…identify what we feel most compelled to say.
define
To DEFINE is the first step of the Design Process.
To more fully understand something (a word, phrase, concept, idea, etc.) and do something with it, we must first define what it is and/or what it means.
In the context of the DFA to FYC course, this 1st step (DEFINE) determined the content each student would explore in their 1st Project.
It asked students to focus on an issue, event, or topic of their choosing. In other words, DEFINE what was important to them. Typically, students are assigned a topic and genre for their writing (Eodice, 2016; Wardle, 2009). Although this streamlines the workload for the instructor and allows for whole class discussion, it constrains students in terms of creativity, motivation, and meaning (Eodice, 2016).
Design Journals 1 and 2 were meant to be a space to work on the focus (subject matter) of the student’s project through process of elimination, discussion and reflections, and/or gathering research and writing notes. Students would also begin to IDEATE the shape of the project.
more on design journal scaffold