week 3
Learning Aims and Objectives:
Aim: In this week's page, students will learn the types of reflection and creativity techniques and how they influence practice within the digital sector.
Objectives:
1. By the end of this week's page students will be able to discuss and implement a range of reflection techniques for learning.
2. By the end of the week's page students will be able to demonstrate their understanding of the different areas of reflection techniques by applying them to practical activities.
3. By the end of the week's page students will be able to identify the principles of reflective techniques created by a number of theorists.
Types of reflection and creativity techniques and how they influence practice within the digital sector.
Reflection techniques:
There are a number of different reflection techniques available to use in the analysis of practice and process, from both an employee level and from an organisation point. The ability to reflect is not an easy thing to do for most, as this can feel personalised and critical, however, if done correctly it can improve performance, processes and skill sets to those that are able to reflect. Below are a number of different techniques.
Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle – 4 stages of reflecting on experience
This cycle is a way of learning by doing and then thinking about what you did. It's made up of four stages:
- Concrete Experience: This is when you have an actual experience. It's about doing something and being involved in it.
- Reflective Observation: After the experience, you think about what happened. You reflect on what you did and how it went.
- Abstract Conceptualisation: This is when you start to understand the experience. You come up with ideas or theories about why things happened the way they did.
- Active Experimentation: Finally, you use what you've learned to try new things or improve how you do something.
Stage 1: Concrete Experience
Example: Let's say you're learning to ride a bike. Your concrete experience is actually getting on the bike and trying to ride it.
Stage 2: Reflective Observation
Example: After your first attempt at riding the bike, you think about what happened. Maybe you remember wobbling a lot and almost falling. You reflect on how you felt and what you did.
Stage 3: Abstract Conceptualisation
Example: Now you start to figure out why you were wobbling. You realise that you need to keep your balance and maybe think about what you can do to stay steady. You might come up with the idea that looking ahead instead of down could help.
Stage 4: Active Experimentation
Example: You get back on the bike and try out your new idea of looking ahead instead of down. You test out your new understanding and see if it helps you ride better.
The Paper Airplane Challenge
This activity will help you go through all four stages of the learning cycle. It should take about 5-10 minutes.
Concrete Experience (2 minutes): Make a paper airplane and fly it. See how well it flies.
Reflective Observation (1-2 minutes): Think about how well your airplane flew. Did it go far? Did it crash quickly? What might have caused these results?
Abstract Conceptualisation (1-2 minutes): Think about why your airplane flew the way it did. Maybe you realise the wings need to be more balanced or the nose should be pointier.
Active Experimentation (2 minutes): Make adjustments to your airplane based on your reflections and ideas. Fly it again to see if it improves.
This cycle of learning by doing, thinking about it, understanding it, and then trying again is a powerful way to learn and improve your skills. Have fun with the paper airplane challenge and see how your airplane flying skills get better!
Gibbs' Reflective Cycle
Gibbs' Reflective Cycle is a tool you can use to think about an experience you've had, understand what happened, and learn from it for the future. It has six stages, and here's how it works:
1. Description
What happened? In this stage, you simply describe the experience without judging or analyzing it. Think of it like telling a story.
Example: Imagine you just finished a group project in your computer class. You might say, "Our team had to create a website for a local business. We worked on it for two weeks, and we had a few meetings to discuss our progress."
2. Feelings
What were you thinking and feeling? Here, you reflect on your emotions and thoughts during the experience.
Example: Continuing with the group project, you might think, "I felt excited at the start because I love web design, but I also felt stressed when we had trouble with coding. Sometimes, I was frustrated because not everyone contributed equally."
3. Evaluation
What was good and bad about the experience? In this stage, you look at what went well and what didn't.
Example: You could evaluate, "The good part was that we finished the project on time, and the design was praised by our teacher. However, we struggled with coding errors, and communication within the team could have been better."
4. Analysis
Why did things go well or badly? Analyze why the positive and negative aspects happened.
