Lifting Burdens

Elder Holland's Testimony of the Book of Mormon

Layers revisited

Representation

What the user sees, hears, feels, etc.

Sensory experience – guides the user through learning

Control

The user input – how they are interacting with the instruction

Message

This is what comes back to the user in the representation layer.

Depends on their control – what they input

Strategy

Contains events (reads the control and sends the appropriate message)

Event: combination of time, space, goal, and activity

Content

Related to the actual goal – what it is that you are trying to teach

Operational principles – how does it work?

These can be socially constructed (think of the connotations that come with specific words, etc.)

What is the set of cause and effect relationships at work here?

Execution (Media Logic or Data Management)

How everything works together (from the instructors point of view)

What if they do the wrong thing at the wrong time? It may damage the students learning experience.

**You can tie it all together by revisiting the instructional design theories we have discussed. Their theories fit into different pieces of the layers-model we have created here. Theorists treat certain layers and ignore other layers.

October 2 - Designing Instruction

EXAMPLE IN CLASS (BOOK)

Representation

Pictures

Sounds

Words on the page

**Notice difference in representations

--Touching a word can say the word, spell it off, or tell you the sounds of the letters

Control Layer

The buttons you can push

Volume, go, stop, etc.

**Notice different levels

STOP GO VOLUME (represents a higher level)

WORDS LETTERS SAY IT (sub-level)

“TOUCH A LETTER TO…” (message layer)

Message Layer

The things the program is saying to you.

Prompts, instructions, hints, etc.

The music speeding up.

**The messages were tailored to his responses

Generating representations according to the users needs/responses

CONVERSATION STRUCTURES

Anything that creates a representation experience is representation. The message that is conveyed to the user comes from the message layer.

Strategy Layer

Hold all the event descriptions & the master plan for instruction

Tells the message layer what kinds of messages/transactions are appropriate depending on the circumstances

Interprets the control layer (input from the user) and then makes a decision of what the next course of action will be

EVENT STRUCTURES

GENERAL STRATEGIC PLANS – event ordering, conversation ordering

**Notice the difference between instructional goals and strategic goals

Instructional goals – what learning you want to take place.

Strategic goals – how you will influence that – how you will get it done.

**The interesting problem/challenge arises because the learner’s instructional and strategic goals may or may not be the same as the instructors goals. As an instructor you must learn what the learners goals are if you hope to adapt your strategy and instructional goals to them.

Content Layer

It’s possible to learn from a model – but it’s more efficient and effective if the model is accompanied by a strategy. The strategy has a plan to help the learner interact with and understand the model.

**Engine Model

Things they could learn:

The order of relations, how parts move

Things they could not learn:

The WHY of the engine – why does it move? What makes it happen?

**Problem with models – we can learn certain things, but we also miss certain things as we look at it.

**Relation to life: how often do we do this? We have some experience and make some connections – but without the bigger pictures (what God can see) we run the risk of coming to the wrong conclusions.

|||||| As instructional designers this is our job. Take a content and design the augmentation – the strategy that will help them have the learning experience with the content. ||||||

TRANSACTION THEORY

Used in computer assisted instruction.

Transaction shell – the actual structure that makes up the actual transaction.

Transaction instance – when you add the information to the shell it becomes an instance.

Transaction Family – all the transaction instances needed to teach a student a particular knowledge or skill to complete a task.

Sept 30, 2009 - Expectations & Other Things

EXPECTATIONS Russell T. Osguthorpe

Learning over time – not learning that decays or fades with time, rather, learning that is constantly growing.

People seldom exceed their own expectations – if they do, one might argue that their expectations were too low.

3 D’s of learning:

1 – Desire

Thinking about learning, wanting to learn a new skill

2 – Decision

Actually making the decision to learn something – to do it

3 – Determination

Actually doing it – putting forth the effort to accomplish something

**Sometimes the instructor needs to provide the impetus – the motivation to begin the cycle. Many times people don’t have a desire, they don’t want to make the decision, and they have no determination to learn something. If as teachers we can ask them to do something that will help move them onto the cycle then that can start the ball rolling.

