Unit 2 - Step 6c - follow up conversations - Challenges

Challenges

• Blake and Justin discuss the challenges of time and assessment. 
• Q - Are these concerns that you share? Are there other concerns that come to mind?
• A - yes most definitely concerns about assessment .. which ties back to motivation
• Students study strategically - they often argue that they have limited time and energy, As a result, if students do not see a grade attached to an activity, they may quickly see little reason to devote additional time and energy to completing it.
• Such approaches are typically discouraged by assessment .. which tends to puts more of a focus on measuring lower level thinking skills (easier to mark) ... and less on higher level thinking skills (more difficult and subjective to mark).  

Two key issues 

• Time 
• Assessment 

Time 

• concern about having enough classroom time to realize this - just where is there room when there are so many other demands being made on this time? 
• Need to identify where some of the very same functions of Design Thinking are already occurring in the course .. and capitalize on those 
• concern about planning time - this requires much more planning than before (mind you.. once planned .. executing it is much easier)? 
• No really escaping this .. though time for this may be leveraged if one is collaborating with other instructors on realizing the same (common planning time)

• concern for the need to demonstrate the value of something before it can be formally absorbed 
• this requires time to realize before it can be formally "accepted" 

Assessment 

Problems 

• DT is a set of skills .. not just one 
• DT is part of 21st Century Study Skills - how to assess these is problematic too
• focus shifts from product to process 
• as a result there is a need to focus on "formative" assessment 
• done more frequently - likely at each significant step 
• likely involves 
• reflection 
• what did I learn 
• why is it important 
• how can I apply this with other things, family, peers, community? 
• assembled evidence in a portfolio 

Another fundamental problem

• temptation to use compliance checklists - as rubric for assessment
• yet this is not Design Thinking
• checklists provide a rough pathway to realizing Design Thinking
• but evidence of learning is more personal and often found in the reflection and sharing 

Major Problem for students

• essentially two types of students 
• A student
• loves challenges .. less motivated by grades.. just enjoys learning 
• B student
• contract learner 
• tell me what I need to learn ... to what standard or quality 
• give me a model to apply 
• I will then do it 
• but DT is no longer "doing school" 

• DT does NOT offer a formula, does NOT offer a solution 
• high risk of failure 
• yet failure is essential to learning
• often means doing things that are more interesting  
• yet very difficult for students looking to "do school" (low tolerance for failure)  

carrot for teachers? 
DT needs to be sold as "meaningful work" that prepares students for the future