Natcom 3 - Project Proposals

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Creative Investigations Model

Overview of the idea
This model for telecommunications activity involves students engaging in developing and justifying designs of investigations, experiments and inventions. Students will be engaged in pre-design activities making use of online content and connections with inventors, design and subject experts and peer communities while they investigate ideas for their designs. Students will then develop and share experimental or other designs with peers and the expert community established during the design phase. Critical review of designs may occur in the peer community and designs optimised and reviewed. Some implementations of the model might focus on developing design processes, a deeper cognitive design process.

As the model matures and is implemented within a variety of projects, a database of student designs will be populated, and used by the educational community as a resource. Further it is expected that design teams, where students from different schools and with different experts will be engaged collaboratively in sophisticated design projects where the design process results in designs which others might implement. Professional development of teachers to move from in-class designs activities to cross-school design projects will be essential if this model is to mature and grow.

The model has two defining attributes. Firstly, it enables teachers to focus on design development, rather than implementation of existing designs. Design activities in Technology, Science and Physical Education in particular, need to invoke creativeness and inventiveness amongst students where the process for designing investigations is paramount to the curriculum agendas. The project model then provides an audience and critical community for these investigation designs and experiment descriptions. More significantly the project models aims at the much more highly cognitive process of designing design processes, rather than only products and services.

The model as described here, encourages teachers to collaboratively plan to immerse their students in themes for creative and inventive projects simultaneously, thus giving participants a common ground through which to share ideas, provide support and offer critique. This would also enable project managers to offer a small number of expert guests to the teachers' and students' communities to stimulate ideas and develop improved design processes and resultant design products. These themes should encourage critical review across curriculum areas and thus ensure designs take account of the variety of perspectives likely on an experimental or creative design: for example, aesthetic, scientific, cultural, ethical and community perspectives. The cross-curricula attribute is encouraged in most KLA syllabuses and is recognised by Natcom associations an important goal.

The choice and nature of investigations or themes to be hosted is important. Projects using this model will have added value and longevity if they take account of the connected context in which school curricula are implemented. This project model has opportunity to enable students to invent services and create ideas in the Internet environment. Further the design process in scientific and other professional communities, occurs online and in collaboration with online communities. Design projects which practise this new way of investigating, designing and implementing projects can be utilised in this model. Such an approach is a practical way to implement information economy goals into Australian curriculum.

The model contains many of the attributes of the Natcom models described in accompanying documents. It identifies the model components which are central to the activities of the stakeholder groups, teachers, students, project mangers and minor stakeholders.

An example of a Creative Investigations Project

Under a theme of data collection and research methods, students might be asked to design an investigation process for conducting national polls. A project coordinator would develop a three-phase project process under this theme. Phase 1 might involve students investigating existing designs and developing an understanding of new options available in the Internet-aware Australian community. Phase two would involve students developing a design with support from an expert and peer community. Phase 3 might involve peer review of published designs and dialogue about design rationales.

Schools would register in a process which joined teachers to an email-based community of teachers, enrolled teachers in any online professional development, added students addresses to a students email community and which added school names to a registry of participants.

The phases would be conducted while teachers and the project coordinator shared online experts and pedagogical and content ideas.

In phase 3, students would submit designs via an Internet tool which did not require them to develop a HTML version of their project if they were not able. Discussion of designs could occur privately or publicly and cross-curricula discussion would be encouraged.

A web page would be developed so teachers and students can access and use relevant resources currently available to Australian schools. In particular, approaches to investigative designs and models would be included. This web site is an important teachers resource and provides pedagogical as well as curriculum knowledge to accompany the subject matter.

Literacy and numeracy elements would be negotiated and developed onto this web collection.

A professional development program may be initiated for teachers intending to participate.

The coordinator would close the project and conduct a debrief on the teachers list.

Further examples

The Australian Science Teachers Association (ASTA) have developed a curriculum project based on this model that suits these purposes. Link to ASTA project description.

Rationales

Designing technical processes encourages students to engage in a number of high level processes and skills that harness their curiosity, creativity and complex project management skills. The context of connectivity provides opportunity to pose new problems, undertake different investigations, share investigation designs and publish solutions. Further, the connected environment in which new design processes are being undertaken adds a dimension to design processes and is altering how people undertake investigations and design process and what they design. Sharing designs as well as design solutions in this environment is a natural first step.

People in online communities have an appreciation for the importance of creative inventiveness in the new services industries. Globalisation of online industry and services is assumed, as is the new processes being undertaken in traditional industries. Design skills and processes as an important element in new service industries, are a product in themselves and are significant to Australia's future information economy. This project aims to broaden students' understanding of design futures and the new processes enabled by connectivity.

