I believe that..
in today's rapidly changing world, where new technologies are continuously being invented, a shift is noticed towards a digitalized world. In the context of learning, this is a pity, as kinaesthetic and embodied interactions can offer significant value in sense-making, which conflicts with the traditional perception of learning as a passive act where one sits, watches, listens, and writes and thus calls for a change. Learning can be perceived as a “conception of reality” (Ramsden, 1992) - the way individual people translate learning for themselves and construct their own conception of knowledge. Therefore, learning may be perceived in a broader sense than classroom education, by considering learning in other domains too, like business and personal development.
I believe the unique value of a designer in designing for learning is their creative Design Thinking mindset, which offers value by making abstract contexts more concrete beyond the domain of design. In fact, using the design process to stimulate natural inquisitiveness and create certainty in a process of uncertainty will be of significant value in any scenario to identify and solve challenges. However, creative thinking is not natural for all in society. Therefore, my responsibility as a designer is to create innovations that facilitate the creative Design Thinking mindset for domains beyond design. While some designers attempt to leverage their knowledge for Design Thinking beyond the domain of design by providing consultancy sessions, I believe this approach raises significant concerns in terms of accessibility. Therefore, I strive to create products that are intuitive to use and thus to be used independently of the presence of a designer.
To counter the tendency of digitalization in learning and ensure a more kinaesthetic approach, I firmly believe in the value of collaborative, visual and tangible sense-making for enhancing playful learning. While technology is undoubtedly significant for data storage, it should not be seen as the sole solution. Instead, I advocate for the design of tools that prioritize tangibility and conscious face-to-face interactions. This tangibility enhances active participation, creativity, problem-solving skills, critical thinking, immediate feedback, and a sense of control through naturally evoking curiosity. This aligns with the vision of LEGO research fellow, Mitchell Resnick: “All I really need to know (about creative thinking), I learned (by studying how children learn) in kindergarten.”
Therefore, I believe we should move away from digital interfaces, and employ multi-sensory user experiences, finding a unique balance between the benefits of technology and the real world. This tangibility enables visual sense-making, providing a common language, helping to bridge communication gaps and facilitate discussion among individuals with different levels of expertise to stimulate learning. Also, it can help to gather a multi-perspective view and allow to see patterns that might not be apparent from raw data alone.
When doing so, it is of significant value to engage in collaborative sense-making in an attempt to pool diverse perspectives and expertise to make sense of complex information. Therefore, companies that intrigue me are LEGO® Education, designing for classroom education by utilizing LEGO bricks and digital tools to solve problems creatively, and LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®, which helps participants open up through dialogue, critical thinking and reflection, facilitated by the approachable medium of play and thus is a valuable asset in education as well as other domains like businesses.