Week 3: Design Based Thinking -Mural

Design based thinking is a method of creativity and a way for enriching students learning. Through technology, students can capture, collect, organise, create and share ideas that they have unveiled in a meaningful way (Bower, 2019). The technology enables the representation and sharing of outputs (Laurillard, 2012), making it easier for students to consolidate their thoughts in a creative and structured manner. In addition, collaborative learning is also a valuable tool for elevating students to connect and integrate their ideas, which may potentially enhance the learning experience and creative design process. (Lorenzo, Angel Sicilia & Sanchez, 2012).

Mural (2019) is an online collaborative corkboard which allows students to design a creative visualisation of projects and concepts that they are currently learning. It allows them to brainstorm and mind map their ideas and views through items such as text, video and images, as well as being able to freely draw any inspiring thoughts. Students are also provided ample space for creativity as the board continues to grow when items are added. This freedom of customisation reveals how this ‘virtual learning world’ seems to focus on the creativity of learning design, fostering many particular scenarios and topics being taught (Lorenzo, Sicilia & Sanchez, 2012). It also allows students to share their creative design through presentation tools to inform others on what they have learnt.

An example of how students can use this creative tool is through the science and technology syllabus. The stage three outcome ST3-1WS-S requires students to plan and conduct investigations, as well as collect and summarise data to communicate solutions (NESA, 2017). Mural is a perfect tool to facilitate this outcome by giving the student a science experiment to complete such as ‘how changing the physical conditions of the environment affects the growth and survival of living things’ (NESA, 2017). Using Mural as a design technology, students can create and document their findings in a visual way by uploading images or videos, as well as supporting text and other features to conceptualise data into meaningful information. By the end of their experiment, they are then already prepared to present their project to the class or audience. It is also beneficial for the Technology Mandatory 7-8 Syllabus (2017) where a specific outcome TE4-2DP requires students to ‘plan and manage the production of designed solutions’, and Mural is a creative tool for aiding that.

Reference List

Bower, M. (2019). EDUC362: Digital Creativity and Learning, Week Three [PowerPoint Slides]. North Ryde: Macquarie University.

Laurillard, D. (2012). Chapter 7 – Learning through collaboration. Teaching as a Design Science – Building Pedagogical Patterns for Learning and Technology (pp. 197-209). NY: Routledge.

Lorenzo, C. M., Angel Sicilia, M., & Sanchez, S. (2012). Studying the effectiveness of multi-user immersive environments for collaborative evaluation tasks. Computers & Education, Vol.59(4), pp.1361-1376. DOI: 10.1016/j.compedu.2012.06.002

Mural. (2019). Online brainstorming, synthesis and collaboration. Retrieved from https://mural.co/

NSW Education Standards Authority. (2017). Science and technology k-6 syllabus. Retrieved from https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/wcm/connect/5ab69646-f1d4-404b-9c16-b39dfb0986d3/science-and-technology-k-6-syllabus-2017.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=

NSW Education Standards Authority .(n.d.). Stage 3 activities. Retrieved from https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/learning-areas/technologies/teaching-agriculture/stage-3-activities

NSW Education Standards Authority. (2017). Technology mandatory 7-8 syllabus. Retrieved from https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/wcm/connect/84369526-14e2-4fd3-acc0-98062f574a0e/technology-mandatory-7-8-syllabus-2017.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=