E-SKILLS IP – MASTERING THE 21ST CENTURY SKILLS

In this paper we will present the results of a case study carried out with attendees of an Erasmus Intensive Programme (e-skills IP - Competences for Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing in Digital Society), which has promoted the development of 21st century skills among participants. The 21st century skills are a set of abilities that students need to develop in order to succeed in the information age. The Intensive Programme took place during 2014 spring in Timisoara, Romania involving the participation of teachers (with skills in the areas of ICT, digital literacy, non-formal education and intervention, design & illustration and teacher education) and students (of teacher training, social education and intercultural relations and migration fields) from four different countries. The classes covered different tools and six tutors were involved. At the end, attendees were: able to master the different tools & applications; capable to use and select the most adequate web 2.0 tools & applications according with a specific situation; able to create and manage their PLE/N; able to share and work collaboratively in a synchronous and asynchronous way; able to communicate an idea and to interact with peers from different countries. The working methodology was hands on workshop based and a package of a two and a half weeks of sessions covering a variety of web 2.0 tools was prepared and delivered to the participants. The e-skills IP had a positive impact in the participants since they saw their 21st century skills enhanced along with foreign language skills improvement. They had the opportunity to learn about different cultures through the nation nights activities and to discover a bit more about cultural aspects of the host region/country through the social events. A website was built in order to aggregate all the contents and results of the IP. The IP gave an intense overview about the different tools that are available in the web 2.0 and that can be very useful for teaching/learning activities. Learning, literacy and life skills are key competences in this information age, with an impact not only in our daily lives but also in our professional and academic careers.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Modernisation Of Graphic Design: The Possibilities And Challenges Of Digitalisation

As inventions go, the contrivance of design as a dynamic, fluid, operational vehicle of human technology has always been subject to arguments and debates. The digitalisation of graphic design is a comparatively new field of research, a progressive process that evolves with technological developments. Undoubtedly, the evolution of design practices has transformed the entire design process in ways not deemed possible in the past. The advantages of digitalisation are particularly tangible in the range of possibilities generated by computer-based design tools. The main argument for the increase in “design capital” has been the accessibility of modern art tools to both design practitioners and the wider society, through mass digital culture absorption and the emerging technologies of production and reproduction. In presenting the fundamentals of digitalisation in design practices, this paper retraces the key cornerstones in the evolution of graphic design as an aesthetic medium from the 19th- to 21st-century, while pointing out the expanding, reflexive relationships between design and our environment. The researcher’s aim is to connect the socio-historical developmental frames of social progress and the practical uses of digitalisation in art and design today. The innovations in computer-mediated design work today grew from experimental platforms in the 20th-century, inasmuch as technological diffusion in the 21st-century Information Age derived from the widespread global embrace of the World Wide Web, multimedia and graphical computing systems. As a result of this development of the technological ‘canvas’, the production of design, aesthetic and cultural objects has shifted from the traditional artist-craftsman-specialist paradigm to reflect a more encompassing, diverse scope of ideas fostered by the exposure to different facets of creative capital and inspirations

Preservice Teachers’ Use of the Technology Integration Planning Cycle: Lessons Learned

Preservice teachers (PSTs) often feel unprepared to utilize digital tools in meaningful ways that support learning in the elementary classroom. It is imperative that teacher preparation programs provide support in this area so that children can learn to use digital tools to communicate in the 21st century. Previous research suggests that the Technology Integration Planning Cycle (TIPC) can support teachers in making wise decisions related to the use of digital tools to support a literacy goal. In the present study, the authors examined how the TIPC can be used with PSTs as they develop technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge and design literacy lessons that integrate a digital tool. Design-based research was used to frame their inquiry across three iterations and make formative decisions based on the ongoing collection and analysis of data. Results of this study demonstrate that with significant scaffolding the TIPC can support PSTs in designing meaningful literacy lessons. In addition, evidence collected over time suggests that PSTs engage with the TIPC in a recursive rather than linear manner

Pre-CAD-Frication: Re-establishing Automotive Paradigms to a Manufactured Architecture

Through the late Twentieth Century, leading vehicle manufacturers increasingly eschewed the drive from mass production and instead focused upon lean production, where output has been determined according to demand. Automotive manufacturers no longer stockpile parts, but vehicles are now made to order, and in doing so the automotive industry has attained flexibility within production; a factor that has historically been unattainable with the simplistic rationalities of mass-production. Automotive manufacturers are now guided with digital design tools, and have further addressed the complexities of flexible production and the modular composition of the 21st Century automobile. Through the utilisation of digital design tools, digital collaboration, organisational capabilities and product technologies the 21st century automobile has successfully shown the world that highly complex products can be produced both efficiently and effectively, with versatility and high craft. The building industry has not been so swift to exploit the opportunities offered by digital lean production; often still constructing in the same laborious manner it has done so for hundreds of years. Digital lean production offers strategies for exerting efficient, sustainable design within contemporary architecture. Through the design of a flexible dwelling, this thesis establishes how the principles of digital, lean production can be utilised within Building Information Modeling to address the issues of speed and precision within the design and manufacture of contemporary architecture

Pupils’ reflections on the use of a digital self-assessment tool to identify and measure development of 21st century skills during maker activities in schools