DESIGN LAYERS (architecture)

Buildings – as the layers of a building age they slip past each other.

Things are designed semi-independently. The people who designed the lights speak a different language than the people who installed the wallboard. They al worked on the same building, but they all have their own specialties. Any technology as it gets more complicated it splits into specialties.

A layer is the natural evolution of a technology. As the technology grows so do the specialties. You have to know more to work in a particular layer.

How do we balance it all?

The battle between knowing a little bit about a lot of things and knowing a lot about one thing. This is the hardest thing for me because as a teacher of all these things (photoshop to java) I have to know about all of them, as a result I don’t get to really dive deep into any one category.

How Buildings learn – Brand

Educating the reflective practioner – Schon

Design Rules – Baldwin and Clark

DOMAIN	DEFINITION	EXAMPLES
Siting	Relations of the building site	Slope, hill, gully, contour
Building Elements	Components of buildings	Gym, offices, stairs, ramps
Organization of Space	Kinds of spaces and relations	Hallway, open area
Form	Felt-path of movement through space	Carry the gallery through here and look down into here
Structure	Technologies / processes used in building	Constructions module for these classrooms
Building Character	Kind of Building	Warehouse, beach cottage
Precedent	Reference to other kinds of buildings	The sort of thing an architect would invent

** You have to consider the constraints at each level – these determine what you do as you design in a particular layer.

** The more layers that you can see and use and utilize as you design the better. It will make your design more effective and useable.

**Instructional technology is not after absolute truth – we are after utility.

**Whenever you say the word ‘layers’ you need to say the word ‘function’ as well.

As the sophistication of your design increases so does the sophistication of your layers.

REPRESENTATON LAYER

This is the only layer that has an actual sensory experience for one or more layers.

CONTROL LAYER

This is where the student makes a response.

You ‘speak’ into the system and the system ‘speaks’ back to you.

** I.E. when you rollover something your mouse turns to a finger – if you click it takes you somewhere.

MESSAGE SUB-LAYER

The substance behind the representation and the control. Why is it important – what is it driving at here? This seems to be the list of steps (the messages given to the student so they know what to do)

I.E. name of step, action of the step, what you see or hear at each step, what happens when it’s finished.

September 28 - Class Thoughts

DAMASIO

Descartes error – separation of body and mind. He separated them and said that learning is not affected by outside influences.

Damasio – learning is emotional. Emotions and feelings are part of the learning process.

Instructional designers must take this into consideration – emotions and feelings are an integral part of the learning process.

** History of Creativity class – when the professor dressed up I remember I couldn’t help but pay attention. I remember that it was ridiculous and looked really funny but, he didn’t care. And when all was said and done I got a lot more out of that class than others.

Somatic Markers – our bodies create a response option to real or simulated decisions. I.E. if every time we try a math a problem our teacher makes fun of us and we feel bad – we begin to associate that bad feeling with math.

Smells, sounds, tastes, etc. are all tied to emotions. Many times I have been walking down the street and smelled something that has ‘taken me back’ to my mission. Anytime we have a strong emotional experience with something we create somatic markers that are triggered when we experience similar emotional stimuli.

PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING

Origins in the medical field. Students presented with problems – they then assess their current knowledge and figure out how to solve the problem or find the necessary information to come to a solution.

**The idea is – since there is more than one right answer students will learn more information than otherwise.

**Don’t structure it too much – there needs to be more than one right answer

**Don’t use this too much with younger learners – may not be effective.

What is the difference between Guided Learning & Problem-Based Learning

PBL is a decision strategy – the tutor has very specific roles and responsibilities. The tutor’s job is to help the group become aware of their own problem solving progress. The instructor in guided learning takes a more proactive role in guiding, asking questions, leading, and pointing to discovery for the students. The tutor is more concerned with the following the process – doesn’t give them any answers.

**Learning how to find out what you need to know is just as important as actually learning the information they need to learn.

**Test group they did this with in medical school – when it came to actual practice the group that went through PBL performed better. Why? Because they had been working on solving problems for years. They learned the process rather than just memorizing facts.

