Engage
Share observations, listen to stakeholders and develop empathy through dialogue.
Collaboration and Visible Thinking
Learning becomes stronger when thinking is shared.
OpenStudios reveals the conversations, evidence, reflections and decisions through which people learn together, across projects, challenges and inquiry.
The invisible work of learning
Reveal the journey behind the outcome.
Many of the most important aspects of learning are often invisible.
Questions remain unasked. Assumptions go unchallenged. Ideas develop privately. Decisions are made without explanation. By the time a final report, presentation or assessment is submitted, much of the thinking that shaped the outcome has disappeared from view.
OpenStudios was developed to address this challenge. It provides an environment where learners can make their thinking visible and where collaboration becomes an active part of the learning process. Rather than focusing solely on completed outputs, attention is given to the conversations, reflections, experiments, evidence and decisions that occur along the way.
When people can see how ideas are forming and changing, learning becomes richer, feedback becomes more meaningful and innovation becomes more achievable.
What is visible thinking?
Externalise thought so it can be examined and developed.
Visible thinking refers to the practice of externalising thought processes so they can be examined, discussed, refined and developed.
Instead of keeping ideas private, learners are encouraged to capture and share their observations, questions, assumptions, decisions, maps, sketches, reflections and emerging concepts. This makes learning easier to understand, both for the individual and for others.
- Clarify ideas
- Organise information
- Identify assumptions
- Recognise gaps in understanding
- Reflect on progress
- Explain reasoning
- Track how thinking changes over time
As projects evolve, learners develop a richer understanding of both their work and the process that produced it. The goal is not simply to display outcomes. The goal is to reveal the journey behind them.
Learning as a social process
Build understanding through interaction with others.
While individual reflection remains valuable, many of our most significant insights emerge through interaction with others.
Ideas are strengthened through discussion. Perspectives expand through dialogue. Assumptions become visible when challenged by alternative viewpoints. Understanding deepens when learners explain concepts to one another.
OpenStudios embraces the idea that learning is fundamentally social. Participants engage with people as well as content. They contribute ideas, share discoveries, provide feedback, ask questions and learn from diverse experiences and perspectives.
This creates opportunities for collective learning that are difficult to achieve when people work in isolation. Learning becomes a shared process of inquiry, interpretation and growth.
From individual knowledge to shared understanding
Build collective knowledge, not merely divided tasks.
Complex challenges rarely belong to a single discipline, profession or perspective.
Effective responses often require multiple viewpoints and different forms of expertise. For this reason, collaboration within OpenStudios is not simply about dividing tasks among team members. It is about developing shared understanding.
- Explore challenges
- Gather evidence
- Interpret information
- Generate possibilities
- Test assumptions
- Refine ideas
- Develop responses
As individuals contribute their experiences and insights, collective knowledge begins to emerge. The studio becomes a space where people build understanding together rather than merely exchange information.
Feedback as conversation
Respond while ideas can still change.
In many educational environments, feedback arrives after work has been completed. OpenStudios supports a different approach.
Feedback becomes an ongoing conversation woven throughout the development process. Ideas can be discussed while they are still forming. Questions can be explored before decisions become fixed. Suggestions can be incorporated while projects are evolving.
This creates opportunities for earlier support, faster learning, greater reflection, stronger decision-making and continuous improvement.
Feedback is no longer viewed solely as evaluation. It becomes an essential part of learning and development.
Collaboration and innovation
Move from individual creativity to collective problem solving.
Innovation rarely emerges from isolated thinking. New ideas often develop when people combine perspectives, challenge assumptions and build upon the contributions of others.
OpenStudios supports this process by creating environments where ideas can be shared, critiqued, adapted and improved. Learners can see how different people approach the same challenge, recognise alternative possibilities and discover connections that may otherwise remain hidden.
Collaboration helps move innovation beyond individual creativity towards collective problem solving. The result is often more robust, more thoughtful and more sustainable solutions.
Making progress visible
Recognise the small moments through which learning develops.
One of the benefits of visible thinking is that progress becomes easier to recognise. Learning is not always evident in final outputs alone. Growth often occurs through small moments:
- A new question emerges
- An assumption changes
- A stakeholder insight shifts direction
- New evidence challenges previous thinking
- Feedback leads to refinement
- A concept becomes clearer
By documenting these moments, learners gain a stronger appreciation of how their understanding develops. They can see where they started, what influenced their decisions and how their ideas evolved over time.
This visibility supports both reflection and confidence, helping learners recognise the value of the learning process itself.
The educator's perspective
Observe learning as it happens.
Visible thinking also provides valuable insights for educators and facilitators. Traditional assessment often reveals what learners produced but not how they arrived there.
Within OpenStudios, educators can observe:
- Research activities
- Emerging ideas
- Reflection processes
- Decision making
- Collaboration patterns
- Iterations and refinements
- Evidence of learning development
This richer understanding enables more meaningful feedback, better support and stronger learning design. Educators gain visibility into learning as it happens rather than only seeing the final outcome.
Building communities of learning
Distribute knowledge across the community.
OpenStudios supports more than individual projects and team activities. It helps create communities of learning.
As participants share evidence, ideas, experiences and reflections, knowledge becomes distributed across the community rather than remaining with individuals. Learners benefit not only from their own experiences but also from the journeys of others.
- Peer learning
- Knowledge sharing
- Mentoring
- Collective reflection
- Cross-disciplinary thinking
- Collaborative innovation
Over time, these interactions contribute to a richer and more connected learning environment.
Collaboration across the 5E Design Thinking Framework
Visible and collaborative at every stage.
Collaboration and visible thinking are not separate activities within OpenStudios. They exist throughout every stage of the framework.
Evaluate
Collectively interpret information, identify patterns and reframe challenges.
Explore
Generate ideas, challenge assumptions and investigate possibilities together.
Expand
Prototype, test and refine collaboratively through diverse perspectives.
Execute
Communicate outcomes, reflect on impact and share lessons for future action.
A culture of shared inquiry
OpenStudios is a place where people learn with, from and through one another.
People learn through questioning, discussing, creating, reflecting and improving together. By making thinking visible and collaboration meaningful, OpenStudios creates opportunities for deeper learning, stronger engagement and more thoughtful innovation. Ideas can be explored openly, knowledge can be developed collectively and understanding can evolve through shared inquiry.
Explore the 5E Design Thinking Framework →