Hi Terry,

You wrote:
"... Does information gathering automatically result in learning in 
your model?..."

To be quite honest I don't know for sure. One thing is for sure - there 
is nothing automatic about this. There is the concept of intent 
involved here. My appreciation of design enquiry is that it is very 
learning oriented and as it is carried out in direct relationship to a 
design task, I feel one can call it design learning.

I'm at the stage where I'm trying to work out for myself what the 
dimensions of design learning are. What I know from my own professional 
practice and that of others, is that when I'm engaged in design enquiry 
I learnt a lot about the design task's specific context etc and a lot 
about the interactions of design as an activity. I think that there are 
many other aspects of professional design practice that can be termed 
as design learning.
You gather information, try something out, get a challenge from users 
say. You learn, you act on that learning and generate a new perspective 
and try again, this time with more authority. Or you're not getting the 
interaction or understanding desired form other design participants. 
You create an intervention to get people to interact in a different 
way, to acquire new perspectives. They learn, you learn. You reach a 
common understanding, a new synthesis, gain new learning and act on it.

I think the fulcrum around which design learning turns is, as I 
explained in my last post, whether or not one allows oneself to adopt a 
learning orientation to a given design task. I think there is a lot of 
design learning going on in professional practice, but it is tacit or 
just considered as part and parcel of the design process.

My point is that if we could better identify design learning as an 
activity or a phenomenon of design and learn to take into account, we 
could achieve a lot more when designing and achieve a better 
integration of those others involved in a design task.

Formerly I attempted to describe design learning as something that 
could be "implemented" or "applied". I was challenged by a good friend 
as to whether I wanted to just apply some kind of new pedagogy. This 
was justified, as it made me realise that the significant difference 
between a pedagogical approach and design learning, is that design 
learning, as a part of design activity, is such that one needs to 
create situations, interactions, processes and tools that can support 
the emergence of design learning. This understanding is, I feel, what 
aligns design learning in part with activity learning theory.

This is why I was so interested in Harold Nelsons concept of 
"composition" of learning elements or learning activities. I sense that 
it is the unique combination of elements that can allow design learning 
to emerge, almost, using a visual expression, in the space between the 
elements of the composition. I don't know if that makes sense to you. I 
readily accept that I'm in a very intuitive and fumbling mode at the 
moment, so precise explanations sometime elude me.

Cheers,

Chris.

---------------
On Saturday, August 30, 2003, at 01:55 PM, Terence Love wrote:

> Hi Chris,
>
> Nice post. You take the concept of design learning in many directions. 
> A couple of points I would appreciate clarification. You say:
>
> "My understanding of a learning orientation is just the opposite. One 
> accepts that one's knowledge and experience of a design task, its 
> context and those involved in a product's use and production is 
> limited or nonexistent and that one has to explore possibilities in 
> order to reach the best solution in the given circumstances."
>
> This sounds like a reference to information gathering - through 
> exploring possibilities. This information gathering perspective is 
> echoed in your paragraph about 'design enquiry activities".. Ditto in 
> the paragraph where you suggest that syntheses and future strategies 
> (both information)  "reflect the design learning that has occured" 
> Does information gathering autromatically result in learning in your 
> model?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Terry
>
>
-------------

from:

Chris Heape
Senior Researcher - Design Didactics / Design Practice
Mads Clausen Institute
University of Southern Denmark
Sønderborg
Denmark

http://www.mci.sdu.dk

Work @ MCI:
tel: +45 6550 1671
e.mail: chris @mci.sdu.dk

Work @ Home:
tel +45 7630 0380
e.mail: [log in to unmask]


-------------

from:

Chris Heape
Senior Researcher - Design Didactics / Design Practice
Mads Clausen Institute
University of Southern Denmark
Sønderborg
Denmark

http://www.mci.sdu.dk

Work @ MCI:
tel: +45 6550 1671
e.mail: chris @mci.sdu.dk

Work @ Home:
tel +45 7630 0380
e.mail: [log in to unmask]

-------------

from:

Chris Heape
Senior Researcher - Design Didactics / Design Practice
Mads Clausen Institute
University of Southern Denmark
Sønderborg
Denmark

http://www.mci.sdu.dk

Work @ MCI:
tel: +45 6550 1671
e.mail: chris @mci.sdu.dk

Work @ Home:
tel +45 7630 0380
e.mail: [log in to unmask]

-------------

from:

Chris Heape
Senior Researcher - Design Didactics / Design Practice
Mads Clausen Institute
University of Southern Denmark
Sønderborg
Denmark

http://www.mci.sdu.dk

Work @ MCI:
tel: +45 6550 1671
e.mail: chris @mci.sdu.dk

Work @ Home:
tel +45 7630 0380
e.mail: [log in to unmask]