experience by exploring the wonders of the world using Google Expeditions! The kids were particularly curious about the pyramids of Egypt. Wouldn't it be just so incredible to take them on a trip to Egypt to explore the pyramids... using their iPads.  

Google Expeditions has hundreds of free wonders of the world you can visit as a class. It has information about the place you are exploring along with questions for the teacher to ask the kids as you explore. The teacher can lead the expedition from their iPad, directing the kids to the places you'd like them to look at. 

Before giving Google Expeditions a go in the classroom... check that you schools wifi allows 'pair to pair' sharing.

When the app has been downloaded onto an iPad it will automatically work without a VR headset. Google expeditions will NOT work on a smart phone without a headset!