Connected Learning TV - Kylie Peppler - 9/20/2012

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• published: 20 Jun 2014
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http://connectedlearning.tv/kylie-peppler-high-tech-textile-design-learning-doing-and-making Kylie Peppler - High-Tech Textile Design: Learning By Doing and Making Lessons learned from participatory design communities for economically disadvantaged youth, in- and out-of-school. *About This Speaker* Kylie A. Peppler is an Assistant Professor in the Learning Sciences Program at Indiana University, Bloomington. Peppler's collaborative investigations into e-textiles (with Yasmin Kafai and Leah Buechley) have led to new educational approaches to electronic textile design that push back on traditional notions of arts education. *Questions Asked/Key Comments Made* (08:07) In my research, I've been really interested in looking at what youth are learning through e-textiles, particularly as it ties to artistic expression. What might youth be taking away from that experience, and how can we get them in touch with professional practice? (17:25) What does physical computing entail? What do we need to teach kids that they can get introduced to physical computing early, so that they can be creating some of the works that professional artists are able to do with these materials? (21:12) To see whether they were learning about circuits, for example, we had to create some new assessments. A lot of the assessments in circuitry have to use the materials. So, typically, it's a lightbulb-and-a-battery kind of thing [...] And you can see that after working with e-textiles that this becomes a real simple task to do. (30:57) If you're going to create sustained and rich opportunities for youth, you need to have a place, a platform, where that learning takes place. Or a 'laboratory' where we are experimenting with these different approaches to youth engagement in a digitally-enabled way. (34:42) [One of] the questions that I get from people is, 'Will this appeal to the boys? Will this be something--if I'm in the classroom--that will appeal to a broad swath of people that are in my classroom?' (44:06) What advice do you have for teachers and librarians who want to integrate high-tech textile design into their classrooms and programs? (49:38) We who have been working in the area of e-textiles are still struggling with finding the language to describe the learning. We all know that the projects look very compelling but, in the long run, we have to provide documentation and ways to capture what actually is being learned beyond the crafting. (53:04) As we begin to think about democratizing these kinds of spaces, [...] how does this work begin to push back and defy some of the gender norms and cultural practices that have long restricted--in particular, young girls'--opportunities to experience themselves as makers, doers, and designers?