This context could shape how teachers adopt open-ended strategies in curriculum areas which rely on design and investigation processes; for instance in science, technology, and health and physical education. Enabling students to build designs is a significant step and one teachers' find difficult. Posing significant and interesting problems is one issue. Designing classroom activities which facilitate design processes is another. Enabling students to share designs and design processes across and between teams is a further step. This telecommunications curriculum project model facilitates sharing of project designs, and embeds use of learning technology into the investigative design processes undertaken by students. Further the context of connectivity provides opportunity to investigate different problems and pose new kinds of solutions. It also provides opportunity to engage in critique and reflections on designs where for example ethical and social consequences, health and safety issues and global consequences can be discussed to an audience of stakeholders including designers and their target audiences. Thus this project model provides a professional development focus to renew the profession as it struggles to find ways to build these new approaches into teaching.

Telecommunications curriculum projects provide an authentic audience for students thinking, questions and debates. Telecommunications provides students with access to audiences outside of the school and provides access to the opinions of others, a wide variety of sources of ideas and background information. This model encourages students to develop design processes and design investigations. This meta-design process in a collaborative process, lead to higher levels of thinking and responsibility for design decisions. It requires students to carefully articulate designs and to justify their design process decisions. Teachers, experts and students can work together to develop ideas into design strategies and to publish ideas to a critical peer audience. Interaction about design processes and development of investigation processes is often the link missing in most learning experiences available to students. This project model will result in a collection of students' investigations and design processes, will provide authentic audience for student ideas and will result in exemplary designs for teachers and students to use as resources.

Engaging in design investigations and synthesising ideas through development and communication of ideas are core curriculum processes embedded in many KLA's. Most curriculum documents articulate the processes students might practice. This model enables teachers to insert different curriculum models to the design process; for example, the scientific investigation approach, the technology design process and various problem posing approaches. The model also encourages constructivist approaches, problem solving, project work and student-centred learning approaches to be built into curriculum activities. It enables teachers to try different communication and discussion strategies and to explore different ways of integrating online activity into learning experiences. It also provides a chance for project designers to try different approaches to enticing teachers to participate with their classes. Further, the open-ended nature of the model, from which specific design models, inventions and investigations will be built, enables exploration of different technologies such as text, voice and video chat, bulletin boards, email lists and conferencing systems. The model's flexibility then enables different subject areas to make use of this model while implementing their particular curriculum models and subject matter.

This project design provides a pedagogical model for teachers to experience within a supportive professional atmosphere. By participating in this project idea, teachers are undertaking on-the-job professional development and have an audience for their questions and reflections. The project is an exemplary model of curriculum practice. The project model incorporates a number of structures which are specifically aimed at teachers undertaking the curriculum development process and broadening their understanding of the impact of learning technology on subject matter, curriculum interpretations and pedagogical opportunities.

Project model components
In this description, the project structure is unravelled as structures for students, teachers and project managers.

Students components

Core online idea	Students participate in a design process around three stages of a design process. Phase 1 might involve students using the Internet and other sources to investigate existing designs and developing an understanding of new design process options available in the Internet-aware Australian community. This phase would include connection with design experts. Phase two would involve students developing a design with support from an expert and peer community. Phase 3 would involve peer review of published designs and dialogue about design rationales.
Core curriculum idea	Students will engage in higher order thinking if they undertake a design process which involves them designing investigations and defending their investigations ideas with a known audience. The interactions require students to be considerate of stakeholder groups and perspectives, defend designs, probe ideas and draw conclusions. Interactions with content specialists and design experts during the design process will help students engage in authentic design processes which reflect the changing ways professional work as technology alters the investigations and design processes. This project models the potential for communications technology to enable students to design and invent contemporary processes and designs.
Curriculum processes	In each design investigations process, students will undertake the design processes inherent in their KLA. This process can slide into the model and be directed by teachers. Teachers, to fit directly with curriculum approaches can adapt each phase of the model. Jan, please write some words here.
Online content students engage in	The site for each project will provide access to web-published information around the topics, as well as information on design models and investigation processes. Some online content will be provided by guest events, online forums and other activities that support all phases of the project. In phase three, as student design investigations are published, a web tool could collect students' ideas and commentaries by others. Teachers will determine the content that students engage in, though the choice of investigation process, design process and theme.
Online experts	In all phases of this model, teachers will be encouraged to connect their students with online experts, mentors and experts. These people might offer critique of students' designs and investigations, help students undertake the design process and offer alternative perspectives to the process and products.
Peer community	Students can help other students develop design ideas, supply opinions and references to ideas of others, critique arguments and be supportive at all stages of the design process.
Online content Students' build	Students' references and reviews of resources can be added to the site through use of smart online tools which collate students' designs. Tools to enable students to publish designs without engaging in HTML would enhance this project. Archiving discussion lists and forums provide access to students ideas during and after a project has been conducted. The site should also allow schools to submit links to their locally-published resources. Tools may need to be developed to enable this process to occur without the project coordinator or forum manger needed to manually edit web pages.

