Brad Hokanson

Computers as cognitive media: Examining the potential of computers in education

Despite a history of achieving only marginal benefits from using technology in education, many schools and other educational organizations are investing heavily in computer technology. This paper examines common criticisms of educational computer use, considers how society and schools have reacted to previous technological trends, and outlines relationships between diverse approaches to computer use and the ensuing outcomes that can be expected. Two approaches to media use, representational and generative, are described in an attempt to identify instructional approaches that improve educational quality.

The Design Critique as a Model for Distributed Learning

Critique is the most common aspect of studio design education. This structure and practice is how design skills are developed around the world within a design studio. This chapter examines the design critique, compares its structure and results to established educational theory, and maps the process for use in a distributed or distance environment. It begins with an examination of design and the design studio, and then focuses on the central aspect of design professions: the critique. While there are a wide range of terms used in connection with critique, various forms will be examined here to provide a diversified examination of this pedagogical methodology. Concluding with an examination of the use of critique in distance and online education, some alternatives for technology and strategy are presented. This may provide a model for distributed cognition and learning, both in formal class settings and elsewhere.

Design in educational technology : design thinking, design process, and the design studio

Introduction 1) Design, Designers and Reflection-in-Action 2) Eight Views of Instructional Design and What They Should Mean to Instructional Designers 3) Critical Issues in Studio Pedagogy: Beyond the Mystique and Down to Business 4) In Education We All Want to Be Nice: Lessons Learned from a Multidisciplinary Design Studio 5) Instructional Design in a Studio Environment: What Happens When Design Meets Hollywood? 6) Understanding and Examining Design in Action with Cultural Historical Activity Theory 7) Instructional Design Cases: Documenting precedent in instructional design 8) The Many Facets of Design and Research in Instructional Design 9) Reconceptualizing Instructional Message Design: Toward the Development of a New Guiding Framework 10) Development of Design Judgment in Instructional Design: Perspectives from Instructors, Students and Instructional Designers 11) Ethics as Design: Rethinking Professional Ethics as Part of the Design Domain 12) EDISYS: A Tool for Enhancing Design Inquiry Systems 13) Design-Thinking for Engineering Quality Instructional Design Processes Through Leadership Competencies and Modeling 14) Design Thinking and Higher Education Administration 15) The Half-Known World

Teaching Creative Thinking Skills A Longitudinal Study

With an increasing degree of complexity in the retail business, future business success for retail professionals will likely require creative problem-solving abilities. Therefore, there is a need for retail merchandising programs to emphasize creative problem solving because creativity can be learned. In this study, we share how an undergraduate-level creative problem-solving class is designed and implemented to enhance retail merchandising students’ creative problem-solving skills. A longitudinal analysis of creativity scores of 45 undergraduate students in a retail merchandising program was conducted to test both short-term and long-term effects of creative problem-solving training on students’ creativity scores. The results provide support for creativity training.

Borderlands: developing character strengths for a knowmadic world

Purpose – The papers aim is to highlight the value of non‐cognitive strengths such as creativity and grit. In a knowledge age, those aspects will be the distinguishing characteristics in a global work force and must be a goal of educational pursuits.Design/methodology/approach – The paper examines research supporting the inclusion of character strengths in education for a borderless global future.Findings – Presently, most education and work deals with information and data. Technology has made data/facts/information more accessible but less unique for any given learner, worker, or place. At the same time, education has focused on simple distribution of content, knowledge assessment, and testing instead of the development of rich knowledge and non‐cognitive skills. This can be seen in the reliance on testing and achievement, and, by and large, in a generation of students knowing “what” but not “how”, a generation less creative and more prone to set answers, a generation often lacking character strengths a...

Digital Image Creation and Analysis as a Means to Examine Learning and Cognition

This paper presents research on the development of digital collages and investigations into the cognitive efforts of graphic designers. The research venue was an upper level undergraduate course in computer graphics. Work in the course focused on the use of digital imaging software (Adobe Photoshop) and the creation, manipulation, use and understanding of images. Graphic design students manipulated images m address a series of complex topics. This study began with a hypothesis: computers may extend our cognitive abilities, inspired at least in part by the work of McLuhan.

Creativity in the Design Curriculum

Abstract This paper presents the results of empirical research from a university class for design students in creative problem solving. A small group of students received training in creativity and are compared with a larger group of design students who did not. Measured creativity of the treatment group significantly increased, apparently as a result of the class. This paper argues that creativity may require specific training to develop; at the very least, training is valuable in developing creativity in early design students. The nature of creativity and the structure of the class are described, followed by an outline of the research methodology and the use of the verbal Torrance Test of Creative Thinking.

