All posts tagged Teaching
We have a saying at Aalto University Design Factory that even the best processor is useless if the user interface prevents taking advantage of it. Successfully cultivating soft skills – the interface of expertise – requires asking some tough questions about priorities, measurements and Californian experiments.
Full post
Looking to shake up your course? Take a look at the tools offered in Design Factory!
Full post
Facilitated feedback sessions throughout a course doing group work is a great tool to reduce assumptions, resolve problems, and promote communication. Satu Rekonen, from Design Factory developed the “I like/I wish” method for facilitating a feedback session in a safe and comfortable environment. Visit http://ilikeiwish.org/ for more information on how to run it in your classroom, and make sure to click on the video for students’ testimonials on the experience. For questions, please contact maria.clavert@aalto.fi, tua.bjorklund@aalto.fi, or senni.kirjavainen@aalto.fi.
Full post
If you start your university studies this autumn, there is enough time for the available digital information to multiply during your studies. According to studies, the new information is too much. As new data replaces older so quickly, data content therefore no longer creates a solid basis for a work career. Cramming has become pointless. For work life, university students need far-reaching skills. Changes in the amount and use of information also requires changes in learning skills, but universities’ teaching methods are changing very slowly. In Aalto Design Factory, our studies consistently show that the development of skills instead of knowledge is now more important. Information is left unused without the right skills.
Full post
Series part 6: Prototyping, failing, and learning
An integral part of Project-Based Learning is prototype-making. Making prototypes are a useful learning tool that provides a common language for students with different academic and cultural backgrounds, and allows the creation process to advance faster by providing a physical object that clarifies the students’ abstract ideas, and makes it easier to explain and communicate to others.
Full post
Series Part 5: The role of the teacher
When using the PBL method, the role of a teacher changes from being a lecturer to facilitating the learning process. Producing learning is not dependent on teachers’ ability to transfer knowledge to students. Rather, it depends on their ability to actively participate in their own learning process.
Full post
Series Part 4: PBL actitivities
PBL activities apply theory to practice through real-life problems that can be accomplished only with support of a master in the field. In this situated learning, rather than separating theoretical knowledge learned in class from the practical application, students search for the knowledge needed to carry out a particular situated task, giving context to the knowledge, which is created or presented through participation, concrete doing, active thinking, and problem-solving. This way students focus on the how instead of the what.
Full post
Series Part 3: Group work
Participation in group work results in the interaction with other students, for example through the discussion and debating of topics, resolution of conflicts or disagreement, as well as peer- and self-assessment. This is an example of social learning. In social learning, social experiences and interactions support the understanding of content. The students educate themselves and each other, and provide support for continuous learning and for the on-going creation of new ideas and skills.
Full post
Part 2: The Environment
Immersing the student in an environment that favours activity and experience, and fosters immediate engagement, promotes knowledge and the development of soft skills. By feeling part of a supportive community, the student moves from completion of tasks to a more central role. A supportive environment provides a safe space for failure and promotes taking risks. It facilitates the mixing of study time and free time to support informal learning, which, like social learning, is about learning from others through active learning, social interaction, and belonging.
Full post
Series Part 1: Introduction to ADF ways of working
This series explores different topics surrounding pedagogical development. Aalto Design Factory uses the principles of Design-based learning to provide a physical platform for passion-based learning, or problem-based learning (PBL).
Full post
Aalto DF