Knowing and meeting the needs of diverse learners
mess = method = meaning
Background
Students increasingly fear risk-taking, seeing failure as a waste of time, money, and energy, which limits experimentation and affects their work and grades. Many come from an educational background that places a viewpoint that failure is often seen as detrimental in traditional education, yet failure is a critical part of the creative process (Brown/Cator, 2013).
In response, I’ve co-designed a fully digital project that centres iteration under the premise “mess = method = meaning.”
Using unfamiliar software free to use in college, the project levels the playing field, encouraging creative chaos. It normalises experimentation, reframes failure as part of the process, and reinforces that imperfect work is essential for achieving stronger, more refined outcomes.
Evaluation
The project aims to support diverse learners by fostering an inclusive and flexible environment, where students can experiment, fail, and learn iteratively.
By introducing unfamiliar tools and focusing on ‘glitching’ an archetypal garment, the project aims to ensure a level playing field, utilising free college computing facilities to eliminate typical costs associated with iterative learning through physical making.
Encouraging students to embrace the ‘messy’ nature of the process, the project challenges them to step outside their comfort zones and explore the software in pursuit of discovery and embracing a “growth mindset” to see failures as an opportunity for growth. (Dweck, 2006).
While the approach is still constructivist, allowing for personal breakthroughs, the briefing engages students with varying backgrounds and learning styles, but while some thrive in creative chaos, others may benefit from a more structured approach. This challenge highlights the need for tailored support, especially for students with lower technical skills or discomfort with open-ended learning. Supplementary academic and technical support has been added to address these needs.
Moving forwards
To better support students with unfamiliar tools, we plan to offer an AI workshop that demonstrates how design led AI platforms, like us, doesn’t always work perfectly. This aims to help students understand the adaptive nature of AI while providing insights into decision-making processes. Additional resources will be made available on Moodle to support self-paced learning.
Workshops will be designed with clear scaffolding to guide students through the iterative process, offering checkpoints and extra support for those who need it.
Encouraging continued peer mentorship aims to foster collaboration between students with different skill sets.
Future delivery of the project may require that we place greater emphasis on differentiated support to ensure all learners can engage fully with the “messing about” approach to learning, discovery, and refinement.
Feedback from students will guide adjustments to the project, aiming to make it more inclusive and accessible.
As digital technologies evolve, we’ll need to integrate a wider variety of tools and resources to accommodate varying levels of technical proficiency. This will hopefully ensure that students can progress at their own pace while gaining the confidence to experiment and grow in their learning, while adapting to the needs of the industry the course feeds and fostering greater experimentation and transgressive design outputs.
References
Brown, S., & Cator, K. (2013). The Role of Failure in Creative Education. Creativity Research Journal, 25(2), 123-132
Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Schön, D. A. (1987). Educating the Reflective Practitioner: Toward a New Design for Teaching and Learning in the Professions. Jossey-Bass.
Kafai, Y. B., & Resnick, M. (1996). Constructionism in Practice: Designing, Thinking, and Learning in a Digital World. Routledge.
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