Sketch up is a 3D design software with a wide range of drawing applications. It is used in a range of workplaces such as architecture, interior design, landscaping, engineering as well as game design. As mentioned previously, technology should teach and equip students with real-life capabilities to assist integrations into professional workplaces later on.
Design thinking is an analytic and creative process that engages a person in opportunities to experiment, create and prototype models, gather feedback and redesign things in an iterative fashion.
Razzouk and Shute pg. 2, 2013.
Design-based learning is a way to build a project through testing and evaluating the effectiveness of a model. Larillard (2012) discusses that design-based learning begins when students integrate their understandings, motivations and interests, while teachers consider how they would like their students to learn and the exact skills which they will take away. Design-based learning integrates many rich ways of learning, including critiquing one’s own ideas and making changes in order to improve a product. This process of trial and improvement through designing a product allows students to build their own resilience and broaden their problem-solving ability.
In the program SketchUp, teachers can cater to students interest through activities which include students prior experiences. Educators can ask students to use the technology to cater for a particular need e.g. designing an garden which would survive on the moon. In doing so, students must gather information and research aspects of the project which is unknown to them and through this process, the teacher may guide and challenge their ideas. Design-based learning requires students to plan and usually begins as a vague plan on how a particular place/product should look. SketchUp’s abilities to create lifelike 3D imaging allows students to visualise and experiment with their design product and then make the necessary adjustments. As the process continues, students must refine their plan and then consider how it meets the design brief.
While SketchUp is easy to access and navigate, students can not have access to it at home unless they buy the costly program themselves. But through using it in a school environment, students will then be more competent when working in jobs which require these programs.
References:
- Laurillard, D. (2012). Chapter 5 – What it takes to teach. In Teaching as a Design Science – Building Pedagogical Patterns for Learning and Technology, pp. 64-81.
- Kuo, M., Chuang, T. (2013). Developing a 3D Game Design Authoring Package to Assist Students’ Visualization Process in Design Thinking, IGI Global, pp.1-13.
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