---Need to be careful – if we don’t follow the process precisely we may throw the system off or undermine the operational principle at work.

HOW TO FIND THE OPERATIONAL PRINCIPLE

Take things away from it until it breaks.

When it breaks – add something again – repeat until you find the principle.

ISTRUCTIONAL DESIGN

ADDIE / ISD

ADDIE: analysis, design, development, implication, evaluation

ISD: instructional systems development

1 – Define objectives

2 – Create test items

3 – Develop Instruction

4 – Implement Instruction

5 – Evaluation

Design – making a plan

Developing – putting that plan into action

**Develop Instruction – what does that mean? How do we do it?

What happens inside the miracle box? Meaning: how do we develop the instruction? What does it look like? Why?

--We all know what the output should be (instruction to be implemented) but how do we accomplish this?

DECISION MAKING CYCLE

Process that rationalizes the steps and intelligent person goes through while making a decision. A design is (very simply stated) a bunch of decisions.

September 23 - Class Thoughts

SCHEMA THEORY & MENTAL MODELS

Learning theory

Schema theory – how we connect information and experiences together; information is connected in a node-like manner.

Mental Model – the way we organize and connect our schemas together

**When we learn something we try to connect it to a previous experience and form our schema from that knowledge. If we were to experience something new or out of the ordinary we then reorganize our mental model (reconnecting different schemas together or adding new schemas) to fit what we now know.

OPERANT CONDITIONING

Learning Behavior

Associating stimuli with responses.

People associate certain behaviors with certain rewards or punishments.

** As a teacher we can utilize operant conditioning as students learn to continue to raise their expectations. When they do well we reinforce their good behavior (their behavior = stimuli; our praise = response) and they learn through operant conditions to keep doing the good behavior.

Skinner Box

Animals learned how to get food by pressing a lever. He also tried this with his daughter. Possible outcomes of an action can either enforce or discourage the continuance of the action.

STIMULUS(a) > RESPONSE(b)> STIMULUS(c)

A – tells the organism it’s time to respond

B – they respond

C – enforces or discourages the response

RECIPROCAL TEACHING

Instructional theory

1 – Questioning

2 – Summarizing

3 – Clarifying

4 – Predicting

**Good for reading comprehension.

Students and teachers take turns reading and then following the 4 steps.

Students are assigned a particular kind of question they will ask and then help answer. The questions will be specifically designed for reading comprehension – this creates an almost visible model of how reading comprehension happens.

--Takes some time for the students to catch on, but when they do they begin to learn how to comprehend reading for themselves.

COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY THEORY

How do we learn in ‘ill-structured domains’ (very complex domains like medicine).

Domains with high variability and very complex issues (lots of things involve, multiple factors, no single-right-answer).

Give the students a high # of “mini-cases”

They learn to recognize the subtle differences

They see that there are multiple perspectives and multiple “right answers”

**Teach in the context of cases – customizing a singular answer for each case

-Individuals construct their own version of knowledge from different sources and then come together and discuss each view/piece of information.

** Need this to be a effective facilitator. You take so many people, with so many different circumstances and viewpoints, and you need to combine them all to help find the truth. Think of the application to being a Gospel Doctrine Teacher.

It's all about using knowledge in a variety of ways - how can we learn knowledge in highly-complex and ill-structured domains (i.e. REAL LIFE).

September 21 - Merrill and others

Pebble in the pond theory (Merrill’s design theory)

Start by defining the problem than moving on to smaller problems. As the learner solves the problems they learn the skills needed.

Similar to the 4-CID model – take a skill. Break it down into parts, figure out the information needed for these parts and then how teach it.

First principles of Instruction (Merrill’s instructional theory)

Dr. Merrill – basically he took all the theories and said that they had commonalities.

1 - Demonstration

2 – Application

3 – Task-Centered

4 – Activation

5 - Integration

4 Phase cycle of Instruction

** Need to be careful with this – if we focus too much on the formula, the approach, the

system/steps, we may lose some of the creativity that comes with design.