Teachers' components

Core activity idea	Teachers help students participate in a structured design process to design investigations, invent processes and products or articulate designs for new processes and services. Students, teachers and online experts can cooperatively design investigations and participate in discussions defending designs. Locally, students can undertake the curriculum processes in their KLA and construct products for local assessment and other purposes. Teachers can scaffold students through the design process within the pedagogy normally initiated in the KLA.
Procedures	Teachers would register interest in participating in a theme of activities or project which uses this model. Welcoming messages might be exchanged, as preparation to participate is occurring in local classrooms. Teachers may participate in professional development about investigative and experimental design processes and use of learning technology in curriculum processes. Teachers would be encouraged to identify online experts and community members who could engage in dialogue with their students. Teachers would then work with students and others as their students undertake the stages of the design process. Teachers may engage in further online professional development activities as part of ongoing support while the project is occurring. A debrief includes encouraging teachers to add activities and students' publishing to the site.
Professional community or professional development activity	Teachers have an email community which serves as a register of participants as well as a place to seek help, share ideas and conduct professional development events. Occasionally online professional development events are hosted on this list.
Numeracy companion	A companion reminds teachers of the numeracy opportunities in design processes. In particular, statistical opportunities and the links between design assumptions, numeracy and public understanding will be highlighted in the design and investigation processes. This advice might occur interactively on the teachers list as the project proceeds or may be derived from a web site of previously contributed ideas.
Literacy walk	A literacy walk may be included as part of the teachers resources, raising for teachers the issues of conducting literacy activities while undertaking the investigation, design, publishing and critique parts of this project model. This will help teachers identify the language and genres which are incorporated in the design and investigations processes.
Online content	Online content for teachers includes links to professional information about resources, teaching techniques and curriculum processes. This may be delivered through a web site or through an online course conducted by email for participating teachers.
Online experts	The project coordinator and host teacher may invite online guests to talk on the teachers list before or while they are working with students.
Peer community	The teachers' peer community on this project is hosted by an email list and contains pedagogical experts and teachers. Teacher's work may also show cased in events and through the web site.

Project manager's components

Technical tools	The project manager would be responsible for developing and maintaining the tools that allow collections of design documents. A web site would provide advice to teachers wishing to host and be involved in this project model generally. This site would contain the online content common to all design processes and may contain specific content about themes hosted. A calendar tool may enable teachers to register interest in a particular themes or projects, to either participate in an existing project or to host a new project. An archived teachers' list acts to announce participation, conduct some professional development and host online guests. A tool for easy list registration is important. Tools that enable teachers to add resources and links to the forum web site is important to engender community participation and to remove the load from the project coordinator. Some implementations of this model may require access to a threaded web-discussion facility, a web-based chat room or other synchronous and asynchronous spaces. These might be hosted at a project model level and made accessible through each project or theme web page. Each project may require web space where teachers can build a web site to collate resources for their implementation or to share students' designs.. The host teacher's school or a community group offering free web space could provide this. Each project will require one or more student lists to conduct the conversations, host guests and share ideas. A tool for easy list registration is important.
Management tools	The project manager uses technical tools to enhance organisational processes. It is important to have processes in place to attract participants and future project hosts, negotiate project descriptions, advertise projects and themes in teacher communities, develop web pages without manual HTML editing and upload resources from teachers. Management tools include processes to archive discussions and projects and convert them to resources for later use and to collect feedback about the conduct of projects using this model. The professional development process requires a number of processes and tools and may range from face-to-face workshops, online events and courses, mixed programs of professional development, web sites and online tutorials. Teacher content provides the bulk of professional development materials. Helping teachers participate in design investigations is a professional development activity and tools may help project managers encourage and support participating teachers.
Human resources	This model requires a project manager to work with teachers and guests, develop the overall web site and negotiate with programmers to develop tools which automate the process and extend the projects structure and reach.
Development of the model	As projects using this model are conducted, the coordinator would gather knowledge about project design, use of tools to provoke dialogue, supporting guests and conducting professional development. This would enable the development of projects to take account of users needs as they develop and mature.

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