ISTE Standards for Students 1.4 – Innovative Designer

This standard points out that students use various technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, practical, or imaginative solutions. Therefore, students should:

1.4.a. know and use a deliberate design process for generating ideas, testing theories, creating innovative artifacts, or solving authentic problems.

1.4.b. select and use digital tools to plan and manage a design process that considers design constraints and calculated risks.

1.4.c. develop, test, and refine prototypes in a cyclical design process.

1.4.d. exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance, and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.

As I elaborated in my post, Boosting Students’ Innovative Design and Computational Thinking Through Project-Based Learning in Higher Education – Ignasia Yuyun, complying with the 21st-century skills expectations, university students are equipped to compete globally. Thus, various higher-order thinking (HOT) activities must be implemented in the classroom to boost students’ thinking skills and creativity. Notably, problem-solving, creativity, collaboration, and communication in 21st-century education are essential in creating globally competitive graduates (Yuyun, 2020). By leveraging digital technologies, university students should be equipped to use various technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, practical, or imaginative solutions. This point is the core of ISTE Standards for Students 1.4 as an innovative designer.

Based on my experience teaching undergraduate students in the English Department, I applied higher-order thinking skills as illustrated by the Framework of Bloom’s Taxonomy, including analyzing, evaluating, and creating. This point aligns with Standard 1.4.a, which states that students know and use a deliberate design process to generate ideas, test theories, create innovative artifacts, or solve authentic problems. To illustrate, some best practices I have done in my classrooms are Critical Review Paper in CTD Playlist Project and Genius Hour Project (Developing E-Module for teaching English in Curriculum and Technology Design and creating digital content in Content Writing class). In the Playlist Project (writing a critical review essay), senior students are required to generate ideas from various research journal articles (resources), test some theories regarding academic research during reading activities, criticize the author’s ideas by providing reasonable arguments to their stance in the form of a critical review essay.

To provide a room for students to select and use digital tools to plan and manage a design process that considers design constraints and calculated risks (Standard 1.4.b.), as seen in my post, Boosting Students’ Innovative Design and Computational Thinking Through Project-Based Learning in Higher Education – Ignasia Yuyun, I implemented a project-based activity called Designing E-Module for English for Specific Purposes. In this project, I required students to leverage digital technologies (tools and applications), such as Canva, Google Form, Mendeley, anyflip, and so forth, in developing an e-module for teaching English for specific purposes (English for Waiters, English for Online Drivers, etc.

Through the same project, Designing E-Module for English for Specific Purposes, I also encouraged students to develop, test, and refine prototypes in a cyclical design process (Standard 1.4.c.). The prototype, in this case, is an e-module that involves a cyclical design process starting from environment analysis, needs analysis, principle consideration, setting goals, content, and sequencing, format and presentation, monitoring and assessment, and evaluation (please see Boosting Students’ Innovative Design and Computational Thinking Through Project-Based Learning in Higher Education – Ignasia Yuyun).

Furthermore, to challenge students to identify what they know concerning a problem, I provided them with the QUEST Project, Fishbowl discussion, and Genius Hour Project. These activities provide a room to exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance, and the capacity to work with open-ended problems (Standard 1.4.d.). Importantly, it provides room for self-assessment in the project, such as in the Student’s Self-Assessment and Reflection (Genius Hour Project of Creating Digital Contents) and Participation Self-Assessment (QUEST Projects).

In conclusion, leveraging digital technologies to solve problems in the classroom plays an essential role in higher education. Thus, teachers are challenged to design and implement various higher-order thinking activities to promote 21^st-century skills.