** His two ideas were more for the high-volume designer. He wanted to make a easy-to-follow

set of steps that anyone could follow as they were instructional designers.

**May not work for high-end products, for very picky customers, for very custom designs.

ANCHORED INSTRUCTION

Take learning concepts and ‘anchor’ them in real-world contexts.

Give them a real-life situation where they learn a specific principle in a real-life context.

Think of the old westerns – a lot of the values that the older generation embraces were learned in the old John Wayne westerns.

Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? – This is a perfect example of these type

of anchored instruction.

**The story poses a problem that the learners have to solve. It’s not the actual story –

it’s the task/question that is presented that anchors the learning.

September 18 - Mirror Neurons, and other thoughts

The danger in becoming complacent:

Some monumental theorists have been so good in their arguments that all of the sudden everyone who wanted credibility had to refer to the ideas of these men. The problem was we were marching forward, but looking backward at these theories.

Thorndike – very influential theorist in educational psychology

Gagne – very influential theorist in instructional theory

** The best ideas don’t always have a powerful advocate. Be careful to not get caught in a paradigm – there is no secure argument that sums up the whole world at once.

Gospel relation – in eternity we will keep learning and learning – we can’t encapsulate it all in one theory – the second we think we have it figured out, we are wrong.

The learning social ladder:

Social scientists are at a disadvantage when they study because when physicists or chemist research they can separate whatever they are studying from the rest of the world. Social scientists cannot – they are dealing with humans, they are complex, they are irrational, and they can’t be taken from the world.

There is a hierarchy of snobs in the academic world – they physicists are at the top while we are at the bottom with the sociologists. We can’t back up our findings the same way they can so we get pushed to the bottom.

Technology doesn’t try to figure out what happens naturally – they try to figure out how humans change what happens for their own purposes.

A possible problem we have today is that we are spewing forth a chain of meaningless research that isn’t answering the big questions – people are just playing off of each other and supporting each other’s research while avoiding the big topics.

Mirror Neurons

When we see something happen certain neurons fire in our brain – these same neurons fire when we perform the same action ourselves. This is especially applicable when we teach things like language, motor skills, etc.

Focus on demonstrations – creating an opportunity for them to ‘experience’ something before they ever do it. They will be more comfortable if they have already seen something happen before – as you do it they will be visualizing themselves do it as well.

**This is so true – I have had this experience at the MTC many times – there are few things that I can do as a teacher that will be as effective as modeling for them what I would like them to do. They watch me do it, they imagine themselves do it, they visualize it as I do it, and then they are more comfortable practicing it themselves.

**This was my experience in ASL – there is no other way to learn it than to see it done. It’s just not effective to learn ASL from a book – you need to watch someone do it and then you need to do it again yourself.

**Think of movies – you can experience so many emotions while watching a movie – even if you aren’t experiencing it yourself, it’s as if you are still having those emotions and that experience.

September 16

Micro-Worlds

My favorite presentation of the day today was the one on Micro-worlds. At first when she was explaining them I thought, “Well, yeah – duh.” But, I loved her example of the ski hills and then the baseball playing (starting first with tennis balls and a machine, and then moving to real balls, and a real field). That’s what life is all about – it’s all about slowly moving from a smaller micro-world to a larger one (whether that be in the sense of the gospel or just life in general).

I was thinking about my life and how the older I get the more I can expand my microworld to include more and more of my surroundings. I think that one thing that comes with more knowledge is an automatic expansion of our microworld – one of the greatest blessings I can think of that I have received from coming to college is an increased understanding of everything around me – and with that I think comes an automatic shift in micro-world.

As teachers it is so crucial to not only have an understanding of the micro-world the student is living in but to also constantly seek to push that and enlarge it. The implications that come with the proper understanding of a micro-world are also huge to an instructional designer. We need to start with the world they currently reside in and consistently create experiences that will place the learners in larger and more complex micro-worlds. The key is to constantly build on the knowledge and experiences gained in the previous experiences or micro-worlds (like scaffolding) so they are not overwhelmed.

