Team design process and collective responsibilities

 When a classroom is divided into teams which are expected to engage in a team project, the following events might occur.

Teachers might take on a role within the groups in their classroom. Taking a role in student projects allows teachers to guide and mentor learning while being in a position where they can assess and provide feedback to their achievements and decisions in a context relative to their projects.

A teacher in a role situation could be where teachers act as:

  • an editor or publisher who must critique writing and layout work
  • a client who must be cautious about the product they might buy
  • a project builder or engineer who must be concerned about design decisions
  • an environmental assessment agent

 

As a collaborative team, learners:

  • identify a concept or product and proceed to explain in a proposal the design problems and hypothetical solutions.
  • Create a design brief
  • use a design or other critical process to plan and develop their design project. Keeping detailed records of their process and their decisions, learners can brainstorm, investigate, and deduce consequences for a variety of potential design strategies solutions, recycling this activity until they have exhausted all possible design solutions

 

Having settled on design strategies to support a potential design solution, the team identifies:

  • ways in which they can investigate and/or execute their project;
  • primary and collaborative functions for each team member;
  • potential themes for their design(s);
  • applications they plan to use and the teams' proficiency to use these tools;
  • and the knowledge, skills, and values they hope to gain and/or exemplify through this project.

 

Team Members:

  • keep a detailed record, engage in the physical execution of their project
  • brainstorm on the alternative modes of presentation available that could most effectively promote the success of their design
  • present their design project to their teacher and peers, and using proper terminology and meaningful reasoning and evidence, defend their design decisions
  • engage in individual reflections on the intent, progress, effect, successes and/or failings of their project