http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/scott/blogview?entry=2008010713
Dan Lockton has been keeping a great blog on the subject of shaping behaviour using architecture. He has now articulated a new design method based on this work, which is looking like a very interesting contribution to the discourse of control in design, which is a highly important topic in education.
The Design With Intent method sets out the dimensions of intended control and links them with mechanisms. This is similar to the use of leverage points in systems, as articulated by Donella Meadows.
Its one of my personal gripes that the discourse of control in education is very simplistic with a response of "control = BAD" rather than a more sophisticated understanding of the complex interplay of agents, systems and power structures. In other words, the common approach is one of either (a) denial, or (b) rejection, rather than (c) an effective intentional design.
This is also a topic being addressed specifically within education by Mark Stiles and others in the Facebook group tensions between innovation and control
Comments
Have you read Jon Dron's book Scott?
Control and Constraint in E-Learning: Choosing When to Choose
It is very readable and practical and does not treat demonise control.