Grammar Gazette- Issue 2, 2014

i i"r

DESIGN THINKING I\T ACTIOI\

AUTHOR M r Sha ne Skillen Co-Director Tech nology Stud ies

One overarching aim of the workshop was to role model an important skill that isn't necessarily or explicitly taught in schools, yet is arguably fundamental amongst all great thinkers: the ability to come up with a great question or idea, and furthermore, fully understand it. TVventieth century education progressively diminished the perceived importance of the arts; the onset of free education saw emphasis on reading, writing and maths and the development of vocational skills. Only with hindsight are we starting to recognise those who have risen to the top in any of these fields are differentiated by their ability to be creative or think creatively Technologies and their innate ability to be augmented and adapted to help solve problems have ushered in the importance of creative problem solving Yet if we look back historically we would recognise that creative thought has had a role to play in many of our progressive developments throughout history and across ali disciplines The Year 9 Technologies workshops allowed the creative teams to work with the students to scope a brief for the design and development of several computer games which would educate young people and engage them with Indigenous Australian heritage. These productive workshops were a direct product of the girls' diligent research, preparedness and open and receptive minds. Design thinking has empathy at its heart, and to design anything for anyone it is important to understand who you are designing for and how to make it unobtrusive in the environment it is to rnhabit. The girls learned not to be biased when flrst encountering a problem as their response will inherently be influenced by their own understanding or experience. Creaiive ideas come together when we explore possibiiities and ask 'what if?' as opposed to a response based upon what is known or has been crealed before The students were asked to think widely (divergently) about the concept

WH EN PEOPLE TH IN K OF PRODUCTIVITY AN D IN DUSTRY terminology like procedural practice, singular focus, finite analysis and redundancy reduction come to mind - the last thing on most minds is creativity However, anyone who walked into the Year 9 Technologies creative workshops held rn August would attest that industry and productivity was evident and concealed in the veil of fun and engagement. The workshop originated from the Thought Leader in Residence programme that hosted design thinking expert Mr Adam Blake and involved leading Brisbane creative agencies Gilimbaa and JOSEPHMARK and a contingent of OUT Doctoral and Postgraduate students assembled by Professor Peta Wyeth (past parent) including old girl and Master of IT (Games Design), Alexandra Flahn (2008). The creative team was bolstered by the knowledge and talents of alumnt Pearl Gariano (2010), Kim Nguyen (2010) and Yen Nguyen (201,2) who are all studying various Information Technology and creative degrees.

, t,i:)rr,ll. l

'l

i ji l

i I i',

"i ;l\il\