I liked the idea as well that was shared in class about Gagne’s 9 steps. I think that they are all good and important to follow, but as we come to an understanding of each one we will naturally gain the ability to take artistic license in which order we use them in and which we chose to admit. As was said in class – just as Mozart had a firm understanding of what it took to make music and was able to work around and within those parameters, we as instructional designers can take artistic license and work around and within the steps shared by Gagne.

I like learning about all the theorists and seeing how I can use that knowledge in my own life or in the future – for example, the VoiceThread application that we were shown – that was great. I can very well see myself using that in the future as I prepare to become a teacher.

September 14

September 14, 2009

Meta Cognition

Thinking about thinking – I have learned about and thought about meta cognition many times. As a education major at BYU I don’t think you could possibly make your way through a SecEd class without having that word thrown at you a few times. I didn’t think I would hear anything new but I was surprised.

I liked the idea of sub-vocalization – how many times do we actually stop to think about what we are doing as we read? How often do we hold conversations with ourselves in our heads? I wonder what the implications are for teachers, designers, etc. – I’m sure there are some big implications here. What if we could design effectively enough that we could not only affect the sub-vocalization of our students, but also find a way to know what sort of sub-vocalization is going on? I don’t know – just thoughts I had.

I also liked the point about implicit and explicit knowledge. I really do believe that it’s important to know what sort of implicit knowledge our learners have so we can design with that in mind. Implicit knowledge is something hard to test I think – I mean most people I don’t think ever realize the implicit knowledge that they have. I don’t know that I ever sit and think about the implicit knowledge I have gained through the years – it’s just become part of me – part of what I bring every time I try to learn something new.

Production Systems

I wasn’t really impressed with this research – I’m sure that John Anderson is a very smart person but I do not agree with his thoughts that all human thinking can be characterized by ‘if-then’ statements. What ever happened to agency? What ever happened to the times when humans make decisions on a whim, or when we make decisions that are completely irrational? I do like the idea of breaking a larger goal into several smaller sub-goals that will lead to the accomplishment of the larger goal, but I think he tries to make too many objective statements about a largely irrational thing – human decision making and behavior.

Skill Learning

This was interesting to me because I had a teacher who used to always use ‘just-in-time-learning’ – he even called it that. I adopted this method when I began teaching at the MTC thinking that he had invented the idea. I think teaching principles that all build on each other and then assisting the learner with ‘just-in-time’ information is one of the most effective teaching strategies I have employed. The part of this theory that stuck with me is the part-task practice section. I think often as a teacher I forget to employ this part – there are certain tasks that just need to be practiced over and over in order for the students to really master them.

Roger Schank

Roger Schank

I did my research on Roger Schank. I included much of this information in my presentation. I was very impressed as I studied the life of Roger Schank – I learned many things, but one thing that I didn’t expect was how much I would be inspired by his research. It was a kind of an indirect way that he inspired me – I was so impressed by all that he has accomplished in his life so far. It made me want to do more with my life. He’s been all over the world, worked in numerous different jobs, and has goals far larger than anything I have every goaled.

The memory machine – one of his current projects is called the memory machine. Schank wants to create a database of millions of experiences that could become a sort of virtual sage that could guide us through anything we experience in the future. In essence it would be that grandpa who always has the best advice for anything – except it would be a computer, it would ideally never be wrong, and it would never pass-away. Schank talks about the importance of experience in learning – when we encounter something new in our life it is a natural reaction to seek out those who have been there before and take their advice to help us. Schank’s dream is to create the computer version of this model – a database full of the wisdom (brought through experience) of millions of sages through the ages.

