The Design Process

It is interesting to see that when you have one idea about how something will go, and you start working on it, you realize that it is not what you had in mind. This is striking to me because I am teaching the design process to my students in regards to architectural design. I hadn't stopped to think about how the design process relates to things other than engineering and construction.

The design process includes:

• Identify and define the problem or need
• Research the problem
• Brainstorm possible solutions
• Select the best solution
• Construct a prototype
• Test and Evaluate the solution
• Communicate the solution
• Redesign

The redesign brings you back to the beginning again. You identify what needs to change and go through the process again.

The process of developing these blogs and wikis with meaning for our classrooms is following the process. As you begin to work on something, you will go through each of these steps - conscientiously or un-conscientiously you are working through the design of a useful tool for yourself or for your students.

I began a wiki in Moodle and now that I see how it looks and "feels", I don't like it at all and think that making a seperate wiki will be more useful for my students. I plan to post a FAQ section, video tutorials and a "help" section.