Welcome to Term 3 Design Technology (DT)
Your project for this term is called "Where we Learn"
The question you are going to investigate is...
"How will emerging technologies impact on the design of future "learning spaces"?
As many of you have seen, companies like Google, Yahoo and Facebook have amazing office spaces to allow for creativity and collaboration. People want to go to work to create amazing solutions and products. Have a look online and see if you can find any pictures of some of these places.
INVESTIGATE: Search for "Green School" in Bali. What is different about this school? What do you think it would be like to go to school here? Is there any interesting information you have found about Green School"
INVESTIGATE: How do the DT classrooms (and the other classrooms at Preshil) make you feel?
Which classroom spaces do you feel the most inspired and why? How can you document your findings?
The idea of a 'traditional school' is quickly changing. Over the next eight weeks you will investigate the question proposed to you and design & propose an engaging space where you feel inspired and that also takes into consideration the impact of technology in the learning environment. You can design and entirely new space or design something that is part of an exisiting learning space (or go ahead and design something else that falls within the scope of this brief).
For this project, you will follow the design cycle in the following four areas (see the wheel below).
Vittra Telefonplan / Rosan Bosch in Stockholm, Sweden
IDEAS TO GET YOUR STARTED
Here are some inspiring spaces I’ve seen this past year at different schools:
There are so many great resources out there about inspiring work spaces. Here are a few places to get your started:
Check out some more innovative schools
I am so excited to see what you design!
WHAT DO YOU ACTUALLY HAVE TO DO?
TASK ONE: "INQUIRING" & "DEVELOPING IDEAS"
Week 2 & Week 3
Companies such as Google, Uber, Airbnb, and Etsy have AMAZING workspaces! Your job is to research a workplace or a school and put together a presentation for the other people in your class. You can work on your own or in small groups... you decide how you work best. The type of presentation you put together is entirely up to you... the only limit is your imagination! There is a link below to give you some ideas of what the experts thinks make a really good presentation.
TASK: Complete a presentation of your research. This can be presented at any time during the term (just let your teacher know at week ahead).
TASK TWO: "DEVELOPING IDEAS" - Design Brief
Week 4
Time to get busy creating, experimenting, and making. Remember you will have a total of 8 hours of class time (and unlimited time at home) to design a learning space that investigates the question:
"How will emerging technologies impact on the design of future "learning spaces"?
In this sections you are DEVELOPING IDEAS so you will need to do the following:
TASK: Create a "Design Brief" that has gives information on the following:
The Design Brief is a short statement of what you are going to make, why you are going to make it, and for whom you are making it for.It should be an open ended statement.
An example would be "Teenagers have very busy lives. School, family and social activities mean that being punctual is very important.
I will design and make a wall clock that will be appealing for middle school students. It will be a modern design and will be suitable for a display in the art room. Because the design will appeal to middle school students, they will be more likely to look at it, read the time and therefore not be late"
TASK THREE: "DEVELOPING IDEAS" - Design Specification
Week 4
TASK: After your research (and after you've written a Design Brief) you can develop a Design Specification.
This will tell you:
Week 4
TASK: After your research (and after you've written a Design Brief) you can develop a Design Specification.
This will tell you:
- The Audience- Who you are designing for (who will use your design)
- Objective - What the successful design must do: This is a description of what the solution will accomplish. It could indicate how well the solution is expected to work or under what conditions it will work
- Production -
- What it should look like (Size/colours/etc)
- What it should be made from
- Tools needed to make the product
- Time needed to complete the product
- Usage - How it will be used
TASK FOUR: "Creating the solution"
Week 5, 6, 7, 8
Time to get busy! You have four weeks of class time (and as much time as you can afford at home) to make you prototype / explore your idea.
** If you are constructing a physical product I will be able to provide you with Balsa wood to make you classroom design,. However you can also use Google Sketch Up if you would like to work online. Or maybe you have another idea? Just write it up in your Design Specification.
TASK FIVE: "EVALUATING"... and presentation time!
Week 9 & 10
In the final part of this project, you will have the opportunity to present your ideas to Marilyn and Natalie & and any parents that would like to come along (I hope there will be some :-). As a class you will need to decide how this presentation will unfold.
This is when you go back to your original plan/ideas and evaluate how everything went for you... "the good, the bad, and the ugly" :-).