Deputy Principal (Kelly Anderson)
SKILLS FOR LIFELONG LEARNING – ENTERPRISE SKILLS
The Design Process
The Design Process is an approach for breaking down a large project into manageable chunks. Architects, engineers, scientists, and other thinkers use the design process to solve a variety of problems. This process can help teachers to provide a framework for students involved in projects. It allows some flexibility regarding the content of the student’s project, while also making sure that they are doing the deeper thinking we expect of them. This process does not replace explicit teaching – that is always needed. It is a possible process to do afterwards, to really synthesise the learning.
THE DESIGN PROCESS CONSISTS OF 6 STEPS:
- Define the Problem
You can’t find a solution until you have a clear idea of what the problem is.
- Collect Information
Collect sketches, take photographs and gather data to start giving you inspiration.
- Brainstorm and Analyse Ideas
Begin to sketch, make, and study so you can start to understand how all the data and information you’ve collected may impact your design.
- Develop Solutions
Take your preliminary ideas and form multiple small-scale design solutions.
- Gather Feedback
Present your ideas to as many people as possible: friends, teachers, professionals, and any others you trust to give insightful comments.
- Improve
Reflect on all of your feedback and decide if or to what extent it should be incorporated. It is often helpful to take solutions back through the Design Process to refine and clarify them.
Challenge:
Think about a topic you currently deliver in a more directed fashion. How could you open up this topic and allow for more inquiry learning from the students? What would your expectations be with regards to the project? Are there experts that you can approach to get support with implementing this in your classes? Talk to your head of learning about how you can incorporate project-based learning into your teaching repertoire.
Survey My Class
It's that time of year again, when we offer teaching staff the opportunity to survey their classes to get some feedback. We offer this twice during the year, in Term 2 and again in Term 4.
The process is simple. During the dates the survey is open (30 May - 10 June) you send the link to your students. They click on it and off they go. It is a good idea to actually give them some class time to complete it. They can use their iPads to do the survey.
The survey data for each individual teacher remains private to those teachers. The combined data of all staff is compiled into a report for the Executive Team, which is simply another piece of data used to inform our school improvement plans.
Participation is not compulsory, but it can be a useful process to do for your own professional development.
If you have any questions about the process, please contact Kelly on 78902.