Another project that inspired me was Schank’s call for a reform of public schooling. I was very blessed here at BYU to be in the major I am in. As a TEE major I had very few classes that were not ‘hands-on’ and I gained most of the education I received here at BYU through direct experience – through actually doing something. In talking with my roommates I have realized that this is not the norm. Many of them complain that in their classes they are asked to be regurgitators of information and little more. I agree with Schank when he argues that there is a big difference between knowledge acquisition and factual acquisition. Simply memorizing facts so you can spit them out on a test has very little to do with learning. I think the most actual ‘learning’ that happens here is maybe in the meta-cognition field if we think of strategies to help us remember what we learn. Schank’s big call is for memorization and fact learning to be replaced by experiences and learning opportunities where students learn through doing. I am a big believer in this thought process – this is the approach I take at the MTC when I work with the missionaries. Very rarely do I stand at the front and lecture – rather I prefer to give them situations and then help them figure out how to learn what they need to accomplish the given task.

Design Theory

The question – do we focus on the process or the function?

When we watched the IDEO video they mentioned that they were experts at the design process rather than experts in a specific area. Today in class we discussed the point that in ISD the focus is the process of designing something; in contrast in Functional Design we focus on each part separately, it’s operational principles, and trying to make as many possible solutions as possible.

I am a bit at a loss here as to what to think. I can see the flaws in either approach. If we focus solely on the process of how things are designed we lose some of our creativity because we are trying to follow the process. But, if we focus solely on functional design I think we lose some of the genius that comes when we master the process. I think the key is to marry the two ideas. We do indeed need to become masters of the design process – we need to know how to do it and we need to be good at it. But, we as we design I don’t think the process should be our focus – rather we should focus on functional design and simply allow our creativity to work within in the design process we have mastered.

Using an example from class – we need to become chefs not cooks. I think this is extremely true – while chefs invent recipes and create new things they also work within their mastery and knowledge of cooking. They have become experts at the process of cooking but as they cook they don’t allow the recipes they have learned and memorized to dictate what ingredients they add – rather this knowledge influences them and they are able to create more effectively.

I like the thought that design differs from science in that as we design we are not looking for the one right answer – rather we are looking for numerous answers that can solve the problem. Inherently contained in looking for the one right answer is the danger of becoming close-minded and losing creativity. There are many facts that have one right answer, but there are also many things that could be done any number of ways.

I still don’t know that I fully understand the difference between design theory and instructional design theory. It seems to me that design theory deals with the actual process of design – how we design, what some steps are, what approach we take, etc. While, instructional design theory deals more with what we do to design the material we teach, the method we choose for conveying the message (as opposed to the actual formulation of that method).

Designerly Thinking

Designerly Thinking

I decided to write my articulation about designerly thinking – we’ve had some hard communication problems so I am choosing to write about this rather than a theorist or their theories.

I really like the thought that we are manipulating the environment to create an experience. As we design (manipulate the environment) we are taking whatever it is that we have to work with and we try to put it in the right way so that we can create that learning experience for the student. I like this because it makes sense to me – it sits well, it seems to ring true because as a teacher of many years I can think of countless experiences where I have done this without thinking. I walk into a classroom and immediately I start assessing the situation – what are the missionaries doing? Are they tried? What is on the board (they learned it previously)? What are they talking about? What clues do I have as to what they are interested in (ties, letters near the desk, pictures on their journals)? What experience do I need to facilitate so they can learn whatever the objective is for the day? How will I do it? What is the weather like outside? Do I have markers, crayons, paper, etc.? How big is the room? How many missionaries are there? Are there any sisters? The list goes on and on – what I realized is that I do this all the time without ever even realizing it. It is a skill that I think everyone has – the more you do it the better you become.

Thinking about the concept of an operational principle was very interesting for me as well. I have been pondering this and don’t feel that I fully grasp it yet – but it’s something I want to be better at. For example, what natural operational principles are there that I could harness (I like the word harness for this concept) and put to work so I can create the right environment?

I like the thought that great designers have a greater understanding (and therefore a greater command and ability to use) of operational principles. The more we can see the operational principles around us the more effective I think we will become at designing things.

I think one example of an operational principle that I use at the MTC is culture. I know if I can tie Filipino culture into whatever we are doing there will be an inevitable increase of attention and excitement. It’s almost like a law of physics (what goes up comes down and when you talk about culture missionaries get excited) that I can use to enhance and change the learning experience.

