Cultural Probes

Designing the Cultural Probes to be sent out by the end of the week. Taking school/classroom learning as a metaphor, I designed a cultural probe kit that had the packaging of a school bag. Inside you could find a notebook where the participant jots down their experiences. The experiences have to be divided into analog and digital. The kit also includes a book with chapters(to explain and evoke thoughts about learning and teaching methods) and assignments at the end of each chapter, which would act as the cultural probes. There would be a dummy blackboard and computer screen as an art board to sketch out their experiences. A few stickers to make it more interactive. And last, but not the least, a tiffin box with lunch or some goodies.

Finalising on the kit with the Team:

The final kit consists of a "Lessons Learnt" book, the story first, the assignment next, and then a few pages for the participant to write down their experiences.

Story:

Individuals learn in different ways,

Some take years, some take days

Can you remember a person or place

that taught you maybe to tie your lace?

A situation you least suspected

taught you why an iceberg melted?

Assignment:

• Write an informal letter to your friend, narrating 1 good and 1 bad learning experience you can remember where a person, place, object, animal, situation or time taught you something.
• What did you learn and who/what taught it to you? Would you use the same approach yourself? Express your views and concerns.
• Repeat the process with 1 good and 1 bad learning experience through the digital world this time, when maybe a television, computer, radio or phone taught you something?

Notebook:

25th August 2011

Berlin

Dear

Yours lovingly

Name

Story:

Are you a conscious learner? When you learn something, do you register it in your mind? Do you remember how and when it happened?

A person remembers 10% of what they read, 20% of what they heard, 30% of what they've seen and 50% of what is seen and heard. Which type of learner are you?

Can we find a way translate these intangible experiences into tangible ones? See figure 1.1(showing work= fdcos theta)

Assignment:

Interview 3 people around you and find out which type of learners your friends are. Describe their experiences briefly, giving examples of what and how they learnt.

Fill out the cards and drop them in their slots.

Card:

Four sets of cards, with icons for see, hear, read, see and hear. Behind each card, there are a set of questions:

Are you a conscious learner?

Where do you see/hear/read/see and hear most things that you learn?

Is there any way of making these experiences better?

Story:

Figure 1.2 ( showing test tubes from a chem lab with different solutions)

Do you think you can brew a new teaching formula?

Or do you already know of such an enlightening substance?

Assignment:

(Not decided)

Few of the assignment cards have been put aside for use at the workshop itself where the participants have to grade their experiences between 1-6 like in schools in Germany. Another idea is to make the participants perform and teach us something in their favourite or most effective teaching style!