Our friends at Namahn in Brussels offer a novel approach to teaching design: the Masterclass. It consists of two full days of intensive study starting with field research and running all the way through to design specs. Soup to nuts, as we say in the U.S. While this is a lot of technique to cover in only two days, I imagine seeing everything done in a compressed timeframe builds a thorough understanding of the process, an understanding it took me years of practice to arrive at.

I imagine it also illustrates the breadth of technique of this one studio, so instead of just learning theory the student gets a great perspective into how a professional service firm like this performs client work.

Posted 29 August 2008

Here at Smart Experience we like to think we’re a disruptive innovation. We offer services the big guys aren’t interested in with more simplicity, convenience, accessibility, and affordability. So we were very interested when we heard Clayton Christensen teamed up with two others to write a book on disruptive innovation in education. Most of it concerns traditional schools rather than the professional education we focus on, and much of it you could guess from knowing the tenets of disruption, but they paint a compelling vision of the future.

They are rather bullish on the potential for user networks and user-generated content (UGC). On the latter I think it’s going to take quite a while for the tools to develop. For example, when you want to know what’s happening in a particular political situation, do you turn to blogs or a major news outlet? There’s some things that require training and resources to do right, and even with all the channels and tools we have now, user-generated content will need a while to catch up.

Here’s other ideas that caught my eye while reading an interview with the authors…

• “in the United States, education is highly regulated” — but not in the professional/commercial sector, and I think that’s where the innovations will come from
• “computer-based or online learning is beginning to fill the void and plant itself and make inroads in the education system in classic disruptive fashion” — agreed, in-person training just doesn’t scale well
• “effective and engaging computer-based learning products are not easy to make” — that’s true of the big online learning systems most schools invest in, but YouTube proves it doesn’t have to be
• “stage 1…will be..the creation of user-generated content…. stage 2 will be… the creation of user-generated content.“
• “students will be able to build products that help them teach other students. Parents will be able to assemble tools to tutor their children. And teachers will be able to create tools to help the different types of learners in their classrooms.” — That’s an awesome vision!
• “We have founded a nonprofit think tank, Innosight Institute, to promote the ideas from our work“

Posted 21 August 2008

We’re big fans of clever uses for teaching using the web, so we liked this short article by Virginia Heffernan in the New York Times highlighting some of the more useful how-to sites. Here’s an excerpt:

THIS WEEK’S RECOMMENDATIONS

DEMO DERBY: Currently, the clearest use for original online video is demonstration. Better even than advertising. Much better than entertainment. To admire the range of undertakings on which people will claim expertise —
oh, and to learn something — see the big demo sites first, which include Expert Village, Instructables, SuTree, eHow, WonderHowTo and Howcast. Their holdings are growing every day. You might even upload your own video.

DECLUTTERING: Slightly more specific how-to sites, devoted to how to, say, get rid of things (from I.B.S. to ghosts), can be useful, and often have a more coherent tone than the wacky single-subject sites, as well as a considered advertising layout that doesn’t drive you bananas, as the ones studded with sponsored links tend to. Get Rid of Things — ‘‘a people’s guide to better living’’ — is well worth a look, as are the sister sites How to Clean Things and How to Write Good.

THE NITTY-GRITTY: Web sites like law.justanswer.com (for legal advice) and Black Hair Planet leave nothing to chance. You know you want to know about makeup and hair — and virtually nothing else? DailyMakeover.com
is your site. Breaking and entering? Free-lock-picking-guide.com. How to subdue your enemies? GracieAcademy.com — for the basics of Ultimate Fighting ‘‘ground and pound’’ tricks. Yikes.

Posted 17 August 2008

We’ve been customers of Pair.com for almost 10 years and would recommend them for web hosting based solely on their performance and customer service. But we’re happy to also recommend them based on their environmental policy. They’ve offset the carbon footprint of their datacenters, support operations, and administrative facilities, in addition to other environmental efforts, as well as actions to make their working environment better for employees.

Posted 28 July 2008

If you’re frequently on Facebook, you can become a fan of Smart Experience and stay up to date on all the new videos and classes happening.

Posted 18 July 2008