We all have a voice in design

In Norman's (2004) epilogue, he states that we all are designers. From rearranging the items on our desk to suit our needs and personalities (try walking into two different departments at my school and you'll find all of the books aligned "just so" on the shelves of the math teachers and stacked randomly in piles on a social teacher's desk!!) to the way we arrange the furniture in our house. Even on shared computers I have a tendency to move certain items around on the desktop to find oft-used items more easily all with family pictures as the wall paper and in the screen saver. All of this customization is an attempt to make common objects more personal. With this in mind Norman (p218) asks a great question "How can mass-produced objects have personal meaning?". As an up-and-coming educational technologist, I would like to ask "How can mass-produced learning managements systems and online learning have personal meaning?" It is in the attempt or allowance of students to discover their own personal learning styles and activities that best suit them as learners. Just as Norman (p220) states determining a desirable arrangement of belongings is more of a journey than an action, so would be students who are constantly evolving as learners.





As a visual learner I offer a graph to see how stakeholders share roles in the customization process.

To extend this idea to learning and teaching with technology, the same five options exist. However I doubt there will be many "Make your own learning" consumers. The real opportunity lies in the Customized Mass product that involves the designer or teacher in equal partnership as the student.

Beyond being designers, and again, in the spirit of extension, I would like to extend this statement to a encompass a broader spectrum and say that we all have a voice in design, although at times not having direct input to design. Just as we have opportunities to use our voice in the design of our individual objects and web spaces. Web 2.0 is a perfect example of how we can all be involved in the design process by customizing a mass produced object like a web page and turning into our own personal space through the use of simply adding our pictures or as elaborately as developing our own online life using avatars or in going so far as experiencing Second Life. Vicente (2004) agrees with Norman on this point. Vicente calls all users to join voices with those who cry out for usable products (p290)in the hopes that the "Wizards" will listen and bow to market pressure in the way they do business.(p291). We have a voice and it speaks through our wallets. We have another voice that speaks through the ballots we pull on election day (p291).

Vicente (p301) collected evidence of people's perceptions of technology in the health-care field. To summarize, he found people believe technology can allow more time for human interaction, we can't keep up with all of the changes, it creates a burden an one that is not like to disappear or lessen while at the same time it is heralded as the hope for the future. I would argue that these perceptions would not be limited to the health-care field but could be easily extended to education. Technology is infused into almost every area, subject and at all levels in education.

So what voice should teachers and learners have in their technology and its use? Whatever it may be Vicente (p304) calls not only for a mass of voices but for strong voices to stand out above the crowd. Leadership in the area of educational technology will be needed to assimilate the will of the people and change educational technology for the better. These leaders will need experience in technology and teaching, but also the intestinal fortitude to question current authorities, create new ideas, and most importantly, to make the connection among ideas, societal needs, technological capabilities and financial constraints. To do so these future leaders, who will lead us in the future not just be the leaders to come, will need to take "the Human Factor" into greater consideration than ever before.