Activity Triangles and Pattern Languages

This is a Camtasia presentation of a Google Slideshow I put together to reflect on INSDSG 622: Curriculum Development for Organizations.  This was the maiden voyage of the class.  While some of the comments will only make sense in light of that unique experience, most of this presentation concerns Christopher Alexander's concept of Patten Languages (designed for architecture and the layout of objects in human space) applied to instructional interactions (using Activity Triangles to define process patterns).  This is complex language but I believe the slideshow gives good examples that clarify it.

The quest for "patterns that resolve conflicts between opposing forces and make learning activities WORK" is what motivates me most as an Instructional Designer.  I use my work with Google Apps for Education and ePortfolios as an example of how patterns enable processes and products, and distinguishing between the "high context" environment of Blackboard (where the patterns are all prescribed, and users need not understand how the back end works to follow them) and the "low context" environment of Google Apps (where the potential for patterns is there to be discovered, but users need to develop fluency on their own).