Transforming Grounds

Here is a draft of a couple of paragraphs from the introduction of a paper that I and Lars-Erik Janlert are working on. "When we walk into a room the light turns on. When we approach a store the door opens. When we enter our home the thermostat changes the temperature in the house, the intelligent assistant starts to play our favorite music, our mobile phone reminds us to take out the garbage, and our loved ones are notified that we are safely home, wherever they might be; all happening at the same time. In our workplaces a multiplicity of digital tools and artifacts are at our command or struggling for our attention, creating a symphony or disharmony of interactions involving us.   We interact with our environments today in numerous ways, sometimes by just being there or moving or waving our hands, sometimes by precise commands and actions, sometimes with focused attention and direction, sometimes half unaware and lacking a clear addressee or aim, sometimes acting on isolated...

Over the years I have worked on simplifying what I see as the core of being a successful designer. This is based on my studies of design practice and professional designers in relation to contemporary design theory and design philosophy. Of course, there are many ways of condensing my understanding, and this is just one of them. The four aspects of being a successful designer are: 1. The Nature of Designing Successful designers have a developed understanding of the nature of designing as a human approach to change. They understand what designing can deliver but also what it cannot deliver. They have a deep appreciation of when designing is a suitable approach and when it is not. They understand how designing relates to other approaches to change, such as science and art. 2. The Design Process Successful designers have a developed understanding of the design process. They understand that there is no one correct process, that there is no best tool or the best method. ...

Lately I have read a lot about changes in higher education, the development of mega-universities, the explosion of online teaching, etc. Reading all this, it seems as if higher education is facing some dramatic shifts in their basic way of doing things. But at the same time, there are a lot of signs that the fundamental structure of higher ed is not really changing. One question that seems to be at the core is if online education is as good as classroom education. Everyone agrees that it is different and has to be planned and executed in different ways, but which one is better? After having taught my whole life and seen countless of colleagues teach, it is clear to me that classroom education is both better and worse than classroom education. With this, I just want to point out that the spectrum of teaching quality within classroom education is extraordinarily wide. It goes from wonderful learning experiences in some cases to the most horrible experiences in others. T...

Here is a picture of all the major books by Donald Schön. His name is also on a number of other books where he was the editor or had a chapter. In the picture, the books are in chronological order with the oldest at the bottom. This is an impressive amount of writings and even more as a  scholarly contribution. I am (since several years) working on trying to understand the core of this work and how it all hangs together. Unfortunately, most people who "use" Schön only reference a concept or two from his writings without really knowing why Schön developed these concepts and how they fit in his larger theoretical construction. When you read through his books you realize that his famous concepts are part of a broad and extraordinary powerful theory about professional practice, learning, and design. Since I am often lecturing about Schön' work as a whole (including all books), one day I might write about it.