A Pedagogy for Original Synners

Part of the Volume on Digital Young, Innovation, and the UnexpectedThis essay begins by speculating about the learning environment of the class of 2020. It takes place entirely in a virtual world, populated by simulated avatars, managed through the pedagogy of gaming. Based on this projected version of a future-now-in-formation, the authors consider the implications of the current paradigm shift that is happening at the edges of institutions of higher education. From the development of programs in multimedia literacy to the focus on the creation of hybrid learning spaces (that combine the use of virtual worlds, social networking applications, and classroom activities), the scene of learning as well as the subjects of education are changing. The figure of the Original Synner is a projection of the student-of-the-future whose foundational literacy is grounded in their ability to synthesize information from multiple information streams

Innovating Industrial Design Curriculum in a Knowledge-Based and Participatory Digital Era

This article narrates on three years participatory research between 2012 and 2014 and its formulation for a 2016 undergraduate industrial design curriculum launch. It contributes to design culture transformation since there are leading breakthrough education exemplars but lack of pathways to get there by conservative courses and institutions. The course proposes an individual and collective knowledge creation model through social constructivism and constructionism that recognises its place in time and history. It intends catching up with a profession transformed beyond a digital Bauhaus manifesto that bridges physical and digital artefacts, space and environments through quality of experiences, intelligence, networks and relations. Data and practice supported pedagogy redefinition from master-apprentice and teacher-centred skill transmission models to heutagogy and paragogy. The new approach required habitus change from a traditional goods-centred discipline to human-centred focus, critical design and making, design heuristics, CDIO (conceiving, designing, implementing, operating) and STEAM (science, technology, arts, mathematics) frameworks. Participants worked empathetically to contextualise, problem frame and solve by crossing boundaries between disciplines, institutions, industries, and students’ background and society. Research and practice promoted new forms of industrial design creation happening in physical and digital coexisting spaces of being. The curriculum expressed through units that evolved around an e-curriculum component working as a digital spine that progressed from standard social networking and industry collaboration to international design studio and design factory projects. It became foundation for future physical-digital industrial design artefacts, human computer interaction, machine learning, and systems built on hacker culture, shared information, free open-source software and hardware

Multinational perspectives on information technology from academia and industry

As the term \u27information technology\u27 has many meanings for various stakeholders and continues to evolve, this work presents a comprehensive approach for developing curriculum guidelines for rigorous, high quality, bachelor\u27s degree programs in information technology (IT) to prepare successful graduates for a future global technological society. The aim is to address three research questions in the context of IT concerning (1) the educational frameworks relevant for academics and students of IT, (2) the pathways into IT programs, and (3) graduates\u27 preparation for meeting future technologies. The analysis of current trends comes from survey data of IT faculty members and professional IT industry leaders. With these analyses, the IT Model Curricula of CC2005, IT2008, IT2017, extensive literature review, and the multinational insights of the authors into the status of IT, this paper presents a comprehensive overview and discussion of future directions of global IT education toward 2025

The Scientist, Winter 2009

https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/scientist/1003/thumbnail.jp

Teaching and learning in virtual worlds: is it worth the effort?

Educators have been quick to spot the enormous potential afforded by virtual worlds for situated and authentic learning, practising tasks with potentially serious consequences in the real world and for bringing geographically dispersed faculty and students together in the same space (Gee, 2007; Johnson and Levine, 2008). Though this potential has largely been realised, it generally isn’t without cost in terms of lack of institutional buy-in, steep learning curves for all participants, and lack of a sound theoretical framework to support learning activities (Campbell, 2009; Cheal, 2007; Kluge & Riley, 2008). This symposium will explore the affordances and issues associated with teaching and learning in virtual worlds, all the time considering the question: is it worth the effort