Workshops

Workshop B

Title: Playing together: The importance of joint engagement in the design of technology for children

Facilitator: Naranjo-Bock, Catalina

Length: Half day

Web Page Link: https://sites.google.com/view/idc-playing-together

Abstract: In the design of technology for children, many products focus on providing content that is both engaging and appropriate for children at a given age and developmental stage. However, less attention is paid to the context in which children tend to engage with digital products. When focusing on children 13 and younger, context often includes social interaction with parents, caregivers and friends, which provides many opportunities to design digital experiences that support co-play and joint media engagement (JME). In this workshop, we will be discussing real world case studies, as well as theoretical approaches used by researchers, designers, and academics to design technology for children that includes and fosters co-play and joint media engagement experiences. Our discussion will be centered not only on understanding what are co-engagement experiences, but also how these are produced and why these are important for the child end user. The expected outcome of the workshop will be a set of principles, examples, and guidelines for digital media developers to consider when designing rich digital experiences that take into consideration not only the child, but the context for engagement as well.

Workshop D

Title: Make2Learn with IoT: Engaging children into joyful design and making of interactive connected objects

Facilitator: Mora, Simone

Length: Full day

Web Page Link: http://m2l-iot.webflow.io/

Abstract: The Make2Learn workshop aims to explore the introduction in the learning processes of tools and methods for creative and joyful ideation, design and prototyping of Internet of Things (IoT) artifacts. IoT technologies offer opportunities to re-think everyday objects towards being more engaging, playful or educational than their ordinary selves. At the same time, a variety of environments have been developed to introduce making principles to children, e.g. via activities in museum, fablabs and hackerspaces. Making IoT artifacts enable children to foster co-creativity and joy in learning processes and to construct knowledge; leading to STEM concepts. Making activities for IoT often have a broad perspective that includes not just digital fabrication, but also design thinking concepts such as problem elaboration, brainstorming, ideation and reflection; enabling learning activities that “alternate abstract thinking with concrete doing”. Make2learn aims to bring together international researchers, educators, designers, and makers for exploring how the intersection between the design, making, learning and IoT fields can accelerate the acquisition of 21st Century learning competences. By employing state of the art aspects of learning technologies, discussion about the well-established practices and technologies and how different tool and methods can be put into practice under different spaces such as the classroom, makerspaces, fablabs, etc. During the workshop a set of tools and methods to engage non- experts in ideation and prototyping activities of IoT artefacts (i.e. Tiles Toolkit), will be demonstrated to the participants as a way to engage discussion. Participants are also invited to bring and present their own tools. This will allow us to better understand and improve the value of Maker philosophy and the role of design and making IoT technologies to support teaching and learning.

Workshop E

Title: Equity & Inclusivity at IDC

Facilitator: Sobel, Kiley

Length: Full day

Web Page Link: idc2017equityinclusivity.wordpress.com

Abstract: In this one-day workshop, we aim to bring together a community of researchers at IDC who will share how they already make or plan to make equity—promoting fairness by allocating more resources and opportunities to those who need it— and inclusivity— the inclusion and meaningful participation of people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized— foundational to their research with children and families. These issues— equity and inclusivity— complement each other as we can use equitable practices and approaches to promote inclusion in our designs and methods. Specifically, we will discuss work in intersectionality, feminism, critical disability studies, critical pedagogy, and critical race theory to explore ways these theoretical and practice-based approaches might be taken up in IDC. By discussing these approaches, providing feedback on each other’s research that relates to equity and inclusivity, and collectively identifying concerns and challenges in addressing these issues when doing and assessing research in IDC, we intend to do twofold. First, we will build our understanding of how our approaches, designs, and/or methods may either be restricting or facilitating equitable access and participation of diverse children and their families. Second, we will work to establish and articulate approaches to our research that forefront equity and inclusivity, taking into account how intersecting identities (i.e., gender, race, class, ability, etc.) affect how the children and families with whom we work have or do not have access to various sources of power.

Workshop F

Title: Analyzing Children’s Contributions and Experiences in Co-design Activities: Synthesizing Productive Practices

Facilitator: Van Mechelen, Maarten

Length: Full day

Web Page Link: https://codesignwithchildren.wordpress.com

Abstract: Today, it has been broadly acknowledged in the CCI community that children are not only active learners and users of technology, but can also actively participate in the design process. However, it remains challenging to analyze children’s experiences and creative contributions resulting from co- design activities (e.g. stories, paper prototypes, enacted ideas). Broadly speaking, a distinction can be made between researchers looking for inspiration in the form of useful design ideas, and researchers that take a more interpretative stance by looking beyond the surface level of children’s ideas to better understand and empathize with them. This knowledge about children is often used to more accurately define the problem space at the early stages of design. Both perspectives to co-design can be seen as the opposite ends of the same continuum, and many researchers combine aspects of both depending on where they are in the design process (e.g. defining the design problem, prototyping stage). This workshop will explore different ways to analyze children’s (0 to 18 years) experiences and contributions in co-design activities, the perceived benefits and challenges of these approaches, and will serve as a venue for synthesizing productive practices that will move the CCI community forward.