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Tinkering with the Idea of Bricolage

Posted by Jordan H. Reiter on January 19 2015 at 1:06 a.m.

“Bricolage is a practical process of learning through tinkering with materials. It involves continual transformation, with earlier products or materials that are ready to hand becoming resources for new constructions”. Innovating Pedagogy Report 2014

Bricolage: Taking available pieces and assembling them to make something new

Bricolage means to engage in a dialogue with a heterogeneous collection of materials and tools, in which items are repurposed and rearranged to solve a problem. Bricolage does not necessitate having a clear end in sight. On the contrary, it requires the stakeholders to be open and start with a vaguely defined idea. The project and its components take shape over time.

Bricolage comprises tools and artifacts that were accumulated over time. This may include material that was collected without any specific purpose, and picked up simply because it might be useful someday; as well as outcomes, products or ‘leftovers’ from other projects. The typical bricolage setting is one of constant remix: Its tools and artifacts are not limited to only use nor does one need specialized expertise to adapt and use them.

Instructional Design Implications Recommended in EdITLIb

Jon Dron, Researcher at TERKI (Athabasca University)

Dron, J. (2014). Ten Principles for Effective Tinkering. In Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2014 (pp. 505-513). Chesapeake, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).

Jon Dron argues that ‘bricolage’ is better suited to networked, social, open-ended learning than traditional learning design approaches. He offers ten principles and patterns for effective bricolage:

  1. Do not design - just build
  2. Start with pieces that are fully formed and useful
  3. Surround yourself with both quantity and diversity in tools, materials, methods, and perspectives
  4. Dabble hard - gain skills, but be suspicious of expertise
  5. Look for exaptations and surf the adjacent possible
  6. Avoid schedules and goals, but make time and space for tinkering, and include time for daydreaming
  7. Do not fear dismantling and starting afresh
  8. Beware of teams, but cultivate networks: seek people, not processes
  9. Talk with your creations and listen to what they have to say
  10. Reflect, and tell stories about your reflections, especially to

Original Post: http://blog.aace.org/2015/01/18/tinkering-idea-bricolage/

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