I've been meaning to post this up for quite a while now. This is an essay I wrote for my course at uni last semester and I was incredibly surprised that it got an A3 seeing as I was hoping for a C1 and expecting a C3. Anyway, it's all about interactive teaching/learning and suchlike you should check out some of the videos on Snozelan, etc, they are very intersting and I might pick up further research into this topic when I've got some time. Apologies for the spelling and grammar errors, I do try to catch these things, but spell-check only goes so far...
Also, if you get the chance to read Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point and/or Senses & Sensibilities by Jillyn Smith, do so because they rock so hard! Their writting styles are interseting, lively and reasonably easy to understand.
Mars Ain’t the Kind of Place to Raise Your Kids...[1]
So what is this design thing all about anyway?
Design is often perceived as pandering to a mass consumerist market and churning out pretty things; useless, disposable and ultimately destined to pollute a landfill site near you. Or, even worse perhaps, be shipped to a developing country to contaminate and, possibly, destroy their society and scenery as well. And, yes, in many instances, this is the case, but not all, not by a long shot. Attitudes towards design need to change as much as our attitudes towards how we use our natural resources. According to the Design Council (?:2): “Good design begins with the needs of the user. No design, no matter how beautiful and ingenious, is any good if it doesn't fulfil a user need...” A great example of a group practicing user-centred design is DEMAND, a registered charity working to “design and manufacture bespoke equipment for disabled people, where no off the shelf solutions exist...” (http://www.demand.org.uk/
(10/12/2008)). Design is and should be about finding solutions to problems. The same solution is not necessarily going to suit everyone, so how do you get around that obstacle?
Design is not just stuff...
“If you work with the child’s preferred learning style, as opposed to the more common method of working from what the child is not good at, you are then teaching them from a position of strength rather than weakness...” (Hirstwood ?:2). Sound familiar? Education and learning are just as much designed systems as the school buildings they occur in or the uniform which you may have worn there. Many things can fall under the general umbrella heading of interactive learning. And, yes, there is a lot of stuff associated with it; exploration of new technologies is always going to have strong links with education, who better to test some new innovation than someone who has no expectations or preconceptions of how it should work? One such example is SynergyNet, the “interactive multi-touch desks” (Lipsett 2008:1) created by Durham University’s Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) department and currently being tested in schools. They described their creation as: “...very similar to the type of interface shown as a vision of the future in the TV series Star Trek.” (Lipsett 2008:1). The idea, it seems, is for the class activities to become more student, rather than teacher-led, allowing the student to work at his or her own pace with separate tasks suitable for their level set to each desk; with added networking to allow for group activities. Its creators also claim that it has applications in relation to social inclusion and equality. However, this technology is still a long way off being ready for mainstream use and is far from affordable (£8,000 per desk) at this stage in development.
Relevant examples of technologies used in current interactive teaching are interactive whiteboards, which have been around for several years now. They allow for group activities, but are still teacher focused; they act as a computer screen which you can also draw on digitally with different coloured “pens”. Equally there is an educational video-gaming element to them. Special controllers (similar to those used by the Playstation game Buzz!) can be used to compete in teams or individually in user-created quizzes. It can turn learning into a more engaging experience and some of the information can be more likely to stick in your head than under a more traditional format of revision. More recently there is Nintendo’s Wii, which has a lot of potential to become an interactive teaching device. “Technology behind computer gaming... is developing exponentially. Equipment that five years ago was restricted to university virtual reality labs costing hundreds of thousands of pounds is now mainstream... Wii has suddenly made gaming both kinaesthetic and social...” (Hirstwood 2007:1). It could allow people with mobility issues to participate in sports which they may not otherwise have been able to, admittedly using the Wiimote to flick a digital bowling ball across the screen is an entirely different experience from actually throwing the real thing down the alley, but for people with restricted movement it allows them to experience some of the excitement, physical exercise and skills without too much exertion. The Wii’s smaller, more portable cousin, the DS also has in-built interactive technology and also has educational games currently available. Video gaming in education is not a new concept – it was certainly around in the 1990’s (Zoombeenies, Dread Dragon Droom, etc) – technology has simply moved on enough that they have become more physically interactive and possibly more acceptable in the classroom.
Sometimes a simpler approach is better...
However, high-tech solutions aren’t always the best ones. Interactive learning still existed before the days of personal computers; it just hadn’t been given a fancy title yet. According to Jillyn Smith (1989:198): “The senses need to be stimulated to develop, and many studies indicate that humans... need certain kinds of tactile experiences to develop into healthy individuals...” Something that computers, however good they may be, cannot give is human contact and their ability to provide tactile experiences/environments is currently limited. Snozelan or Multi-sensory/White Rooms, such as the ones at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, Ryehill and Twinkle House in West Lancashire are used to help children and adults with physical or learning difficulties. “Although sophisticated equipment can be used, excellent work can also be done using items such as hand-held torches and cooking foil to break the light beams...” (The CALL Centre ?:1) Something as simple as a bubble tube, aromatherapy oils or fibre-optic sprays can teach important focusing or numeracy skills, etc. Weighted blankets or belts (like the miracle belt) can help to ground a child with Down’s syndrome or ADHD, etc. It is said that “Physical contact is the ultimate signal to infants and... small children that they are safe...” (Smith 1989:199). For many children with Autism or other disabilities, the opposite can be true, but the use of these (designed) objects seems to help many of them in a similar way to how human contact helps others. Many of these tactile techniques can also be used effectively with children without these problems.
And all this without even venturing into the fields of robotics or interactive web-design...
Design is a much more complex, far-reaching subject than it first appears and there are many ways in which it can and should be used to better people’s lives. There is no simple answer to what it really is: “And so I leave you with this thought, dear reader. Use the technology which the engineer has developed, but use it with a humble and questioning spirit...” (Lewycka 2006:303).
[1] Title taken from the song Rocket Man By Elton John.
Bibliography
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Prashnig, B. & Dryden, G. (2004) The Power of Diversity: New Ways of Learning and Teaching Through Learning Styles. Continuum International Publishing Group.
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