Dot Learnt

I’d like to call him the arbiter of cool. During a brief interview with Sina Mossayeb, a Systems Designer at the innovation and design firm IDEO, Mr. Mosayeb gave us insight on how to make the ordinary extraordinary in terms of education, technology and this wide world of untapped innovation.

0-10 Seconds: I’m sure our readers are eager to find out more about what it means to work for an innovation firm. Could you start off by telling us more about your role with IDEO?

IDEO is a global innovation and design firm that takes a human-centered, design-based approach to helping organizations in the public and private sectors innovate and grow. We help organizations build creative culture and the internal systems required to sustain innovation and launch new ventures.

As a Systems Designer, I look at the bigger picture of things, and cast smaller frames to see where new processes or things can be introduced to serve an organization’s objectives.

10-20 Seconds: You’ve noted an interest in “anything centered around learning.” That’s a fairly broad interest – how would you describe the ideal learning process in the 21^st century?

Education or learning is everywhere. We have to wonder, and ask how to frame specific moments as learning opportunities. We can do this by experimenting regularly, on iterating outcomes, and additionally assess objectives as learning opportunities.

The ideal process would revolve around teaching people less about content and focusing more energy on how to learn.

20-30 Seconds: In terms of tools of support, which digital tools do you find to be most stimulating when looking to invigorate the learning process?

Initially, everyone was crazy about social media. Anything connective. Yes, these tools are really great because they stimulate contextual learning, but I think we are moving past that now.

Engagement happens more when technology becomes invisible. iPhone Siri for example is a masterpiece, due to its ability to foster natural interaction.

I think the exciting avenues that we need to explore will be tools that facilitate learning without it being visible.

30-40 Seconds: In your opinion, what has been the biggest contribution to the realm of learning and education in the past 10 years? And if nothing seems to stand out, what would you like to see be contributed to the realm of education within the next 5 years?

I think the more we can get outside the classroom the better off we are. Students need to engage with the world around them. If you are learning about the environment, go out into the environment. If you are learning about technology, go out and use technology.

Whether its virtual or you actually move out of the classroom physically, I think that is what I would like to see more of in the future. It is all about learning in action.

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I recently had the honor of participating in a conference with Sal Khan, the founder of the Khan Academy, a free education service providing over 2,700 videos on topics ranging from calculus to sentence structure and used by over 3.5 million students across the globe.

Walking away from my morning session with Sal, I could not help but reflect on the web platform I was working on for the Peer to Peer University (P2PU).  In much the same way that Sal is impacting the world of education by speaking directly to the students, P2PU hopes to impact the world of education by supporting and connecting teachers and administrators.

With over 1,300 posts on its platform, P2PU is on a trajectory to deliver as many open educational materials to professional-level students as the Khan Academy now provides to school-age children. Bon Education has been a part of P2PU’s expansion, offering new courses aimed at providing high quality training to teachers across the globe. (more…)

And that is what a badge is for. Recently, in the education sphere, there has been much talk about badging. As Peter Levine, Director of The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement and Research Director of Tuft’s University’s Jonathan Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, points out, badging “could be the start of something big.”

Badges indicate the acquirement of skills and goals and provide employers, teachers and peer communities with a visual understanding of an individual’s talents and abilities.

Badges typically fall into the following categories:

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