The Planet way: From Expert Stories to Shareable

Design Knowledge

Introduction to the Planet Project’s methodology

Yishay Mor, July 2008

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The Planet Project

6 partners, led by Janet Finlay, Leeds met 15 months, starting Jan 2008, ~£200k Sponsored by JISC Emerge http://patternlanguagenetwork.org

Workspace: http://patternlanguagenetwork.myxwiki.org/

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The Problem

Experts know how to solve problems. They may not know how they solve problems. They may not know how to make others know

how to solve problems. They may not even know they had solved a

problem.

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Design patterns

[describe] a problem which occurs over and over again in our environment, and then describes the core of the solution to that problem, in such a way that you can use this solution a million times over, without ever doing it the same way twice(Alexander et al., 1977)

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ProblemKeep the rain out

ContextCold, wet, poor.

Method of solutionThatched roof

RelatedTimber frame, Slanted roof,Chimney

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example: activity nodes

Design problemCommunity facilities scattered individually through the city do nothing for the life of the city.

Design solutionCreate nodes of activity throughout the community, spread about 300 yards apart.

http://www.uni-weimar.de/architektur/InfAR/lehre/Entwurf/Patterns/030/ca_030.html

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Patterns are..

“Experts' common sense” if only common sense was common

“Researchers situated abstraction” “Elements of reusable design” “Semi-structured narratives of good practice”

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pattern are structured

• Problem / intent

• Context

• the Pattern

• Examples

• Related patterns

• Notes

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More on patterns Yishay Mor and Niall Winters (2008).

Participatory design in open education: a workshop model for developing a pattern language, Journal of Interactive Media

Yishay Mor and Niall Winters (2007). Design approaches in technology enhanced learning. Interactive Learning Environments,15(1):61-75

Dearden, Finlay, Allgar and Mcmanus (2002) Patterns Languages in Participatory Design People and Computers XVII: Memorable yet Invisible, Proceedings of HCI'2002, 159-174

Michael Derntl and Renate Motschnig-Pitrik (2005) The Role of Structure, Patterns, and People in Blended LearningThe Internet and Higher Education, 8: 111-130

Goodyear, Avgeriou, Baggetun, Bartoluzzi, Retalis, Ronteltap and Rusman (2004) Towards a pattern language for networked learning  Networked learning 2004

http://www.bibsonomy.org/tag/designpatterns

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Fine, but...

Where do they come from? How are they validated? How do we use them?

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Case Study: The Learning Patterns project

http://lp.noe-kaleidoscope.org/(Niall Winters, Dave Pratt, others)

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pattern workshops

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The “Participatory Pattern Elicitation” pattern

CaseStudy

CaseStudy

CaseStudy

Workshop

Pattern

Pattern

Pattern

Pattern

Seed

Alpha

Beta

P

P

P

PP

P

P

Design problemHow do you facilitate sustainable design-level discussion of transferable best-practice?

Transcend anecdotes, avoid fluffy abstractions. Leverage innate cognitive & social learning mechanisms.

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Scenario: the pattern elicitation workshop

Instantiate the Participatory Pattern Elicitation pattern in the specific context of design-based educational research.

Assumptions: 10-20 participants, practitioners interested in a

common theme from varied perspectives. 2-4 facilitators ½ - full day on-site workshop Pre and post workshop engagement

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Before the workshop

Participants contribute case studies, using an on-line, form-based tool.

Facilitators work with participants to refine and retune their case studies.

Participants review peer’s case studies.

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Anton presents case study

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Bob and Charlie discuss

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Anton adds details (per template)

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Charlie identifies parallels

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All elicit patterns

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Anton and Charlie submit patterns

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After the workshop

Participants clarify case studies and patterns based on workshop discussions.

Facilitators help participants refine patterns, and note links to other patterns.

Facilitators reflect on the process, drawing on participants’ feedback.

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stickmen: a visual language for socio-technical design?

1 2 3

4 56

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Thank you

The pattern language network project:http://patternlanguagenetworg.org

Participate:http://snipurl.com/planet-workshops

Yishay Mor

http://www.lkl.ac.uk/people/mor.html

yishaym@gmail.com

This presentation

http://snipurl.com/planetway