Designing for Extensibility

0:06 we will start with the first principle 0:08 which is to design for extensibility 0:11 one way to think about this is to 0:13 consider an idea from the startup world 0:16 the minimum viable product 0:18 also known as the mvp 0:21 we can think of the mvp as the most 0:24 basic version of some product that would 0:26 minimally fulfill enough of the purpose 0:29 that it could be released to the public 0:32 in some respects the mvp is version one 0:34 of a product that could be used as the 0:37 foundation for future expansion 0:40 realistically the mvp might work okay 0:43 but we would probably see room for 0:45 improvement 0:46 thus we could systematically grow the 0:48 mvp version through careful refinement 0:51 in an incrementally robust manner 0:54 we could add well-conceived 0:56 well-constructed and well-managed 0:58 elements and think about these additions 1:00 piece by piece to make sure 1:03 our course purpose and goals are still 1:05 being met 1:07 and we can think of the first version of 1:09 a course as that mvp 1:12 this would mean that we have assembled 1:14 our course elements in such a way 1:16 that we feel pretty good about their 1:17 potential to fulfill the essential 1:19 purpose of the course 1:21 we can think about how we can 1:23 incrementally expand the course some 1:25 more all the while asking how the course 1:28 could function in different settings 1:30 we could ask ourselves how would each 1:33 designed interaction work in an online 1:35 setting 1:36 in a face-to-face setting 1:38 a hybrid setting 1:42 after we establish a set of elements 1:43 that work together to enable desired 1:46 interactions and supportive learning 1:48 goals across multiple settings we can 1:50 consider two additional things 1:53 increasing the capacity of existing 1:55 elements 1:56 and adding entirely new elements 2:00 these extensions should be used in 2:02 support of strengthening existing 2:03 interactions 2:05 or in service of creating new ways of 2:07 supporting interactions 2:09 in terms of our interaction model 2:12 as you begin with your initial course 2:14 design you can start by thinking about 2:16 the interactions you want to facilitate 2:18 in your class and what elements you may 2:20 need to facilitate those interactions 2:24 let's consider an example together 2:27 suppose you want to facilitate 2:29 student-to-student interactions around 2:31 course materials and topics for example 2:33 course readings 2:35 one way you could do that is by asking 2:37 students to complete readings in advance 2:39 and then facilitate an instructor-led 2:41 class discussion around those readings 2:44 this could work quite well in a 2:46 face-to-face graduate seminar or even a 2:48 larger undergraduate class 2:51 and many of us are quite used to doing 2:53 this 2:54 in fact as you think about your course 2:57 design it could be productive to start 2:59 with something you are familiar with 3:00 such as an approach you have used in the 3:02 past 3:04 in our example you facilitate this 3:07 interaction by providing students with 3:08 access to course readings in your course 3:10 management system 3:12 these could be in a digital format such 3:14 as the pdfs that students would download 3:16 and read on their own 3:18 then students could discuss the papers 3:20 together in class with the instructor 3:22 leading the discussion 3:25 this approach could be part of the 3:27 initial course mvp 3:29 but once you have established an mvp you 3:32 can begin to think about how you could 3:34 incrementally grow your course design by 3:36 considering different ways of 3:38 facilitating or enriching the 3:41 interactions you want to create 3:43 this might include varying participant 3:46 structures or even introducing new tools 3:50 the scenario i just described of asking 3:52 students to download and read papers in 3:54 advance of a whole class instructor-led 3:56 discussion 3:57 might not necessarily be a completely 4:00 satisfactory approach 4:01 especially if you consider how it would 4:03 work across different contexts 4:07 with classroom discussions it can 4:09 sometimes be difficult to capture the 4:11 thoughts of all of our students or have 4:13 them engage with other students ideas in 4:15 meaningful ways especially in larger 4:17 classes 4:19 so we could aim to expand on this 4:21 particular interaction by incorporating 4:24 a social annotation tool like perusal or 4:27 hypothesis 4:29 here students can read articles using 4:31 the tool 4:32 highlighting interesting passages and 4:34 seeing what other students have 4:35 highlighted and then 4:37 annotate by asking questions as well as 4:40 responding to other students questions 4:42 and comments 4:44 this allows for an asynchronous 4:46 discussion of the paper among students 4:48 during the reading phase even prior to 4:51 coming to class 4:52 the instructor can then look at student 4:55 annotations and use them to develop 4:57 prompts and probes for a richer 4:59 synchronous discussion 5:02 this strategy has now expanded on the 5:05 original design 5:07 the original goal of fostering rich 5:09 student-to-student discussions about the 5:11 course readings has been maintained 5:14 but it has also been expanded in a 5:16 manner that can lead to richer 5:18 interactions 5:20 it was also done in a way that could now 5:22 work whether the class is in a physical 5:24 environment or in an online environment 5:27 because the discussion essentially 5:29 begins online using a social 5:31 collaboration tool 5:33 then a larger discussion could still 5:34 continue online as an asynchronous video 5:37 conferencing session 5:39 or of course in a physical space too as 5:41 many of us are used to 5:44 we will continue with this particular 5:45 example a little later when we revisit 5:48 other aspects of resilient design