Medium-based design

Draft

• Media-based Design (MBD) is an instructional design method

Background

The following quotes from the creators of this design positions this method which can be best described as a process of reflection-in-action (Schön, 1987) or a "bricoleur design".

• MBD is different from other design methods:

“We argue that MBD is significantly different from other methodologies, such as goal-based scenarios (Schank et al., 1994), cognitive tutors (Anderson et al., 1995), design experiments (Brown, 1992), and the TILT model of learner-centered design (Soloway et al., 1994). While it is true that not all approaches to design are equally successful, other design methods have concentrated on a top-down approach, neglecting the bricoleur designer. The bricoleur style of design is different from but not worse than other approaches (Turkle and Papert, 1991).” (Rick & Lamberty, 2004)

• MBD is concerned with designing learning environments that favor inquiry, artifact construction, interaction:

“Designing systems that foster significant inquiry, enable meaningful artifact construction, and encourage useful interaction is fundamental to the field of learning sciences. In education, these types of environments have a substantial history going back to Fröbel's gifts and Montessori's prepared environment. More recently, these environments have been championed by educational theorists (Bruner, 1966, Zucchermaglio, 1993) and educational technologists (Papert, 1993, diSessa, 2000), under classifications such as microworlds (Papert, 1987), construction kits (Resnick et al., 1996), media creation tools (Kay and Goldberg, 1977), and inquiry tools.” (Rick & Lamberty, 2004)

• Design is related to building a environment: “While some areas of research, such as cognitive modeling (Bereiter and Scardamalia, 1987) and understanding collaborative activity (Roschelle, 1996, Rogoff, 1994), may appear to be independent of design, they are not.” (Rick & Lamberty, 2004) and “Learning sciences needs to be what Norman calls a "design science" (Norman, 1988) and what Simon calls a "science of the artificial" (Simon, 1998). It needs to create useful designs to understand how people learn and further enable that process (Brown, 1992). As such, a core goal of learning sciences research is designing such systems. Yet, there is very little work in this area that has been studied in a scientific manner. Most of the work falls into descriptions of or theories about the product, rather than about the process of creating that product.” (Rick & Lamberty, 2004)

• Design is a process of problem solving in multiple search spaces, some of which already "provide" us with adequate methodology: “In addition, we define design as a process of problem solving in multiple search spaces (Klahr, 2000). Designers engage in reflection-in-action in a local point in a search space. At times, the reflection-in-action there will have exhausted its usefulness and it will be time to move on. When this happens, it is often fruitful to switch search spaces to begin a new inquiry process in a completely different space that will inform the design in a different way (Klahr, 2000). Navigating through these design points (reflection-in-action cycles in one search space) is fundamental to good design. We define three sometimes-overlapping search spaces of mind (what is going on in the mind of the learner), activity (how do the activities the learner engages in support the learning), and environment (how does the environment support the learning) that designers can move through when designing learning systems. The first two search spaces, mind and activity, are already well established.” (Rick & Lamberty, 2004).

References

• Rick, J. & Lamberty, K. K. (2004). Medium-Based Design: Supporting Bricoleur Designers. In Y. Kafai et al. (Eds.), Embracing Diversity in the Learning Sciences: The proceedings of the Sixth International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS). (pp. 630). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. PDF Preprint

• Rick, J. & Lamberty, K. K. (2004). Proceedings of the 6th international conference on Learning sciences, Poster sessions, Medium-based design: supporting bricoleur designers

Poster PDF Abstract