Designer: Rachel Bartholomew

Rachel is a teacher – she just finished her masters degree and has started teaching reading in a junior high located in Salt, Lake City. I asked her what she designs each day and how she does it. She wanted me to be more specific but I told her just to think about what she designs and tell me about the process. I will speak as if coming from her viewpoint.

The first and foremost thing she designs is her classroom environment. The seating arrangement is very important to me. I don’t like desks and the feeling of being trapped so I was to design an environment that lets them work in groups, lets them work with my teaching style.

I also take great effort to move things in my room to where I want them. For example, I put the stuff I want them looking at and paying attention to right in the front and less important things on the sides. I also have designed my desk location in such a way that I am not totally closed off, but I also can have some privacy and room for myself. I had to design the place for the students to turn things in specifically so that we don’t have problems with them stealing each other’s work and things like that.

The biggest thing I think of when I think of design is my lesson plans. I always start by thinking: “What is my purpose?” and then I work from there. I used to have lots of fun games and activities but I found that neither the students nor myself could relate the purpose when we were done and that’s less effective. I have been give standards and a curriculum from the state that I have to teach, so what I do is prepare a lesson around a purpose and then find which standards fit into the lesson.

Tying in Rachel’s comments with what we talked about in class I see designing instruction as simply modifying the environment of the student so that they naturally have a learning experience. When I use the word environment I think of everything around them from what the teacher says and does to the classroom, the walls, the pictures, etc. If we can create the right environment I think that learning will naturally occur. Putting a picture on the board of something the students never thought possible (i.e. a man on mars) and then placing a stack of newspapers on the floor with the same picture on the cover would be an example of this environment. It would take very little other stimuli to create a natural learning experience among the students.

As Rachel naturally did things in her classroom such as decorating, arranging desks, and planning lessons she was designing without realizing it - she was simply designing an experience that she wanted to create for her students - all those things she did playing a different part in this experience.

IDEO

Here are a few of my thoughts on DESIGN. We watched the infamous clip about the design company IDEO and I have recorded here some of my thoughts...

Use science as a tool to help you design – not the other way around. This statement made in class today has stuck with me throughout the day. How often do we try to use science to answer everything? If something doesn’t work, or we need a solution it almost seems easier to turn to science – it’s concrete, it deals with facts, and often we are more comfortable hearing an answer from science.

I like the thought that we are all designers – we simply need to be reminded of it. This struck a note of truth with me – thinking about my day-to-day life it is so true – I am constantly designing – everything from my schedule and how I do things to my future plans and career.

In the movie about IDEO the “boss” figure stated: “We don’t become experts on any one subject; rather we are experts on the process.” I wholeheartedly believe with this statement. I have really applied this as I have been in my major. My major, which requires me to be exposed to and learn a variety of new technologies almost daily, has taught me much about the process of learning a new technology. My experience in learning Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver, Final-Cut, and a myriad of other technologically based programs has taught me that there is no need to learn a particular program. Rather it is much more useful to learn a set of principles that will allow you to learn a new program when there is a need. One example of this happened this past year – my professor asked me to make a movie advertising a product they were developing using Final Cut. I was not an expert at Final Cut but I do consider myself very good at the process of learning new technologies – the result: it took me about 45 minutes to acquaint myself with the program and then I didn’t have any problems afterward creating the movie. Rather than focusing our energies on learning facts – how much more valuable is it to focus on learning processes and principles and then applying them to different situations?

Another quote from the movie was: “Fail often in order to succeed sooner.” Why do we naturally fear failure? Doesn’t failure just mean that we are that much closer to success? I think it does – to an extent. We have to fail with the intention of learning from the failure process – if we fail and simply become discouraged, frustrated, or angry then it really was just a failure. But, if we fail with the intent of learning a lesson from the failure, of ruling something out, or discovering a new principle – then we haven’t failed at all – we have simply learned in a new way. It is also crucial to not only fail often and learn, but to learn from the frequent failures of others. It’s been said that: “Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.” Twisting that just a little, I believe that we should build upon the failures of others – improving their ideas and combining them with our own.