Example: You might analyze, "Things went well because we had a clear plan and some team members were really skilled at design. The problems occurred because we didn't assign tasks clearly, so some people didn't know what to do, leading to confusion and errors."
5. Conclusion
What else could you have done? Think about what you learned and what you could have done differently.
Example: A conclusion might be, "I learned that good communication is crucial for a project to succeed. We could have held more regular meetings to check everyone's progress and offer help where needed."
6. Action Plan
If it arose again, what would you do? Plan how you would handle a similar situation in the future.
Example: For an action plan, you could decide, "Next time, I'll suggest we use a project management tool to assign tasks and track progress. I'll also make sure we have regular check-ins to ensure everyone is on the same page."
Reflect on a Recent Group Activity
Pair up in groups of 2-3.
Each person takes turns sharing a recent group activity they participated in (like a school project, sports team event, or club meeting).
Follow the six stages of Gibbs' Reflective Cycle to discuss the experience:
Description: Describe the activity.
Feelings: Share your thoughts and feelings during the activity.
Evaluation: Discuss what went well and what didn't.
Analysis: Analyze why things happened the way they did.
Conclusion: Think about what you learned and what you could have done differently.
Action Plan: Plan what you would do next time in a similar situation.
Each person takes notes on their reflections.
After everyone has shared, discuss common themes and lessons learned as a group.
This activity should take about 5-10 minutes per person, depending on how much detail you go into. It's a great way to practice reflecting on experiences and learning from them!
Boud, Keogh and Walker’s model – 3 stages of reflecting on practice
Reflecting on practice is a way of thinking about and analysing what you've done, especially after learning something new or completing an activity. This helps you understand your experiences better and improve in the future. Boud, Keogh, and Walker’s model breaks this down into three simple stages:
- Returning to Experience
- Attending to Feelings
- Re-evaluating Experience
Let's look at each stage with examples:
1. Returning to Experience
This stage is about recalling and describing the experience. You think back to what happened, focusing on the details.
Example: Imagine you just finished a group project in your computer science class where you had to create a simple game. In this stage, you'd recall the steps you took, like how you brainstormed ideas, divided the tasks, and worked together to code the game.
2. Attending to Feelings
In this stage, you pay attention to the emotions you felt during the experience. Recognising these feelings helps you understand how they influenced your actions and decisions.
Example: While working on the game, you might have felt excited when you came up with a cool game idea, frustrated when you hit a bug in the code, and proud when you finally got it to work. This stage involves acknowledging these emotions and understanding how they affected your work.
3. Re-evaluating Experience
Now, you analyse what you learned from the experience. You think about what went well, what didn’t, and what you could do differently next time. This stage helps you draw conclusions and plan for future improvements.
Example: After reflecting on the game project, you might realize that better communication could have helped avoid some bugs. You might also see that starting with a clearer plan would have made the process smoother. You take these insights to improve your next project.
Reflecting on a Coding Exercise
Here's a simple 5-10 minute activity you can do in small groups of 2-3 to practice these stages:
Choose an Experience: Pick a recent coding exercise or project you worked on, either individually or as a group.
Reflect in Stages:
Stage 1: Returning to Experience
Spend 2 minutes discussing what you did. Describe the task, the steps you took, and any challenges you faced.
Stage 2: Attending to Feelings
Spend 2 minutes sharing how you felt during the exercise. What emotions did you experience at different stages? How did these feelings impact your work?
Stage 3: Re-evaluating Experience
Spend 4 minutes discussing what you learned. What went well? What didn’t? What could you do differently next time? Write down at least one improvement for future projects.
By the end of this activity, you should have a clearer understanding of your coding experience and some ideas for how to improve in the future. This reflective practice helps you become a better learner and a more effective coder.