The number of makerspaces is increasing in the world, and the maker movement has started to become integrated into formal education. Maker environments and maker activities are argued as promoting Key Components for Lifelong Learning, e.g. collaboration, problem solving, creativity, life/social skills and communication. These competences are also referred to as 21st century skills. In this paper, we discuss the use of a digital self-assessment tool (DSAT) for pupils’ identification of, and reflections on, their development of these skills. The DSAT was created with gamification as the model where the pupils could reach different levels, receive badges and upload photographs. There were 114 pupils, aged 13–15 years, from six classes who worked with different maker activities in technology subject classes during the autumn of 2021, while using the DSAT. Examples of maker activities used in this study included designing a liquid-bottle, programming with Micro:bit and programming with Roblox. Data were collected through group interviews after the activities with all participating pupils and thereafter analysed thematically. The pupils found the language in the DSAT difficult considering their age and thought that the tool was time consuming and troublesome to use. However, the pupils argued that it is possible to develop 21st century skills during maker activities in school contexts and that the skills are of importance for the future. This study contributes with important knowledge about the design of digital self-assessment tools and about design of technology education, to support pupils to identify and develop 21st century skills in makerspace activities in compulsory technology education

Digital making as a means to improve education

Contemporary education faces the challenge of teaching and learning key competences for students to strive as the next generation workers in the contemporary world characterised by rapid and profound transformation. In particular, the current societal trend of ‘making’ for laypeople especially enabled by rapid manufacturing and digital technologies is questioning the role of professional designers in a word where – as also design literature reports – ‘everybody is a designer’ (Manzini 2015; Cross 2011). The objective of this paper is presenting our preliminary reflections about the digitally enabled self-production trend (aka digital DIY) as a means for students to develop and improve the key competences to face the complexity of contemporary age This set of cognitive, interpersonal and intrapersonal skills generally recognised of fundamental importance for the next generation labour market, social cohesion and active citizenship comprises not only technical and engineering knowledge, but also creativity and critical thinking, effective communication and collaboration, plus a range of personal qualities such as motivation, curiosity, self-development and -management. Such key competences have been widely defined and work programmes have been activated to promote their application among the educational and work fields. In Europe, key competences represent the pillars of the Lifelong Learning programme edited by the European Commission (2006/962/EC). Across the United States some promoter (i.e. the Partnership for the 21st century skills, National Research Council) are trying to merge education, business, community and government leaders around these competences, mainly known as 21st century skills (The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2008). Since the last decades of the 20th century, research in learning processes have suggested the importance of making and doing as a means to foster the acquisition of these skills, especially the creative ones. Digital DIY is here envisaged as a creative practice in which people – including design students – may increase their self-confidence and empowerment. Rooted in design and construction, these digital making activities often emphasise the acquisition of problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, cross disciplinarity and collaboration. Within the framework of the EU funded project ‘Digital Do-It-Yourself (DiDIY), we are going to explore the dynamics facilitating the acquisition of the key competences in this practice.We introduce a model representing the dynamics (over three levels; social innovation, social practice and creative process) and factors (i.e. technology, motivation and collaboration) for learning and skilling in this context. As design researchers, we aim at contributing by developing (co)design-driven tools facilitating the identification of the skilling dynamics in place where digital DIY practice takes place. In this specific paper we will firstly define such competencies as a result of a comparative study from literature analysis and then argue why they are developed through digital DIY. Finally, we will conclude with the proposal of transferring the skilling dynamics identified in digital DIY to education system

Creating an Online Social Learning Platform: A Model Approach for Open Development, Open Access and Open Education

The importance of online learning platforms in the face of the challenges of the 21st century cannot be stressed enough. Multiple approaches based on different didactic concepts and software have already been discussed. At Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, our team supports the development of an innovative digital infrastructure in creating a virtual campus that provides a portfolio of digital skills and key qualifications for students of all disciplines. The following paper presents this open source-based social online learning platform called hocampus: it aims to function as a model approach for future learning platforms connecting unsupervised learning, peer communication and tutoring as well as teaching. However, our platform is not a mere technical architecture that employs online learning and communication possibilities: it is characterized by a strong correlation of structure and content. For this, we advance a didactic concept focused on empowering students to strengthen their cross-disciplinary key competences and 21st century skills. We also depict the digital infrastructure and tools being used in the creating and operation of hocampus. Lastly, the general design principles for digital platforms are put forward. This paper also presents a firsthand account of how to implement such a learning platform by showing what hindrances need to be overcome, how students benefit from a social online learning platform and how digital learning can develop and change in the coming years. Thus, it can function as a manual portraying the necessary steps for the realization of concrete didactic concepts in a digital space

Imagining the City of Tomorrow Through Foresight and Innovative Design: Towards the Regeneration of Urban Planning Routines?

Ecological and digital transitions alongside concerns over social inequalities have signalled the advent of complex new challenges for contemporary cities. These challenges raise issues pertaining to the dynamic capability of urban planners: more specifically, their ability to revise their tools and planning routines in urban projects. New paradigms of collective action for the transition towards innovative cities have been developed in large organisations. European companies, especially in public transportation, have developed such tools based on innovative design theories. One of these methodological tools, the Definition-Knowledge-Concept-Proposition (DKCP) process, was used to generate a new range of planning options for an urban district in Montreal, Canada. For many municipal organisations, the formulation of innovative ideas only concerns one stage of the process, represented by the ‘P’ phase. However, innovative routines should rather include the earlier phases of identifying the scope of possible innovations, the search for intriguing knowledge and disruptive design activities. The desire to tackle the complex challenges of 21st century cities has led to a new professional identity: the ‘innovative urban planner’

Integrating Technology With Student-Centered Learning

Reviews research on technology's role in personalizing learning, its integration into curriculum-based and school- or district-wide initiatives, and the potential of emerging digital technologies to expand student-centered learning. Outlines implications