Finally I liked the thought that was left with the viewer: “Look all around you. Everything was designed by someone.” We take too many things for granted and we satisfy ourselves with the status quo – how many things could be improved if we just took the time to look around, identify “failures,” and focus on the process of designing?

Raspberries and the Scriptures

This past Thursday I was at home in West Valley dog sitting a new puppy my family recently acquired. It's a wonderfully behaved puppy but don't let that fool you, he'll still poop on the floor if you don't keep an eye on him. Anyway, I let the dogs out in the backyard so they could take care of business and get some of their energy out. The weather was gorgeous and I noticed there were plenty of raspberries ready to be picked, so I grabbed a bowl and set to the task of filling it to the brim with raspberries as an excuse to enjoy the nice weather.

While I was picking raspberries I came to two conclusions: First, life would be simply beautiful if it required only gardening and reading books. And second, picking raspberries is a lot like studying the scriptures.

Let me explain the second. My younger brothers had breezed over the raspberry bushes a couple days previous and had obviously gone straight to the prominent and easily accessible raspberries. They filled up a bowl, but left plenty of huge ripe raspberries untouched. While I was picking raspberries I realized that I could stand in one spot for quite some time and pick a lot of raspberries. Then I would move down a couple of feet and pick more. When I looked back at the section of bush I thought I had picked clean, I was surprised to see many ripe raspberries still there. From my previous vantage point I had missed some clusters that had been hidden under leaves. All it took was lifting up a branch or getting a little lower to see if there were more berries before I moved on to the next section.

As we approach the scriptures we can quickly read through them and pick out the obvious insights and teachings. There are beautiful doctrines that are there near the surface so even children can understand them.

We can find even more in each passage of scripture as we spend more time and attention focusing on the passage before moving on. (After all, the goal isn't to race from one end of the raspberry bush to the other, it is to fill your bowl with raspberries) Spend time in the scriptures.

There is always more to find in the scriptures especially as life alters the perspective we approach the scriptures with. New insights come as we look for specific answers to questions as they relate to us in our own unique situation. Also, often as we spend time in the scriptures we just need to dig a little deeper. Lift up a branch, look under some leaves. This may require time to ponder and meditate. In fact, not all the berries are ripe at the same time. Some treasures in the scriptures are found after a lot of time has been spent searching, when we are ripe and ready.

Halfway through my quest to fill my bowl with berries I realized that to really get in there and get some of those raspberries I was going to have to get dirty. By the time I was done my hands were stained red and I had some red spots on my T-shirt. Scripture study becomes the most meaningful when we get out there and apply what we've learned. Don't be afraid to get dirty through work and service.

Keep your hands clean by getting them dirty through service.

Parable of the Film Emulsion

I'd like to share a gospel insight that I discovered as a result of photography a little over a year ago.

…have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts? …can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances? (Alma 5:14,19)

How is it that we can have the image of God engraved upon our countenances?” Perhaps the parable of the film emulsion can help explain it.

Film emulsion is made of millions of light sensitive salts and crystals that react and change to light, and make photography possible. When the light sensitive emulsion of film is exposed to light coming through the camera lens, past the shutter, the image of whatever the camera was “looking at” is “engraved” on the film. The emulsion is extremely sensitive so the camera settings must be very precise to take a clean picture. So it is with us, if we look to Christ his light will shine through and engrave itself on our countenance. We have to be careful not to take our eyes off of Christ and the light of the gospel and “expose ourselves” to harmful influences. When we are looking for solutions to the stresses of life, where do we look? If we want Christ’s image in our countenance it’s not simply enough to look in his general direction. The lens must be adjusted and the focus set. It is easy to miss the mark and lose focus if we don’t give careful attention to our priorities. Even within the frame of the gospel, is Christ the center of our attention, focus, worship, and service? In a world of so much filth hopefully we are especially careful about the images and messages that appear in front of our lens. If we want to keep ourselves spiritually sensitive, we can’t afford to overexpose ourselves to worldly influences or underexpose ourselves to light of the gospel.