By Measure: Creativity in Design.

Specific training may be required to develop creativity in design students. At the very least, training is valuable in developing creativity in first-year students. Creativity is a skill that can be examined, used and taught - and it is one that is central to designing. This paper presents the results of empirical research from a class in creative problem solving for design students. The nature of creativity and the structure of the class are described, and this is followed by an outline of the research methodology and the use of the verbal Torrance Test of Creative Thinking. Creativity, as measured through the test, significantly increased.

Introduction to the focused issue on fashion and communication

Fashion at its core is inherently about communication. What we wear expresses who we are as humans; our thoughts, our feelings, our beliefs, and our desires are communicated through our clothing and through our fashion choices. As designers and as researchers we understand this deep capacity for the expression of ideas through fashion. Indeed, communication may be the essence of fashion, for we use fashion to express our gender, aesthetics, power, wealth, status, and desirability. Fashion exists past literal labels and statements seen on apparel, for it carries the full embodiment of understanding and meanings of both the wearer and designer. Examining the communicative powers of fashion was the goal of the 2014 Fashion and Communication Symposium sponsored by the University of Minnesota: to examine the capability for fashion to communicate beyond the literal and surface meaning of information. At the symposium, participants from around the world shared their designs, research, and teaching strategies with the goal of investigating and exploring the overlap between fashion and communication. This special focused issue of the International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology, and Education with its focus on fashion and communication resulted from designs and papers presented at the symposium as well as a general call for submissions. The writings contained in this issue include topics that affirm fashion is a form of communication and also illustrate the impact of technology to enhance the communication abilities of apparel items. Also presented is a research project that identifies some of the fall-out resulting from how fashion is marketed to the public and methods to combat negative attitudes and biases that can result. In the first article of the special articles section, Social networking sites: a support system for African American women wearing natural hair, Tameka N. Ellington investigates the use of social networking sites to share information about the fashionability of women’s hair, focusing on natural hair styles for African-American women. Ellington notes that African-American women initially adopted ‘straight’ hair styles as a means to enhance their social acceptance. It was not until the 1960s and the Civil Rights Movement within the USA that natural hair styles were commonly worn. Since then, however, acceptance of natural styles has waned, leaving many African-American women without resources on how to wear natural hair. The participant experiences brought forward in the research demonstrate how social networking sites can provide community as well as social and emotional support. Nancy Ann Rudd and Jennifer Harmon in their paper, Obesity bias and body image: how do fashion and retail students compare to other personal service majors? note that the fashion industry’s use of ultra-thin models as a means to communicate fashion styles and trends contributes to an obesity bias. Their goal was to document the extent of this obesity bias. They contend this bias impacts both the level and quality of service provided to customers in a retail setting and clients in a professional setting. In their paper they share their investigation the extent of this bias among undergraduates studying for careers in personal service (e.g. retailing). They also share their efforts to develop a bias intervention to facilitate an inclusive attitude towards overweight individuals in service pre-professionals. Sara Jablon in her paper, Badge of dishonor: Jewish badges in medieval Europe, documents the ability of dress to accurately communicate information about the wearer. She describes the use of fabric badges to identify Jews as distinct from Christians in medieval Europe. She argues that while many messages encoded in dress can be vague or intended for only select audiences, both the wearers and observers of the badge clearly understood the message of the badge; that the wearer was ‘inferior and deserving of stigmatisation’. She identifies the reasoning behind the use of the badge, their design, and how the lives of Jews as well as others were impacted by these anti-Semitic dress laws. In Performative interactions between body and dress: Thermochromic print in fashion, Marjan Kooroshnia, Clemens Thronquist, and Laura Clausen share their work developing garments that because of their interactive characteristics, can be viewed as another means to individual expression. They conducted a series of experiments with women who wore the garments they designed that featured leuco dye-based thermochromic inks. The garments react both to a women’s body temperature and to the body movements of the women wearing them. This interaction between garment, body temperature, and movement resulted in a garment that presented ever-changing patterns and colours to the viewer. The garments also impacted the wearers as the garments made them body sensitive and directed their attention to the relationships between the garments and their physical selves.

A New Ecology for Education: Refocusing Educational Technology Beyond Content

In this new century, much of education in general and educational technology in particular have centered on the delivery of information. Instructional design has, since the last century, focused on increasing efficiency and measuring retention. At this point, however, we need to develop a “new ecology” of learning, one which includes other forms of learning into education and one which develops students who are curious, creative, and capable. In our new ecology of education, we should be focusing on the complex and full diversity of learning, not just on a few simple aspects. We must go beyond content to include the development of skills and cognitive traits such as creativity, curiosity, and persistence.