Katie Byrnes

Read the following article:
Arias, E. G., Eden, H., Fischer, G., Gorman, A., & Scharff, E. (2000) "Transcending the Individual Human Mind—Creating Shared Understanding through Collaborative Design," ACM Transactions on Computer Human-Interaction, 7(1), pp. 84-113. http://l3d.cs.colorado.edu/~gerhard/papers/tochi2000.pdf

Briefly discuss the following issues for the paper that you have read:

1. what did you find
1.1. interesting about the article?
1.2. not interesting about the article?
I really enjoyed reading about the EDC project. It is exciting to consider the possibilities within schools for students to work on real-world, messy problems rather than decontextualized, abstract problems. I also think it is so important for us to realize how crucial the notion of distributed intelligence is to our development and advancement. In more situations, we need to realize that we need to involve all of the stakeholders in deliberations and making decisions and we need the involvement to be collaborative. There was not anything I didn't find interesting.

2. what do you consider the main message of the article?
The main message of the article is the need to move beyond the concept of users as consumers. When users are viewed as designers or active participants in some manner in the design, it radically changes the design process in innovative and useful ways.

3. are themes discussed in the article which you would like to know more about?
I am interested in other ways this system could be used. For example, could this be used in a K-12 classroom, and if so, how?

4. what did you find interesting about the “EDC” system?
I think the ability to manipulate physical objects, to save the representations that were created, the ability to communicate in multiple forms (face-to-face; virtually), and the ability to access data like survey information and the numbers and locations of riders creates a powerful opportunity for design.

5. do you know of other papers, ideas, and systems which are closely related to the article and the “EDC” system?
No

6. what do the article and the associated system say about
6.1. design
6.2. learning
6.3. collaboration
6.4. innovative media to support these activities?
Design involves complexity which relies on multiple perspectives. Powerful learning is situative and context-dependent and typically involves "reflection-in-action". Collaboration requires externalization to make visible the thinking and reasoning of multiple collaborators. Innovative media needs access to data and spaces for communication to support design, learning, and collaboration.

7. do you have any ideas how this research could / should be extended (based on your own knowledge and experience)?
Could this be used in classrooms for integrated learning projects that would involve skills from multiple disciplines?