Top 10 NDCE Ideas

Art is something made by human. Even when it is naturally created, the human puts a lot of meaning into it. I think that humans have a basic instinct of seeking the compelling element from most of their experiences. It is the resource of our culture and education of our society.

However, the compelling experience from the art does not happen to us by chance. The artists are good at designing the structure of their forming elements. Depending on how they create their forms, and what kind of forms they choose, the audience’s experience to the arts would be totally different. Also, depending on how much the audience understands and analyses the forms, the arts provide various types of insight.

As we have learned from this semester, each field of art has different types of forms for their forming process. However, no matter what kinds of elements are manipulated, the compelling feeling from the fine arts has something in common: They are all well planned and designed in terms of construction. Whether the forms are emphasized by contrast/compare, dynamics, detailed descriptions and customized expression, they are all nicely placed and properly fit to the artist’s original intent. Thus, they are able to create the compelling experience as a whole and make the audience understand/feel their intent.

I think we can make an analogy of the learning environment with the forming process in art. All the forms which are used in the forming process in art can be represented by all the subject matters in education. Also, the forming process can stand for the learning process. Depending on how the whole structure in it is designed for students, the level of student’s understanding and insight would be affected. The compelling experience in art means the effective and personalized learning experience in education. To provide effective learning environments to students, the well planned and designed structures are indispensible, as we have learned in art. The design is not a term only for art. Designing means filtered, chosen, and refined acting for more compelling experience and indispensible process for both art and education.                

My top ten ideas about the Nature and Design of Compelling Experience would be

1.       Each field (music, movies, architecture, photography, fashion) has its own forms which are used for their forming process.

2.       Depending on the chosen forms and chosen processing way, the result form would be different.

3.       The forms and forming process are all chosen by the artists, and the artists use these for expressing his/her intent

4.       Depending on how much we understand the forms and the forming process, we can have totally different insight for arts.

5.       Arts and education are not different fields. The learning process in education and the forming process in art have something in common.

6.       As art, the teaching and learning needs to be designed and formed by chosen forms for more effective and compelling learning/teaching experience.

7.       Thus, depending how the teachers choose the forms (the element of subject matter) in their teaching, the nature of the teaching would have a totally different quality.

8.       Depending on how much the students understand the teacher’s intent, they can have different insight for their learning.

9.       With regard to the fashion, I think that it is very similar with the personalized learning experience. It is not only because all forms are the nature of the personality, but also because both the compelling fashion and learning experience exist only for the subject person, not for everybody else.

10.   Finally, I think (as mentioned before) that both art and education needs to be designed and well planned for compelling and effective experience. Without designing, none of them can provide us better/attractive feeling. 

The nature and design of compelling fashion

Fashion as a verb means forming oneself to be more compelling. As we learned from other modules for this course, the forming process contains the design process. When we make the music or photograph more compelling, we do care about the factors which affect the forming process. The factors can be the hook, rhythm and tones in the music, and contrast, lighting, or angles in the photograph. However, in the fashion field, the forms are all about the person himself.

            The forms which affect the forming process are the nature of the subject person. Since the fashion can be achieved by strengthening the strength and making up the weakness, we need the deep insight of ourselves. In this sense, fashion has some analogies with personalized learning system. The forms of designing the compelling personalized learning system are deep insights of each student as well. The each student’s weakness, strength, and his/her own personality would be the key factors of the designing the compelling personalized learning system. As each student has a different learning style, everyone does not look great with the same clothing. As the personalized learning offers customized and effective learning experience to students, the fashion offers the appropriate and confident experience for us. Both the effective personalized learning experience and compelling fashion provide us the deep insight of ourselves and personal development.      

Module 4. The nature and design of compelling music #2

I discussed last week, if the musical elements (rhythm, melody, and harmony) are compared to the composition and organization of the knowledge, I think the performance elements (instrumentation, tempo, dynamics) are compared to the teacher’s own skills in the learning/teaching process. Depending on how the music is performed by the artists/singers, the music can be totally different.

      This week, after I tried to analyze my chosen music, I realized that the listener’s skills can be compared to the student’s skills in the learning process. As an amateur listener, I did my best to find out the hook part and the clear reasons which make me feel this music more compelling than others.  Even if I feel it, the ways to express my thoughts and feelings were very limited. The analyzing process is not easy : Finding the hook/appealing part, listening to the music very carefully for several times, making analogies with other fields, understanding the music as a whole, and dividing it as a part.

