All students should have the opportunity to be creative with code

This is a useful initiative, despite its narrow focus on engineering and science. It would be great to see the companion film which profiles creative arts and design professionals who regularly use programming as part of their practice/work.

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Facing ambiguity differently across design, business and technology

"team[s] of students of mixed disciplines worked together to understand and map a problem-space (identified by the client). They then defined a solution-space before focussing on a particular opportunity outcome. The range of projects included incremental innovation opportunities represented by the Lego and Hasbro projects through radical Philips work to truly disruptive work with Unilever. The studies confirmed stereotypical view points of how different disciplines may behave. They showed that design students were more (but not completely) comfortable with the ambiguous aspects associated with ‘phase zero’ problem-space exploration and early stage idea generation. They would only commit to a solution when time pressures dictated that this was essential in order to complete the project deliverables on time and they were happy to experiment with, and develop, new methods without a clear objective in mind. In contrast, the business students were uncomfortable with this ambiguity and were more readily able to come to terms with incremental innovation projects where a systematic approach could be directly linked to an end goal. The technologists, were more comfortable with the notion of the ambiguous approach leading to more radical innovation, but needed to wrap this in an analytical process that grounded experimentation. Meanwhile, the designers were unclear and unprepared to be precise when it came to committing to a business model. "

(Mark Bailey, 2010, p.42)

Bailey, M. (2010). "Working at the Edges". Networks, Art Design Media Subject Centre (ADM-HEA). Autumn 2010.

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UK Reviewing the new Design & Technology Curriculum

Reviewing the new Design & Technology Curriculum
Westminster Education Forum National Curriculum Seminar Series 2013
Timing: Morning, Wednesday, 13th February 2013
Venue: Central London

"As the Government concludes its National Curriculum review, this timely seminar focuses on the content of the new curriculum for Design and Technology (D&T) for each Key Stage, due to be introduced into schools from September 2014 - as well as the implementation challenges for schools. It will bring together key policymakers with school and college leaders, teaching unions, universities, employers and other stakeholders.

Delegates will assess the opportunities and challenges presented by D&T's designation as a 'foundation' subject, with a much less prescriptive Programme of Study, as well as the level of teaching time required to deliver the new Programme and whether it meets the needs of employers, colleges and universities.

Sessions also focus on wider issues in D&T including the quality of facilities available in both primary and secondary schools in England, the profile and CPD opportunities for D&T teachers and the role that industry can play in the delivery of D&T in schools."

(Westminster Education Forum, UK)

Fig.1 Chicago Middle School students participate in an invention school workshop led by James Dyson as the James Dyson Foundation begins its mission to encourage more American students to become future engineers and inventors, at the Sir Miles Davis Academy in Chicago, May 5, 2011 [http://momandmore.com/2011/05/james-dyson-foundation-just-launched.html].

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Creative Tools: a handbook of 15 methods for design practice

"Creative Tools was co-authored by Alex Fung, Alice Lo and Mamata N. Rao based on their teaching and students' learning experiences in the Design Thinking subject. Foreword by Dr. Edward de Bono, this handbook is a comprehensive guide to 15 creative tools that help develop students' creative thinking, not only for design by other disciplines. Each tool has an introduction followed by a demonstration of its use with reflection."

(香港理工大學/Hong Kong Polytechnic University)

Alex Fung, Alice Lo, Mamata N. Rao (2005). "Creative Tools", School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

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Communicating and discovering insight through reflective journals

A reflective journal is both a communication tool and a design method for developing professional practice. Such journals allow designers to publish their projects as they progress and provide a platform for critically reflecting on creative works and the design process.

Reflective journals can be used to discover insight about how designers approach their creative problem-solving. This is commonly understood as a central requirement for designers to develop their professionalism and to become experts in the field. They do so through reflecting on their work - characterising common features and critically analysing successes and failures.

Reflective journals also help designers situate their work within the broader creative industries and contemporary visual culture context. Designers might use their journal to document developing trends and to collect examples of inspirational works. These collections might be made as part of the research phase of a given project or contribute to a more general understanding of a design field.

Such journals should take an appropriate form so that they communicate effectively and provide necessary insight. They might exist in a singular form e.g. a workbook, a weblog or they might exist as a collection e.g. as a workbook of sketches with notes/annotations and as a weblog/Tumblr of photographs/videos with associated critical reflections.

The following are examples of art and design reflective journals:

• Sketchbook blog of illustrator and cartoonist Jillian Tamaki: http://blog.jilliantamaki.com/


• Design blog of visual artist/illustrator Bryce Wymer: http://brycewymer.blogspot.co.uk/


• Webblog of Nottingham Trent University first year Multimedia student Zoe Stroud: http://zoestroud90.blogspot.co.uk/


• Weblog by Havering Sixth Form College student Victoria Robinson: http://vickierobinsongraphics.tumblr.com/


• Blog by Spainish graphic design student Lydia Franco: http://www.lylena.blogspot.co.uk/


• Mary Whittingham's student photography blog: http://marywhittingham.blogspot.co.uk/


• Group visual culture blog: http://wewastetime.wordpress.com/


• Architecture blog created by Orsalia Dimitriou and Dejan Mrdja: http://studiosynthetica.wordpress.com/


• Blog by Goldsmiths, University of London digital media student Justin Pickard: http://justinpickard.net/blog/