Creating an effective design activity involves a structured approach centered around learner outcomes. Based on the provided references, the process is straightforward: start with your learning objective, brainstorm potential activities, and then select the most suitable learning experience.
Steps to Create a Design Activity
Crafting a purposeful design activity follows a logical flow that ensures the activity serves its intended educational purpose. Here are the key steps:
1. Start with Your Learning Objective
The fundamental first step in designing any learning activity is to clearly define what learners should be able to do or understand after completing the activity. Without a clear objective, the activity lacks direction and purpose.
- Why is this important? Learning objectives act as a compass, guiding the selection and design of the activity itself. They ensure the activity is relevant and helps learners achieve specific skills, knowledge, or attitudes.
- Examples of Learning Objectives for Design:
- Learners will be able to identify core design principles (e.g., balance, contrast, repetition).
- Learners will be able to sketch initial concepts for a user interface based on a given problem.
- Learners will be able to critique designs based on usability heuristics.
- Learners will be able to collaborate effectively in a design sprint setting.
Clearly stating these objectives using action verbs helps in designing measurable outcomes for your activity.
2. Brainstorm All the Possible Activities
Once you know what learners need to achieve, the next step is to generate a wide range of potential activities that could help them meet those objectives. Do not filter ideas at this stage; the goal is quantity and variety.
- Techniques for Brainstorming:
- Mind mapping
- Listing ideas freely
- Group brainstorming sessions
- Looking at examples of existing design exercises (e.g., design challenges, case studies, practical projects)
- Types of Potential Design Activities:
- Hands-on sketching exercises
- Digital prototyping tasks
- Design critique sessions
- User persona creation
- Journey mapping workshops
- Problem-solving challenges with design constraints
- Case study analysis
- Group design sprints
Think broadly about individual tasks, group collaborations, short exercises, and longer projects that align with your objectives.
3. Choose the Best Learning Experience
From the list of brainstormed ideas, the final step is to evaluate and select the activity (or sequence of activities) that offers the most effective and appropriate learning experience for your specific context and objectives.
- Factors to Consider When Choosing:
- Alignment: Does the activity directly help learners achieve the stated learning objective?
- Audience: Is the activity suitable for the learners' current skill level, background, and learning preferences?
- Resources: Are the necessary tools, time, space, and materials available?
- Engagement: Will the activity be interesting and motivating for learners?
- Assessment: Can learning be effectively measured or observed through this activity?
- Feasibility: Is the activity practical to implement within the given constraints?
Evaluating potential activities against these criteria helps narrow down the options to the one that provides the strongest opportunity for meaningful learning. Sometimes, combining elements from different brainstormed ideas can create the optimal activity. This selection process is critical to ensuring the design activity is not just busywork but a valuable learning experience.
By following these steps – starting with the 'why' (objective), exploring the 'how' (brainstorming), and finally selecting the 'best fit' (choosing) – you can create targeted and effective design activities.