I think the student’s skills are similar with these process. The students need to find out the most important part in the subject matter, review several times for a deeper understanding, make appropriate analogies with other subject matters, understand the whole part, and also each different part is a very important skill for the students.

As we also need to learn the new terms for the music, the students should learn the ways to express their new knowledge. They can be the new vocabularies, or arts. Communicating with others about their learning is the key element and one of the popular ways of communicating with others is art and music. We try to understand arts and music and explain this with writing. We learn from the writing and try to explain this new knowledge with arts and music.    

Module 4. The nature and design of compelling music #1

For this week’s discussion, we talked about the “hook”. The hook is a memorable catch phrase or melody line which is represented in a song (Gary Burns ,1987).  Also, as it is mentioned in the article, there are several elements (rhythm, melody, harmony, instrumentation, tempo, dynamics, and production elements) which make a great/compelling hook. I think we can consider the hook as a main theme or subject matter in education. Thus, if the hook provides compelling and memorable experience to the audience, which means that the main theme and subject matter become the memorable and compelling knowledge to the students.

From this article, to make compelling music (to make a compelling hook), it is not only the repetitions and variations which are needed. The right combination of all other factors (musical elements, performance elements, and production elements) can make an appealing hook. If the musical elements (rhythm, melody, and harmony) are compared to the composition and organization of the knowledge, I think the performance elements (instrumentation, tempo, dynamics) are compared to the teacher’s own skill in the learning/teaching process. In education, the performers are the teachers. When the students are exposed to the new learning situation, depending on how the teachers perform this knowledge, the whole learning process can be totally different. For example, if the teacher’s pedagogical knowledge does not match the content knowledge, the learning/teaching process cannot provide coherent/memorable experience to the students. Likewise, for making a compelling hook, the tempo, dynamic, and instrumentation should be complementary each other, for effective education, teacher’s pedagogical practice should match the content.  

Module 3. compelling Experience and Education #2(Architecture and Interior Design)

Last week, I talked about the insight for the clients when we design the spaces. Then, how should the designer consider these type of clients (teachers and students) for designing educational spaces (classroom)? What kinds of insight would help designers to create compelling classrooms? After I read several articles in this week, I think the following elements should be considered for in the design process.

First is the scale. Depending on the age of the students, the human scale is really important in designing space. If the scale is not appropriate for the students, they cannot feel stable and comfortable. The larger place is not always better. As Susanka said, the smaller/well scaled spaces provide comfort and efficient feeling. The right human scale brings rest to our body and it leads us to a calm and steady feeling.

Second thing would be the traffic. The efficient human traffic is always one of the most important factors in designing spaces. Especially for the public space, well planned human traffic is indispensible. For example, in the classrooms, the main traffic should not distract the student’s learning environments and keep the students safe. Dividing main traffic and second traffic also can be effective in reducing the congestion. It can be done by using different floor materials or furnishing arrangements. They provide not only the visual effect, but also affect the student’s learning environment. By using the right traffic line, the collaborations and independence can be simultaneously encouraged to the students.    

Besides physical factors, using the right color scheme is also crucial. While the warm color scheme provides brightness, and encouragement, the cool color schemes are more likely to enhance the focus and calmness. Depending on the goal of the space, choosing the right color scheme is essential. We cannot easily change the architectural elements, but changing the color scheme can easily move people’s feeling about the space.

There are many other factors which should be considered for designing compelling spaces. However, depending on the goal and main function of the space, the priorities would be different. I think that the space should contain all the details about the people who would use the space. The deep insight about the client would provide a good solution for all these elements.      

 

Module 3. A Tale of Two Retail Spaces

Module 3. compelling Experience and Education #1(Architecture and Interior Design)

This first week of Architecture and Interior Design, I would like to talk about the connection between the nature of the architecture/interior design and the educational space itself. The most important thing in designing space is to understand the clients. Without deep insight about the client’s daily life, it is impossible designing the right/compelling space for them, because the space should reflect the details of the client’s life. Depending on the client, the mood and feeling they desire for their home is totally different.  In the same context, I think the educational space should contain deep insight of the student’s life. What do students do in this space? How long do they stay here in a day? What are their positions? What does the human traffic look like? The educational space should provide the stable and calm feeling to the students. It should also enhance the student’s easier movements while at the same time facilitate not only cooperation, but also separation for effective learning experience. Compelling design comes not only with the architectural design, but also with the real insight of the client.