Creativity technique:
The approach to creating techniques of development requires a different angle to others where a repetitive or iteration process is used to revisit points or problems so that the main focus is on the user and thier needs. One such approach is Design Thinking;
Design thinking
Within the approach of design thinking there are a number of stages that should be considered these are,
- Empathise
- Define
- Ideate
- Prototyle
- Test
We can break these down further by reflecting on the following points.
o identify users’ needs - What is it that they need/want to improve/develope
o empathise with users’ needs. -How are they feeling, what is it that could be causing them issues and reflect on how to support them
o define the problem - Reflecting on thier processes and actions via observing them to idetify potential areas for review.
o hypothesise - Using the reflected and recorded discussions and observations come to a point where a suggestion to the possible problem or pinch points are in thier processes and actions.
o map/challenge assumptions - The creation of a pathway or route that identify the current practices and processes with levels of assumptions and tolerances that define the problem areas.
o ideate – create ideas that might solve the problem, these can be broad in their approaches that can limit or reduce pressures of judgement and evaluations.
o prototype feedback loop - Once a possible or potential idea is to resolve or correct the issue is created it is important to gain and gather users experinaces and feedback, however this must be in an iterative approach enabling for looping back on developments and improvements made and thier impact.
o conduct qualitative research with users - It is to easy to ask the binary question of did it work, do you like it, would you recomend it. However these are closed questioning techniques that offer no quality to reflection and evaluation of the users experinaces. The use of qualitative questioning will enable further opertunties for development and improvements to be made. Questions like WHAT did you like, WHERE did you have issues, WHAT could be improved, HOW did it make your feel, WHY did you do that.
o validate/disprove assumptions -
o iterate prototype based on research -
Objective:
Develop creative thinking skills by analysing real-world case studies and applying those insights to a challenge.
Activity Task:
Step 1: Understand Creative Thinking (5-10 minutes)
Read the following definition of creative thinking:
Creative thinking is the ability to look at a problem or situation from a new perspective, generate innovative ideas, and come up with original solutions. It involves thinking beyond conventional methods and finding alternative ways to approach tasks.
Step 2: Analyse Case Studies (10-15 minutes)
Read the following case studies and analyze how creative thinking was applied:
1. Case Study 1: LEGO’s Reinvention
LEGO, once a struggling company in the early 2000s, revitalized its brand through creative thinking. Faced with declining sales, LEGO decided to broaden its focus beyond just toy building blocks. It collaborated with movie studios (e.g., “The LEGO Movie”), created LEGO-themed video games, launched theme parks, and incorporated digital technologies to remain relevant. This blend of innovation and brand expansion helped LEGO become a leader in both physical and digital entertainment.
Question: How did LEGO use creative thinking to address its challenges and rebrand itself?
2. Case Study 2: Airbnb’s Disruptive Business Model
Airbnb started as a simple idea: providing travelers with affordable alternatives to hotels by staying in other people’s homes. When it launched, the concept of home-sharing was unconventional and met with skepticism. However, the founders used creative thinking to address safety concerns, implement a user-friendly platform, and develop trust between hosts and guests through review systems. Airbnb now operates in over 220 countries and has become a major player in the hospitality industry.
Question: How did Airbnb apply creative thinking to build a successful business in a competitive industry?
Step 3: Apply Creative Thinking to a New Challenge (15-20 minutes)
Now, apply what you’ve learned from the case studies to a new scenario. Imagine you work for a company that manufactures reusable water bottles. The company’s sales have been declining as competitors introduce smarter, more eco-friendly alternatives (such as bottles with built-in filtration or temperature control).
Task:
Come up with 3 creative strategies that the company can use to increase its market share. In your response, reference specific creative approaches from the LEGO and Airbnb case studies.
You can consider aspects such as:
• Expanding product offerings
• Collaborating with other brands
• Introducing technology-driven solutions
• Marketing campaigns
Submission Guidelines
• Write a 300-word response outlining your strategies.
• Make sure to clearly connect the strategies to ideas from the case studies.
Last Updated
2024-10-09 13:42:48
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