Today the Yr 4 students worked alongside our QUT project partners to provide input for possible re-designs of the ForeCourt Area. This involved 60 QUT students, 8 lecturers and our 75 Oakleigh students. This stage of the project constituted a ‘Design Charette’. A design charette is a short, collaborative meeting during which members of a team quickly collaborate and sketch designs to explore and share a broad diversity of ideas.
The students had previously conducted a sensory audit of our forecourt area, during which they considered each of the senses in terms of additions they could add. We had also worked on a brainstorming activity focussed on the use of divergent thinking to brainstorm as many creative ideas as possible. A homework activity followed which required the students to do some research to prepare them for the charette, bringing along all sorts of ideas to contribute to the discussion.
The students were provided with a large landscaping map of the area with a tracing paper overlay. Working with their QUT students group members, the students added images, ideas and stickers all over the map to represent their ideas. It was lovely listening to the students being encouraged to articulate their ideas and to bring them to life on the map through a variety of methods.
The next stage is for the team from QUT to frame some possible ideas for the digital game part of the project. Augmented Reality will add a dimension of possibilities to the game design that may enable many of the children’s ideas to be brought to be life. The children will then be involved in providing feedback.
With the students working in class to create their own digital solutions as part of the Digital Technologies Curriculum, this activity has provided them with a collaborative experience to provide depth to their understanding of different stages of the design process. What lucky students!
Some of their collaborative designs:
j;