Quote:
Originally Posted by Peggy Painter
I'm trying to keep our group a kid-led group, however the kids aren't technically skilled enough or developmentally ready to do everything and I'm afraid that when adults make suggestions the kids are reluctant to contribute. And I have noticed that kids & adults (myself included) can get emotionally attached to our design ideas.
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Since most people addressed strategy, I will discuss the brainstorming after. I notice too, that people get very excited about brainstorming ideas. Students and mentors want to skip the strategy and become very attached to their ideas. I have to hold everyone off to focus on strategy, so when we switch to brainstorming, its like a dam bursting.
One thing I repeat over and over again is that to evaluate ideas independent of their originators. One has to run the balance of recognizing credit when its due and keeping the design discussion objective. I encourage everyone to not be attached to their own ideas but open minded of others. I also encourage collaboration.
We usually have a giant board of ideas. I would suggest you to have people to draw out their ideas on paper so that they can't be erased. I would keep the ideas board up all season, because sometimes you need to revisit ideas later. I also feel this rewards students better, because maybe their idea was not picked but it made it to the board. I encourage my students to generate as many ideas as possible and get as many ideas on the board. They get pretty motivated to help the team fill the board.
I have several rules to keep the discussion harmonious:
1. No idea is a bad ideas. Any ideas can inspire the wining idea. Also "less successful" ideas can reveal potential pitfalls and show us roads we should not go down. It ties in to students creating as many ideas as possible, because more ideas help our team have a more complete picture of possible solutions, even if the quantity is daunting.
2. No torpedoing ideas. All ideas have their pro's and con's but if one is going to be critical, one must have a real justification. (I usually caution students about being critical, most catch on that if they have reservations, they pose it as questions in case their instincts or reasoning are wrong)
3. If you can't draw it or explain it well, it can't be made. One can waste a lot of time trying to figure out what the idea actually is. (this can be a rough one with students, this is where mentors jump in to help the student in question, during a break in discussion)
When actually grading ideas, we use evaluation matrices or pro/con lists generated from the strategy discussion. Usually, we use pro/con to narrow the list and evaluation matrices for discussing the narrowed list of ideas. What surprises me, this has been the fastest part of our design process for the last few years. My students have been very efficient and timely in their discussions. Which is opposite of their mentors.
Lastly, a few tips. I try to come up with the worst ideas possible the break the ice in the design discussion. It lightens the mood and gives students more courage to present thier ideas since they can not do worse than their mentor.
Lastly, every time there is a rule book update, we hold a design review. We are pretty lucky and never had them last more than a hour.