Journal of Academic Development and Education JADE Issue 8 | Page 8
ARTICLE #1 | 9
8 | JADE
DR. KATE CUTHBERT
design activities and forge a great sense of public value surrounding
the curriculum decisions. See also The HEA Student Engagement
through Partnership Toolkit. 3
Process mapping
This activity has its roots in the manufacturing sector and its purpose
is to illustrate the flow of a product through a system. Importantly it
is a visual representation and when analysed can pinpoint decisions,
value-added steps in the process and indeed when issues such
as duplication of work is present. Think how effective this activity
would be when working through your curriculum from admissions
to completion. The use of process maps helps create a reliable user
experience and a more collective understanding of the journey
a learner will take when experiencing your curriculum. Process
mapping is most effective when different teams and departments
engage in the process so you end up with a shared vision and action
plan. See also The Design Studio 4 from JISC which recounts the use
of process mapping in approval development.
The caveat to all of the above of course is to commit to the idea of
curriculum design as synonymous with product design. If we see
curriculum as a manufactured product with tangible and intangible
elements I think we are part way there. Also we need to remind
ourselves that curriculum happens outside of the paperwork; the
experience of the product and the context in which the curriculum
exists is very important to its success.
The purpose of this editorial? When you are looking over the wealth
of innovations collated in this edition of JADE, think about how you
might employ design principles to effectively apply the new ideas
into your curricula. You can also add your curriculum design advice
and experience to #Designcurr.
References
Meyer, J.H.F. and Land, R. (2005) Threshold concepts and
troublesome knowledge (2): epistemological considerations and a
conceptual framework for teaching and learning, Higher Education,
49 (3), 373-388.
3. https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/individuals/student-success/toolkits/
student-engagement
4. http://jiscdesignstudio.pbworks.com/w/page/24956074/PALET%20
Curriculum%20approval%20process%20map
ARTICLE #1
Title
Interconnected Motions:
Agency of Information in
Culture & Learning (Virtual
Mythology)
Author
Philip Devine, Learning Technology
Officer (Lecture Capture)
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.21252/
KEELE-0000016
Contact
[email protected]
Abstract
“Design is not engaging with the social,
cultural, and ethical implications of
the technologies it makes so sexy and
consumable.”
Dunne and Raby, 1999, Preface
Introduction
The aim of this paper is to begin
to explore and understand the
agency and mythology of the
objectification of information
in culture and learning within
the digital domain.
Georg Simmel (1910–11) defines
the nature of culture as “the
cultivation
of
individuals
through
the
agency
of
external forms which have
been objectified in the course
of history”. Subjectivity and
subjective experience in the
objectification
of
external
forms, and the relationship
between
agency
and
experiment, in relation to
a post-human debate, are,
according to Edwards (2010,
p. 5), “a separation of matter
from meaning, object from
subject”.
These
thoughts
will provide the necessary
semantic tool kit, a “semiotics
of virtuality” (Hayles, 1999, p.
24), to begin to understand
the
importance
of
the
objectification of information
in learning and teaching.
Firstly it is necessary to
locate a body (or bodies) of
information that will allow
further definition of agency
within the objectification of
information in learning and
digital culture. The University
of Edinburgh’s, E-learning
and Digital Cultures 2013,
Massive Online Open Course
(mooc)
will
(possibly)
provide the necessary depth
of information to begin to
understand the impact of the
objectification of information
in learning and teaching in
digital
culture.
E-learning
and Digital Cultures 2013
mooc Twitter feed, locating
messages and conversation
around hashtag 1 (#edcmooc),
would part provide that
necessary, sampled, empirical
data.
#edcmooc
Twitter
feed data in CSV 2 format
can be found at [Appendix
1].
Ethical
consideration
regarding privacy of data has
been taken into account. All
#edcmooc data is in the open
domain, and free to access.
Agency, Mythology and
Representation
To define the concept of
agency and mythology, in
order to locate the potential
efficacy of the objectification
of information in learning and
digital culture, it is important
to map potential ‘expected’
locations of the objectification
of information (object or
artifact). It is also important
to understand how those
objects or artifacts can be, or
cannot be represented in the
digital domain. To do this, in
my opinion, it is important to
at least begin to understand
the dialectic 3 within learning
cultures in the digital domain,
described by Edwards (2010,
p. 5) as the juxtaposition of
“matters of fact/objects and
1. Hashtag: A searchable object that groups messages and conversations.
2. CSV: Comma-separated values (CSV) in plain text form.
3. Dialectic: A process of change in which a concept, or its realisation,
passes over into, and is preserved and fulfilled by its opposite.