Reference
Things That Make Us Smart
- Donald A. Norman
Things That Make Us Smart
- Donald A. Norman
Summary
Norman stresses technology needing to be more human-centered. We did not have enough foresight to design technology with humans more in mind. Because of this, it does not cater to the needs of humans as much as it should. He explains that we can still change this and focus it properly. Going along with this is also the method in which we learn material. He states that the standard lecture way of teaching information is not as engaging and therefore not as effective as it could be. He brings up adventure games as being a good example of how keeping people active and involved can help them learn information for effectively.
Norman stresses technology needing to be more human-centered. We did not have enough foresight to design technology with humans more in mind. Because of this, it does not cater to the needs of humans as much as it should. He explains that we can still change this and focus it properly. Going along with this is also the method in which we learn material. He states that the standard lecture way of teaching information is not as engaging and therefore not as effective as it could be. He brings up adventure games as being a good example of how keeping people active and involved can help them learn information for effectively.
The way we represent information can have a huge impact on how we remember and interact with it. Norman discusses how we need to keep our representations as self-explanatory as possible so they can be more helpful in expanding our knowledge. And of course, he reminds us that designs need to be catered to the person who will be using them. If the user is experiencing all of the deficits of the technology but none of the benefits, then there is something terrible wrong with the overall design execution.
Discussion
Norman presented an interesting way to view how we learn information in this book. Briefly in the past learning styles have been touched upon, but I never looked at learning the way he did in this book. But after hearing him discuss it, the more engaging a class is the easier it is to learn the information is retain it later on. I tend to thrive in discussion heavy classes, because it keeps my mind more active than merely listening to the professor and copying down notes. I try to take as little notes as I possibly can so I can hear as much of what the professor is saying as I can. If I just have my head down in my notebook, whatever I am writing is largely meaningless to me. Also, user-centered design is a massive take away message from this class, and I don’t think I will be forgetting it anytime soon.
Norman presented an interesting way to view how we learn information in this book. Briefly in the past learning styles have been touched upon, but I never looked at learning the way he did in this book. But after hearing him discuss it, the more engaging a class is the easier it is to learn the information is retain it later on. I tend to thrive in discussion heavy classes, because it keeps my mind more active than merely listening to the professor and copying down notes. I try to take as little notes as I possibly can so I can hear as much of what the professor is saying as I can. If I just have my head down in my notebook, whatever I am writing is largely meaningless to me. Also, user-centered design is a massive take away message from this class, and I don’t think I will be forgetting it anytime soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment