For this exercise I fond myself dipping into other tutor groups. On reflection, after a highly disruptive week all I needed to have done was pick through the course reading, in chronological order, made notes, expressed my thoughts, then answer the questions. Using the notes of others is not a fix; you must still engage with the content and make it your own.
- What are the four dimensions of design for learning that Wenger identifies?
- How does Wenger’s account differ from the account given by Goodyear as the indirect nature of design and summarised in Figure 1?
- How do you think that a designer can support ‘the work of engagement, imagination and alignment’?
The challenge of designing for learning.
QQ1
- Participation and reification
- The design and the emergent
- The local and the global
- Identification and negotiability
QQ2 How does Wenger’s account differ from the account given by Goodyear as the indirect nature of design and summarised in Figure 1?
Goodyear is saying that design can only accommodate so much as a learner will always bring with them their own interpretations to the design therefore learning and design are separate entities.Wenger is saying that learning design embrace far more, that it less prescriptive and more engaging than imagined. (From Joanne Pratt)
Space and Place - can be linked to - Designed and Emergent Organisation and Community - can be linked to - Identification and Negotiability Tasks and Activity - can be linked to - Participation and Reification Local and Global seem to sit outside of Goodyear. (From Daniella)
How do you think that a designer can support ‘the work of engagement, imagination and alignment’?
A designer can only do so much with the software they are given. However knowing that software inside out; its limitations, its benefits will help with how a designer enables the above. (From Joanne Pratt)
By paying attention to the Figure 10.3. (From Daniella)
From Jonathan
Q1 As above
Q2 'Each of these dimensions involves distinct – but interrelated – trade – offs and challenges: they present their own opportunities and obstacles and their own resources and constraints. A given design entails choices, inventions, and solutions along each dimension'. (Wenger 1998:236)
Q3 In Wenger's words:
It is a tool that can guide a design by outlining:
1) the general questions, choices, and trade-offs to address – these define the dimensions of a design “space”
2) the general shape of what needs to be achieved – the basic components and facilities to provide
i.e. there is ampple scope for variety and imagination, as with the architectural design analogy he uses. Which applies equally as an analogy for how people (students) behave once inside the designed 'building'.
'The benefit of such a multiplicity of related but distinct dimensions is that it opens up the space of design by decoupling the issues involved'. (Wenger, 1998:236)
'The challenge of design, then, is to support the work of engagement, imagination, and
alignment'. (Wenger, 1998:236)
FURTHER NOTES
Etienne Wenger is probably most recognised for his work promoting the idea of communities of practice. The idea of a community of practice has been applied to groups who interact to achieve a common purpose or enterprise and share a common repertoire. (From course notes)