Week 5: Origination

The Laws of Simplicity

Chapter 4: Learn

Describe the relationship between teaching and learning according to Maeda?

Maeda says that the single most helpful thing that helped his teaching was to experience the other side of learning, becoming a student. According to Maeda, teachers have the easy role as they have to act as if they know the answers, students on the other hand, have a harder role, as they have to ‘wring’ the answers from the teacher and make sense of them.

A good teacher would encourage the following: making a connection (between the student, teacher and the content), motivating and inspiring. A good student is enthusiastic and keen to absorb information.

Describe the importance of the use of metaphors in learning, why would you use

them, how, give an example?

Metaphors are a figure of speech in which one object is likened to another by speaking as if it were that other. Eg. The sun is a chariot of fire. A metaphor says something IS something else Eg. Desktop, (iPod) Dock

Metaphors are important to transfer large amounts of existing knowledge from one context to another easily and in a relate able manner.

BRAIN - what does the acronym stand for – why is it important?

B= Basics are the beginning

R= Repeat yourself often

A=Avoid creating desperation

I=Inspire with examples

N=Never forget to repeat yourselves

These all satisfy rational needs: feeling safe (avoiding desperation), feeling confident (mastering basics), feeling instinctive (repetition). Inspiration is the real reward.

 

Describe a situation where you have been required to teach someone a skill.

How could you apply the BRAIN principle to it?

Riding a bike.

B = how to sit, pedal, steer, balance, etc

R = practice in different situations

A = perhaps start out with training wheels to ease into it, and avoid scaring them off.

I = inspire with examples of other people that ride (family, sports people), point out the positive outcomes such as independence.

N = practice, practice, practice!

Although not a YouTube clip as such, this TED Talk provides some of John Maeda's insight to the simple life and getting back to basics. This talk also demonstrates his ability to teach the differences and comparisons between simplicity and complexity.

IDEA GENERATION – EXHIBITION CONCEPT

This week the groups for the exhibition were able to meet again and discuss and debate the concept for our exhibition (amongst other things). The theme and branding team are working hard to come up with some images and names to present. So far the teams are still divided as to what the name should be. Most people like the concept of ‘Blossom’, however, they don’t necessarily like the feminine qualities of this name.

As part of the logistics group, we need to encourage people to contribute their groups’ input (on Google Docs) and we also need to importantly devise some sort of a countdown method to the exhibition, to make sure everything gets done before the 28^th October 2010. I think something like iCal might be an effective tool as it is simple to use and understand. It can be presented to the class each week so everyone gets a visual of where groups are at, what needs to be done (and when), as well as who is relying on who to get their tasks done.